As i was paying my daily homage to nytimes.com,i came across a piece of news that affirmed what i had always suspected .That, the united states would in no way fight china for taiwan. Thank you u_day for your map and its arrows, but being the least cynical i'll tell u, those arrows reminded me of the attacks staged on Gulliver's Travel :). Warnings by Powell to Taiwan Provoke a Diplomatic Dispute By JOSEPH KAHN Published: October 28, 2004 EIJING, Oct. 27 - Chinese officials praised Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on Wednesday for warning Taiwan that it is not an independent nation and should not seek to become one. But Taiwanese leaders sharply criticized Mr. Powell for changing a longstanding policy in managing the diplomatically nuanced rivalry. ...... i am not going to post the whole article. if u'd like to read the whole version, here's the link. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/28/international/asia/28taiwan.html