I wonder if it would someday be possible to build and epic rail tunnel between them, by way of Okinawa or something.
If this block is the thessalacracy or whatever, increasingly long rail tunnels—be they Switzerland–Italy, Ireland–Britain, Chile–Argentina, or whatever else—would be my preferred foundation for international relations.
How feasible would that be? I would want to look at the Bering Strait not having a train between it (yet) as a sign that it's hard (and probably too expensive[0]) but a really long overseas train system would be really cool (actually, a highway would be cooler).
The actual tunnel under the Bering Strait is only small part of the challenge as the end points of that tunnel are quite a long ways from any existing railways. There would be thousands of miles of rails to lay through difficult terrain.
You'd first want to connect the Ryukyu islands to Kyushu via a series of several equally epic rail tunnels. Doesn't make much sense to fly/sail to Okinawa just to disembark and continue by train to Taiwan.
Err.. no. It is generally considered unwise to consider boring sea tunnels along the boundaries of tectonic plates in the Ring of Fire especially considering the distance from Taipei to Naha is 641km, 30 times longer than the current record holding sea tunnel between the Hokkaido and the main land.
FYI: The US and Japan have an acoustic sensor network that monitors and contains the 9-dashed line area for China's submarines - chokepoints.
So the main reason for Japan and Taiwan to have a closer relationahip is to track submarines in that oceanic area, which is considered critical.
Since 2010, China has had operational nuclear-powered submarines with MIRVs. They spent 50 years achieving that - and they're aimed at the US, of course. Nuclear submarines are noisy (pumps), and China's doubly so.
Also, there's an arms race in that region thanks to Obama's disregard of mutual defense treaties, resulting in Xi's takeover of Scarborough Shoals from the Philippines and the ADIZ around the Japanese Senkaku islands.
The erosion of America's international credibility started by Obama just increased dramatically with Biden's bungling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. US Democrats in the White House are hapless. There's no point in spending billions on military hardware when nobody believes you can or will use it.
Our allies and enemies feared Trump, while they pity Biden, who's a shell of a man plain for all to see in videos since 2012.
This is not chagrin for China, but danger for Taiwan. Given recent talks and activities between Taiwan and US/Japan, I won't be surprised if China attacks the island within 3 years.
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 45.9 ms ] threadIf this block is the thessalacracy or whatever, increasingly long rail tunnels—be they Switzerland–Italy, Ireland–Britain, Chile–Argentina, or whatever else—would be my preferred foundation for international relations.
[0] https://www.iflscience.com/technology/china-wants-to-build-a...
Japan–Korea and Taiwan–Luzon also seem to make far more sense. Japan Twain Ryukyu island hopping is quite a flex, now that I check the map again.
Also note Ireland-Britain has no tunnel.
So the main reason for Japan and Taiwan to have a closer relationahip is to track submarines in that oceanic area, which is considered critical.
Since 2010, China has had operational nuclear-powered submarines with MIRVs. They spent 50 years achieving that - and they're aimed at the US, of course. Nuclear submarines are noisy (pumps), and China's doubly so.
Also, there's an arms race in that region thanks to Obama's disregard of mutual defense treaties, resulting in Xi's takeover of Scarborough Shoals from the Philippines and the ADIZ around the Japanese Senkaku islands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_Shoal_standoff
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senkaku_Islands_dispute
The erosion of America's international credibility started by Obama just increased dramatically with Biden's bungling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. US Democrats in the White House are hapless. There's no point in spending billions on military hardware when nobody believes you can or will use it.
Our allies and enemies feared Trump, while they pity Biden, who's a shell of a man plain for all to see in videos since 2012.