Could China defeat the U.S.A. in a frontal war, as of now

Question

What would happen if war erupts between China and the US, who would win? Would Europe stand by our side? Would Russia join China?

Imagine the world scenario, how would that be.

What you people think, I am curioous what people pereceives and thinks on this matter, all opinions very welcome.

(I am writting a novel in such scenario, not a war novel, but the story develops in it, thanks a lot.)

Answer 1

I just hope and pray both these great nations have good sense to abstain from such a dismal show of power and strength.  War harms both...the victor as much as the defeated.  

You cannot predict who all will get involved or side with whom.  Still,  many Asian countries have nuclear powers now and were it to become a war of Continents the outcome will only be disastrous for all.

Answer 2

How the war was erupted would play into how the war would be fought and who would side with who.  If China decided to attack the USA mainland in order to conquer it, I would say our  European Allies would jump to help us.  Then again other then the UK, who knows how loyal our allies really are.  As for Russia, it is hard to tell what they would do.  Russia has never officially aligned with China.  Although with Russia involved, Europe would be vulnerable and you would probably see European involvement at that point.



Although China has the manpower in their advantage, the USA has many more advantages including logistical support, technology, and experience.  The USA has proven in its history when a war is lead by our generals and not politicians we romp nations.  Take WW2 (Japanese), Korea, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.  All these wars our generals decided the plan of attack and we destroyed our opponents.  (To those that are going to argue Korea with me learn about it prior to political intervention, we were destroying the N. Koreans.  Even in Vietnam when we planned military operations we destroyed the NVA).



If the USA were attack the Chinese mainland we would use naval and air power to bomb their army into the ground.  Like previous posters have said China has a massive army and it would take a lot of ground fire to eliminate them.  The USA does have the technology advantage in their weapons, however those weapons can only carry so many bullets.  After a constant bombing of their military installations you would see the marines perform a amphibious landing to secure an area where the military would be able to transport troops from the USA mainland.  These forces would include full Army and Marine divisions.  The war then would turn into a slug fest between the two nations.  However the USA has shown it is able to use its Air, Sea, and Land weapons well together, something China would not be able to match.  After a hard fought war you would see the USA come out on top, but it would be hurting.



If the Chinese decided to attack the USA, there is a few major problems they would have to overcome.  These include transporting their army here, doing it without the USA noticing a major naval and aerial armada leaving China, and being able to attack from both coasts.  One good thing about the USA is our nation is big about equal to China, but unlike China most of our nation is habitable.  In China some 80% of its population lives in the eastern part of the nation as much of the western portion is desert.



If China was to invade they would have to attack our major military installations on the west coast in San Diego and Washington.  They would have to eliminate Pearl Harbor and also our forward bases in S. Korea, Guam, and Japan.  If they bypassed these bases any of their reinforcements coming across the Pacific would be open to attack from these bases.  Attacking the west coast presents a major problem though, more than half of the USA population lives on the East coast east of the Mississippi River.



So while they may invaded the west coast, a majority of our population would be safe and able to reinforce the portions east of the Rockies.  Pretty much the Chinese military would get through the Mountains of the west and hit the open plains with no where to hide.  Perfect area for planes to bomb targets in the open.



While both nations have WMD's the USA has far more advanced ones, including very good tactical nukes.  These deliver a small payload but are very accurate.  Pretty much they are military base killers.  China lacks these types of nukes and also the means to get them to the States.  The USA has 14 Nuclear Subs with SLBMS that can deliver over 175 warheads each.  China has one sub that can launch SLBM's.  Do the math on who has the better first strike capability.  As for ICBMs the USA once again has the advantage in numbers and ability.  Also we have the B-2 and B-52 bombers that can carry first strike weapons whose intent is to eliminate an enemies nukes before they can even launch them.  So nuclear weapons would not be of concern.



Hope this helps

Answer 3

China has a larger army

The US has a bigger air force and navy.

China would have trouble invading the US, as they would be strongest on the defense (as moving and feeding an army would be difficult of that size). The US also has the best missle defense system, so it would be a losing war for China most likely. The only variable is what would the other countries do and who will ally with who.

I'm assuming we wouldn't nuke, because we both have more sense than that, the cold war should be a good example of that.

Mind you though, right now we are both in a symbiotic relationship (both countries are benefiting from each other), so war wouldn't really happen not how things stand as of now. They lend us increadable amounts of money and we supply a lot of food.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

Theres only like a 1 - 5 difference in troops, but other than that, we have the world's strongest and biggest Navy and the the worlds biggest and most advance Airforce in the world. We also have the world's biggest missile defense system. Our troops are probably even more train and better equip than the Chinese troops.

Answer 5

russia would join china all of europe with a few exeptions would join the war on our side we would crush them china has a weak military along with russia and compared to ours we would kill them then with europe it would be stupid to even try we outspend the with our navy 3 times more than the country behind us in the navy not to mention also the largest airforce... safty in numbers doesnt always apply

Answer 6

china could win a hand to hand mortal combat  

Answer 7

What China could do is destroy major commercial airports and oil refineries in Iraq after arranging for such with Iraqis. This way China could win if the goal was to go to war to stop Global Warming. Another way would be to attack U.S. Aiports with conventional   missiles. If Russia and The EU were to suggest to American citizens that a military strike is the only way to end Global Whining about Global Warming again they could win by calling up Green Organizations with the idea. The U.S could do the same to Russia. No nukes just a freindly arrangement. This may seem odd but it could work.

Answer 8

Well. I must probably say China has more  logic and are more intelligent then the US, I mean, They invented several technology. I'm sure they must of inveted some sort of powerful weapon, know that Korea is what I'm terrified they have( are) creating powerful bombs right now.  

Answer 9

Yes, no country can fight 1.4 billion people.

Answer 10

They could throw a h**l of a lot of people at us and prob over run our lines, but if that happened we'd nuke the h**l out if them until they gave up.

Vet-USAF

Answer 11

I think in a regular old-fashioned war, like WWII, the US could win.  We have an enormous advantage in weapons, airplanes, bombs, ships, tanks, etc. etc.  We spend more on weapons and military than the rest of the world combined, and about 20x as much as China.  

China has an advantage in men, but that wouldn't win the war. For one thing they have no way of bringing all those millions of people here to fight.  Even if they could, they would destroy most of whatever it was they expected to win.  In fact a nuclear exchange might destroy the entire world.

The thing is, we don't fight old-fashioned wars anymore.  The US has been involved in more than 100 military actions since WWII and they have all been small-scale, local actions, usually in 3rd-world countries.  Some of these were 'proxy wars', fought in some minor country between troops supported by the US and other troops supported by Russia or China, so we wouldn't have to fight each other directly.

To me, the main question remains: Why would China want to invade the US?  What would they have to gain?  For one thing they would lose most of the market for their manufactured goods and exports.

If China really wanted to destroy the US, these days all they'd have to do is stop lending us money.  They wouldn't even need to call in debts, just stop lending us MORE money, and our economy would collapse and grass would grow in the streets of every American city.  We belong to them now, we work for them now, almost as much as if they ran the US.

Answer 12

You guys stupid? Of course China can't defeat the US in a full out war. h**l, the US could even take Russia and China at the same time in a war. Really it would mainly depend on how the rest of the world reacts to said war which would determine victory, which would largely depend on the reasons for said war.

I know it's popular to think of China as some kind of evil super power about ready to pop and wage war with the US, but it's pretty evident that they're quickly becoming irrelevant which will only get worse for them in the on-coming oil crisis.

Answer 13

Sure they can & USA isn't the only one who's got nuclear bombs, but I doubt either side would use them 'cos the nuclear fallout will affect neighbouring countries & draw more flak, especially for US. The Chinese have huge underground cities, the world largest army, stealth submarines & warships, so those of you who still think they are a backward bunch of 'slopes' better wake up. Don't repeat what the Japanese did when they woke up a sleeping tiger in WWII... 'cos this one's a dragon! If both countries choose to go to war, it would not be fought on their native soil, that means other countries will become their battleground & who would allow that? Beside USA has made too many enemies all over the world, you may be the world's policeman but everybody's just waiting to see a bad cop take that fall.

Answer 14

i have heard we dont have enought bullets to take them on.but we do have the bomb and the navy ,air force  and so on. but both sides will not walk away with out damage.so lets hope not!!but if we sit back for a few more years the smog over there will kill them for us,h**l their own goverment probly kills more of them then we could ??then after all the fireworks then the army and marines will have to be deployed to check out the real damage. we could use all the high tec c**p you want but the grunts will have to put there boots on the soil.