12-31-2016, 12:05 PM
(12-31-2016, 09:56 AM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: Lol! So it's all my imagination, huh? I dreamed up the "China dream" myself? Maybe I hallucinated those illegal military bases on artificial islands in the SCS as well.
I've been discussing the Taiwan issue with people for 15 years, and there are a lot of people in Congress and the military that are very protective of Taiwan. So I'm telling you that if China invades Taiwan, then we'll be at war within 6 hours. Beijing knows this. If they didn't know it, then they would already have sent troops into Taiwan, as they did in Tiananmen Square, as they have into Tibet and Xinjiang, and are threatening to do in Hong Kong, and as they do anywhere on the mainland at the slightest hint of dissent. Therefore, any threat of war against Taiwan is inevitably a threat of war against the United States. Chinese, Taiwanese and American officials are all aware of this, even if you claim not to be.
Ah, so you base your idea about China wanting to become "the principal superpower in the world" on what a bunch of westerners in DC say?
I can well believe, due to that rising xenophobia and racism you talk about, that westerners in DC might have some delusional paranoia along the lines you outline. That doesn't mean that China is likely to start a war with the US, though; it means any war between the two is more likely to be started by the US.
Of course, that may not make a lot of difference. If such a war went nuclear, the US would lose a bunch of cities and China would lose everything - which is perhaps another reason the US is more likely to start such a war. It's far from clear that Russia would come in on the US side, though; more likely they would sit it out until it was already decided. I suppose they might then decide to take over China, so that they can actually become the world's predominant superpower.
