You said it perfectly: the massive amounts of imports to the US from China are a driving force of China's economy. The US has been in steady decline for two decades. China is on the rise because of their massive exports to the US and the EU. Without those, China tanks, same as the US. The US will consume, and China will produce. That is the stats quo.

US weapons are steamrolling the Russian army, without any US solders operating them. Ukraine is still gaining ground daily, on every front. Do you truly believe the US couldn't roll through Russia the way Wagner did two weeks ago with only 25,000 troops? I said it earlier but I'll say it again: Wagner is/was proud of the fact they used western arms and not Russian or Chinese. To say the US couldn't take Russia is naive at best, downright false at worst.

China's industrial power absolutely dwarfs both US and Russia, so US would have absolutely no hope if it ever came to a war with China.

Your hypothetical disregards the existence of NATO and Indo-Pacific alliances. Article 5: An attack on one is an attack on all. War between China and the US would be China Russia and N Korea vs the world. Be serious here. Do you think China by itself, or China with it's "big" 3 allies could take Australia and the south Pacific states, nearly all of Europe (including states like Poland who are foaming at the mouth to inflict suffering on Russia), India, Japan, S Korea, and DEFINITELY the Philippines and Taiwan. Let's not forget the massive military base on Guam.

But let's dig deeper: the US has the most aircraft carriers in world, the most veterans who have seen combat, the most ballistic missile subs, the largest air force, the most military bases, and the US has bases in Korea and Japan for exactly the situation you described. China currently has no capability to project it's military onto US soil. They wouldn't be able to cross the Pacific, whereas the US is already in Asia. China is not good to it's neighbors, and many have historical grievances as well as ongoing territorial disputes (off the top of my head: India and Philippines). War between China and the US would be WW3, which both sides are actively avoiding. Don't say things like "US would have absolutely no hope if it ever came to a war with China" when you don't seem to grasp that it would be China vs the entire planet, and the entire planet is better equipped and on their doorstep.

No, what has actually happened is that there are two world superpowers instead of one, each ruling their part of the globe, each dependant on the other to not drop the facade so they have an "enemy" to blame at home. To say either single country could take on the other is probably the worst argument you tried to make

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Again, China can find new countries to export to, and that is literally the whole idea behind BRICS and BRI where China is actively investing into helping countries develop and then sell them their technology. If you look at the breakdown of Chinese exports, it's pretty clear that US and EU aren't the major market anymore. The risks are not symmetric. For China, it would be a pain, but wouldn't be existential. For US and EU it would be a crisis.

US weapons are steamrolling the Russian army, without any US solders operating them.

You must be living in an alternate reality. All US weapons have failed miserably in Ukraine, and Ukraine has failed to gain any ground in over 4 weeks of their offensive. This is well documented all over western media. Just a couple of recent examples for you

Do you truly believe the US couldn’t roll through Russia the way Wagner did two weeks ago with only 25,000 troops?

No sane person believe that US could roll through Russia.

Wagner is/was proud of the fact they used western arms and not Russian or Chinese.

Wagner is a tiny portion of Russian military force, if you don't even understand what role wagner plays what else is there to say really.

To say the US couldn’t take Russia is naive at best, downright false at worst.

You really gotta stop guzzling propaganda. Not a single person in US military shares this insane view with you. 😂

Your hypothetical disregards the existence of NATO and Indo-Pacific alliances. Article 5: An attack on one is an attack on all.

First of all, article 5 doesn't say what you think it says. It says that countries have to provide support at their discretion which can be basically anything. Second, NATO is literally running out of ammunition right now and lacks the industrial base to make more.

US aims go from making 14,000 155mm shells each month to 20,000 by the spring and 40,000 by 2025. https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2022/12/05/army-plans-dramatic-ammo-production-boost-as-ukraine-drains-stocks/

Meanwhile, Russia was producing over a million shells a year long before the war started, it's vastly more now

This is just one example of why US has absolutely no hope of fighting Russia. I'm not even going to go into the fact that Russia has the biggest nuclear arsenal and nuclear hypersonic weapons US has no defense against.

You should also read up on what US military planners say about a war with China. Here's what the Pentagon had to say recently about it https://archive.ph/YOV9X

But let’s dig deeper: the US has the most aircraft carriers in world

Oh you mean obsolete boats that can be easily destroyed by modern hypersonic weapons US has no defence against?

I recommend trying engaging with reality https://asiatimes.com/2023/05/war-game-china-hypersonics-sink-us-carrier-every-time/

No, what has actually happened is that there are two world superpowers instead of one, each ruling their part of the globe, each dependant on the other to not drop the facade so they have an “enemy” to blame at home. To say either single country could take on the other is probably the worst argument you tried to make

What's actually happening is that US empire is crumbling, and the cost of keeping the grip on the empire is now exceeding the material returns US gets back from the colonies. This is leading to an economic collapse in US domestically that's currently unfolding.

China doesn't need to take on US directly, and it's pretty clear that China's plan is to just wait for US to keep losing power due to its internal contradictions. Time is on China's side. However, if US did try to start a war with China, the consequences for US would be absolutely disastrous.