Martin Hotze wrote:
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:02:47 GMT, Neil Gould wrote:

and China has no need to attack the US. China only has to wait, time is on
their side. they will (and already are) outnumber the US.


The issue is Taiwan. In principle it's similar to East and West Germany
in that everyone would like reunification but on somewhat opposite
terms. The Taiwanese would prefer to wait for the Communists to
liberalize more, while the Communists see it as a matter of national
sovereignty.

The key here is time. If the PLA can land large numbers of troops on
Taiwan, they win. If they can't, the mainland government will go up in
flames. So an invasion needs to be a pretty sure thing which requires
high force superiority. The longer it takes to get across, the more US
reinforcements arrive and the harder the job gets.

Every F-22 we have forces the Chinese to buy/build 5-10 more
conventional fighters, which takes time and money. The longer it takes
for the PLA to achieve sufficient superiority, the more time everyone
has to find a political solution.

I can understan where resentment of the US comes from and it's not
entirely misplaced. But anyone who thinks a world where the current
Chinese leadership will produce a net increase in human rights is in
for a real nasty surprise.

-cwk.