Their preparations are mostly naval and anti-naval in nature, as those will be the critical force projecting tools. And frankly, it sounds like where our naval forces are positioned isn't going to make much of a difference anyway. The Dotard won't try to stop them (and many other PsOTUS would not either) because there is no appetite for tens of thousands of dead American sailors on top of losing basically all microchip manufacturing; they'd rather smile and make nice to keep access to chips in the short term.

it would require weeks, if not months, of build up that would be very obvious. Any invasion will likely come during a "training exercise" so they can try to explain the build up of troops and equipment on that. Which is why Taiwan always goes on a heightened alert during any PLA training near the island.

That said, Taiwanese are as tough as anyone. Taiwan won’t be free of cost. I’m sure it would be the end of trade with China, and we’d probably instead just close the deal on VZ, etc…

“The 2000’s - new Guilded Age, or new Age of Empires? You be the judge!”