There is a scene in the movie 300 in which Theron confronts Leonidas as he is walking toward Thermopylae. Theron doesn’t want Leonidas to continue, but he himself realizes there isn’t anything he can do to stop Leonidas. What would have happened to Theron if he tried to forcefully intercede to stop Leonidas? It wouldn’t have ended well. Theron understood this, and protested no further.

The relationship between China and Taiwan is, to say the least, strained. China has maintained that Taiwan is a part of China. Taiwan has become more and more bold in asserting their independence. As the rhetoric becomes more and more intense, the potential for a military conflict becomes more and more probable. If a military conflict breaks out between China and Taiwan, how should the United States respond?

Recently, Joe Biden has indicated that the United States is committed to protecting Taiwan if it were to come under attack from China. This statement was met with a degree of surprise as it deviated from the usual stance taken from previous presidents which was more ambiguous. This statement will no doubt anger the Chinese, and embolden the Taiwanese government which will lead to more tension.

Why would he do such a thing? He certainly cannot think we could hold Taiwan for the long haul against a hostile Chinese army could he? While we have the strongest Military in the history of the world (according to Biden), we are not built to occupy hostile territory within range of a near peer army for any length of time. War between China and Taiwan would eventually end with Chinese occupation of Taiwan. Maybe it would take 6 months. Maybe it would take 20 years. Our participation in the war would extend the time Taiwan would be free, but ultimately it would fall. The cost of our involvement would be extremely high and the payment would be in the most valuable currency–American lives.

There are times in which all entities, no matter how powerful, must ask and answer the question “What can we do?” In this particular situation we would be better off working with Taiwan to de-escalate tensions. While doing so, we could offer those that want freedom opportunities here in the U.S. These two actions would serve to keep Taiwan free for a longer period of time. If we played our cards right, it is possible that we could also allow for the immigration of a substantial amount of highly skilled Taiwanese which could allow us to jumpstart the U.S. computer chip manufacturing sector once again.

Or we could blindly push toward war without any real plan. We wouldn’t make that mistake…Again…Would we?