Taiwan updates

**Grobbie** · 10-08-2022, 17:52

Originally Posted by SoldierMan

You kidding right, everything was relatively quiet on the Taiwan front apart from the usual rhetoric, and then Vodka Skeletor made a big visit knowing that it would make China angry.

Am I saying China should dictate what and where the US can visit, no, but it gave China the perfect excuse to do what they are doing now, and the US knew that full well.

I don’t think anyone visiting anywhere is a good enough excuse for war. Pretty lame excuse if you think about it. Sort of like their minds are made up anyway.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**SoldierMan** · 10-08-2022, 17:59

Originally Posted by Grobbie

I don’t think anyone visiting anywhere is a good enough excuse for war. Pretty lame excuse if you think about it. Sort of like their minds are made up anyway.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes exactly. China is just looking for an excuse, their mind is made up.

So yes, it's a tricky one. The US can send weapons to Taiwan, but putting on a show for the cameras with a high level visit is like red to a bull, and China was just rubbing their hands together.

**carleng** · 10-08-2022, 19:58

I am no military expert. All of my info is from reading/listening to people better informed than myself, and I work in the defence industry, so I have some idea of the equipment available to militaries.

1. China has definitely been planning an invasion for a long time. Whether they actually do it, is another matter.
2. Taiwan has not been sitting idly by. They are an advanced nation, with a good idea of what China is up to.
3. Taiwan is probably equipped up to their eyeballs with anti ship and anti aircraft weapons and ammo. If China wants to take the island, they have to get troops on the ground . That means ships or aircraft.
4. China won't nuke Taiwan. They want the island, not a radioactive wasteland. Probably use ballistic missiles to soften Taiwan up, but not nukes.
5. Apparently, for an invasion to be successful, the attacker needs about a 10-to-1 superiority in numbers. Taiwan has ~165k active personnel, with ~1.6M in reserves. China has 2.1M active military, so not quite 10-to-1.
6. China also doesn't have enough proper landing craft to get enough men and equipment across to Taiwan. This is especially true if Taiwan has specifically set up anti ship batteries.
Taiwan is very hilly. I won't be surprised if their island is covered with traditional artillery's, and every inch of every beach, as well as exits from the beach, weren't mapped, sighted, and ranged. Getting boots on the ground is one thing, getting them off the beaches is another.

All in all, I doubt China would actually try this invasion. If you think the Ukraine war is expensive for Russia, I think this will be even more so for China.

**Meteor** · 10-08-2022, 19:59

This is pretty interesting. Britain had Hong Kong under similar rule till 1997.

China releases white paper on Taiwan, warns it will not tolerate separatists

The Hong Kong handover, domestically known as the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, was the formal passing of authority over the territory of the then colony of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handover_of_Hong_Kong

**Davidc** · 10-08-2022, 22:48

Originally Posted by Grobbie

I don’t think anyone visiting anywhere is a good enough excuse for war. Pretty lame excuse if you think about it. Sort of like their minds are made up anyway.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Remember not too long ago China put there foot down when the Dali Lama wanted to visit SA. Seems the like telling other countries who can visit and who can’t.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**DirkB** · 11-08-2022, 06:07

Originally Posted by Davidc

Remember not too long ago China put there foot down when the Dali Lama wanted to visit SA. Seems the like telling other countries who can visit and who can’t.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well that is the communist way...

Sent from my SM-A736B using Tapatalk

**DirkB** · 11-08-2022, 19:50

Back when my wife and I were living in Taiwan, they were pretty much in the same boat as now. They were preparing for an invasion from China. They would have drills, an air raid horn would sound and everyone had to get off the road to the side for humvee's and other transport and armored vehicles to get from their base to the beach front. If you didn't comply, you would be arrested and jailed or heavily fined. They placed barriers on their beaches, had mounted weapons and missiles placed at the ready. They would land fighter jets, as shown in this old newspaper I brought back, on the highway (in their case, super highways) in case their airfields were bombed. There they would practice re-arming and re-fueling their fighter jets. It was a very stressful time, we thought we would have to come back but the president then was impeached, jailed and it blew over.

They have been at this for a very long time, preparing. How much of a fight they'll be able to put I do not know but they seemed be ready for anything. This newspaper is from 2007.

Sent from my SM-A736B using Tapatalk

**curious george** · 12-08-2022, 06:36

**Davidc** · 15-08-2022, 20:13

Spoke to my cousin today, China was in the process of suspending their military “exercise” when the USA sent another delegation to Taiwan over the weekend.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Davidc** · 15-08-2022, 20:57

Apparently Taiwan was given a ultimatum to completely submit to Chinese rule within 2 years or face the consequences.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk