There are three words that Taiwan or the US could speak to the CCP to end all of the invasion talk forever, “ Three Gorges Dam”....
Wiping out the dam would destroy 40% of the Chinese population, 50-60% of their agricultural base, 60% of their industrial base, and 60% of their seaports. Not to mention military bases, and all of the military men and equipment currently positioned on the shores facing Taiwan. All gone within 48 hours, Communist China back to the stone age.
WWG1WGA!
Also heavy rains at the start of the monsoon season...while Three Gorges dam is well below critical height...dams below and above 3 gorges are at capacity...heavy flooding all over.
Oh sure
Making existential threats is a sure way to make China too afraid of Taiwan to put an end to the danger, for good
Yes, a lot of people have discussed the possibility.
But consider: if any country - e.g.Taiwan, Japan, the US - made a conventional attack on China that did the same damage as one or more nuclear weapons, simply because of where it hit - then China would treat that as a nuclear attack.
They wouldn't slap their sides, and say 'good one! We are honor-bound not to reply with nukes, because you used only conventional missiles to kill a million people'
No. They would strike back, and launch 150 kt tactical nukes until they had inflicted damage roughly equivalent to the damage they'd received.
They don't have anything like the Russia or US nuclear stockpiles, but there’s not much out of range of the Chinese nuclear arm. Their Jin-launched missiles can strike Hawaii and Alaska. Their land-based stuff can hit pretty much anything made by man, except for the little flag at Tranquility Base.
So please Freepers, carefully consider what China would actually do if the US did blow up the Three Gorges Dam.
The Chinese would put several holes in San Francisco, or nuclear-snipe every CBG they could find and they would retain the moral high ground - because (in this awful scenario) the US would have struck first.
How does destroying the 3 Gorges Dam wipe out 40% of China’s population, when 80% of their population is too far away to be effected? Look at the map, who you claim is like saying the destruction of Hover Dam would wipe out 30% of the population of the US. Also, your other numbers are way off.
Will it cause problems, some of which could be catastrophic? Yes, but your claims are way off kilter.
They make no logical sense.
I have thought of the three gorges dam possibility as well. Taiwan could probably make a tactical nuke and add some cobalt 60 and it would pop the dam and flood everything downstream with radioactivity that would make uninhabitable for a hundred years.