After doing a "readers digest" version of the history of Ukraine and also the history of Taiwan as a refresher I have a serious question. What is the time frame that should be accepted for a region to be considered separated from their "home" nation and be independent?
As far as China is concerned they never gave up Taiwan. The Taiwan government apparently for a while considered themselves the actual legitimate Chinese government in exile.
Russia and the USSR have been in "possession" of Ukraine for a substantial part of modern history, there are areas of Ukraine that are majority Russian or Russian leaning politically.
China plays the long game and it looks like KGB Putin does also.
Maybe the best long game for the USA and the west would have been to fortify and strengthen NATO as it consisted at the collapse of the USSR instead of expanding NATO eastward. Our NATO allies have been pretty feckless all along, particularly about pulling their own weight financially. Spreading NATO even thinner looks like a bad play to me.
My expectation was that China and Taiwan would unify peacefully in the future. They played the long game with Hong Kong and won and I don't see why they would rush things now. I just don't know what the sentiment is in Taiwan, if there is widespread support of the people for reunification the timeframe might be sped up.
Looking to the USA for leadership on the Ukraine issue with a totally compromised POTUS is probably not a wise move for the Europeans.
