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US officials who are ready to fight China over Taiwan don't understand how much is at stake
https://www.yahoo.com/news ^ | March 18, 2021 | Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, ret, Defense Priorities

Posted on 03/18/2021 11:16:36 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19

US defense officials are increasingly warning of the potential for conflict with China over Taiwan.

There is almost no way in which the US could intervene in that conflict without devastating losses.

Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, ret, Defense Priorities Thu, March 18, 2021, 7:16 AM·5 min read Shiyu Kinmen County Taiwan China Shiyu, or Lion Islet, one of Taiwan's offshore islands, with the Chinese city of Xiamen in the background. Carl Court/Getty Images US defense officials are increasingly warning of the potential for conflict with China over Taiwan.

There is almost no way in which the US could intervene in that conflict without devastating losses.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Many of America's leading military and political figures have issued increasingly alarmist warnings in recent days about the potential for conflict with China, especially related to issues surrounding Taiwan.

But before the US gets into a crisis that brings it to the threshold of war - or finds itself stumbling into one - policymakers and military leaders need to address some hard realities.

There is almost no scenario in which the United States can successfully intervene in a war between China and Taiwan that will not leave our country in far worse shape than it is right now; in a worst-case scenario, American territory could be struck by nuclear missiles.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Adm. Phil Davidson, commander of US forces in the Indo-Pacific, warned that Chinese military developments looked to him like a nation planning for a war.

Davidson added that he believed China would attempt to forcibly reunify Taiwan "in the next six years." To guard against this possibility, Davidson asked Congress to provide a whopping $27 billion in additional funding over the current defense budget.

(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ccp; chicompropaganda; china; danieldavis; fearmongering; redchina; surrendermonkey; taiwan
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To: RomanSoldier19

We should not fight China over anything other than US territory. Period.


61 posted on 03/18/2021 11:43:27 AM PDT by Trumpisourlastchance
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To: blueunicorn6
People fleeing the collapsing Ming dynasty conquered Taiwan in the 1600s. Later under the next (and last) dynasty lots of Chinese moved there. Before all of this, the population was descended from the original South Pacific settlers. (Their descendants still live there, but are a tiny minority.)

When Japan defeated China in war in 1895 they got Taiwan and Korea as colonies. Japan was of course defeated. In 1949 the defeat of the restored Chinese government by the CCP meant that it and some of its supporters fled to Taiwan, and it has been governed separately (and for the last 25-30 years, freely) since.

In the meantime, the CCP bases much of its legitimacy on undoing all the colonial-era humiliations, including Taiwan. The people who live on the island don’t want to be ruled by the CCP, but that is of no concern to the CCP itself.

62 posted on 03/18/2021 11:43:46 AM PDT by untenured
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To: gdc61

No you need to take a lesson on geo politics. Then you will have a better understanding of the term super power.


63 posted on 03/18/2021 11:43:54 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Eleutheria5
"So if you just let China take Taiwan, you will have to let them have Midway, Hawaii, etc.,"

That's quite a leap.

64 posted on 03/18/2021 11:44:20 AM PDT by A Navy Vet (USA Birth Certificate - 1776. Death Certificate - 2021 under Biteme.)
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To: Eleutheria5

China is going to build a 90 mile Long Island to Taiwan?


65 posted on 03/18/2021 11:45:32 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: Eleutheria5
Why did Hitler care about Austria? Same thing

You are right. It is EXACTLY the same thing. Hitler didn't care about Austria as much as Austria cared about him.

Cheering people, women weeping tears of joy, throwing flowers before the PLA troops, who won't have to fire a shot.

Just like Austria, 1938.

66 posted on 03/18/2021 11:45:54 AM PDT by Jim Noble (In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act)
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To: RomanSoldier19

Maybe we’d take substantial losses, but the point is to make the Chicomms take bigger losses.


67 posted on 03/18/2021 11:46:20 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: cuban leaf

Well, they paid good money to buy a president so we will leave them alone.

#BeijingBiden #WhollyOwned


68 posted on 03/18/2021 11:47:20 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: Olog-hai

Biden is not controlling the military. Biden isn’t even in the Whitehouse. We currently have a carrier fleet of 100 ships in the South China Sea. China isn’t going to do jack.


69 posted on 03/18/2021 11:47:42 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Trumpisourlastchance
Our agreement is only ‘to supply’ Taiwan with defensive equipment....not necessarily to fight their wars. However it doesn't ‘look like’ that's all we'd do if China, along with taking over Taiwan , threatens the South China Sea trade route..most see them related.
70 posted on 03/18/2021 11:48:32 AM PDT by caww ("Politics is not a game, but a serious business" - Churchill)
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To: Little Ray

Yes. We should give them and the Japanese the best arms we can supply. China must be destroyed.


71 posted on 03/18/2021 11:48:34 AM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters. )
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To: Eleutheria5

Taiwanese are committed, but they are a minority in their own country. About a third of the population consider themselves Chinese, not Taiwanese.

That’s part of the reason they haven’t declared independence.


72 posted on 03/18/2021 11:49:15 AM PDT by Kevmo (The tree of liberty is thirsty.)
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To: cuban leaf

They have a new pressure suit for pregnant fighter pilots. I think everyone’s up to date on their diversity training. They should be ready.


73 posted on 03/18/2021 11:49:47 AM PDT by grumpygresh (Civil disobedience by jury nullification. )
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To: BobL

Yes. People don’t grasp how much the standing of the US dollar is tied to US ability to project its power and keep the peace. Imagine what happens with our massive debt load, and a run on the $US, after a symbolic defeat in Asia - the world’s factory?


74 posted on 03/18/2021 11:50:01 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: RomanSoldier19

right. let’s just cede Taiwan and with it the entire south china sea to the CCP cartel regime, and let them roll up *all* of Asia and effectively isolate Japan, SKorea and India so they can wither on the vine. right. lets just usher in the CCP 1000 year dominion.

uh no col feckless dummy. throwing Taiwan to the CCP meat grinder is not a rational option.


75 posted on 03/18/2021 11:51:25 AM PDT by dadfly
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To: cuban leaf

Preparing us for the Chinese takeover of Taiwan.


Preparing US for CCP preventive nuclear strike. They don’t care how many 10 of millions of the Chinese people we kill in retaliation.


76 posted on 03/18/2021 11:52:26 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: RomanSoldier19
US: If you attack or otherwise invade Taiwan, we will use nukes on mainland china, including all population centers. China:
77 posted on 03/18/2021 11:52:43 AM PDT by NicoDon
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To: cuban leaf
Meh. Preparing us for the Chinese takeover of Taiwan.

Yes, that's exactly what this opinion piece is doing.

By citing (unnamed) US officials as potentially wanting to intervene, they are manufacturing the false image of the Biden administration being hawkish on China.

They are of course not.

78 posted on 03/18/2021 11:53:13 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: blueunicorn6

> I just don’t see the benefit for China to fight over Taiwan. <

As I noted in my post #48, China has good reasons for wanting to invade Taiwan. But even if the US stands down, I’d have to think we’d stop all trade with China. Plus we’d seize all Chinese assets in the US.

Now here’s the wild card. How long would such a response last? The Chinese might gamble that with Biden/Harris, that response might last only for a brief period of time.


79 posted on 03/18/2021 11:54:12 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: blueunicorn6

Why did they care about Tibet? Geopolitical hegemony.


80 posted on 03/18/2021 11:54:54 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard (resist the narrative)
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