War, Children, Is Just a Shot Away....with China

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Originally Posted by Ed L.

Except that we would be having to move forces half way around the world while China would be fighting in their own home waters where they have lots of shorter ranged fast patrol craft equipped with some surprisingly modern anti-ship missiles. They might not be good for power projection but they would be hell in home waters. They have DF-21 antiship ballistic missiles and YJ-12 and YJ-18 land, sea and air launched anti-ship missiles. The YJ-12 and YJ-18 are actually more advanced and longer ranged than our decades-old Harpoon antiship missiles.

China has been hard at work on anti-access weapons, strategies, and tactics which would make it impossible for use to fight them in their home waters without suffering heavy losses.

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Well one of the basic truisms of war is "Don't invade China."

Hopefully were aren't dumb enough to do that one. China has watched us stand by as Russia has reclaimed parts of it's former Union. China has territorial ambitions and wonders if we might continue to sit on our hands while buying their products in Wal Mart.

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Originally Posted by SteyrAUG

Well one of the basic truisms of war is "Don't invade China

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Along with "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" .

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Originally Posted by SteyrAUG

Well one of the basic truisms of war is "Don't invade China."

Hopefully were aren't dumb enough to do that one. China has watched us stand by as Russia has reclaimed parts of it's former Union. China has territorial ambitions and wonders if we might continue to sit on our hands while buying their products in Wal Mart.

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I dunno, Japan was doing okay until they decided to invade SE Asia and bomb Pearl Harbor. China is all about soft-power projection. "Buying" Africa fits perfectly within their plan. I don't see them as having any desire for a conventional conflict with the U.S. - they stand to lose way too much. China's "memory" is thousands of years. They aren't in a hurry to invade Taiwan - odds are that if they wait long enough, they'll have Taiwan back without any real struggle. That's the problem with our view of China as an adversary, they're willing to wait much longer to achieve true strategic aims, whereas we're on a 4-year cycle. There's no true long-term vision among our culture.

When Newsom pulled the plug on high-speed rail, I saw a quote from the original project manager from over a decade ago (he was Dutch, IIRC) and he said something along the lines of, "It makes perfect sense to start the project in the Valley IF there is the political will to get this done in the long term. Americans have a very short-sighted view, Europeans look out to the middle-term, and Asians truly look at the long-term." It all has to do with expectations - we are in the "now" and they're willing to wait everyone out.

China has studied our military since Korea. Not a lot of victories for the U.S. military.

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Originally Posted by sundance435

I dunno, Japan was doing okay until they decided to invade SE Asia and bomb Pearl Harbor. China is all about soft-power projection. "Buying" Africa fits perfectly within their plan. I don't see them as having any desire for a conventional conflict with the U.S. - they stand to lose way too much. China's "memory" is thousands of years. They aren't in a hurry to invade Taiwan - odds are that if they wait long enough, they'll have Taiwan back without any real struggle. That's the problem with our view of China as an adversary, they're willing to wait much longer to achieve true strategic aims, whereas we're on a 4-year cycle. There's no true long-term vision among our culture.

When Newsom pulled the plug on high-speed rail, I saw a quote from the original project manager from over a decade ago (he was Dutch, IIRC) and he said something along the lines of, "It makes perfect sense to start the project in the Valley IF there is the political will to get this done in the long term. Americans have a very short-sighted view, Europeans look out to the middle-term, and Asians truly look at the long-term." It all has to do with expectations - we are in the "now" and they're willing to wait everyone out.

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Clue: they have NOT pulled the plug on high speed rail in CA, I don't care what you heard. Newsom made that announcement, then affirmed that he still wants to build 2/3'DS of it now and finish it later. The finish later is spoken behind closed doors. A gal I went to high school with and am still close to is Chief Deputy Director and acting CEO of high speed rail.

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Originally Posted by SteveS

China has studied our military since Korea. Not a lot of victories for the U.S. military.

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Ummm...I think the First Gulf War was a pretty big eye-opener for lots of folks, the Chinese included.