War with China is neither inevitable nor necessary, but actions and policies currently being pursued in both Beijing and Washington are mindlessly drifting towards a war.
Others argue we must fight, even if we don’t want to, because the catastrophic cost to the global economy if China attacks (especially in terms of semiconductors) would devastate the U.S. economy. What those advocates fail to recognize, however, is that the impact to the world economy is already inevitable when the first Chinese missile strikes the island or the first Chinese soldier invades. From that point forward, there will be no changing the harmful economic impact. What we must avoid at all costs, however, is deeply compounding that cost to America by also choosing to engage in a war that would cripple our Air Force and Navy.
By refusing to be drawn into a war with China in an otherwise horrible situation, the United States would have an enormous power advantage over China. The American military would still be unharmed and at full strength, while the People’s Liberation Army would be severely degraded by any attempt to penetrate Taiwan’s mighty defenses. It could take China more than a decade to recover from its losses. We would have the unchallenged upper hand, both regionally as well as globally. Our national security would remain fully within our ability to guarantee.
Choosing to allow righteous anger to drive our response — which many Americans would understandably feel if China attacked Taiwan — could plunge us into a war that would, in the best case, severely diminish our ability to defend our country. In the worst case, it could lead to a nuclear exchange in which entire American cities could be wiped out.
As much as we would hate to see China capture Taiwan, nothing on that island is worth risking America’s entire national security.
https://thehill.com/opinion/nationa...fight-a-war-with-china-if-they-invade-taiwan/