CNN: If the mainland takes the outlying islands of Taiwan, the United States cannot achieve the goal of stopping without large-scale military intervention

Based on a recent wargame exercise by foreign policy and defense experts, if Chinese mainland wants to seize an outlying island in Taiwan, the United States has few good options to respond without risking a major escalation and war between superpowers.

CNN reported that a report from the New American Security Center outlines the situation, assuming that Chinese mainland first use force to control the Eastern Sands, a small atoll in the South China Sea between Taiwan and Hong Kong, where about 500 Taiwanese troops are stationed.

Such limited military action could be a precursor to seizing other islands near Taiwan or occupying them altogether as Beijing tries to test and spur Washington's resolve to defend It.

But once Chinese mainland established its military footprint in The Eastern Sands and drove out Taiwanese troops, there was no reliable way for the United States to force China to return control of the island to Taipei, the report said. Economic sanctions have been in effect for too long, the impact on Chinese decision-making appears to be too weak, and any military action risks escalating war, which both the United States and Taiwan want to avoid as much as possible.