Earlier this month, U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Doug Wickert summoned nearby civic leaders to Edwards Air Force Base in California to warn them that if China attacks Taiwan in the coming years, they should be prepared for their immediate region to suffer potentially massive disruption from the very start.
In a remarkable briefing shared by the base on social media and promoted in a press release, Wickert - one of America’s most experienced test pilots now commanding the 412th Test Wing - outlined China’s rapid military growth and preparations to fight a major war.
Cutting-edge U.S. aircraft manufactured in California’s nearby “Aerospace Valley”, particularly the B-21 “Raider” now replacing the 1990s B-2 stealth bomber, were key to keeping Beijing deterred, he said. However, if deterrence failed that meant China’s would likely strike the U.S. including nearby Northrop Grumman factories where those planes were built.
As I understand it they’re basically just avoiding doing anything that might destabilise the status quo. Changing the country’s name to something else is saying “we are actually a separate country from China” as opposed to being in a frozen war where both sides theoretically claim to be the same country. The ambiguity lets them be de facto independent and lets the PR of China say “it’s de jure ours” without either side actually going to war about it at the moment, so the ambiguity stays