Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

[jaguar]

Invading China would not be that easy, the US has been selling them some real shiny toys and China still doesn't have a real blue-water naval capability, if the US moved in a couple of fleets the Chinese would essentially be fucked invasion-wise IMHO.

Even if the US doesn't directly get involved there would still be sanctions and the rest of it, there's no way the US could just say 'oh well' and get back to buying cheap chinese toys. No way, particularly considering Bush stupidly blurted out that the US WOULD intervene. If the world boycotted China cChina would colapse, end of story. Capitalism has made china as interdependant as everyone else but with far, far bigger social problems, China will be lucky to get though the next couple of decades without some serious unrest even without this kind of thing.

Of course, there's the nuclear factor. Noone can actually invade china however.

[lookout123]

Noone can actually invade china however.

Not in a limited war format. But a full scale declared war with China? That is the type of combat that the Air Force and Navy have been getting wood thinking about for the last 40 years. Squadrons of ATG strikes covered by ATA fighters striking hardened targets to soften them up, working their way inland over a series of weeks and months. Destruction of industrial centers, elimination of transportation systems, preventing trade and resupply, torching fuel depots - all of which would cause China to grind to a halt. aerial elimination of political and social importance. then go to work on massed troops. Ground troops wouldn't enter the picture until clean up phase for the most part. Yep, that is what the Navy and Air Force have been practicing and strategizing over for decades.



mind you - i am not advocating such action - only stating that it wouldn't be that hard if the political animals said "go do what you are trained to do" and then stood back to watch the show.

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by lookout123

Not in a limited war format. But a full scale declared war with China? That is the type of combat that the Air Force and Navy have been getting wood thinking about for the last 40 years. Squadrons of ATG strikes covered by ATA fighters striking hardened targets to soften them up, working their way inland over a series of weeks and months. Destruction of industrial centers, elimination of transportation systems, preventing trade and resupply, torching fuel depots - all of which would cause China to grind to a halt. aerial elimination of political and social importance. then go to work on massed troops. Ground troops wouldn't enter the picture until clean up phase for the most part. Yep, that is what the Navy and Air Force have been practicing and strategizing over for decades.

Gee, I wonder what else would happen? First, China would turn Hawai'i into a smoldering peice of charcoal. Next up? San Diego then Seattle. There wouldn't be a port on the west coast left. Are you ready to lose five or six carriers and all on board in one day? We have gotten so used to fighting folks on their turf, we forget that China is fully capable of wreaking havoc into the millions in our backyard. And we're supposed to risk all this for the political state of an island? Screw that.

Beating the living shit out of a pissant dictator is one thing but you are talking some serious trash now.

[Trilby]

I'm just really glad we don't have to depend on the draft. Whew! What a relief!

[jaguar]

Oh you can lay waste to the place, true.
It's a quote from somewhere and I'll butcher it but I can't remember where but it went something like this.

If someone invades china on the first day, they'll take 50,000 prisoners, on the second day they'll take 100,000 prisoners, on the third day they'll take 200,000 prisoners and on the fourth day we'll win.

If you did it you'd end up with a death toll, no doubt with a fair size percentage of civvies in the hundreds of thousands or millions. That's going to make any democratic government queasy.

Other factor: China has nukes, lots of them, Missile Defence Shielf is cute but it's never going to work in the event of a barrage of a few hundred warheads.

[wolf]

Important wartime safety tip ... if you take prisoners, you have to feed them.

Kill them all.

[jaguar]

I'd like to think if you told the US army, instilled as they are with the geneva convention to kill tens of thousands of POWs in cold blood they'd rebel.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by jaguar

I'd like to think if you told the US army, instilled as they are with the geneva convention to kill tens of thousands of POWs in cold blood they'd rebel.

If you kill them before you capture them, they aren't POWs.

[lookout123]

If you kill them before you capture them, they aren't POWs.

ding ding ding - "lessons from WWII for $800, please Alex."

[OnyxCougar]

Hang on here.

The US is NOT the world's policeman. I know we keep trying to be, but with the group of folks who are usually level headed, I'm surprised this is even being bantered around.

Taiwan isn't ours.
Japan isn't ours.
China isn't ours.

Now, in light of that, justify invading ANYONE ... ?

[jaguar]

Well there is the whole supporting freedom and democracy thing...

[Happy Monkey]

In the case of a Taiwan war, it wouldn't be an invasion. It would be the defense of Taiwan against invasion. I doubt it would result in much actual invasion of China, as jaguar's quote indicates.

[lookout123]

i am not advocating doing anything. i was only responding to the comment that it would be impossible to do anything. personally, i think it would be ludicrous to go to war over taiwan - when economic carrots and sticks could be just effective in the long run.

[russotto]

Prisoners? What prisoners? Simply reduce China's government and industry centers to slag with nukes and/or heavy conventional bombing. Sink all their shipping and destroy all their aircraft. Then go home and let the local powers duke it out over the pieces. The destruction of China's industry should do much to reduce the price of oil, too.

At least, if the US were the evil empire that some here seem to think, that's the way it would be done.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by lookout123

personally, i think it would be ludicrous to go to war over taiwan - when economic carrots and sticks could be just effective in the long run.

I don't think there's much disagreement about that. (I'm reasonably confident that) the first military move in that situation would not be made by the US.