nameslave said:I have only seen Western countries "kowtowed" to China in the past 50 years but not vice versa. Lke I said earlier, the Chinese government won't be hesitant in giving up even HUGE economic benefits for the sake of some stupid national unity or pride issues, not to say when it comes to the Internet. They have been so since day 1 (after 1949), Hong Kong and Tiananmen are very good examples. (The next willl be Taiwan, for those who are not aware of it. Those who think the U.S. will be willing or able to do anything about it are just plain ignorant.) For those who are eyeing on profiting from anything China-related, I would strongly recommend brushing up your China knowledge before investing too heavily by picking up some inventories unloaded by others.
Taiwan, gradual absorption would be inevitable over 50 years. Military wise, it's not the "huge" economic benefits at stake, but it would be fairly impossible for China to take Taiwan in the next 10 or 15 years due to the sea barrier.
The channel between England and France is many times narrower, and see how much firepower and tens of thousands of warships were required for the Allies to land (practically half the world's firepower), and that was after Germany was greatly weakened, and deadly engaged in Russia.
Also, China's army is mostly land forces, and supreme naval power is required for such a sea battle. Missiles are practically useless in occupation.
Even the Americans during WWII were not confident of landing on mainland Japan, with their tens of thousands of warplanes, and 5 dozen aircraft carrier groups, and hence the A-bomb was used.