My brother-in-law has the idea that the U.S. should make noises encouraging Taiwan to become a (military) nuclear power. Some junior senators could say that since North Korea has gone nuclear, the U.S. should assist Taiwan to do so as well (alternately, some "established" scholars could put out an article or analysis piece in Foreign Affairs or the Wall Street Journal or something arguing the same). Even though this would be pure rhetoric, the idea is that mere "wild talk" of Taiwan going nuclear would "incentivise" China to put pressure on North Korea to start playing nice. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
China's stance toward Taiwan historically seems to have much in common with that of the US toward Cuba. And I seem to recall that when Cuba got nukes the US was incentivized to do something other than lean on its allies.
This sounds to me like a bad idea of stupendous proportions. The WSJ editorial board is gonna love it. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
