World War Three Could Be… – North Korea / Russia – South Korea

For a long time we have been told to fear North Korea. I in no way fear North Korea taking an offensive against us in North America. The worries lay with the region as a whole. In recent years Russia has been investing in large capital project in North Korea. From the Trans-Korean and Trans-Siberian railroads, to oil and gas pipelines. The threat we now face is Russia needing to protect these assets. With a leader as possessed as Kim Jong-Il, its hard not to worry about the safety and security of our world. Hopefully cooler heads prevail…

World War Three Could Be… – China / Taiwan

Welcome to a new Category Chairman of the Board – World War Three Could Be… We will look into some of the hot spots of world conflict and which one could lead us down the path of world war. First in the series we will look at a conflict thats leads us down a strange diplomatic road. So, Japan was in control of Taiwan after the first Sino-Japanese War, Japan held control from 1845 until 1945, when they were forced to give the island to the Republic of China. Then in 1949 the Peoples Republic of China was formed on mainland China. The Republic of China government resettled themselves to the island of Taiwan. Even as of today the Peoples Republic of China still lay claim to the island of Taiwan, as they feel they are the political successor to the Republic of China’s government. It should also be noted that at no point, has the peoples Republic of China controlled any portion of  the government on Taiwan. Now, you may ask how are we headed to world conflict over this. Well, Taiwan is viewed as an advanced economy by the IMF, and as a high-income economy by the World Bank. Taiwan Plays a major roll in the production of technology, primarily consumer electronics.  In 2007 the Taiwanese Government put forth a motion to write a constitution, and establish the name “Taiwan” official. This has upset the Peoples Republic of China. Western powers have been long time supporters of Taiwan. The United States, France, The Netherlands, Israel and South Africa, all supply, or have supplied the Taiwanese with arms. In total Taiwan spends 2.4% of their GDP on military arms. Compare that to some of the other industrialized nations like United Kingdom at  2.7 %, France at 2.5%, Canada at 1.5% or Japan at 1%. Taiwan is far from the super powers with Russia at 4.3% or the USA at 4.7% and China at 2.2% of GDP.  Still how will all this lead us to world war. Well, if China were to invade Taiwan, the United States would forced to act due to the 1951 Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. A treaty between Japan and the United States. By China crossing the Strait of Taiwan, this could be seen as an act of aggression against Japan, thus the United States is bounded by the treaty to act. It is pretty clear that China could wipe out Taiwan in an afternoon of boating and flying. But it is the global repercussions that have stopped this from happening… So far…