China's military could take Taiwan 'if they wanted to' | Jim Townsend

"If China wanted to take Taiwan, I think they could do it."

Former US Assistant Deputy Defence Secretary Jim Townsend says China could force Taiwan to capitulate without a full scale invasion.
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[gashumbamichael]

Sincerely this isn't about Pelosi. It is about how strong China feels.

[redMaple_QC]

Pelosi was right to go. This whole hypocrisy about Taiwan not being a country is ridiculous.

[markcepeda]

She or any U.S rep can visit anytime they want ....

[vme]

Going off of the title, we’ve heard this same thing regarding how Russia will easily take Ukraine. Boy were we proven wrong!

[jools]

What does 'take Taiwan' actually mean?
Leave it as a wasteland like Russia is doing to Ukraine?

[hectorrodriguez]

I disagree that they could easily take Taiwan. The opposite would be true, it would be incredibly difficult and odds of failing very high.

[stevebowman]

She did the right thing, this constantly being timid with the CCP and the Russians is why we are here.

[housespecial]

They haven’t been able to in the past. There was even more reason to believe that they couldn’t now. They are the biggest paper tiger in the world next to Russia.

[comment]

I highly recommend the tv series 1864. It’s a Danish tv series about the perils of nationalist fervor stoked by a few less than sane elites. It perfectly exemplifies the pitfalls of nationalism being whipped up and used to make a population run to put itself into the meat grinder. Nothing wrong with loving your country but believing myths and half truths about your people and history can be catastrophic.

[seamusoreilly]

What do you mean, "if they want to?" They've said as much for decades. Of course they want to. But, so far, they haven't.

[roninoscuro]

Where this certainty coming from as to China's ability to "take" Taiwan? The collective combat experience of the Chinese admirals and generals = 0.

[williammccoy]

Yes and Russia only needed 72 hours to take Ukraine . A war is unpredictable, until the last bullet is fired .

[thedirty]

There reaction is to distract from whats happening at home.... Because they got some serious problems!

[jameslong]

Many of these military experts said the Russian army (2nd best in the world) would roll through Ukraine. Today, the Russian Army is the 2nd best in Ukraine. I don't think the Chinese have the sea and airlift capacity to sustain an invasion of Taiwan. Also, President Biden stated a few months ago that the US would defend Taiwan if China attacked. This was a direct message to President Xi that the US would probably go to war over an attack on Taiwan. The US government quickly reminded everyone we are sticking with the policy of Strategic Ambiguity. Still, a powerful message of deterrence was sent. I believe the war could break out over a miscalculation or accident, but there will be no deliberate attack on Taiwan soon. The CCP's biggest fear is losing control and power. A disastrous invasion of Taiwan is one of the few things that could genuinely undermine the CCP.

[pjhgerlach]

There is taking it and holding it. And at what cost. Russia is about to find out and China is watching.

[peterescalante]

I think that the U.S. and its allies in the region have been gifted an invaluable opportunity to gather intelligence on the PRC's armed forces. Well done!

[mgronich]

China does not see this as a conflict between Taiwan and China, it's between US and China. In that regard, invading Taiwan would be as effective in Changing US policy as China invading Argentina. The fruit ban is symbolic. And Taiwan said the cyber DDOS attacks are likely from individual hackers than from the Chinese govt. The partial blockade of commercial air traffic however will affect the US which depends on Taiwan for chips if it lasts much longer than the current 5 days of military exercises. Which is why Pelosi is partially walking back her public statements, saying there is no change in US's 1 china policy.

[nandarajaram]

China has no experience of modern warfare(even less than the Russians, who have not progressed beyond the 1940-45 tactical level).There’s a lot of water to cross and a well armed defender waiting for them.It would be very costly for the chinese.

[georget.]

Eventualy they could take Taiwan, but at what cost? And trying to squize Taiwan with a blockade they should think about all the countries that could squize China's economy quite easely.
So no China will only do something if the CCP was about to collapse.

[ronagoodwell]

First of all, this was a useful intelligence gathering op and may have been planned in advance by the US. I'm betting the US had their sigint ramped up high and not only collected communication for chain of command for each step of PLA response but got to watch an invasion scenario played-out with jets, helicopters, ships and missiles. I bet the satellite pictures are great. And don't forget, there was a US carrier fleet, oozing advanced technology, parked up at the north end of the straits... watching & listening.