Posted on 05/20/2005 8:09:59 AM PDT by ComtedeMaistre
Every day, the economic power and political influence of Red China continues to increase. I am, however, interested in knowing how powerful China is militarily. Is China strong enough to defeat the US in a conventional war? The latest I heard is that they have a total of 10 million trained to serve in their military, including reserves. I would especially like to hear from Freeper veterans as well as those serving in the military, on the potential threat that China poses to the United States.
"We would ultimately control the seas and starve them, "
If we have enough of a Navy left to do so, way to many cuts there.
90% of the security alerts I get from my Symantic Firewall on attempted portal entries on my home computer originate from somewhere in China ( Chinanet etc .)
You forget the basic Chinese tactic during the Korean War - sending wave after wave of PLA attempting to make our machine guns' barrels melt. They probably have more bodies than we have bullets, and they won't hesitate to use them.
Yea...but would we really go nuclear over Taiwan????
http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/1999/nov99/psrnov99.html
INCREADIBLE
I had to laugh although it's sad.
What is the nature of your interest?
Not all were proxies.
We sure as hell would boycott the Olympics!
SD
Could be. I rarely hear/read anything about Japan's defensive capabilities. Any "invasion" by China would be similar to an invasion of Taiwan.....how would the Chicoms actually get there?
It's[Taiwan] obviously equipped to survive until the cavallery arives.
Appears that way.
FGS
In all probability it will start as a conventional war, with a nuclear standoff, no one wanting throw the first bomb. Who will win???? Good question.
There are so many imponderables that several scenarios could be true.
The Chinese are communists, ergo they are rationalists. They have no supernatural paradise to die for like the Muslims do. Nuclear deterrence means something to them, and their nukes are a deterrence to keep us from using them first.
Regime change in China, using conventional weapons, could be accomplished in a few weeks, as in Iraq. The problem then becomes, what do we replace the regime with? It's clear that we've mastered the art of toppling governments with minimal loss of life, using incredibly advanced technology and psychological warfare.
A fully capitalistic and democratic China becomes a bigger competitor and a more formidable potential adversary. We like China just where it is for now. If China were to become a free-innovating technological powerhouse like the US, then we might well become a candidate for regime change when it served their purposes.
April 2001 - Russian military forces intervened in a mock nuclear conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan during strategic exercises that included Russian preparations to use nuclear weapons on U.S. forces in Asia, The Washington Times has learned. According to the NSA assessment of the February Russian war games, the Russians practiced fighting in Europe and Asia during one of the largest exercises in the past decade, the officials said. The intelligence report was based on communications among Russian forces during the maneuvers Feb. 12 to 16.
"The Asia scenario began with a Chinese military attack on Taiwan that was followed by the use of U.S. ground troops" on the island, said one official. Next, China escalated the conflict by firing tactical nuclear missiles on the U.S. troops in Taiwan, prompting U.S. nuclear strikes on Chinese forces. Russian nuclear forces then threatened to use nuclear missile strikes on U.S. forces in the region, including strikes on troops in South Korea and Japan.
Note: WT story via Taiwan - original story can no longer be accessed on WT website. This was also reported by the BBC and quoted by the American Defense Council and NTI.
HONG KONG, Feb 2004 - As a pre-election warning to Taiwan's pro-independence forces, China has conducted limited military exercises over coastal areas opposite Taiwan, including parachute landings, beach invasions and air-combat maneuvers, Asia Times Online has learned.
BEIJING, July 26, 2004 -- About 18,000 Chinese troops using their country's most advanced weapons systems last week rehearsed coordinated air, sea and ground attacks on Dongshan, an island in the South China Sea that resembles Taiwan in terrain and weather.
In unusually detailed reporting on China's secretive military, the official newspaper said recently acquired Su-30 fighter jets, a Sovremenny-class destroyer and a Kilo-class submarine participated in the maneuvers. The drill, which coordinated different branches of the military, was designed to display the ability to seize air and sea dominance over Taiwan, the newspaper said.
Oh good its a joke. I was worried for a second.
But, the fact remains we have more efficient ways to neutralize those "waves" than we did in the Fifties. We would never again depend upon machine guns as we had then.
My belief of Chinese military is they would do as tried in Iraq, hail liberation and blend into the general populus. Then when things seem better, use pock-shots, snipers, IED's, and guerrilla warfare in an attempt to tally an unacceptable US bodycount.
It's found as a way to "preserve" the infrastructure and be abled to continue warring rather than have the total country (and supplies) shut off from soldiers' use.
Interesting. China would obvioulsy not want to damage the factories and would be eager to reassure the many international clients that China was not going to "nationalize" the factories that had been built (yet).
This would get those businesses and the money grubbers who exported all our technology and jobs to Taiwan and China to pressure Washington to NOT interveine. It would probably behoove the people of Taiwan to place air defense around those factories and use them as staging grounds for counter attacks. This would FORCE the Chinese to destroy them, removing that card from China's deck.
There are alot of variables to consider, which is why there are professional staffs making plans.
As far as getting to the fight, China would be hard-pressed. In '94, when there was alot of sabre-rattling over this very issue, we considered a Chinese invasion of Taiwan as "the million man swim".
But they might not have to put a million men downrange to achieve their objective. Decapitation missile strikes, extensive electronic warfare, traitorous Taiwanese military formations, a relative handful of mainland paratroopers, all coupled with utter surprise, might be enough to get the job done.
If an extensive Chinese land force were already occupying the island, then no, we would not have the capacity to evict it.
With Taiwan, China knows there's no rough draft. If China does not conquer or hold onto the island after fighting for it, Taiwan will formally secede and be its own nation without the diplomatic tapdance.
by bycicle...
no they would have to make an assault by sea and air.
I doubt they do it. It just wouldn't pay off. They will buy taiwan one day.
From a projection standpoint as to what they could do in a few years if given the right military and economic alliances and new technologies? Here's my own scenario regarding that, written in a five part novel series.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.