China's Offensive Capacity?

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IDonT

Senior Member
VIP Professional
Finn McCool said:
OK, this entire website is turning into the "Command and Conquer Generals and Cool Military Pictures Forum". I am so dissapointed.

China's offensive capability...Well, right now, China doesn't need much of one. However, as China's economy grows, and it becomes a true superpower, it will inevitably need to maintain a global empire, just as the other superpowers of the modern era, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States have done. China's empire will be the least noticeable one yet. As time has gone on and globalization has linked the world, it is no longer necessary for a superpower to physically own the territories it requires for economic prosperity, as the British did, or keep them as client states and political lackeys, as the Soviets did. The United States relies on its military and economic power as well as a system of "traditional alliances" forged after WWII to maintain supremacy. The Chinese empire will essentially be a child of globalization and be almost solely economic. Thus, China will have global economic interests across the world. ( No war will start without economic interests involved on some level, no war) The one thing that hasn't changed is that it is necessary to have a big military capable of global deployment to defend a superpower's economic interests. So, basically, what the Chinese need for the future is a powerful navy with carriers, an air force that can bomb anything anywhere in the world, (like the USAF), and a large, well eqipped professional core to the PLA that is capable of fighting a conflict anywhere. On the more political side of the equation, China needs allies to facilitate its global deployment, as well as to provide it with a core of international support and get around the geographical problems it faces. For example, a key link in China's potential core group of allies would be Indonesia, because it controls the Straits of Mallacca and Java, key chokepoints for the PLAN, has large amounts of raw materials, energy supplies and cheap labor, and is a "rising" economy. :china:

Well, there you have it. Sorry if the English is hard for some of you to understand. I used so vocabulary that some non-native speakers might have some trouble with.
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You are forgetting the most crucial thing in force projection: logistics. Your expeditionary force will not last long with out bread, bombs, and bullets.

A system of alliance is a good idea, however, most of the countries that are on China's side are not exactly strong nor do they share an inherent cultural or ideological relation with China. For example, look at the US's strongest alliances and they all have one thing in common; they are liberal democracies.
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
IDonT said:
You are forgetting the most crucial thing in force projection: logistics. Your expeditionary force will not last long with out bread, bombs, and bullets.

A system of alliance is a good idea, however, most of the countries that are on China's side are not exactly strong nor do they share an inherent cultural or ideological relation with China. For example, look at the US's strongest alliances and they all have one thing in common; they are liberal democracies.
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So when are the inherant cultural and ideological relation ever play significant role of alliance in event of conflicts. There were more examples of same inherant cultural and ideological fighting each other as far as i know of.
 
I

IDonT

Senior Member
VIP Professional
KYli said:
So when are the inherant cultural and ideological relation ever play significant role of alliance in event of conflicts. There were more examples of same inherant cultural and ideological fighting each other as far as i know of.
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US allied with Britain in both world wars. There is a difference between an alliance because of common threat vs. and alliance of common defence. US-USSR alliance is an example of the first, once NAzi was gone it evaporated. US-Anglo alliance are still strong.
 
isthvan

isthvan

Tailgunner
VIP Professional
China currently does not have any real offensive reach beyond Taiwan and it's immediate region… For that purpose it lacks aircraft carrier, LHD ships and fleet support ships… It is still regionally oriented military power…
I do not think that China currently really need aircraft carrier or global offensive capabilities… It really does not have treats or possible enemies with exception of Taiwan, and that war is not likely to happen… Not with amount of money Taiwan and US are investing in China and vise–versa…
What China or any other growing economy need is the ability to deploy troops in a low-medium threat environment to protect its economical interest and to protect their nationals… I am talking about kind of operation French, Australians, Italians, British and even US navy are conducting on regular bases (East Timor, Ivory Coast, Albania, Somalia…).
Basically you can gain more capabilities in areas you need with fleet of LHD ships well supplied with fleet of modern replenishment ships then with expensive aircraft carrier battle groups …
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
IDonT said:
US allied with Britain in both world wars. There is a difference between an alliance because of common threat vs. and alliance of common defence. US-USSR alliance is an example of the first, once NAzi was gone it evaporated. US-Anglo alliance are still strong.
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US and Britain had only became allied until 20th century, you might had forgot the war in 1812 or US's support of the French over Britain in the British-french War. There are no allied of common cause, but only the allied of interest.
 
A

akinkhoo

Junior Member
Ender Wiggin said:
But say that based on assets that had to have military operations beyond their borders I have no doubt that there is not a single country bordering China that could hold out against a conventional attack even the Russians.
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i doubt china will have success in overcoming india or russia. the main problem in fighting offensively is logistic, china's warmachine cannot reach far without the ability to bring fuel and ammo to the tanks and infantries.

china's formation are largely stationary, they lack enduarence. division for fighting as expeditionary forces should carry more ammo and fuel, crewed with less manpower per platoon (to reduce amount of food their need), computer aided to reduce fatigue on the reduced crew for the expect weeks of combat (reinforcement will be slower then at home ground; something the chinese are use to is their almost endless manpower. but you don't have that in an offensive war); china simply does have such much experience with such a setup in modern warfare.

they either need to improve their logistical support or setup specialized unit for expedition to have any real offensive reach.
 
E

Ender Wiggin

Junior Member
actually in C&C Generals China was already attacked by terrorists, if China got attacked by a WMD don't you think if it was given the logistical support by NATO it would gladly go anywhere in the world to seek revenge for attacking Chinese territory?
 
I

IDonT

Senior Member
VIP Professional
KYli said:
US and Britain had only became allied until 20th century, you might had forgot the war in 1812 or US's support of the French over Britain in the British-french War. There are no allied of common cause, but only the allied of interest.
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Do you really think the US and Britain were that close in 1812. This was just a generation after the Revolutionary war. There historical ties were not exactly in good terms.

Secondly, the British and the US were not exactly on the same type of government in the 19th century. One was an imperialistic colonial power, while the other was a isolationist Republic. It was only during the 20th century that the US-British Relationship was cemented.
 
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MIGleader

MIGleader

Banned Idiot
Idont, nations only look after their own interests. If one nation helps another, the result must somehow directly affect the first nation. '

Read the book Scorpia(It should be easy, as it is middle school level), but it will give you a good idea on how far Britian will go to help america.
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
Idont, after WWII the Great Britain Empire was in the state of decline, there are little they could do but to ally themselves with US. If Britain had the power they had in 18 century, do you think they would be an allied to US.

There are no question that nations only look after their own interests, so there are no such thing as allied of inherant cultural and ideological.
 
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