Neither the Soviets nor the French helped because they knew they would their butts handed to them.
That expanse of water between China and Taiwan? The Taiwan navy does not have to take complete control of it. All Taiwan have to do is put up a credible threat on any point of the strait.
An excellent segue. The only way for China to defeat Taiwan is literally obliterate the island.
Wrong. The fact that Germany did not invade meant they knew the threat that radar posed to the Luftwaffe. Back then, radar had mixed successes. The RAF was often sent to empty sky while the real threat passed by and bombed English cities. Nevertheless, the few successes were enough for Hitler to continued the air campaign in an attempt to weaken English resolve and resources.
The S-400 is not even a proven system ... why are we to assume that F-16s are not capable of handling them? I have always said it is very dangerous to underestimate your opponent ... often times in the case between the United States and China. I'm sure the Chinese posters here should also not underestimate Taiwan's military capabilities ...
Yes but this is no Iraq. The terrain of Iraq was extremely unfavorable to the defenders and therefore made massive armored attacks and aerial bombardments super easy. Taiwan is fall more hilly and mountainous, meaning the defenders have quite a bit of an advantage in this regard. In the Battle of Shanghai, Chiang Kai Shek was aiming for a pitch battle to destroy the Japanese in Shanghai at once (which was opposed by his German advisors). I doubt the ROC is aiming for any grand/pitch battle against the PLA unless they want to be annihilated. Most likely, there are going to resort to the defensive and hit and run tactics similar to the Japanese in the Pacific. Even with overwhelming artillery and air superiority, capturing these positions are still a very considerable task. I really don't see the Taiwanese trying to engage the PLA at the beach head ... that would be suicidal considering PLA forces would only land once air and naval superiority have been established.
Interesting ... I'm sure they'll still hold some units to defend the beach head and inflict as many casualties on the PLA landing force as possible. The brunt of their force I'm sure would be held back ... maybe for a counterattack. The only strategy for the Taiwanese is to control hilly strongpoints like the Japanese in the Pacific ... something like attacking the beach head would be suicidal. IIRC, in the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese did not even attempt to counter the USMC on the beaches. They only opened fire a couple days later, when the USMC moved much further inland. Any Taiwanese frontal attack would be repulsed pretty badly since the Chinese would have full air and naval superiority.
In Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the US had complete air supremacy and it still took months and tens of thousands of lives to clear the defenders out. Even in Vietnam or Afghanistan, you can see that isolated strongpoints are still very difficult to defeat and require huge amounts of manpower (i.e. casualties). Of course, maybe Taiwanese military morale is not as high as those of the Japanese, Vietnamese, or Taliban defenders. But that is just a maybe ... the PLA has to expect the morale to be high and for the defenders to fight to the last man. In WW2, the Japanese strongpoints were also cut off and overwhelmed one at a time ... fighting in this type of terrain is not so different from WW2.
