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America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

economist.com

61–70 of 115 posts

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#62
post #39
post #27

This has a very ominous inevitable tone to it. I question how wise it is to even publish an article with this tone given how grave the consequences of such a war would be. Just reading the title sent a chill for me. Any war like that will push the whole world into protracted recession and it will be hell for every country.

I definitely appreciate that inflammatory articles might push us closer to war but it also seems rather dangerous to cover up anything that suggests war. That feels a bit reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain before WWII.

It's been entirely media driven since 2018 on the topic. Nobody cared about China before then, and they wouldn't care now if it weren't for the constant hype.

Anyone recall even seeing the acronym "CCP" in print before 2018 or so? Then suddenly it's ubiquitous and everyone knows it.

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#63
post #14

It would be a proxy war, not direct US troop involvement. But China says any response from Taiwan will be taken as a direct response from the US. So, that could go south in a hurry. I think Ukraine showed China exactly what the world response would be to such an invasion - i.e. shunning, so I doubt this would happen except as a way to goad the US into a war. And China certainly isn't ready for that yet. From the US P…

It is impossible for Taiwan to be proxy war. China will be able to blockade the island and probably achieve air superiority. There is no way to supply Taiwan without getting shot at and involved. China is getting close to being ready for invasion. China has built a lot in the last decade, they built an entire modern navy. Amphibious invasions are difficult, and it is possible that they are impossible in modern world.

That isn't true. The Ryukyus are right next door to Taiwan, and that is where much of America's strength in East Asia is. The reason the USA is not in Taiwan is simply that they don't need to be.

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#64
post #27

This has a very ominous inevitable tone to it. I question how wise it is to even publish an article with this tone given how grave the consequences of such a war would be. Just reading the title sent a chill for me. Any war like that will push the whole world into protracted recession and it will be hell for every country.

Seeing a lot of anti-free speech comments like this. This isn't even about supporting an asshole who claims "free speech." This is information with a certain tone, so are you anti-information with someone that has a certain tone?

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#65

I’ve always found it strange that military planning and training is considered newsworthy and informational. I’d be a whole lot more upset and surprised if USA and China were not preparing for a war over Taiwan. It is one of the top 3 most likely sparks for war between them. Which is not to say that it is “likely”.

How they are preparing is important. For example, China has built a modern navy in the last decade. Invasion is actually possible. Enough that people have been making predictions on it happening in next five years based on when China will be ready.

The US has been focused on Iraq and Afghanistan and sort of neglected Navy and Air Force. The article is partly about the Marines completely changing strategy to fight China.

Finally, Taiwan preparing for war is important. They haven't been preparing seriously until recently. They have forces for power projection while they need weapons for defense. Ukraine has shown that defense against superior opponent is possible.

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#66
post #27

This has a very ominous inevitable tone to it. I question how wise it is to even publish an article with this tone given how grave the consequences of such a war would be. Just reading the title sent a chill for me. Any war like that will push the whole world into protracted recession and it will be hell for every country.

Seeing a lot of anti-free speech comments like this. This isn't even about supporting an asshole who claims "free speech." This is information with a certain tone, so are you anti-information with someone that has a certain tone?

I don’t think questioning whether someone’s speech is “wise” is limiting their free speech

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#67
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia invaded Ukraine over control of the ports of Sebastopol and Odessa, and over control of the Varangian Road from the Black Sea to Moscow. These are immediate national security concerns. There were those of us who looked at the Eastern expansion of NATO with great concern, a proxy war was going to be fought, and Europe was going to have to deal with the refugees and the political instability.

And so why did Russia invade or attack Moldova and multiple other countries like Georgia? I believe the underlying reason is Russia wants to absorb all of those back or at least control them with puppets. I'm sure in each country they can point to a national security issue. Russia is going to invade and control all the small countries around them unless Europe works together to stop them with the US.

And so why did Russia invade or attack Moldova and multiple other countries like Georgia?

Alsace was fought over by Germany and France for centuries for very much the same reason - access to defensible terrain and natural resources. Many Europeans do not care for US proxy wars but they are affected by political instability and hordes of war refugees.

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My worry from debating Chinese nationalists is that they think war is necessary, that it will go their way, and that it will end. I totally understand China wanting to be superpower. They seem to think that the US is coercing everybody, including allies, by force. They think that if US is defeated and they can replace them or at least coerce the local area. I wish they kept using soft power, that was working well for…

> My worry from debating Chinese nationalists is that they think war is necessary, that it will go their way, and that it will end. Is this bravado any different than what Europeans and Americans regularly do? Look at the imperialism and colonizing. Why can’t the west leave the world alone? Of course Taiwan and Ukraine are serious circumstances but so are Yemen, Congo, Palestine, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Afghanistan, Ira…

Seriously? Both-sidesing Taiwan? All China has to do is not invade.

> Why can’t the west leave the world alone?

Why can't China leave Taiwan alone?

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#69

Is anyone really equipped to go to war with the USA? Unrestrained war with the US war machine would be....catastrophic, to say the least. I mean for both parties, but the US out spends everyone by a wide margin[0] and the US military is very advanced and well resourced, and well trained. Even if the fighting was just constrained to Taiwan, it would be pretty bad for everyone, but I think it would be especially bad fo…

Maybe you're overestimating the USA the way Russia was overestimated. How many actual wars did the USA win? Out of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf War only the latter was an actual victory.

The US has never lost a war. Withdrawing due to lack of political support is not defeat resulting from being overwhelmed by an enemy force. If you had your way, victory can only be acheived in afghanistan by committing genocide and killing every radical muslim in afghanistan that will support the taliban or occupying countries for centuries. Both iraq and afghanistan were won within months of the start of the conflict. Korea is technically still in a state of war with the north unable to advance past the 38th. Vietnam perhaps, because the US had heavy casualties but technically the US was supporting the south and ceased support due to domestic politics.

Right now, by any serious account, even if all the armies of the world joined forced they cannot defeat the US on an all out conflict. Now the US might again star a war over Taiwan and come another election cycle it will just not be a popular thing and withdraw after enduring casualties in the 10s of thousands and losing trillions of dollars. That kind of a lame withdrawal I can see.

But a conflict with China, unlike small boring countries will mean attack on mainland US!! Something that hasn't happened since pearl harbor. And is very unlikely to fizzle out of popularity in a few years. It will probably be the one thing that can unite the US and save american democracy ironically.

You gotta understand, it isn't the 5-6x times bigger military budget, much much bigger navy,huge territory far away from China or allies, the insane sprawling military complex, the diet and health of military aged men (never mind the obesity, when americans bulk, it is at scale),supply chain,800 bases around the world (china has like 2), NATO support,etc... far beyond that the US has something every military starves for:experience!! Since WW2, every generation of americans has has a major war and the US is constantly engaged in subterfuge or random smaller skirmishes around the world. The PLA of China has never had a real war since it's inception, perhaps it can defend the mainland or even Taiwan but the US can keep coming back and hammer them out unless they can manage to get their 2 carriers to get a few hundred thousand chinese to mainland US, use nukes (and risk getting nuked back) or technologically overwhelm US bases and carriers by a large margin. Their economy is great but the stability of their government depends on it, halting most of their international trade will not help their stability.

Now my speculation is that Xi will attempt to invade Taiwan and the US will retaliate and support Taiwan but both the US and China will avoid mainland or non-military targets and come up with a treaty that will save faces on both ends after like a year at most because they will both miss the money too much.

But keep in mind also, chinese intelligence has a chokehold on key american figures and can be overwhelming to US counterintel. If you think the fee republicans supporting Russia now is a big deal, half of congress might support China in a war, if not openly, china might be able to manipulate them to push for a more ukraine-like passive support.

The US is like godzilla and other countries are like japanese people in older movies when it attacks tokyo. You can defeat it, just not in an outright battle of strength.

Re: America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

#70
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the biggest threat to security globally is that once it has been decided that the war is strategic, both sides will use propaganda to motivate their population into thinking that the war is a moral mission. There is not going to be anything moral about it. War is caused by a total failure of management over a number of years. A big part of what is increasing tensions are the real world economic problems globa…

> This is the biggest threat to security globally Eye Roll I thought Russia was the biggest threat. Wait, wasn't it Iraq? No it was Iran! hmmm

Maybe re-read what I wrote. What I am trying to say is that the biggest threat to global security is war propaganda.
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