...
3)
The Wukan Uprising. The non-Han ethnic peoples of South China are also in revolt. There have been numerous and continuous riots and even armed revolts over the past few years. The city of Wukan is currently an armed bastion of rebels who have sealed themselves off from the Han controlled People's Liberation Army (PLA - Mao's old "Red Army") which surrounds the city.
Despite having (supposedly) superior military forces, the PLA hasn't even been able to effectively secure the perimeter of the city. Surrounding towns and villages have been reinforcing Wukan and building up a pretty hefty supply of food. The PLA's announced strategy was that they were going to "starve" Wukan into submission. How is Red China going to "take" Taiwan when they can't even settle accounts with this little band of rebels?
My 13 (14?) year old niece was just rock climbing about 500 miles to the west of Wukan - far enough away that the school trip wasn't canceled, yet in the same region. The whole region is in an uproar and the only thing holding the country together is the dominance of the PLA. Just let the PLA get busy trying to take Taiwan and we're back to the "Three Kingdoms" period - a period of time when Tibet was able to effectively invade and conquer much of what is now modern China.