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Our old pal the Soviet Union spent decades preparing for an invasion of Western Europe, yet did not--or rather--could not because we and our allies kept our heads. To carry the analogy further, war is no more inevitable with China than it was with the now-defunct Soviet Union. I agree that prudent steps should be taken to forestall Chinese aggression, but I argue that these steps can be taken with a great deal more subtlety and smarts than what some on this thread are advocating. Publicly announcing our intention to defend Taiwan militarily, for example, or (as one person on this thread has suggested) arming the Taiwanese with nuclear warheads are simply not effective ways of dealing with that aggression. Never give the enemy what he wants, and what he wants right now is a foolhardy overreaction to some of the actions the Chinese have taken of late. I'm a former paratrooper and truly don't mind the notion of a lot of dead communists, but I also think there's a way out of this without war. Ultimately, I trust the President and his advisers, some of the best geopolitical strategists this country has ever produced, to make the right decisions.

I think their would be hope if we left Taiwan to defend themselves but I don't think we will, or should, do this. China is also more stable than the Soviet Union which means it's less likely to fall on it's own.

But we should be increasing the size of our military and preparing for this potential war. We can't increase the number of well trained troops and weaponry over night once a big war breaks out. There may be ways to prevent war with China, but we need to be prepared for war if it happens. We must also be prepared for other Nations getting involved. In my opinion, there is no doubt North Korea would attack South Korea, especially if the Chinese regime was in trouble. The end of the Chinese Regime would be the end of their regime. Russia would get involved against us even if it wasn't with direct force. Right now we aren't prepared for a big war and that worries me. Our Military just isn't big enough and their is a decent chance we could find ourselves in a big war in the coming years.