Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis, 2000

What if the PRC launched an invasion of Taiwan in 2000? Taiwan, December 2000. Following the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, the situations in Taiwan and China have rapidly devolved. The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis has imploded the economies across Southeast and East Asia. The Taiwanese Dollar falls drastically, and both countries see the political ramifications. In China, lessons learned under the 1996 crisis and 1991 Gulf War begin to take shape in the form of a highly modernized force. Boosted by the acquisition of the Hong-Kong foreign capital marker, the PLA acquire Su-27 fighters, Sovreminny III destroyers, and stockpiles of long-range conventional TBMs. The Central Military Commission (CMC) in Beijing enshrines the policy of preventing any US or coalition build-up in the region, and if unable to do so, strike before it gains the combat power to overwhelm the PLA. In Taiwan, in the 2000 presidential election, Soong Chu-yu wins the presidency as an independent, and begins promoting reconciliation with the PRC. As a gesture of goodwill and economic desperation, Soong begins selling older ships of the ROC Navy, reducing its strength by almost 40% by October while increasing diplomatic and economic ties with the mainland. Military hardliners, raised under the KMT martial law era, see Soong as a threat to the autonomy of the country, and depose him in a coup d'tat in late November. A military junta addresses the nation on a TV address, stating "The Republic of China has always determined its own fate. We may rest assured that Taiwan has always, and will always, remain independent of the mainland." The PRC responds, saying "they would not allow the Taiwan question to drag on any longer," and begins a buildup of forces in the region. Washington DC, seeing the looming threat, organizes a response. A massive number of military munitions and the US 1st Armored Division are put onto civilian transport ships in the "Christmas Convoy." The Harry S. Truman and Abraham Linco