That's the way I see it, Treefern. Tangs is right that there are probably a few more items of interest in Taiwan, including having what amounts to a US military base right next to China (IMO), but the high tech chip factory is the big one by far.
IMO, it would make sense for China to wait until the TSMC chip factory in Arizona is up and running before making a move. This allows the US to see a pathway to getting the chips it needs, many of which will go into new weapons systems and related devices, as well as phones and other gadgets. Meanwhile China gets a share of the high tech chips produced in Taiwan. Then China will use Taiwanese engineers to upgrade the existing TSMC factory in Nanjing China (!) from around the existing 12nm (?) to the new 4nm and 3nm. Taiwan has been withholding that tech for obvious reasons. If the timing is right everyone will get what they want, except a war.
IMO, China has no desire to kill off the USA and it's economy. Everyone suffers if that happened, including China. China just wants a multi-polar world with a win-win outlook that benefits all. Okay, for the time being maybe all countries need to have similar military capabilities to guarantee nobody goes rogue but at some point we need to get past that dangerous mindset and come up with other systems that equalise the opportunities for all countries. Many would say that's a bit naive but somehow we need to do it, or else.....
A photo of the TSMC factory in Nanjing. (Seems to be a lot of free land next door. Maybe for expansion?)
