Thank you very much. It's an excellent question, and I share your concern about what conclusions Beijing might draw.
I think it's important to keep in mind that this is not the prelude to World War II, as there are important historic differences in the situation.
I raised the Taiwan question because I was concerned that if there is insufficient solidarity in the west about the situation in Hong Kong, then if the situation over Taiwan deteriorates in the future, Beijing could come to the conclusion that the costs were worth bearing, that they really weren't that high, and that America, Canada, the U.K. and Australia would eventually get over it.
However, Taiwan is a very different situation, largely because it's physically separated from the mainland and because it would probably take some kind of major military action to bring about the type of situation in Taiwan that China has with Hong Kong. Most basically, it has sovereignty, and the international community recognizes it has sovereignty.
In terms of deterring actions on Taiwan, it fundamentally comes down to a military security type of issue, which is a large feature of U.S. defence policy.