[Nervous Tick]

News flash: they can also build warships, aircraft, and missiles really quickly (and cheaply).

They may not be as good as ours — yet — but they definitely have the capability to overwhelm with sheer numbers.

Defeating the Japanese in WWII was a foregone conclusion, once the first shot was fired; the Japanese could not match our industrial output and the more sophisticated Japanese (e.g. Adm. Yamamoto, educated in the US).

Fast forward seventy years. It’s the Chinese with the industrial might. They can replace war materiel as fast as nearly anyone can destroy it. Personnel too.

Very sobering, if you ask me.

[ClearCase_guy]

China is a perfect example of why you want to have a strong nuclear capability, and a strong anti-missile capability. You do NOT want to get into a long war of attrition with these guys -- they will win. Avoiding war is a real good idea, but if war has to start, don't beat around the bush -- 20 or 30 nukes in senstive places and I think the war would be over.

Scary to think about, but it's why we have these things.

[frithguild]

They can replace war materiel as fast as nearly anyone can destroy it.

Your argument was true 60 years ago. It is not longer steel. It is silicon, information management and precision destruction. They are way behind that curve.

[antiRepublicrat]

One of the liberty ships took four days to build from keel laid to launch. Think we could do that today?