I would note that China has designed weapons systems that clearly are based on their own original research and are not cribbed from the United States.
China is clearly capable of designing superior weapons systems without espionage.
And yes, I assure, for whatever espionage that China is doing, I assure the United States is doing plenty of its own espionage.
I should note that the United States had to crib off of Nazi Germany to make it into space.
I dunno there was a US Marine Corps Officer who had nothing but good things to say about the PLA Marines a few years ago.
Concurring with the previous poster, I would not dismiss the PLA, not one bit. They are NOTHING like the PLA of 1979 in anyway.
If China wanted to push across the strait to Twain it would have a huge logistical advantage the US would be hard pressed to over come. Not saying it would be easy though.
Surely the STRENGTH of Trump has prevented military build ups of others
There isnât a country in the world the US military canât beat the tar out of in short order in a stand up conventional fight.
Good to hear.
Keeping our economy strong, thatâs a good thing! Right? 
It would take us as long as it took to get a couple carrier groups there and that would be the end of the Chinese Navy, pretty much entirely. Take a day, maybe two.
Taking nukes out of the equation, naturally.
You should read that article a little closer.
The faulty heating systems were made by an American company, in Michigan.
Chinaâs entire land based air and missal forces would be within reach of US forces. Not a match.
The result would more likely be two carriers sitting at the bottom of the Pacific.
DONâT underestimate Chinaâs area denial capability.
They wouldnât need to get that close and you know it. A few boomers with conventional payloads could do it.
ââDo whatââ?
I find it fascinating how unaware people are of just how much more powerful the US in conventional military power and force projection than any other nation. Itâs not a matter of degrees; itâs orders of magnitude and double digit orders of magnitude most of the time.
Put most of the Chinese Navy at the bottom of the ocean.
Even with our technological advantages that doesnât mean we would have an easy fight with China.
The PLA wouldnât be a pushover. They have excellent area denial strategies and we would be fighting them on their own turf, which gives them a desirable advantage that has existed since ancient times. Fighting on your own territory, if you can take the losses, gives you logistical advantages that your adversary doesnât have.
China would be the closest near peer adversary we have fought since the Wehrmacht in World War II. I donât think it would be as easy as youâre making it out to be.
And depending on circumstances they could launch barrages of cruise missiles at the US Navy that could sink several of our carriers. Even with our sophisticated point defense systems you canât guarantee that some wouldnât get through. And it only takes one or two well placed cruise missiles to sink a carrier.
The US and China are reaching a point where MAD with conventional weapons comes into play. Assuming the war is fought near and on Chinese territory itâs likely that we could sink each otherâs navies and destroy most of each otherâs air forces in the region in a matter of weeks.
Itâs not societal destruction, but we are getting to a point where conventional wars cannot be fought because the cost of losing all of our equipment is just too high. Itâs difficult to replace. The same goes for China.
Not with ââa couple of aircraft carriersââ.
Shouldnât be surprising.
99% of anyone here has never been in war. Even 99% of the people here who have deployed have never seen actual combat.
Itâs not an easy thing to comprehend, given the sheer magnitude, when one hasnât even seen a fraction of it in action. Videos donât do â â â â for it either.
Itâs also fascinating how some people believe our military is capable of ââanythingââ. The look at ââgreat victoriesââ in Grenada, and Panama, even the two Iraq wars. They think thatâs what they will all be like. Well, China isnât Grenada or Panama or even Iraq. But some donât seem to be able to tell the difference.
