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Defend _how_ though? How do you defend against an adversary with ICBMs, fleet, and air force who, on top of that, can draft an army that exceeds the entire popu
by m0zg 5y ago
Defend _how_ though? How do you defend against an adversary with ICBMs, fleet, and air force who, on top of that, can draft an army that exceeds the entire population of the US? "Nuclear conflict" only works as a deterrent when the situation is one-sided. That is very much not the case here.
- swader999 5y agoRod of god into 3GD for a start.
- nradov 5y agoChina could certainly wreck Taiwan with air and missile strikes, however an invasion is far more difficult. China has limited amphibious lift capacity and those ships would be very vulnerable while crossing the strait. Due to geography there are only a few beaches and ports where an invasion force could put ashore, and those all have extensive defenses. So it doesn't matter how large China's population is if they can't get them to Taiwan, and then maintain the necessary logistic train.
- m0zg 5y agoWait, you're seriously suggesting that _Taiwan_ (pop 23.6M) could protect itself against _China_? I don't know what to tell you.
- evilos 5y agoFrom a traditional amphibious assault? Absolutely, because they are a fucking nightmare to pull off. Amphibious assault basically negates the population advantage that China has. Of course if China wanted to just bombard Taiwan into rubble, there is nothing Taiwan could do about that. But the cost/benefit of such an action is really bad.
- Apocryphon 5y agoAmphibious invasions are notoriously difficult. Prior to D-Day, the most large-scale invasion in history that went successfully was what, William the Conqueror in England?
- MagnumOpus 5y agoThere are a whole bunch of modern examples, no need to go back to Willy the Bastard. * At least three big landings in the Gallipoli campaign in WW1 * Dozens of huge naval landings in all theatres in WW2. The Med, North Africa, the Baltic, Rangoon, Pacific island hopping, you name it. Besides D-Day, the battle of Anzio was also huge with 100s of thousands participating. * The naval invasion of Hainan in 1950 is particularly pertinent, pitting the Chinese communists against the Republic of China. * Battle of Inchon in Korean War. Big, decisive, victorious naval landing. And yes there were sizeable successful opposed naval landing operations in every sizeable war since - Suez, Vietnam, Falklands, Iran-Iraq, Gulf Wars 1 and 2. There only weren’t any in Afghanistan because it is landlocked and at 10k feet altitude…
- ulucs 5y agoGallipoli was successful?
- native_samples 5y agoA big moat stopped Hitler from attempting a land invasion of Great Britain despite having conquered most of Europe.
- 5y ago
- robbedpeter 5y agoMissiles would get through, then there would be retaliatory strikes, and all those pretty little islands China has been building will get reduced to rubble. China talks a good show, but they've got nowhere near the arsenal the US has, and if China is going to fuck the world's supply chains anyway, I have no doubt their factories and foundries would be destroyed. There's a lot of naval and air power concentrated in that part of the world, and the US doesn't need to worry about the land war in Asia conundrum . Not to mention cyber warfare, and the immediate isolation from the west. The US isn't just a nuclear superpower, it's got an absurdly over-large conventional arsenal.
- m0zg 5y agoWars against nuclear superpowers can't be "won". China is a nuclear superpower.