What would happen financially if the US went to war with China?

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,699
6,257
126
The pipelines do not exist to bring the oil to China.
Still comes by sea.

And to support the invasion by land requires an extensive supply line. Something that China has no experience with.

I'm sure they can work out the Supply Lines. They probably already have the plans for such a situation worked out.
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
5
0
Any idea how long it takes to build a pipeline? Where there are no roads; only footpaths?

And pipelines unless underground are susceptible to disruption easily
 

Pocatello

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,754
2
76
Before we go to war with China, we must think about the children, especially around Christmas. Little Timmy wants his talking Elmo, last time I checked talking Elmo ain't made in Cleveland, neither are ipads, iphones, or ipods.
 

dawheat

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2000
3,132
93
91
I'm sure they can work out the Supply Lines. They probably already have the plans for such a situation worked out.

Supply lines that have to bypass the largest mountain range in the world, somehow cross India, Pakistan, or Afghanistan? Sounds like a complete nightmare and incredibly easily disrupted by air and missile strikes.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,699
6,257
126
Any idea how long it takes to build a pipeline? Where there are no roads; only footpaths?

And pipelines unless underground are susceptible to disruption easily

There are roads going through the various *stans north of Pakistan and Afghanistan all the way to Iran and beyond.
 

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
33,150
12,588
136
yeah and with all that and 12 years they still couldnt conquer a third world country like afghanistan. the us could never defeat a country like china or russia, the best they could hope for would be an endless stalemate that would be a lot more painful because theyd have an adversary that was actually fighting back. real superpower war isnt like bullying falklands, panama, iraq etc...

Like most fools; you are unable to separate the defeat of a military force vs the rebuilding of a country that does not want to be rebuilt.

And as long as you like comparisons; how long did it take the Soviets (which are more ruthless) to conquer that country?

this. the US can absolutely win a traditional war.
 

OBLAMA2009

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2008
6,574
3
0
Like most fools; you are unable to separate the defeat of a military force vs the rebuilding of a country that does not want to be rebuilt.

And as long as you like comparisons; how long did it take the Soviets (which are more ruthless) to conquer that country?

the point is, china and russia arent going to sit back and let you bomb thier cities and murder their people with impunity, theyre going to be punching back, something america hasnt had to deal with while thugging around the third world
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
5
0
the point is, china and russia arent going to sit back and let you bomb thier cities and murder their people with impunity, theyre going to be punching back, something america hasnt had to deal with while thugging around the third world

1) This is an economic thread.

2) China's only ability to strike at the US is via missiles; they have no sea or air forces that are a threat.

3) Russia is not within this equation.

4) China attempting to use force will be met with force. As stated in item #2; the difference is that we have the ability to easily create non-nuclear damage to cripple China militarily and economically; they do not.

There are only two leverages that China might have;
  • quantity access to rare earth minerals
  • debt

The first; can be replaced and/or substituted; maybe not as effectively; but can be done. we were able to replace rubber in WW2 when cut off from that supply.

The second; China will hurt more than the US if the debt can not be rolled over; The US will sell debt based on the roll over; otherwise; we are selling from a delta standpoint. As long as others believe that the US is economically sound they will be willing to purchase our notes; They will also know why the notes being held by China were not honored but probably just delayed until such a conflict is resolved. China will have production that is being stockpiled; reducing that income flow.
 

bshole

Diamond Member
Mar 12, 2013
8,315
1,215
126
If a war started with China, the most likely outcome would be a world-wide war ending in nuclear armegeddon, economic collapse and starvation on a scale never experienced in human history.

The only wars left that America can fight are wars against ridiculously overrmatched 3rd world nations.
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
5
0
If a war started with China, the most likely outcome would be a world-wide war ending in nuclear armegeddon, economic collapse and starvation on a scale never experienced in human history.

The only wars left that America can fight are wars against ridiculously overrmatched 3rd world nations.
You are assuming that such a war would go nuclear.

The third world nations' governments are so full of themselves that they do not understand that their are limits to one's patience. The first/second world nations know that to tangle with the US would be damaging to their health.
 

sm625

Diamond Member
May 6, 2011
8,172
137
106
The goal of war is and always was the elimination of what the elite call "useless eaters". They wont allow a large scale nuclear conflict because it damages the resource base. Nuclear weapons were only allowed to be used to end WW2 because the number of useless eaters purged from the planet was sufficient to guarantee 50+ years of economic growth.

In order to really consider a war with China you have to come up with a scenario which pits the two peoples against each other in such a way that does not include the technology of today's military. The problem that the elite have is that they no longer need million man armies to fight their wars, so they have lost their most convenient method of getting rid of people. Any large scale war we fight now will be "our drones vs their drones", which is highly destructive to the resource base. That's why we havent had a WWWIII yet. That is why they've turned to eugenics (corn syrup/diabetes, mercury, radiation, GMO, etc) to cull populations. Whatever they use on us will also affect the Chinese so there is no effective means for the elite to pit the two populations against each other. We cannot just fire all our resources at each other until both countries are broke and starving, so both countries can have a massive dieoff. Such a dieoff cannot be controlled through propaganda. If the elite could control that, it would have already happened. But they cant, because they know that their gated villas would be stormed and ransacked by angry mobs. They need the shield of patriotic wartime victory propaganda to hide behind. They will never get that from a huge mechanized conflict. So there will be no war with China.
 

bshole

Diamond Member
Mar 12, 2013
8,315
1,215
126
You are assuming that such a war would go nuclear.

The third world nations' governments are so full of themselves that they do not understand that their are limits to one's patience. The first/second world nations know that to tangle with the US would be damaging to their health.

The American PEOPLE would never let their government go to war with a 1st world nation. That is only a neo-cons wet dream.

You sound like MacArthur just before China kicked his dumb ass in Korea. You will notice after he got his ass kicked conventionally, he went straight to the atomic weapons.... only Truman stopped him.

The difference now is that China has atomic weapons to fall back on if it's existence is threatened. Every country in the world with nuclear weapons WILL use them if their existence is threatened. That is why it is impossible to win such a war, the minute one side threatens to wipe out the other.... the nukes come out.

We are much better off picking on countries that can't defend themselves. Believe me, you do NOT want a country that can actually fight back.
 

rommelrommel

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2002
4,426
3,209
146
The goal of war is and always was the elimination of what the elite call "useless eaters". They wont allow a large scale nuclear conflict because it damages the resource base. Nuclear weapons were only allowed to be used to end WW2 because the number of useless eaters purged from the planet was sufficient to guarantee 50+ years of economic growth.

In order to really consider a war with China you have to come up with a scenario which pits the two peoples against each other in such a way that does not include the technology of today's military. The problem that the elite have is that they no longer need million man armies to fight their wars, so they have lost their most convenient method of getting rid of people. Any large scale war we fight now will be "our drones vs their drones", which is highly destructive to the resource base. That's why we havent had a WWWIII yet. That is why they've turned to eugenics (corn syrup/diabetes, mercury, radiation, GMO, etc) to cull populations. Whatever they use on us will also affect the Chinese so there is no effective means for the elite to pit the two populations against each other. We cannot just fire all our resources at each other until both countries are broke and starving, so both countries can have a massive dieoff. Such a dieoff cannot be controlled through propaganda. If the elite could control that, it would have already happened. But they cant, because they know that their gated villas would be stormed and ransacked by angry mobs. They need the shield of patriotic wartime victory propaganda to hide behind. They will never get that from a huge mechanized conflict. So there will be no war with China.

30398790.jpg
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
5
0
The American PEOPLE would never let their government go to war with a 1st world nation. That is only a neo-cons wet dream.

You sound like MacArthur just before China kicked his dumb ass in Korea. You will notice after he got his ass kicked conventionally, he went straight to the atomic weapons.... only Truman stopped him.

The difference now is that China has atomic weapons to fall back on if it's existence is threatened. Every country in the world with nuclear weapons WILL use them if their existence is threatened. That is why it is impossible to win such a war, the minute one side threatens to wipe out the other.... the nukes come out.

We are much better off picking on countries that can't defend themselves. Believe me, you do NOT want a country that can actually fight back.

Did you pay attention to the public mood 12 years ago when a Chinese fighter collided with an un-armed P3 ?

Any attempt by China to do a militarized domination of neutral airspace will be met initially with corresponding force.

An escalation will be devastating and embarrassing to the Chinese military. And they know it. They know nuclear exchange will not accomplish anything, like you said. A loss of face is not a threat to theit existence. One reason that they have chosen to not challenge excursions into their new ADIZ because they know they can not enforce it. Paper tiger.

An economic war will be just as damaging. They need access to our markets to support their economic growth. What we import from tbem is not needed to support our economy.
 
Last edited:

Svnla

Lifer
Nov 10, 2003
17,986
1,388
126
Any attempt by China to do a militarized domination of neutral airspace will be met initially with corresponding force.

Yup. Can't back down with pathetic bully. A little bit of pattern of bulliness onto the weak from china:

Bully china and brainwashed chinese are all tough and all with unarmed survey ship = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7933171.stm

Not so bad ass when a ship that armed to the teeth (Destroyer) arrived, they had to choice but pulled a china (run away with tails between legs) = http://articles.washingtonpost.com/...ships-ocean-surveillance-ship-chinese-vessels

Bottom line: Red commie china and chinese are all bark and no bite. They only fear the strongs and take on the weaks. That's why they would not dare to take on Russia to get back all the land (600K sq km of land) they lost since 1850s but pick on smaller neighbors.
 
Last edited:

Ventanni

Golden Member
Jul 25, 2011
1,432
142
106
A war between China and the US would be extremely one-sided in favor of the states.

Militarily - I'm not a chest beating American, but no other military in the world has the combat experience, weapons tech, power projection, and resupply capability that the US has. The Chinese have submarines, but let's be fair here, maritime warfare is a longtime American specialty, and the US Navy probably has the location of every Chinese submarine pinned down. We've been playing these submarine games with the Soviets since the 1950's, and we have half a century of experience to fall back on tracking them down.

Economy - The US has the natural resources, economic infrastructure, and factory output to produce everything the Chinese make for us. If anything, a war between the two superpowers would result in a lot of factory jobs returning to the US ala WW2 style. Even rare earth deposits can be mined in the US. The only reason we buy it from China is because the mining operations are already setup there, but they can be setup here too.

Infrastructure - Important factor here, but the Chinese infrastructure is open for demolition since the US is the only warring power here who can project any sizable form of military power. Destroying infrastructure is also a specialty of the US, and could potentially lead to a tremendous amount of displacement, starvation, and economic collapse since military targets are similar to civilian targets (roads, bridges, power generation, food storage, etc). This latter part is actually the part I fear most, as Chinese infrastructure is very fragile in terms of food supply.

With that said, I hope a war between us never, ever occurs.
 

Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,562
1,741
126
You people act like it would be a cake walk for America, and that we wouldn't experience a huge loss of lives. Yes, China has more to lose than us. The thing is war is very unpredictable. A lot can and does happen during war. For instance, a war with China could open up other opportunities for terrorist to attack us. Could we fight China and a band of ruthless terrorist at the same time?

Imagine if Russia joined China's side. I'm not saying that it would happen, but the possibilities are there. I highly doubt that Russia would just sit back and say nothing.

Anyway, war is very unpredictable. Just my two cents.
 

Ventanni

Golden Member
Jul 25, 2011
1,432
142
106
Yes war is very unpredictable, and no it would not be a cakewalk, but the Chinese military is still largely built upon Soviet-influenced tech despite recent modernization efforts. I'm actually trying to be as impartial as I can here, but we Americans are really, really good at fighting wars.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,699
6,257
126
Yes war is very unpredictable, and no it would not be a cakewalk, but the Chinese military is still largely built upon Soviet-influenced tech despite recent modernization efforts. I'm actually trying to be as impartial as I can here, but we Americans are really, really good at fighting wars.

Uhh, don't get ahead of yourself. Practically all wars the US has fought alone were extremely lopsided. Only exception I can really think of is WW2 Japan.
 

Newbian

Lifer
Aug 24, 2008
24,779
882
126
Imagine if Russia joined China's side. I'm not saying that it would happen, but the possibilities are there. I highly doubt that Russia would just sit back and say nothing.

Problem is we are talking about us vs china.

When you start tossing in other countries then especially ones like russia it becomes a world war and russia hates china also, even more so a strong china, but really their main concern would be their close borders they would take offense at.
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
The American PEOPLE would never let their government go to war with a 1st world nation. That is only a neo-cons wet dream.

You sound like MacArthur just before China kicked his dumb ass in Korea. You will notice after he got his ass kicked conventionally, he went straight to the atomic weapons.... only Truman stopped him.

The difference now is that China has atomic weapons to fall back on if it's existence is threatened. Every country in the world with nuclear weapons WILL use them if their existence is threatened. That is why it is impossible to win such a war, the minute one side threatens to wipe out the other.... the nukes come out.

We are much better off picking on countries that can't defend themselves. Believe me, you do NOT want a country that can actually fight back.

The problem is that we wouldn't have to threaten China with annihilation. We wouldn't even have to invade. A simple embargo and blockade with destruction of their ports, airbases, air defense, electrical infrastructure, and transport systems would cripple them in days. Their people would overthrow them quickly thereafter after unemployment skyrockets.
 

Generator

Senior member
Mar 4, 2005
793
0
0
It depends. For the most part the United States has lost every war it has foisted upon its opponents. Our military is a paper tiger filled with decaying warfare in hangars, garages, and bunkers. Our soldiers are civilized human beings which comes with a plethora emotional disorders. You never hear gooks crying about PTSD, lost limbs, healthcare for example.

If war with China was a war of economy and technology than it would be a easy rout. But if required single flesh and blood soldier on the ground than I be worried.
 

Ventanni

Golden Member
Jul 25, 2011
1,432
142
106
Uhh, don't get ahead of yourself. Practically all wars the US has fought alone were extremely lopsided. Only exception I can really think of is WW2 Japan.

I think I'm being pretty impartial here honestly. Militarily, China is no match for the United States.