[Tai_Chung]

If China sinks an American aircraft carrier during an invasion of Taiwan, do you think the United States would just go home?

[nevergore]

The Chinese are vastly underestimating American resolve if they believe sinking a single carrier will place the American government in disarray because of voices in dissent within the Ameican people.......

The image of a US carrier burning in the China Sea will moblize this country to war faster than any one issue could.

We would utilize tactical nukes to take out large segments of their military, effectively reducing them to third world status for the next 100 years....

NeverGore

[Registered]

The Chinese are our buddies..I know, I know, sure they stole pert near all our nuclear weapons technology at Los Alamos...but look at all those great Happy Meal toys they make for us. They are our friends, our "competitors" in this great international marketplace that we live in.

[Joe Brower]

[harpseal]

Clearly this threat is real and there are some possibilities for attack that are not discussed here. See Jeff Head's series that starts with Breath of Fire

[Al B.]

Ping

[BlueLancer]

"If properly used, the forces China is gathering could--at a minimum--stop one U.S. carrier battle group."

And, in doing so, completely gut her naval (surface, air, and subsurface) capabilities, and resulting in the loss of covering forces for any sort of amphibious attack.

And heaven help them when the second carrier group moves in.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

I have always thought that a war would first go nuclear at sea. Specifcally in the Pacific. The Soviets developed the Backfire bomber and muclear missiles to strike at carriers. The Chinese may also do so.

On the other side of the coin, a carrier battle group can kick a** and take names just about anywhere on Earth. Additionally the US uses combined forces when it sorties.

Definately, keep your powdor dry.

[boris]

All they need to do is get close with a mini-nuke.

[Jeff Head]

None of these conventional methods will work for the PRC.

They would have to sink two carriers at once, and then have enough resources left over to handle the other four we would send at them. This is true even if they do attack in the midst of another crisis ... say in the Mid East. My guess is that whatever they do will come after a break out in the Mid East and then probably having N. Korea go south. In the midst of both of those is when they would act militarily if they are going to do so.

But, trying to keep up with us conventionally would bankrupt them just as it did the Soviet Union, and on the naval front, they are hopelessly behind if we view it purely conventionally.

So, they will need to either come up with new technologies, or produce a naval assymetrical threat ... either of which they must then maintain and prove that they have it in numbers and with the capability to keep us at bay for a long term. None of these scenarios do that IMHO ... and they know it ... even though they have to build up such a threat at any rate to handle other regional threats.

That is not to say that they are not considering other alterntives for us and that they are not deadly serious about it. I believe they are and I discuss and present such "other" possibilities in:

DRAGON'S FURY SERIES
A series on the coming World War

Volume One of this series, "Breath of FIre", has been selling for some time on Amazon. Volume II, "Trodden Under", is going to press this week.

FRegards.

[vbmoneyspender]

what about our submarines? it does the Chicoms no good to takeout a carrier our two if they can't follow up with control of the sea lanes. And as long as we have subs, they are going to have a problem controlling the sea lanes.

[BlueLancer]

"TO TAKE TAIWAN, FIRST KILL A CARRIER"

That's sort of like saying:
TO MAKE T-REX STEAK, FIRST KILL A T-REX ...

While possible, it isn't something that I'd like to try.

[Paleo Conservative]

Maybe we should counter by taking out the Three Gorges Dam.

[Junior]

if one of its aircraft carrier should be attacked and destroyed, people in the United States would begin to complain and quarrel loudly, and the U.S. president would find the going harder and harder."

No, the American people would clamor for the extermination of Communist China. Don't think so? We're pretty much on our way to eradicating militant Islam for knocking down two buildings.

[Redcloak]

Major General Huang Bin, a professor at the PLA National Defense University, [stated] on May 13:

"...The United States likes vain glory; if one of its aircraft carrier should be attacked and destroyed, people in the United States would begin to complain and quarrel loudly, and the U.S. president would find the going harder and harder."

The Professor should get a copy of the book I'm reading right now; Victor Davis Hanson's Carnage and Culture. I'm just now into the section on the disasterous Roman defeat at Cannae. Hannibal's forces slaughtered ~75,000 legionnaires in 216 BC; one of a string of victories. But as horrible as this lose was for the Romans, it did not break them. Within a few years, the Roman army was at Carthage.

[chilepepper]

I cannot bring myself to believe that the Chinese Communist Party would risk its existence by taking out a US aircraft carrier...

You know, its a funny thing but aircraft carriers have been vulnerable since satellite reconnaisance came into being.

Are the Chinese military planners so stupid as to believe that either the US military response would collapse without carriers or that the US public's patriotism would collapse for the same reason??

Boy are they in for a nasty surprise if they try it...

[Don Joe]

"The United States likes vain glory; if one of its aircraft carrier should be attacked and destroyed, people in the United States would begin to complain and quarrel loudly, and the U.S. president would find the going harder and harder."

The fools. If one of our carriers is attacked and destroyed, China will be reduced to a vast wasteland of smoking rubble within minutes.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

With such a strike, Beijing hopes to quickly terminate American involvement in a Taiwan War.

Hmmm. That's kind of funny...He-he...ho ho. HA HA...HA HA HA...HO HO HO!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry. I lost my composure for a second. <snicker, snicker>

[virgil]

If the Chinese attacked Taiwan and sunk a US carrier, how do you think Japan would react? Or all of the Pacific rim countries? China would be isolated. And they could just kiss the Panama Canal privleges good bye. We won't stand for that. America will protect its interests. Don't expect Europe to help though. They may sink the carrier with a lot of expenditure and a few lies, but we will hurt them where it counts. We'll send them back to the stone age from whence they recently came. Wal-Mart might have a problem though. Actually I think this article is floating about because there is also a big defense bill floating about in Congress right now.

[jslade]

Anyone like to guess where our BOOMERS are? Hmmmmmmmmmm! And, I assume you know what boomers are!