W Bush focusing on fighting insurgencies while China was rising, led to the US not having the military industrial base and stockpiles of certain munitions. If the US uses too many munitions fighting Iran, it will be greatly weakened for a fight against China. This also weakens US deterrence against China.
However, if Iran is in too much chaos to pump oil, or if it is friendly enough with the US that in the event of a China-US war it would not sell oil to China, that would be a huge advantage in starving China of oil in the event of a war.
China is planning to be prepared to militarily take Taiwan, by blockade or invasion, by 2027. This plan includes the ability to hit American bases in the region, knockout American infrastructure with cyber, and to quickly invade Taiwan if invasion is the choice. China regularly operates in Taiwanese waters to lull Taiwan and others into not suspecting the real attack.
Taiwan has a higher GDP per capita than South Korea and Japan. Taiwan’s median wealth per adult is about the same as the US. The US has higher average wealth because of a handful of super rich people.
Taiwan is buying HIMARS to have mobile long range artillery to strike an invading Chinese beachhead, ships, and Chinese naval facilities across the strait in China.
The US is stretched between Iran and Taiwan, partly because of navy resources used to quarantine Venezuela.
Respected general arrested by Chinese President Xi may have written a letter describing the problems with Xi’s rule and warning of where Xi is taking the country. He may have not actually written this letter.
Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC is building a subsidized plant in Arizona, but is having trouble dealing with: thousands of pages of regulation, unions who want Americans to get the jobs, cultural clashes, and homeowners who don’t want plants nearby.
This event shows that the US can be a tough place to do business. We should consider reform.