We retreated in Vietnam and Afghanistan. We can’t manage to quell Iraq and Syria. The Taliban routed us.
How do the bright boys think they can face an enemy who can lose two times the population of the USA in war without blinking?
"We can’t manage to quell Iraq and Syria."
Syria is a Russian problem
The Taliban routed us Joe Biden surrendered to the Taliban.
"How do the bright boys think they can face an enemy who can lose two times the population of the USA in war without blinking?"
China's PLA has no combat experience ; China has not won a war in centuries ; PLA logistics totally suck ; casualties would trigger an internal uprising which would destroy the CCP - whose only concern is its own survival. Any attack on Taiwan (even with 1/2 hearted defense) would bring a huge number of losses in men and materials for the PLAN and PLAAF, losses they cannot afford. Cross channel troop transports would be sunk like shooting fish in a barrel with a 12 gauge using birdshot - losses would be horrendous.
A blockade would be an act of war and be treated as such. 60% of the world's shipping ($34 trillion in goods) transits the South China Sea. Left unanswered there would be nothing left on any store shelves not only in the US but many other countries. Bad Idea.
The Persians marched an immense army into Greece, far larger than the meager force of Spartans and assorted allies that was sent to block them. But the narrow pass at Thermopylae was a choke point, and 300 Spartans held off the Persian horde, even the immortals, until treachery did them in.
By the same token the beaches of Taiwan are choke points. You can only land so many troops at one time, and the PRC does not have an unlimited number of transport ships. Rommel was right. You have to stop a seaborne invasion on the beach, or better yet on the open sea before the enemy reaches the shore.