When China moves to claim Taiwan by force will that be the catalyst that crashes global stock markets igniting the greatest depression ever seen in the United States? Possibly, and here's why.
As China reduces the amount of US Treasuries they own that will probably be an indicator that they're getting close to moving on Taiwan. When they get to $250 billion or less is when they'll likely be ready to blockade the island. When the naval blockade becomes real and it's not a drill Beijing and Washington will let the economic sanctions fly.
The severity of the sanctions will depend if the US gets directly involved. If the US gets directly involved we will see the greatest depression inside of the USA that's ever been witnessed in the history of the country. Even if the US doesn't get directly involved we may still witness such an event.
Due to sanctions the retail sector in America will get absolutely destroyed and it will ripple into other sectors of the overall economy. When the distribution warehouses begin to run dry of goods coming from China big box stores like Wal-Mart, Target, shopping malls, dollar stores, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc will begin laying off employees en mass.
I predict that you'll go into a Wal-Mart or a Lowe's store at a date in the future and the manufactured side will be bare. Nothing but empty shelves because most of the goods come from China. But before that happens the people will sense that something is wrong as the prices at Wal-Mart and Lowe's keep getting revised upwards because they'll know just how low stock is at their respective distribution warehouses and that information will not be shared with the public. Sensing the rising prices the people will opt to shop at flea markets, thrift stores, online websites like Facebook Market Place/Amazon/Ebay, and pawn shops to find manufactured goods that can't be purchased at big box stores as shelves go bare. As a result such stores will raise their prices significantly because by that time the people will know what's going on. While all that is going on the stock market will drop faster than a rock in a wet paper bag, probably a knee-jerk reaction caused by the severity of sanctions or direct involvement.