That's a possibility up until the moment that diplomatic relations are normalized between the US and PRC.
If they ever.
That's a possibility up until the moment that diplomatic relations are normalized between the US and PRC.
If they ever.
Would the ROC holding onto Hainan really make a difference on that front, though? If they held all of southern China, quite possibly, but one more island?
That's a possibility up until the moment that diplomatic relations are normalized between the US and PRC. IOTL, the USAF had airbases in Taiwan from which they flew U2 recon flights over the mainland, but the US military presence was removed the instant recognition was withdrawn and switched to the PRC.
But they never had bases from which they based large numbers of jet fighters and naval vessels. Hainan is a perfect base for such during the Vietnam War, and might become more permanent as a result of being bigger in scale.
If they ever.
Assuming the Sino-Soviet split still occurs in this TL, it's only a matter of time until the US recognizes the PRC.
So are those teeny tiny islands in the middle of the Formosa Strait. They got repeatedly shelled by Chinese arty throughout the '50s and '60s, but the ROC didn't budge a centimeter on them.
So now instead of the ROC being just "Taiwan", it's "Taiwan and Hainan". I wonder if we would have to call it that in casual speech?
Eh it's 9 miles or so, you could swim it if one is very fit, but a man wearing full kit probably could notI've heard stories that Communists could swim to Hainan. It's going to be a very weak link there.