We don't need to actually starve them. The CCP will not be able to fight the war all out. They will need troops at home to guard against civil unrest.
The CCP leadership is already twitchy about people standing around, silently holding blank pieces of paper. One guy, Peng Lui, with one long banner on an overpass last year scared the hell out of them.
Just the act of starting the war will mean their demise no matter how the fighting goes.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
The PRC has failed to develop a large enough consumer base to hold on to the economic gains as the pace of industrialization slackens. They tried to skip steps. The CCP, has refused to permit enough personal independence to allow for the innovation necessary. The PRC is dependent on other nations for innovation, materials, markets, and FOOD. Their demographic collapse, for that is what it is, will mean that there will be NO soft landing for the PRC economy. This is about as bold a prediction as you will ever see me make.
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Another issue with being latecomers to industrialization is described by Carroll Quigley in one of his (unpublished but available) other books, Weapons Systems and Political Stability.
Quigley said the U.S. became the light of freedom because as firearms were becoming available, the average man, making a decent living under capitalism, could purchase them.
In the 19th century, a man with a Colt revolver and a Springfield rifle was as well-armed as any military.
But when firearms became available in Russia, they had not evolved economically, so only the Czar and others of wealth in that feudal society could afford firearms, using them to control the unarmed, impoverished populace.
It's true we can no longer match military weapons. No Abrams tanks or F-35s in the suburban garage. But freedom is still an ideal of most Americans.
Will we keep it, or what's left of it?
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Now who's the paper tiger?