China's defense minster says a war between China and the United States would be an "unbearable disaster".

 

Chinese Defense Minster General Li Shangfu. Fox News/AP.

China's Defense Minster General Li Shangfu said that a war between China and the United States would be an "unbearable disaster". Fox News. Li said that relations between the two countries are at an all time low and that historically the two countries have benefited from cooperation. The remarks happen after two major military incidents. Two weeks ago a Chinese J-16 almost collided with an American reconnaissance plane and yesterday a Chinese warship intercepted and also almost collided with an American destroyer and a Canadian frigate. Li is personally under American sanctions due to a 2018 weapons purchase from Russia. 

My Comment:

General Li is correct, relations between America and China are terrible right now and war would be an absolute disaster for both sides, regardless of who would win. It's telling that Li claims that relations are worse now than at any other time in the history of both countries, considering that American and Chinese troops were killing each other in large numbers back in the Korean War. Perhaps it was an exaggeration, but it is certainly as bad as our relations have been in the modern era.

Any war between China and the United States would be an economic disaster for either, considering how interlinked our economies are. The US has tried to move away from China but those efforts are nowhere near complete and frankly, we need them. China might do slightly better but losing their best customer (along with the US allies) would not be good for them either. 

And that's ignoring the combat! A war between China and the United States would mostly be a naval one and I am guessing the fleets for both sides would be largely destroyed. China actually has a larger navy that the United States now, though our ships are supposedly better. We certainly have a carrier advantage, though that might be countered by China's long range anti-ship missiles. 

Of course, that's assuming that the war doesn't go nuclear. That's certainly a possibility and if it happens both countries would be devastated. I don't think either side would be completely destroyed and humanity itself would continue but it would be the de facto end of both civilizations.

Even if we avoid a nuclear war with China it's very possible that we would lose a war against them. They would have the home field advantage and the Ukraine war has exposed how weak our logistics and production systems are these days. And Americans are absolutely sick and tired of war and I don't think they would support another major war. 

The bad relations with China is a too way street. China has long abused the United States  with their theft of intellectual property and unfair trade practices. And they continue to threaten Taiwan, which wants nothing to do with being ruled by China. Plus, they are fully allied with Russia now, who is, inexplicably, America's foreign policy focus right now. 

Much of it is on Joe Biden. His supporters would likely want to blame Trump since he confronted China on trade, but at least Trump had a good personal relationship with President Xi. Biden doesn't have a good relationship with anyone, let alone Xi and has stuffed his administration full of neocons who want a war with anyone. If they can't get their war with Russia they might settle with one with China...