"Why a U.S-China War Over Taiwan Won’t Be Anything" Topic

….Like the Syria Strikes

"Great powers have a habit of intervening to shield weak allies from rival great powers and advance their own purposes. Last week it was Russia vowing to shoot down American missiles bound for Syrian chemical-weapon sites. Judging from recent Chinese words and deeds, next week could see the U.S. Navy attempting to repulse a Chinese assault on nearby Taiwan.

The Chinese Communist Party depicts the island as a wayward province and has pledged to restore mainland sovereignty there—by force if necessary. As China amasses military power, improving its chances of imposing a solution at manageable cost, it may define necessary more expansively. Power begets ambition.

The prospect of maritime war is nothing new to the Western Pacific. Sometimes the possibility of a U.S.-China war hovers in the background. Sometimes it vaults into the foreground. In April 2018, China's navy held live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait at short notice, ostensibly to "deter separatists" and "draw a red line to the U.S. and Taiwan." The exercise came on the heels of a South China Sea naval parade ballyhooed as China's biggest in 600 years…."

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Amicalement
Armand

Three ocean-going ships would make the biggest Chinese Naval parade in 600 years.

China doesn't need to fight the US over Taiwan, they play the long game very well and deepening economic ties is much cheaper than picking a fight with the US.

Totally Agree!.

Amicalement
Armand

As unlikely as a war between the US and the PRC would appear, the Chinese are the best boogeymen we can come up with these days since Russia isn't really a serious threat. All the recent techno-thrillers are about a "what if" conflict with China in the SCS or ECS, including:

'Shattered Trident' by Larry Bond
'Lash-Up' by Larry Bond
'Empire Rising' by Rick Campbell
'Ghost Fleet' by PW Singer and August Cole

War isn't boring. Peacetime is.