Yeah definitely. Although I've argued the US would probably have poured funds in as a buffer against Russia. Especially given the relationship between USSR and Guomintang was not 100% unambiguously hostile, so the US would want to make sure they weren't tempted to flip by USSR assistance.

I think that the role US money played in Taiwan's success is vastly overplayed anyway. The US basically abandoned them to their fate until the Korean war kicked off.

It's always a fascinating set of hypotheticals like you said.