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China could defeat US in East Pacific conflict by 2020: Russian analyst

I doubt quite strongly the idea that China could defeat the U.S. in the water. Granted, China does have ship-killing missiles, but the air power off our carriers alone would wipe out China's navy.

Yes, of course. They are the paper tiger.
 
Again, the US is cutting defense spending while China's is on steroids, and your 100 billion figure is just wrong.

Let's say its 200 billion. Still it is much less than ours, and unlike the United States, they don't have the benefit of decades of massive investments in defense technology, ships, planes and equipment. What would you have us do, start another arms race with a country that is not even an enemy, but rather just a competitor? China's per-capita GDP is a fraction of ours (about 15% what ours is). They simply do not have the kind of money to compete with us in terms of defense. People have this misconception of China being a very rich country. It's not. It is a nation with some very modern cities on the coasts, and the majority of it's population living in abject poverty.
 
Let's say its 200 billion. Still it is much less than ours, and unlike the United States, they don't have the benefit of decades of massive investments in defense technology, ships, planes and equipment. What would you have us do, start another arms race with a country that is not even an enemy, but rather just a competitor? China's per-capita GDP is a fraction of ours (about 15% what ours is). They simply do not have the kind of money to compete with us in terms of defense. People have this misconception of China being a very rich country. It's not. It is a nation with some very modern cities on the coasts, and the majority of it's population living in abject poverty.

Look at post 23 for a better figure. No, I'm certainly not interested in any type of race with China. The point is that China is responding to US aggression, namely the pre-emptive strike policy begun by Bush, against any country we claim has the ability and desire to attack us. Which is total foolishness. The whole "mushroom clouds over an American city" meme is bull****, but that's what you get when you bully the world. So China is preparing, and who could blame them.
 
I have a question that doesn't seem to have been answered yet:

Who cares?
 
It won't be a ground war that we will have to wage with China though. What it will probably become is an attempt to assert it's rights and aggressively defend it's claims in the East and South China Sea. The US and Japan won't tolerate this, and that's when war would break out. Not a world war scale, but a naval/air force action which they have been preparing for the last 20 or so years. At that point, it will probably devolve into a blockade of some sort to try and starve out the country of energy and food, because China doesn't have the force projection capabilities they won't be able to break it. In response, they'll probably send out their diesel sub fleet and start hitting our shipping and oil rigs that we rely on. Then it just be a question of who is willing to suffer the longest, odds are that the US would cave first, as public opinion will probably see it as just another war "over there" and Japan doesn't have the resources to wage that kind of war for a prolonged period of time.

First off, the CCP is very pragmatic. There is no way they would ever do anything that would result in a military conflict with us. Their economy is entirely dependent on consumption in the United States and Western Europe. Their population is far too poor to provide anywhere near the kind of domestic consumption they need for a less dependent economy. If they had any sort of major conflict with us or one our allies, it would at minimum result in major economic sanctions against China by the west. This would quickly result in a total collaspe of the Chinese economy, and if it lasted very long at all, large-scale famines where tens of millions of Chinese would most likely starve. Do you think the CCP would survive that? Of course not. They might flex their muscles in the region from time to time, but in the end, they need us more than we need them, and they know it.
 
First off, the CCP is very pragmatic. There is no way they would ever do anything that would result in a military conflict with us. Their economy is entirely dependent on consumption in the United States and Western Europe. Their population is far too poor to provide anywhere near the kind of domestic consumption they need for a less dependent economy. If they had any sort of major conflict with us or one our allies, it would at minimum result in major economic sanctions against China by the west. This would quickly result in a total collaspe of the Chinese economy, and if it lasted very long at all, large-scale famines where tens of millions of Chinese would most likely starve. Do you think the CCP would survive that? Of course not. They might flex their muscles in the region from time to time, but in the end, they need us more than we need them, and they know it.

Funny that CFR's report didn't just conclude that. And Funny that in 2011 Leon Panetta disclosed that the Pentagon would be transferring 60% of its assets to WestPac. And funny how Japan is all ass holes and elbows readying itself for such eventuality.
 
First off, the CCP is very pragmatic. There is no way they would ever do anything that would result in a military conflict with us. Their economy is entirely dependent on consumption in the United States and Western Europe. Their population is far too poor to provide anywhere near the kind of domestic consumption they need for a less dependent economy. If they had any sort of major conflict with us or one our allies, it would at minimum result in major economic sanctions against China by the west. This would quickly result in a total collaspe of the Chinese economy, and if it lasted very long at all, large-scale famines where tens of millions of Chinese would most likely starve. Do you think the CCP would survive that? Of course not. They might flex their muscles in the region from time to time, but in the end, they need us more than we need them, and they know it.

The problem with that line of logic is that you assume that the CCP will always act rationally. Two scenarios come to mind where they wouldn't:

1) Despite everyone painting such a rosy picture of China's economy, they have some serious underlining issues. I won't bore you with the details, but as you have said, they need to maintain about 7 or 8% GDP or start having to deal with the growing domestic issues of their country. At some point things are going to falter. Instead of dealing with the unrest inside their country, they would seek to focus their anger at an exterior source, and let's say it's the US/Japan. They gin up the people's anger, say it's all their fault, and eventually they must act. That action would either come from an Invasion of Taiwan, or some sort of Nationalistic movement asserting with more force their territorial claims.

2) Guns of August. Both sides not just underestimate the other in terms of capabilities, but in their resolve. Let's say one day China takes a provocative move by forcing an encounter in one of the defense zones they have established. Things get tense up there, someone misjudges the other or makes a mistake, and that would be all the justification for military action. If an American got shot down, we probably would just smack sanctions on them, which the Chinese would then retaliate with their own. If a Chinese was shot down, you could be a nationalistic movement would rise up and demand action. It could easily become a situation where the leaders don't have control.
 
SD, note the words "serious concerns"

(Reuters) - China is using espionage to acquire technologies to fuel its fast-paced military modernization program, the Pentagon said on Monday in an annual report that for the first time accused Beijing of trying to break into U.S. defense computer networks.

In its 83-page annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments, the Pentagon also cited progress in Beijing's effort to develop advanced-technology stealth aircraft and build an aircraft carrier fleet to project power further offshore.

The report said China's cyber snooping was a "serious concern" that pointed to an even greater threat because the "skills required for these intrusions are similar to those necessary to conduct computer network attacks."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/06/us-usa-defense-china-idUSBRE94511720130506
 
SD, note the words "serious concerns"

(Reuters) - China is using espionage to acquire technologies to fuel its fast-paced military modernization program, the Pentagon said on Monday in an annual report that for the first time accused Beijing of trying to break into U.S. defense computer networks.

In its 83-page annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments, the Pentagon also cited progress in Beijing's effort to develop advanced-technology stealth aircraft and build an aircraft carrier fleet to project power further offshore.

The report said China's cyber snooping was a "serious concern" that pointed to an even greater threat because the "skills required for these intrusions are similar to those necessary to conduct computer network attacks."

Espionage fuels China's fast-paced military buildup: Pentagon | Reuters

The Carrier and the Stealth Aircraft projects are largely for show though. They are at least two decades out from being a serious threat on the world stage.
 
The Carrier and the Stealth Aircraft projects are largely for show though. They are at least two decades out from being a serious threat on the world stage.
U.S. Official Warns About China’s Military Buildup


WASHINGTON — The pace and scope of China’s military buildup is “potentially destabilizing” in the Pacific, a top defense official warned Wednesday as the Pentagon released an annual report cataloging China’s cruise missiles, fighter jets and growing, modernizing army.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/world/25military.html

I'm just not sure who would have a better handle on China's capabilities, the Pentagon, or Hamster Buddah
 
U.S. Official Warns About China’s Military Buildup

WASHINGTON — The pace and scope of China’s military buildup is “potentially destabilizing” in the Pacific, a top defense official warned Wednesday as the Pentagon released an annual report cataloging China’s cruise missiles, fighter jets and growing, modernizing army.

Have you seen their Aircraft Carrier? It doesn't even have any aircraft at this point. Trust me, that thing would be destroyed within the first hour of the war because it doesn't have the backup to support it. China doesn't care about a blue water navy at this point. And it will still be a couple of decades until their Air Force can really match ours in terms of technology or capability. Keep in mind that we've been at war for over a decade at this point. Again though, China only cares about it's area of the world. The cruise missiles are the biggest threats there, I do agree.
 
Funny that CFR's report didn't just conclude that. And Funny that in 2011 Leon Panetta disclosed that the Pentagon would be transferring 60% of its assets to WestPac. And funny how Japan is all ass holes and elbows readying itself for such eventuality.

China cannot even feed itself. It lacks the arable land to do so. Have you ever been there? They may one day rival us in power, but it won't be in the next few years I assure you. A country with a per-capita GDP of around 6k is not going to take on a country with a per-capita GDP of over 50k. It's just not going to happen. Moreover, half the large companies operating in China are American and other western corporations. You think the CCP is going to blow all that up? Shut their economy down over night? The only reason the CCP is still in power in China is economic growth. The communist party there starts sweating bullets when GDP growth drops into the high single digits. That country is dealing with massive domestic problems as it is… Horrible Pollution, Population Displacement, Out Of Control Housing Costs, Desertification, Rampant Corruption… Hell about a forth of the countries population has hepatitis because it took them forever to clean up their blood banks. Half the country is running out of water, and the pollution is so bad in the cities that it cuts their life expectancy by 5 years. The problem we have in this country are petty in comparison to what China faces. Why would they create a new huge problem for themselves by starting a war?
 
China cannot even feed itself. It lacks the arable land to do so. Have you ever been there? They may one day rival us in power, but it won't be in the next few years I assure you. A country with a per-capita GDP of around 6k is not going to take on a country with a per-capita GDP of over 50k. It's just not going to happen. Moreover, half the large companies operating in China are American and other western corporations. You think the CCP is going to blow all that up? Shut their economy down over night? The only reason the CCP is still in power in China is economic growth. The communist party there starts sweating bullets when GDP growth drops into the high single digits. That country is dealing with massive domestic problems as it is… Horrible Pollution, Population Displacement, Out Of Control Housing Costs, Desertification, Rampant Corruption… Hell about a forth of the countries population has hepatitis because it took them forever to clean up their blood banks. Half the country is running out of water, and the pollution is so bad in the cities that it cuts their life expectancy by 5 years. The problem we have in this country are petty in comparison to what China faces. Why would they create a new huge problem for themselves by starting a war?

I really do recommend the Guns of August.
 
The Carrier and the Stealth Aircraft projects are largely for show though. They are at least two decades out from being a serious threat on the world stage.

You are familiar with what industry was able to do in the US during the four short years of WW11. China is the manufacturing hub of the world now. People keep pretending like taking on China would be like taking on Iraq, Libya, or A-Stan. What is it with the dismissive attitude about China?
 
You are familiar with what industry was able to do in the US during the four short years of WW11. China is the manufacturing hub of the world now. People keep pretending like taking on China would be like taking on Iraq, Libya, or A-Stan. What is it with the dismissive attitude about China?

Oh I'm not dismissive of them I agree that it would be no cake walk with them, and I'd probably be willing to bet on their side in a few more years, but I know what China's goals are. And China is smart enough to not spread itself out to thin. They'll let our politicians and generals continue to think the Carrier is a threat, all the while there developing missiles, EW, and other technologies to allow them to lock down the East and South China Seas.
 
China cannot even feed itself. It lacks the arable land to do so. Have you ever been there? They may one day rival us in power, but it won't be in the next few years I assure you. A country with a per-capita GDP of around 6k is not going to take on a country with a per-capita GDP of over 50k. It's just not going to happen. Moreover, half the large companies operating in China are American and other western corporations. You think the CCP is going to blow all that up? Shut their economy down over night? The only reason the CCP is still in power in China is economic growth. The communist party there starts sweating bullets when GDP growth drops into the high single digits. That country is dealing with massive domestic problems as it is… Horrible Pollution, Population Displacement, Out Of Control Housing Costs, Desertification, Rampant Corruption… Hell about a forth of the countries population has hepatitis because it took them forever to clean up their blood banks. Half the country is running out of water, and the pollution is so bad in the cities that it cuts their life expectancy by 5 years. The problem we have in this country are petty in comparison to what China faces. Why would they create a new huge problem for themselves by starting a war?

Sure SD. You go tell all that bull**** to the administration, the Pentagon, the CFR and other think tanks full of people with just a little bit more knowledge on the subject than you, all the analysts, including the one in the op and let us know what you hear back.
 
Have you seen their Aircraft Carrier? It doesn't even have any aircraft at this point. Trust me, that thing would be destroyed within the first hour of the war because it doesn't have the backup to support it. China doesn't care about a blue water navy at this point. And it will still be a couple of decades until their Air Force can really match ours in terms of technology or capability. Keep in mind that we've been at war for over a decade at this point. Again though, China only cares about it's area of the world. The cruise missiles are the biggest threats there, I do agree.

Ok. Then perhaps these reports I'm posting is just Bush era type fear-mongering to gin up support for a war with China.
 
Again though, it's all about priorities. To maintain a world wide military requires at least 600 billion dollars, and that's not including the wars and such. China only needs to worry about Taiwan, East and South China Sea and that's it. They don't care for any other problems around the world. You won't see them sending troops abroad. Therefore, there not going to invest in the Carriers, Aircraft, Navy, capable of fulfilling such a role. If they needed to lock down either the East or South China Sea, they could do so in short order by 2020, without major shift in priorities to the Pacific. (which we are pivoting to I grant you, but we're still behind.)

I also doubt that China spends $840,000 per military veteran either. And we have millions of them. They will be far more efficient with their funds - and of course it is their turf also making it cost effective. The only reason China isn't more of a super power now is there was no reason to be. With us circling around them saber rattling, now they do. This is a wet dream made by and coming true for military industrialists.
 
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There is a bizarre view that the USA has the task of "containing" every country on earth. That is just asserted. There is no merit to it.

China is the most populous and largest country in their region. And they are an industrial giant. Plus they are a nuclear power. Therefore, it is in the normal order of things that China would dominate their region economically, politically and militarily. It is only the endless clamor of the military industrialists, those in the military with personal interests, and air chair warriors for which the universal response is "So what? China poised no military threat against the USA - and it is our thousands of nuclear weapons that says so."
 
No, it is not. All serious academics see China as a growing threat to WestPac presently and beyond in the future.

I didn't say they didn't. I said none would accept that China is capable of making up all the progress necessary to defeat the United States over the next seven years. Especially not in the 'Eastern Pacific' as the author purports as this would mean fighting the United States closer to California and Mexico than Asia. This is a silly article.
 
China could soon defeat the United States and its allies in a naval conflict in the East Pacific, says Vassily Kashin, a senior research fellow at the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

In a commentary published on Dec. 27 on the website of the Voice of Russia, the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service, Kashin says it is "highly probable" that by 2020 China could defeat the US in a local conflict in the east part of the Pacific or slow down the transportation of US forces to the region after it completes its current cycle of reforming and rearming the People's Liberation Army.

"
China could be able of reaching its political goals even before the US localizes all the necessary forces for a full-scale counterattack,"
Kashin said.

China could defeat US in East Pacific conflict by 2020: Russian analyst


Well, we could only hope that such events need not ever be stress tested.




Yeah, and if your aunt was a man s/he could be your auncle.
 
Ok. Then perhaps these reports I'm posting is just Bush era type fear-mongering to gin up support for a war with China.

Calm down man, I'm actually on your side here. One doesn't need to be a superpower to adequately defend two small bodies of water. I'm just saying that their emphasis isn't on power projection or open water navies, but in A2/AD. Here's a paper on the subject (From the Naval War College no less):

http://www.usnwc.edu/Lucent/OpenPdf.aspx?id=95&title=The Global System in Transition
 
Oh I'm not dismissive of them I agree that it would be no cake walk with them, and I'd probably be willing to bet on their side in a few more years, but I know what China's goals are. And China is smart enough to not spread itself out to thin. They'll let our politicians and generals continue to think the Carrier is a threat, all the while there developing missiles, EW, and other technologies to allow them to lock down the East and South China Seas.

Well that's the whole point, isn't it. China wants to deny US interference in the China sea, very critical for them. And as the reports I've been posting project, our Pentagon has very serious (their words) concerns about a fist fight with China. After all, administrations have been pitching them cake walks for the last several decades!
 
There is a bizarre view that the USA has the task of "containing" every country on earth. That is just asserted. There is no merit to it.

China is the most populous and largest country in their region. And they are an industrial giant. Plus they are a nuclear power. Therefore, it is in the normal order of things that China would dominate their region economically, politically and militarily. It is only the endless clamor of the military industrialists, those in the military with personal interests, and air chair warriors for which the universal response is "So what? China poised no military threat against the USA - and it is our thousands of nuclear weapons that says so."

We do not want an nationalist autocracy to dominate the most populous and economically important continent on the planet. It is in our interests to prevent this from occurring politically, economically, and morally.
 
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