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Righty-oh: as Han Chinese, the Taiwanese are highly dangerous to the mainland Communist Party's narrative that there is no alternative and that top-down Party heavy-handedness is just being reasonable "with Chinese characteristics". Any Finland-like scenario would demonstrate the effectiveness and societal value of obtaining more democracy to all Han Chinese.

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Or exacerbate the conflict, the deaths from both sides in Taiwan and China could create hate that might just lead to a eight-year-long civil war like the Syrian Civil War with no end in sight.

Hmm sorry this is a bit of a non-sequitur. Responsibility for the deaths on both sides would squarely fall on Xi, and he would get all the very much deserved hate, having taken full ownership now.

It would fall on Xi but that doesn't mean the conflict will end, once blood is spilt, there will be anger. I've seen enough Middle Eastern conflicts to see where it would end. We can blame Assad for the Syrian war but its not ending it.

Probably not. There's a straight between the two sides here. They aren't right next to each other like in Syria.

There's a strait between Northern Ireland and the British mainland. It doesn't take very many people to cause destabilizing acts of terror.

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