From the article:

"That military embarrassment was a catalyst to the end of the Qing dynasty, which finally fell to a revolution that led to an entity called the Republic of China in 1911." So same thing, different wording, sort of.

My reference to the Kuomintang was as it pertained to Taiwan, which was militarily up for grabs until after the war ended. I suppose I assumed the reader would understand that the Tawianese consider themselves a government in exile, but I can see wny that may not be clear.

Sadly, governments in exile get little say about what happens in the nation they lost. Things would get pretty messy if every fallen government shuffled off to another place and declared itself a .government in exile. It's ugly, but losing a civil war has consequences (like losing an election is supposed to).

I agree that it's unfortunate that the world is turning more despotic. Authoritarians are gaining ground almost everywhere, from Hungary to Brazil. Xi shouldn't be rewarded for his belligerence, but he probably will be anyway.

The U.S. can't be the world's policeman. Besides, who are we to judge? We are a nation that invaded a sovereign Iraq under false pretenses and killed half a million people in the process.

Taiwan is an internal China problem. I hate what is happening to Hong Kong. One of my favorite newspapers, the South China Morning Post, is slowly finding a more mainland voice. The reason is that dissent is getting crushed, along with independent journalism.

But what are we to do? It's not something the U.S. should be meddling in. Of course, if China invades, meddle we will, in a big way, because as I said in the story, there is a zero chance that America will allow the Chinese to threaten the pulse of our tech industry. Pelosi, of course, knows that, which is why she probably felt comfortable doing what she did.

You're right - Everything I've read suggests that a majority of Taiwanese now consider themselves a separate nation. That's great. Maybe they can somehow become so. But if they do, they do it without any expectation of American military intervention.

Thanks for the comment and good points.