Ukraine is very different from Taiwan. One is larger than the size of texas and landlocked and the other is an island the size of rhode island. I agree with you in that china is less likely to invade but due to economic reasons.
Texas is actually slightly larger than Ukraine. Ukraine isn’t landlocked, either; even if you don’t count the Crimea, Ukraine still has a coast on the Black Sea and the major port city of Odessa. Mariupol is another port city that Russia has been trying to fully capture for most of the war now.
China is also very different from Russia. China’s economy is around the size of the US economy while Russia’s economy is closer to the size of Italy. They have more domestic industrial capacity than any country in the world, a billion people, and a remarkable level of state capacity. The main similarity between the two countries—that they each have an aging dictator who has spent the past years consolidating power and who is prone to commanding some ill-advised course of action due to the inability of anyone to push back—only makes it more likely for an invasion to occur.
philwelch|3 years ago
China is also very different from Russia. China’s economy is around the size of the US economy while Russia’s economy is closer to the size of Italy. They have more domestic industrial capacity than any country in the world, a billion people, and a remarkable level of state capacity. The main similarity between the two countries—that they each have an aging dictator who has spent the past years consolidating power and who is prone to commanding some ill-advised course of action due to the inability of anyone to push back—only makes it more likely for an invasion to occur.