That's how they got the Panama Canal, anyway...

Given that a lot of American investment is in China, we could theoretically retaliate by buying China. This is a silly discussion. Even assuming that the containership invasion went off without a hitch, how are you going to supply all those men? Food's no problem and neither is gas, but ammunition? What about reinforcements? It would essentially the world's largest suicide operation. It does kind of sound like "Red Dawn," but I have a feeling it would end up resembling another movie--"Dawn of the Dead."

Well, in the China board I had proposed some time ago that the PLA could try to take a small coastal town as a hostage. Say 3000 to 10,000 population. No they wouldn't hold out against an attack but herding the residents into a common area and holding some poison gas over them would change things a bit. The PLA and Beijing would be the heroes of the Chinese people for pulling this off, especially if the sparks fly over Taiwan or SC sea.

They certainly would be heroes. I was going to say the UN would be less than pleased, but since the popular thing right now is bashing America, I could be wrong. Of course, Beijing might be reluctant to do so if the US held a nuclear weapon over them. The PLA might regard that as acceptable losses, but the Party might not like the idea of losing their palaces.

Not even counting nukes, I can guarantee you that PacFlt owns the Pacific - satelite coverage today can track just about any major ship movement. China could concievably pose a threat to Japan/Korea, but that Pacific pond is pretty big to cross. My fantasy is that the Chinese head south to India looking for the poontang that their birth-control measures have put in short supply. Now that would be a more likely, snd appealing possibility - and one that would allow us to set on the sidelines and come out ahead no matter who wins.

But the Chinese wouldn't send a big fleet across the Pacific, just pack troops into civilian cargo ships.

Nan..., reread American Kafir's post, and then add to it the fact that much/most of our intel comes from SIGINT in addition to IMINT. I hardly think it's likely they could load up several container ships with troops and some equipment and sail them to America without us noticing. Frankly, it's hardly a threat because once they get here they wreak a little havoc, get ground down, and are eliminated. In the meantime, it is 100% certain that America would go midieval on China's ass. I daresay such a surprise assault may even be sufficient to coax those sleazebags in Washington to actually do their duty and *declare* war! It's just not a plausible scenario as far as I'm concerned. There is no plausible Chinese invasion scenario without major reduction in our entire Pacific force level. Of course, for that matter there is no plausible invasion scenario of America of any kind without a complete breakdown in America's military. Essentially we'd have to no longer be a superpower first. Displacedjim

Please tell me Nanheyangrouchuan: "I can guarantee you that PacFlt owns the Pacific - satelite coverage today can track just about any major ship movement." Just what part of this do you NOT understand?

We don't need to have a major reduction in PACFLT abilities or SIGINT, a few well placed container ships could release enough troops to hold a small town hostage. I've explained the scenario a few times SC29112 what don't you understand?

Guess it would be an exercise in futility to explain the realities of how ships are tracked with todays technology - kind of like the exercise in futility for the Chinese releasing those troops within 50NM of their own coastline, because that would be about as far as they would get. To move enough troops onto ships to even make it a serious threat would in-turn draw the attention of too many sources of intel (signal, satelite, human). Loading heavy armor/artillery even moreso. More than one ship, and that slim chance becomes nil. Even going into the fantasy of a single ship load that gets to make your "surprise" port call brings up another dimension. There are probably more than enough private gun owners within the population of any major port to handle a light armed Red Army Division. As such, American civilians wouldn't be the same as unarmed students in Tieneman Square or Buddhists Monks in Tibet (well that is unless your fantasy port call is San Fran/Berkeley - and most Americans might even agree that a short occupation by the Red Army make be an improvement). Going along with your fantasy one more step, by the time it takes to offload a single tank would be more than enough time for the closest USN/USAF unit that can hang a couple of GBUs on a single aircraft could take out the ship with a single mission. So endeth the lesson of reality vs fantasy. sorry to bust your bubble, do you understand now?