China - Taiwan
Taiwan was established as an independent democratic nation in 1945 and China has been threatening to invade for more than 70 years - strange how brutal authoritarian regimes think their bluff will be accepted by the free world.
And interesting that Taiwan was expelled from the UN in 1971 in favour of China – looks as though another about turn could be on the books!
IMO sanctions on China would be pointless and only escalate tensions.
Meanwhile Wiki…
“China could invade Taiwan. Its military dwarfs the island nation's armed forces, but any invasion would likely be more akin to the brutal Allied WWII landings on Normandy than the swift victory of Operation Desert Storm in the first Gulf War in 1991.
Roughly 100 miles from China and around the size of Maryland, not only is the island of Taiwan surrounded by a protective watery moat, but it is also an island with geographic features that make it an extremely poor candidate for an invasion – no matter how powerful that invading force might be.
Observers note that that in 1944, the U.S. military scrapped Operation Causeway, a plan to invade Taiwan (then a Japanese colony called Formosa) because it was deemed too costly. U.S. military planners concluded that invading and holding Formosa would require a total American assault force of half a million men. The Pentagon tallied up the number of U.S. casualties expected from an invasion and subsequent mountain, jungle and urban fighting and that number was staggering being - as many as 150,000.
Taiwan has been preparing to be invaded since the 1950s, and as such has a solid intelligence apparatus, troops trained for the single mission of repelling Chinese forces, plenty of powerful modern military hardware and formidable defensives in place along every possible landing area. Due to the hilly terrain, the troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would face pulverizing firepower raining down on them from heavily fortified defensive positions.
And interesting that Taiwan was expelled from the UN in 1971 in favour of China – looks as though another about turn could be on the books!
IMO sanctions on China would be pointless and only escalate tensions.
Meanwhile Wiki…
“China could invade Taiwan. Its military dwarfs the island nation's armed forces, but any invasion would likely be more akin to the brutal Allied WWII landings on Normandy than the swift victory of Operation Desert Storm in the first Gulf War in 1991.
Roughly 100 miles from China and around the size of Maryland, not only is the island of Taiwan surrounded by a protective watery moat, but it is also an island with geographic features that make it an extremely poor candidate for an invasion – no matter how powerful that invading force might be.
Observers note that that in 1944, the U.S. military scrapped Operation Causeway, a plan to invade Taiwan (then a Japanese colony called Formosa) because it was deemed too costly. U.S. military planners concluded that invading and holding Formosa would require a total American assault force of half a million men. The Pentagon tallied up the number of U.S. casualties expected from an invasion and subsequent mountain, jungle and urban fighting and that number was staggering being - as many as 150,000.
Taiwan has been preparing to be invaded since the 1950s, and as such has a solid intelligence apparatus, troops trained for the single mission of repelling Chinese forces, plenty of powerful modern military hardware and formidable defensives in place along every possible landing area. Due to the hilly terrain, the troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would face pulverizing firepower raining down on them from heavily fortified defensive positions.
