Earlier I wrote: "The Taiwanese will be looking with trepidation across the China Sea today"

In today's 'Global Times' which is really just a mouth-piece for the CCP they wrote this...

"“The DPP authorities [the ruling party in Taiwan] need to keep a sober head, and the secessionist forces should reserve the ability to wake up from their dreams. From what happened in Afghanistan, they should perceive that once a war breaks out in the Straits, the island’s defense will collapse in hours and the US military won’t come to help.” It goes on.... “the US abandoned its allies in South Vietnam” in 1975. “Is this some kind of omen of Taiwan’s future fate?”

Australia, Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines all need to be considering or reconsidering what they'll do in the event of the Chinese deciding to go all in on conquering Taiwan. In the past it was an easy decision - we'd support the US efforts to save the island. But we now know that, even if the US military were capable of such a defence - and they probably aren't - the current utterly incompetent and corrupt US leadership have no stomach for it.

Taiwan today is on it's own facing what is now the most powerful military force on the planet.

We have to decide if we will make a symbolic effort to defend the crumbling world order by siding with Taiwan or start making our accommodations to the new world hegemon.