WI: No Taiwan

What are the historical ramifications of a world without the island of Taiwan (that is to say, geologically, Taiwan never formed in the past)?

(If this belongs in the ASB forum, I apologize)
 
It's one of those things where it would mean so little, but if it's a geological formation from before human history, the butterflies could be enormous.

If freakishly everything progressed in the same way for quite some time, the first major thing I can think of is that the Japanese would not have been able to take it from the Chinese after the/a Sino-Japanese war. If THAT doesn't butterfly away a defeat of a Nationalist Chinese party by a Communist party, those Chinese would have nowhere to retreat to, and there would be no surviving secondary republic of China unless it was in Hainan or something, which would have most likely fallen eventually.
 
What are the historical ramifications of a world without the island of Taiwan (that is to say, geologically, Taiwan never formed in the past)?

(If this belongs in the ASB forum, I apologize)

Do you mean that the island is just not there or that it is simply part of the Asian mainland? Are the Philippine and Ryukyu Island chains intact?
 
It's one of those things where it would mean so little, but if it's a geological formation from before human history, the butterflies could be enormous.

Um...no Austronesian culture would exist if you go along with the Taiwan origin theory. That means no Indonesians, Malaysians, Filipinos, Hawaiians, Maori, Tahitians, Malagasy, Easter Islanders, etc. That's pretty significant. The proto-Austronesians might still be around, but chances of them being able to leave the Asian mainland and settle the Pacific and Madagascar would be pretty small.
 
Um...no Austronesian culture would exist if you go along with the Taiwan origin theory.

Did not know that Taiwan might have been the homeland of Austronesian migration. That could change things up.

I think Austronesia will be populated by SE Asian people speaking Daic (Thai) languages and with more SE Asian culture, no?
 
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