Chinese Navy May Get A Chance To Sink A Us Aircraft Carrier Soon

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 Here is some trivia about Taiwan and China.
The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 when the Communists under Mai Zedong defeated the Nationalists under Chiang Kai Shek. Chiang Kai Shek and a significant number of his forces were evacuated by the Americans to escape to the Chinese island of Taiwan.
The US Navy provided round the clock patrols and security cover for Chiang Kai Shek on Taiwan island which is located over 100 mils from the Chinese mainland. At that time the Chinese did not have the military capacity to mount a naval landing on Taiwan. So Taiwan became what it is today. 
Here is an interesting map of Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
In this map you can see the tiny islands of Quemoy and Matsu. (The Taiwanese say Kin-mun for Quemoy). These islands lie about five miles off the Chinese coastline. Since 1949 both these island groups have been held by Taiwan. (There is another much larger Pratas island further south east, about 450 km away that is also controlled by Taiwan.)




During the 1950s and into the Cold War years China and Taiwan exchanged frequent artillery fire between the mainland and these small islands. Quemoy (Kin-mun) was also subject to attacks by Chinese naval commandoes. However after the Cold War was over there are no more artillery exchanges between China and these Taiwanese held islands. Things are peaceful
Now China has the military capacity to "retake" both Quemoy and the Matsu islands in double quick time. (Plus Pratas island). There is no way Taiwan (which is located over 100 miles away or about 200km) can defend Quemoy and Matsu against an all out Chinese attack. Yet China has never mounted any attack to retake these islands which obviously are a part of China.   Obviously China does not want to press for a military solution to regain their own islands occupied by their own people.
Over the past decades there has also been plenty of people movement and trade and investment between China and Taiwan. 
Taiwan is one of the biggest investors in China. Between 1991 and the end of May 2021, approved investment in China comprised 44,577 cases totaling US$193.51 billion. In 2020, the value of cross-strait trade was US$166 billion.
And in the first half of 2022 alone (despite the Covid) :
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202207/25/WS62ddf7dfa310fd2b29e6e23e.htmlTaiwan companies invest nearly US$1.8b in mainland in H1 (2022)
'TAIPEI -- Taiwan approved 191 investment projects to mainland China in the first half of 2022. Total investment volume rose by 19.06 percent to nearly US$1.8 billion, data from the island's economic affairs department has shown.  In the same six months the department approved 29 investment projects from the Chinese mainland on Taiwan, a year-on-year increase of 45 percent."
And here is a chart showing the volume of cross-straits trade between China and Taiwan from 2001 to 2020. It has exceeded US$166 Billion. And this chart is two years old.



So there is plenty of slow and steady "trust building" going on between China and Taiwan through trade, investment and people movement.  The Taiwanese will be insane to invest almost US$200 Billion in over 44,000 ventures on mainland China if there was a danger of hostilities between China and Taiwan. 
However there is one Great Satan which does not like this situation. That Great Satan is of course the United States of America. 
Ever since 1949 and continuously the US has tried its best to provoke a war between China and Taiwan. 
The US Navy continuously holds naval exercises as close to China as it can to provoke them. And the US continuously supplies arms and weapons to Taiwan and encourages the Taiwanese to have 'live fire' drills (using real ammunition) on the islands of Quemoy, Matsu and Pratas island. It is just provocative satanic behaviour. 
But the situation is changing very fast.
In their latest act of provocation the Nancy Polusi the US Speaker of Congress has announced that she will visit Taiwan - in her official capacity as Speaker. The US has long ago (since Nixon / Kissinger) 'recognised' mainland China as the official China. 
Polusi's "official" visit now appears to be a revocation of the US' official recognition of China. It is just provocation with no good end result. Just leave them alone.
The Chinese have replied that they may shoot down Nancy Polusi's airplane if it approaches Taiwan.  
The Pentagon (US Department of Defense) has chickened out. They have advised Nancy Polusi "against" travelling to China. Meaning the US Navy or the US Airforce do not have the balls anymore to provide protection. 
And President Joe Biden has said the same thing: 
"On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden told reporters the US military thinks a Taiwan visit by Pelosi is "not a good idea right now."
My advise to Nancy Pelosi is 'go ahead'. Maybe you will get blown out of the sky.
The Chinese now have a very powerful military. They have laser weapons that can shoot aircraft out of the sky. They have drone submarines and undetectable drone torpedoes that can navigate the seas on their own - using Artificial Intelligence - and find their targets. 
The Chinese have a powerful airforce with about 4000 fighter aircraft alone, which have seen significant modernisation and with high tech missiles. The Chinese have over 700 top notch Sukhoi 27 variants (which can match the US Airforce). And over 150 of the latest J20 stealth fighter. 
The Chinese Navy is now the largest navy in the world and has three aircraft carriers. But the most powerful ship in the Chinese Navy (perhaps more powerful than any other naval ship in the world) is their 13,000 ton Type 55 "cruisers" which have the armaments to sink any surface ship, hunt any submarine and shoot down any aircraft out of the sky (including stealth fighters). 
In October 2021 a Chinese drone torpedo attacked and almost sank the American Seawolf class nuclear submarine USS Connecticut when it ventured into Chinese territorial waters near Hainan Island. 
The damage was so bad that the front of the submarine had to be cut off (as you can see in the pictures) and the submarine had to sail on the surface back to the US. 
The US Navy said the submarine hit an undersea mount but until today the US Navy has not given the exact location of the undersea mount  (for the safety of other shipping). 






So lets see if Nancy Polusi will risk getting herself blown out of the sky.  Both the Pentagon and Joe Biden have said 'Dont do it'.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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