>> What surprises me is the lack of urgency on the part of the US government. A lack of competitive chip manufacturing in the US is a threat.

> My bet is they consider Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea well within their sphere of influence (and control), so no urgency there.

That's pretty foolish and short-sighted, though, since all of those countries are within spitting distance of the US's main geopolitical competitor, and that competitor even has a disputed territorial claim to one of them (and vows to retake it by force, if necessary).

And that's why all those countries are firmly beholden to the US, for protection.

> And that's why all those countries are firmly beholden to the US, for protection.

Yeah, but from the US perspective, it's the weakest zone of that protection. So they'll be firmly beholden until suddenly they're not.

I'd consider the area pretty fortified. The US has military bases in both South Korea and Japan, and they just sold billions of dollars worth of cutting edge weapons to Taiwan.

But not invincibly so. You usually want your defense industries located in the rear, not near your front lines. The US relying on critical defense suppliers in Taiwan is like the Soviets doing the same in Cuba (which they didn't do).

Also, IIRC, the China team has won every recent US war game simulation of a shooting war in the Taiwan Straight. Also the Taiwanese don't get the really good US weapons, because of legitimate fears of Chinese espionage.

You make a compelling point. I tried to rationalize their behaviour, but maybe they really are making a mistake.