Comments by "VisibilityFoggy" (@VisibilityFoggy) on "Why Does China Want to Invade Taiwan?" video.

@lukemurray4950 If China was concerned about what the "people" want, it would hold a free and fair election. Are you CCP trolls too scared that you'd be kicked out of office if you weren't able to run people over with tanks when they disagree with you?
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@sisyphusvasilias3943 You can't really blame the U.S. for this. If you're from a free and democratic republic, would you want to be bullied by a ruthless dictatorship? I sure don't. This isn't about the U.S. versus China. It is about the democratic world versus the totalitarian world. China obsesses over symbolism and has created its entire foreign policy based on settling centuries-old political scores and trying to prove that their system, which involves the use of concentration camps and running people over with tanks, is somehow better than a functioning representative government. They're not fooling anyone with half a brain, and picking fights with literally EVERY one of your neighbors is eventually going to start a war. The U.S. had BETTER stand up for its allies.
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Hey, a Swedish submarine was so advanced that it defeated a U.S. carrier. Then the U.S. actually borrowed/leased the Swedish sub so they could improve their own nuclear subs and surface fleet to reduce the acoustic signature. This proves why allies (including small ones) are incredibly important – and it's important to note that besides a few rogue states in far-flung corners of the world, China has none.
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It depends on the theater. For a war in the Pacific, it's hard to island-hop and establish bases and other forward facilities when you have to bring tons of armor with you. That's why the U.S. Marine Corps has gotten rid of much of its tank force in recent years as they transition from a focus on the desert and mountains to the Pacific. A lot of the knowledge gained during World War II is surprisingly still relevant, and the U.S. has maintained quite a bit of institutional knowledge that could come in handy.
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The Aegis Combat System and the SPY radar really can't be "hacked," per se, but any electronic communications is subject to some level of jamming or interference which, in a worst-case scenario, could lead to a mission kill. In the case of a carrier strike group during an active conflict, the goal would be to prevent enemy assets capable of jamming up the system from getting close enough to do so in the first place. During peace time, for example, Russia and the U.S. routinely fly planes over and around each other's naval fleet during exercises. This kind of thing simply wouldn't happen during wartime, for either side. It would likely take a majority of the entirety of the PLAAF's aircraft to crack a single carrier group – and the U.S. has twelve of them, plus the new group that the HM Queen Elizabeth is leading (which includes U.S. ships and F-35s), plus the amphibious groups which effectively are just small carrier strike groups. CSGs are extremely well-defended. The Americans and British never really developed a lot of land-based SAMs, for instance, but both countries' ships are arguably the best defended in the world.
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The difference in all of this is that the Turks and Italians didn't actually have the authority to unilaterally launch a nuclear attack on the Soviets. In Cuba, Castro did, and was openly willing to sacrifice the island to defeat the United States. Khrushchev was actually scared to death over the fact that Castro had ready access to these weapons and he wanted them out of there as much as the U.S. did. Meanwhile, the U.S. had planned to retire the nuke sites in Europe before the crisis even began. Essentially, it worked out for both sides – the USSR got its missiles out of the hands of a madman who could begin World War III, and the U.S. was able to remove its outdated missiles from Europe without appearing weak. With regard to Taiwan, it is a terrible shame they did not nuke-up when they had the chance. A humongous ballistic missile pointed right at the Three Gorges Dam would certainly make China wonder if invading is worth the cost.
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 @lukemurray4950 This doesn't even make sense...
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The Dutch had their paws in there too.
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@sisyphusvasilias3943 The U.S. made port calls in Taiwan routinely until 1979. It stopped largely as a "make nice" move after Nixon recognized the CCP and tensions cooled. Since China isn't playing nice anymore, I'd pull a whole damn carrier strike group into Kaohsiung and let the sailors experience some legitimate Chinese culture. If the CCP is dumb enough to make a move, it's on...
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They've invested billions into that sub complex in Hainan. I doubt they're looking to relocate their fleet into an area that will always see some level of hostility even if they were able to somehow dislodge the Taiwanese government.
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The U.S. hasn't had a presence like this in Taiwan since the 1970s, and has never even mentioned re-establishing any of those facilities. If anything, China is pushing the U.S. toward a greater presence in the region. If the CCP had just left things alone, you would not see the U.S. and Japan greatly expanding its posture in the region.
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I'm glad someone brought this up. If India decided to open up a western front and try to take the disputed Himalayan regions as well as Tibet, it would be game over. China simply does not have the capacity in any way, shape, or form to fight a multi-front war. And Pakistan is not going to risk a nuke exchange to protect China.
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Three Gorges Dam is a better strategic target than a random city.
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Don't discount the idea that, in World War III, the U.S. and Japan will be fighting on the same side. That is eminently powerful. Oh, and China didn't "take" Hong Kong. They just bullied and disappeared innocent civilians. Thank God in the United States, the people are well armed.
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@peteryin9534 Why is China so hateful of allowing people on an island that poses no offensive threat to the mainland from simply electing their own leaders and living peacefully? Does the very idea of freedom offend the CCP so much that it is willing to waste tens of thousands of lives? And what about the concentration camps that would be set up in order to torture and "re-educate" the Taiwanese people? This isn't anything more than genocide, period. China is a force for evil in the world and they need to be contained and eventually defeated.
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It arguably could be the greatest economic boon to India and South America that those regions have ever witnessed.
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Sure there is. You don't let the PLAAF gain air superiority from the outset, and deploy enough SAM/ABM batteries to provide area defense. You'd also place naval assets on station armed with things like the SM-3 ready to roll.
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What would be so hard about it? This is exactly why the U.S. carries twelve carrier strike groups and operates huge military facilities in Japan and South Korea. Historically speaking, a rocky island with few landing zones under a massive array of naval overwatch and area denial protection is almost impossible to take offensively.
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The American weapons deployed to Taiwan are known quantities. They're not operating F-22, F-35 or Aegis, though they have expressed an interest in the F-35B, and I assume the U.S. uses this for some leverage since the F-35 is pretty much the perfect platform to act as a "quarterback," of sorts, to manage the targets while repelling an invasion.
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Japan recently issued a statement indicating it would defend Taiwan since it sees itself as the next target. This is why Japan is also manufacturing a good number of "helicopter carriers" (yeah right) that just happen to have heat-resistant deck coatings and elevators/hangars to fit F-35Bs. Meanwhile, the U.S. has a stated policy of cooperation with Taiwan, but not a mutual defense treaty. Still, the American military has reactivated tons of old World War II infrastructure on various islands across the Pacific, and has ramped up intel-gathering in the region. They're not doing this just because they're bored.
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@Apollo Between the coronavirus pandemic, concentration camps for the Uighurs, forced labor, dystopian surveillance apparatus littering the entire mainland and all of the other abuses of human rights, they're not making a good case that life under the CCP dictatorship would be even remotely "good," especially for someone used to being free. Remember, the stated plan for Taiwan is for the PLA to depopulate approximately 90 percent of military age males to the mainland to concentration camps for re-education. This will be another Holocaust scenario if it's allowed to proceed. China needs a big-time kick in the teeth just to get this thought out of its collective head. It's the 1930s again, and the new boss is the same as the old boss – they just don't look alike or speak the same language.
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