Originally Posted by
Fitter2
From a Western perspective, the level of teddies thrown out of their pram by the current Chinese tantrum is accurately described by Mr Wang Yi's words. One handshake = how many millions of Renyinbi in ammunition wasted in a chest beating firework display.
The world is having a helmet fire, yet there is still some humor left outside.
There is a substantial amount of preparation in the region that has been quietly building up, on the Blue team's side. China may be annoyed, but they are risking completely collapsing their communism with Chinese characteristics, shutting down Taiwan will conclude by default Chinese trade based on arbitrage which has powered their economy to this point. As Russia has gone before, trade would be damaged even more through disrupting Taiwan. That wouldn't even be a choice of outcome,it is an inevitable outcome just from the effect of an attack on the global supply chain. That bites both ways, as China is heavily dependent on food import, and is already heading towards a rerun of the bad bits of the 60's own goal on food supply issues. Management may feel insulated but that comes with risks as there is a lot of people to have a really bad downside from a supersized Japanese 80's style meltdown. The CCP maintains control through the apathy of the populace who have enjoyed the boom that has been driven by foreign trade, and all of that is at risk.
None of this is good, but China is a dumpster fire already irrespective of the irritant that Taiwan represents to them; Taiwan is like #899 on the priorities of problems coming down the cistern to the chinese systems drain. Nothing about Taiwan fixes the impending problems that China has, but it will bring out the popcorn. The corruption of the PLA is severe, and Russias performance in the wake of corruption of a similar scale won't be lost on the underlings, but Xi has isolated himself from input, so may well be the last emperor.
This situation will reinforce some resolve, as the PRC's response already is an aggressive response to a perceived slight from a person not being a head of state.
The USN, USAF, and Marines have serious level of capability in the area already, hope that results in cooler heads prevailing.
Interesting times