China definitely considers the downsides of all the options in front of them.
When it comes to Taiwan, US intervention of any sort is now likely much lower on their list.
They’ve been dumping funds into SMIC. Although they’re not on par with TSMC yet, they’re catching up fast. On top of that, the US would have a much harder time blowing up their factories (plural). They’ve used up most of the munitions that they could use to do it with and there’s no safe way to get a ship into firing range of Taiwan.
The biggest incentive is cost. Why fight over something that (as you pointed out) they can get through talks? It may take longer but it’s much cheaper that way.
China definitely considers the downsides of all the options in front of them.
When it comes to Taiwan, US intervention of any sort is now likely much lower on their list. They’ve been dumping funds into SMIC. Although they’re not on par with TSMC yet, they’re catching up fast. On top of that, the US would have a much harder time blowing up their factories (plural). They’ve used up most of the munitions that they could use to do it with and there’s no safe way to get a ship into firing range of Taiwan.
The biggest incentive is cost. Why fight over something that (as you pointed out) they can get through talks? It may take longer but it’s much cheaper that way.