[Sparta]

Taiwan=The mouse that roared. Wish them luck though.

[Enemy Of The State]

Ping!

[CometBaby]

If Taiwan thinks we are going to start WWIII to defend them, they better guess again.

[Sparta]

http://www.emeraldesigns.com/matchup/military.shtml

ChiComs vs Taiwanese.

[backhoe]

CIA - The World Factbook 2002 -- Taiwan
Top banner The World Factbook 2002. Select a Country. ...
Description: Information about the country from the CIA reference source.
Category: Regional > Asia > Taiwan > Society and Culture > Politics

FWIW, I've stories for years that Taiwan got some or all of old South Africa's nukes...

[wretchard]

The culmination of any Mainland effort against Taiwan must be an amphibious assault on the island. The preparatory campaign could take several forms; one of the most likely being a phased assault, starting with the reduction of the Makung island group in the Taiwan straits, in conjunction with an air campaign to beat down the defenses, plus a submarine and mine blockade to starve out the Taiwanese.

It will be an amphibious assault, requiring the maximum Chinese naval, ground and air effort, probably directed at:

the coastal region between Tung-Hsiao and San-Wan. Midway between the northern Taipei urban agglomeration and the central populated region around Taichung, this coastal area is free of annoying mud-flats, and offers open terrain suitable for the build-up of a beach-head and subsequent decisive maneuver. http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/taiwan-geo.htm

It cannot be encouraging to the mainland Chinese that the US Navy has reoriented itself away from "Blue Water" or open-ocean warfare, to "combat in the littoral", i.e. warfare right off an enemy coast. The new Zumwalt class destroyers, the Virginia SSNs, and the new CVX are designed not to fight the the Soviet Navy, but another foe in confined waters like the South China Sea. The USN is being optimized to defeat an attack of precisely the sort that the Chinese would have to mount to take Taiwan.

The mere existence of the USN creates an intolerable operational risk for the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (yes, that is the Chinese Navy's name). Unless they can be utterly sure beforehand that the US will not intervene, it would be folly of the highest order to embark on an amphibious assault. They might try it if Hillary were the President, but not otherwise.

[omega4412]

A Chinese attack on Taiwan is a worry -- we attack Iraq, North Korea takes advantage of this to invade South Korea, and China takes advantage of this to invade Taiwan. The problem is that most of our carriers would be in position for Iraq. Our submarines, on the other hand...

[Nachum]

I have a hard time believing that China will prosecute a war against Taiwan. The good times are rolling in China. Matter of fact, large numbers of Taiwanese are commuting to China for employment.

The Chinese have most everything they want without war anyway. Huge numbers of upscale rich Chinese own huge homes, are buying expensive cars, and are living the Vida Rico. Remember when the American recon plane was downed by their nutso flyboy? Remember where they housed our personnel? Near the red light district of the Chinese party town.

Nope, I don't buy it. They want Taiwan, but they are getting it bit by bit anyway. They aren't going to kill the cash cow by going to war.

[Southack]

Geographicly, China has Taiwan on one side of its world and Kashmir on the other.

Demographically, China has about as many people as India and Taiwan.

Militarily, China failed to crush Chang Ki Shek's forces (circa 1946), failed to hold all of their territorial gains against India in Kashmir (circa 1962), and were humiliated in a crushing defeat by the Vietnamese Army in its last land war in 1979.

If China moves enough forces into its Western provices in order to make a credible assault on Taiwan, then India will walk all over whatever is left of China's forces guarding the Chinese-occupied portion of Kashmir (read: India's original soveriegn territory) on the OPPOSITE side of China's world in the East.

India and China have comparable nuclear forces and air forces, though India has the better navy by far. China's air force is clearly inferior to the Taiwanese air force, as Chinese F-7's are no match for the American F-16's that Taiwan flies.

Thus, China is in a poor position for acquiring territory. Strike West and they lose in the East, and there is no guarantee even that their 2nd-rate air force would provide the kind of air cover required for the amphibious landing of troops across the 50 miles of ocean in the Taiwan Strait.

Moreover, Taiwan is nuclear armed. It was Taiwan that joined with Israel and South Africa to field their first atomic weapons (including a Southern Hemisphere atomic test that made the civilian newspapers).

In the meantime, Islamic radicals continue to cause havoc in China's Western provinces, China's banks are on the verge of being insolvent, China's energy consumption has decreased (an ominous counter-indication to their claimed economic "growth"), and other such problems (including their current internal power struggle) present a depressing list of options and choices for their future.

[Eaker]

Bump for Later

[UnChained]

As far as I can tell, China's attack is already underway.

It is so gradual that is doesn't register with most people. The target of the attack is the USA. Once the US is conquered, they can take back Taiwan at their leisure.

In WW2 it was our massive manufacturing capacity that won that war. The amount of weaponry we could bring to bear overwhelmed our enemies. Today our manufacturing capability is gradually being replaced by China's.

China's industrial capacity is HUGE.

If they they managed to pit their resouces against ours in some conflict somewhere, they could deplete our forces handily. If they also gradually expanded their North American beachheads, they could one day launch a conventional attack that we couldn't stop without nuking our own country.

China DOES intend to one day attack the US. Perhaps Taiwan is where they will try to get is to throw our conventional forces against theirs.

But with HRC as Commander in Chief, we might just pre-emptively surrender before the attack comes.

[John H K]

Because the US will be busy and distracted for several months, military action against Taiwan would achieve complete surprise -- no one in Washington, or even Taipei for that matter, expects it. You would enjoy initial success, landing hundreds of thousands of soldiers by sea and air before the US could react.

Preparations for landing "hundreds of thousands of soldiers by sea" would take months, possibly the better part of a year, and would be so obvious they would be noticeable with the better French and Russian commericial satellites, much less American spy satellites. They cannot be hidden.

Thus, it is a physical impossibility for such an attack to be a surprise.

Also, the Chinese can't land hundreds of thousands of soldiers by sea..even the US can't do that now, and we have more amphibious assault capability and experience than the entire rest of the world put together.

The ridiculous overrating of the Chinese military and their recent and planned improvements is probably one of the greatest myths of Free Republic; it's perpetrated and continued by a lot of armchair pseudo-Clancys without much of a real concept of things military.

I submit that PRC armed forces are now even more overrated than the Iraqis in the Fall before the 1991 Gulf War; at least the Iraqis had just fought an 8 year war; the Chinese have one of the LEAST experienced militaries on the face of the earth.

[montag813]

Taiwan: If China attacks, it'll be destroyed

How silly. Why would China want Taiwan "destroyed"? They have made a fortune from Hong Kong. They want (much much) more of the same with Taiwan.

I frankly am beginning to really not give a crap about Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, etc. Let them fend for themselves. They have little we want and they all desperately need us to buy their products. This is not the Cold War. Let China dominate these stupid countries. Who gives a sh*t anymore? So long as the oil is ours and the towelheads become our slaves.

[dirtydanusa]

But our store shelves are packed with Made in China crap. The business leaders who moved our manufacturing to China would not be very happy and they and their lobbyists have more clout in Washington than we do. Where would we get our shoes, our toys, our electronics if the U.S faced-off against China? Walmart and K-mart could move into a closet if the U.S. halted China's imports. I don't think China is willing to lose Walmart, K-mart and all the other Chi-com loving business the U.S. has to offer and it's citizens who buy this crap.