“When we liberate Taiwan, communist always ,claim they are liberating the very people they are inslaving ,when they take a country over ,soviot union and cambodia did this same thing
Since the subject of Taiwan come up at my house from time to time, along with Tibet, the Urghyurs, etc, I did a quick Wikidiky study of its history. There was an indigenous population on Taiwan, then the Dutch arrived with Chinese colonists in the 17th century. They were kicked out by the Ching Dynasty, last of the Imperial rulers, who in turn were booted by the Japanese in 1895. Japan held Taiwan until they ceded it to the allies after WWII. Soon after, the Nationalist Chinese were given control and after the death of Chiang Kai-shek, the country began the transition to a democratic country (this is all very superficial, but describes the essentials). Bottom line is that China’s claim to Taiwan is pretty spurious, just like the South China Sea.
When folks say "China has this" or "China would do that", you need to say "Xi Jinping has this or would do that" since he runs China with the same hand that Hitler did Germany and Stalin did the Soviet Union. Like every other dictator before him, he doesn't give a frying phuck about his people, only his power and expansion of it.
If he sees a weak opponent giving him an opportunity to take more, he will. For decades the Chinese government before him knew they couldn't take on the US military so they slowly bought our government and corporations. Now that those are owned our own government, assisted by the media, Big Tech and every other woke idiot, is destroying our military more efficiently from within than any military force could ever do in an open assault. Once Xi sees us as militarily weak enough, he will make his move.
The Chinese armed forces military have historically been [bleep] on quality but they made up for it by an overwhelming quantity, same as the Russians in WWII - ask any Korean veteran who faced human wave attacks. And let's not let hubris blind us to the fact that maybe, just maybe, they do know how to make some decent stuff for their own use as opposed to what they make for retail sales at Walmart. In war, all you need is "good enough". Even if their missiles have a 50% failure rate, if they launch 100 then 50 get through. And remember also that they did just land an unmanned vehicle on Mars, they didn't do that with coolies pulling rickshaws.
I don't doubt that Japan's military and the US military are still miles ahead of the Chinese. We have lots of combat vets in the NCO corps and the middle officer ranks but they are being led more and more by ass kissing politicians in the upper ranks. They are becoming "lions lead by jackasses" as the British military was in WWI.
The West has always suffered from an enormous case of hubris when confronting the Orient. Given an all out effort sch as WWII we prevailed but even then it was at the expense of very bloody lessons learned. Given an artificially limited effort as in Korea and Vietnam results weren't so successful. And in those latter two cases we were fighting a technologically and logistically inferior foe with no theater wide air offense, China would be the first enemy we or Japan has faced in 76 years that could field modern air power to support a well supplied army.
The future is always uncertain but I can easily see Xi Jinping starting WW III; his personality, the state of his military and the moral weakness of his enemies - partly perceived but mostly real - are ripe for it.
Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery. Hit the target, all else is twaddle!
I should think that if push comes to shove a couple of hundred thousand small tungsten rods will magically drop from space and smack anything of import...if someone pushes the right buttons.
China probably won't do anything until the civil war starts here. Then all bets are off and all dictators around the world will take advantage of the chaos.
+1 I will almost gua-ran-damned-tee you that China is going to invade Taiwan while Biden is in office. China owns Biden, as any fool can see. Biden will not do anything meaningful to stop such an action. I doubt the Brits will, and the Aussies might want to, but if the U.S. is not in the game, I doubt if they would seriously get involved. This is not to disparage the Aussies, but it would not be a wise move on their part without the U.S. beside them. The Jap military probably has first rate capabilities, but China would overwhelm them, especially without the U.S. in the game. Don't make the mistake of underestimating the Chinese. While the U.S. Navy and Air Force may be superior to theirs, if we are not a serious player, the game is changed dramatically. Many seem to either not realize or maybe unaware that China has a legitimate space program which gives them the missile technology to seriously threaten Japan. I doubt that China has any desire (currently) to war with the Japs, but would if they were militarily interfered with by them if they were to forcefully take Taiwan. The Japs have no desire to war with the Chinese other than self-defense. I know they don't like each other and haven't for centuries, but currently they leave each other alone. The Japs are not dumb enough, in my opinion, to take on the Chinese alone unless they themselves are attacked. I look for China to militarily move on Taiwan either when there is a major outbreak of civil unrest in the U.S. or before the U.S. midterm elections. They will claim that they are taking back a rebellious province that is rightfully their territory. They own Biden, so he will not stop them and there is no one else on the planet that will try, either, unless they themselves are attacked. JMHO,YMMV.
"...why, land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for,... because it is the only thing that lasts."
“When we liberate Taiwan, communist always ,claim they are liberating the very people they are inslaving ,when they take a country over ,soviot union and cambodia did this same thing
Since the subject of Taiwan come up at my house from time to time, along with Tibet, the Urghyurs, etc, I did a quick Wikidiky study of its history. There was an indigenous population on Taiwan, then the Dutch arrived with Chinese colonists in the 17th century. They were kicked out by the Ching Dynasty, last of the Imperial rulers, who in turn were booted by the Japanese in 1895. Japan held Taiwan until they ceded it to the allies after WWII. Soon after, the Nationalist Chinese were given control and after the death of Chiang Kai-shek, the country began the transition to a democratic country (this is all very superficial, but describes the essentials). Bottom line is that China’s claim to Taiwan is pretty spurious, just like the South China Sea.
That is essentially correct, and a very good perspective. In many respects Taiwan is culturally Chinese, well, sort of. When the mainland Chinese came over with Chiang, and took over by force, they were not welcomed by the Taiwanese. The local Taiwanese version of spoken Chinese is very different from Mandarin. Over the years they have assimilated. and post Chiang, Taiwanese have assumed leadership, even the presidency. When I was there in the late '50s the Nationalist slogan was "Take back the Mainland". The Taiwanese version was "Please do, and leave our island to us".
Stupidity has its way, while its cousin, evil, runs rampant.
The US and Japan have a mutual defense treaty so an attack against Japan is essentially an attack against the US and we are required to defend them.
Do you really think Biden would adhere to that treaty if it meant several west coast cities being destroyed? China isn't a low-tech mob any more. Their Navy is superior--or soon will be--to ours.
Just like we're going to protect Afghanistan from the Taliban. Yeah, right.
Taiwan had better have some nukes of their own hidden away. Several countries have developed nuclear bombs without us knowing about it: India, Pakistan, Israel, South Africa. Wouldn't surprise me if Japan had some too.
Don't blame me. I voted for Trump.
Democrats would burn this country to the ground, if they could rule over the ashes.
Roughly, how many people would die if the Three Gorges Dam collapsed?
Depends on how many people have evacuated. There's been plenty of time… they should already be gone. There are about 400 million people living in the direct path of the tidal wave that would result in the dam's collapse… hense most estimates putting the anticipated death toll on the 50 million range, some up to 100 million from the initial tidal wave that will demolish hundreds of cities.
But… even if it were all successfully evacuated, that's a WHOLE lot of people's livelihood that will be gone. Even if none died that day, 400 million people will be homeless and jobless, with no access to clean water, in an area with demolished infrastructure, therefore more prone to disease and no standing hospitals. People will try to move to other areas (already overpopulated, and the massive draught in northern China means their food supply is already extremely unstable, before the “accidental” food store fires lately).
So areas out of the flood zone will face increased overpopulation, disease, and crime that comes with people desperately fleeing their demolished homes.
People even farther will still be financially impacted by the breakdown in infrastructure and supply chains and lost benefits from those areas, which will have noticable impacts around the world.
All because a little change in the environment rerouted the rain that normally falls in north China was redirected south. (So, the lack of rain in the north causing draught and starvation is also part of this same problem, if not directly connected to the collapse).
Japan has not had a serious incentive to rearm (with nuclear weapons) until now that is. While they may not have the capability physically yet, I would be surprised if there are not the plans and production capability to rearm quickly if needed.
Manufacturing nuclear weapons is not as hard as it used to be if the country is not subject to sanctions, has a decent scientific and engineering community, money and the incentive to do so.
China has been building to dominate the world since Mao. The US has been instrumental in providing the knowledge and hardware to to achieve 1st world capabilities as a buffer to Russia. China will project power at its' own pace and as they see opportunities where opposition will be limited.
The national will to oppose, or even censure China is non-existent in the west. It is present in their Asian/Indian neighbors but the military power gap in China's favor expands daily.
If interested go the the Global Firepower website where up to date mil. capability comparisons are accurate and concise.
Good reads to assist in understanding Chinese culture and the mindset of the CCP:
On China, by Henry Kissinger
The Hundred Year Marathon, by Michael Pillsbury
A naive and complacent west is self destructing more effectively than any enemy could do.
mike r
Don't wish it were easier Wish you were better
Stab them in the taint, you can't put a tourniquet on that. Craig Douglas ECQC
Japanese nuclear capability is like a high school science project. It would be assigned on Friday and turned in on Monday. China would get hit very hard in a war with Japan.
PRC military history since WW ll is not very impressive when you look up their history. They threw some hard punches in Korea for sure, but it came to a draw eventually, Viet Nam, I'd say they won, but only because the US severely limited the use of force and then folded. It was not a military win, it was a political win. Sino-Russian border war was a draw. Sino-Indian war in Tibet (kinda) I believe the Indian Army could have handed them their asses, but the US and UK refused to sell the Indians military hardware. (we will live to regret that decision). But, give the Red Army it's due, it won in Tianamen Square.
Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
