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

[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.

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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.

[al baby]

Its that silly ass thinking that took down the World Trade center

[RomanSoldier19]

[Obadiah]

Preparing us for the Chinese takeover of Taiwan.

Yep, totally believe that. I believe China has been clearly signalling that they are on a pathway to take Taiwan. With almost zero media coverage, China recently crushed the Hong Kong protests through arrests and other means and completely annexed the Hong Kong legislature. Hong Kong is now China's puppet. Notice how this all took place almost immediately after Trump was cleared out.

Taiwan is next and everyone in the Biden circus knows it and they are signaling that they won't do anything. They are covering by saying it's too difficult and we can't do anything about it.

Look, in no way do I want any conflict, but there are ways to push back on China without launching missles or sending in the landing crafts. However, I fully the Biden circus will just roll over to China and surrender Taiwan to their Chinese paymasters. Very sad.

[Olog-hai]

There is a rank due to the United States among nations, which will be withheld, if not utterly lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it. If we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.

— George Washington, Fifth Annual Address to Congress

… (T)o fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence. Supreme excellence consists of breaking your enemy’s resistance without fighting.

— Sun Tzu, The Art Of War III:2

The Chicoms want to make the USA look weak, and its people feel weak. Hence they have agents here to foment this weakness.

[colorado tanker]

So, this guy would say let Hitler have Czechoslovakia because fighting a war would have devistating consequences for us. I know I’m getting older but hasn’t this been tried before?

[al baby]

Get the ICBMs warmed up in the bull pen ready to fly

[Kevmo]

That’s what I would do if I was in their shoes.

[Leaning Right]

> Why does China even care about Taiwan? <

I would hazard two guesses:

1. It’s a national pride thing. And the Chinese are very big on national pride. As an analogy, suppose the Confederates still held Florida after our Civil War ended. The Federal government would resent that. Now for China/Taiwan, multiply that resentment by 10.

2. Things are looking a bit rough for China going forward. And wars are always great distractions.

[blueunicorn6]

So we should take Cuba?

[Eleutheria5]

Back in my law office days, we had a Chinese client who tried to swim to Taiwan. He got lost and was caught and jailed. When he got out, he tried again at night, and this time he navigated by the stars and made it to Taiwan, which is how he made it to America and became our client. Remarkable man, but not unusual.

[A Navy Vet]

"There is no scenario where a nuclear power gains an advantage by pulling nuclear trigger first."

I would disagree with you when it comes to Israel vs Iran regarding tactical nuke strikes.

[Verginius Rufus]

Taiwan and Mainland China were under the same government just 4 years since 1894. From 1894 to 1945 the Japanese ruled Taiwan.

I think Kinmen is Quemoy, discussed in one of the Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960 (Kennedy was for letting Mao take Quemoy and Matsu, Nixon was against).

[AndyJackson]

Davidson asked Congress to provide a whopping $27 billion in additional funding over the current defense budget.

$5B/year increase is "whopping?" It would barely whop an Ayatollah if you dropped it on pallets out of the back of a C130.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

To guard against this possibility, Davidson asked Congress to provide a whopping $27 billion in additional funding over the current defense budget.

We just spent $1.9 trillion on a bogus COVID-19 relief bill. Paying for our own defense is not a bad investment, as long as it's spent wisely, and not on maternity flight suits and the like.

[Kevmo]

Knowing that the US dollar is gonna crash some time in the next 7 years, what would make a good set of investment choices? Stock in Chinese companies? The usual answer is to buy gold and ammunition.

[Little Ray]

Given how complicated espionage get, I would wonder how anyone could tell!

[lerker]

They aren’t interested in deterring China. They are pro-China because they are bought and paid for and owned by China.

[ctdonath2]

“Why weren’t nukes used in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq?”

Because small countries who don’t have nukes don’t instigate nuclear war.

China has lots of nukes, too many people, a willingness to take a beating just to save face, and more they can afford to lose than we do.

[blueunicorn6]

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

Do they want the huge wheat fields?

They’re willing to cause death and destruction because they got their feelings hurt?

[caww]

“issues surrounding Taiwan” = China’s imminent invasion.

The US has an agreement ‘to supply’ Taiwan with defensive weapons.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway ‘province’ which it has vowed to retake, by force if necessary.... But Taiwan’s leaders say it is clearly much more than a province, arguing that it is a ‘sovereign state’......It has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces.

...most other countries seem happy to accept the current ambiguity, whereby Taiwan has virtually all of the characteristics of an independent state, even if its legal status remains unclear.

Officially, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) still favours eventual formal independence for Taiwan, while the KMT favours eventual re-unification. Opinion polls show only a small minority of Taiwanese support pursuing one or the other at the moment, with most preferring to stick with the current middle ground.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia