I hope it doesn't go all the way, if only because such an event could ignite a conflagration that would engulf the entire region.

The Southeast Asian nations will not sit idly by in a theoretical Chinese annexation of Taiwan. It is built into the Southeast Asian DNA to be cautious of the "dragon to the north" because, individually, we've always been too small to fend of any Chinese designs - well, Burma and Vietnam did but those were differetnt times (and they had outside help).

The Chinese know this well, which is why they've always been trying to play a "divide and manage" game to prevent Southeast Asia from taking a common policy vis-a-vis China. Taiwanese annexation risks getting Southeast Asia to craft a common policy to defend itself against any possible Chinese incursion, running counter to China's interests. Meanwhile, it would be in India's interests to side with a unified Southeast Asia, given its rivalry with China. The end result would be a newer, more dangerous equilibrium.

I can only hope that cooler heads understand that the Americans are probably doing this for their own electoral cycle reasons and decide to let this matter die down gradually and get back to business as usual.