https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3969642

In the wake of China's annexation (for lack of a better word) of Hong Kong, Taiwanese diplomats in the city have been ordered to sign a document affirming "One China" in order to renew their visas. They have thus far refused, and the Head of the office in the city has left Hong Kong for Taiwan.

The Taiwanese Minister of the Interior is now rejecting the principle of "One China" in its entirety, something that has de facto been true for all to see, but against the official recognition of which the CCP has long threatened war. Xi Jinping has made it clear that unification between the two China's should not be passed to the "next generation", and the CCP dropped the word "peaceful" from official language on the need to reunify with Taiwan.

Question for Pard : What stance should the United States and Europe take towards a potential invasion of Taiwan by China?

well they certainly should defend a democratic nation against the invasion of commies

will it happen? unlikely

Militarily, there is nothing the West could do realistically to stop China if they really invaded Taiwan. But it would trigger huge economic and diplomatic sanctions. And it might well push India and even Russia toward the US/EU camp. China has been eyeing resource-rich and underpopulated Siberia for a long time, and in terms of economic might and manpower, Russia wouldnt be able to put up much of a fight if the Chinese came for them. So in the end, I think that an armed annexation of Taiwan would close the ranks against China in most of the rest of the world and turn them into a bit of a pariah.

There absolutely is. Between the US and British navies, China doesn't even have a chance to send troops to occupy the region. It's vitally important for the US to have STRONG diplomatic relationships with Japan, India, South Korea, Vietnam, and the EU. That should deter a Chinese invasion but if for some reason it DOES happen, we need to respond militarily. Diplomatic sanctions won't do anything once a military invasion commences.

In order to achieve victory, the US coalition would need to sink the Chinese fleet and render their artificial islands useless. That can be done in a matter of days. From there, you impose HEAVY sanctions on China in order to send them into a depression. That's really the only way.

This post was edited by thundercock on Jul 19 2020 12:40pm

The United States should sell Los Angeles class attack submarines and Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers to Taiwan.



American submarines can decimate any invasion fleet China could muster and are virtually immune from Chinese counterattack.

Hmm, is China really this far behind in terms of maritime warfare? I have a hard time believing that they still couldn't do shit against American submarines operating a couple of miles off of their own shores.

The pivot to Asia under Obama was the right thing to do. The next logical step in this more aggressive stance towards a growingly hostile power is to confront them economically. Trump was absolutely right to start the trade war, and the subsequent tensions between China and many of their neighbors are absolutely necessary.

We need the world to start divorcing their production from China. For example what Japan is starting to do is the right thing.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-18/japan-to-pay-at-least-536-million-for-companies-to-leave-china

I also mentioned India, them banning a bunch of Chinese apps is a good start. I really think we're entering cold war 2.0.

If we can drive a wedge between Russia and China that would be monumental. They rely heavily on Russian energy exports, if we can get Russia on our side, proverbially speaking that would be a huge win.

This post was edited by ofthevoid on Jul 19 2020 02:18pm

https://thediplomat.com/2018/09/the-chinese-surface-fleets-growing-anti-submarine-warfare-capabilities/

They're coming around after decades. Literally decades.

They've been expanding their anti-ship capabilities for years now, as well as anti-satellite (US military targeting is highly dependent on GPS), but the US Navy is in a class all by itself, and carries potent anti-missile defenses, not to mention the only operating fleet of super carriers in the world. The US Navy is also a true blue water navy, unlike the ChiComs brown water navy. But the creme de la creme of the USN is the silent service. The old Los Angeles class submarine carry 3 dozen torpedos, the new Virginia class mix in a couple dozen missiles for increased range. The submarines can take targeting data from drones and stealth aircraft and take down the ASW platforms from great distance, leaving the rest of an opposing fleet helpless from medium range torpedos.