WASHINGTON—Within the first three weeks after invading Taiwan, China sank two multibillion-dollar U.S. plane carriers, attacked American bases throughout Japan and on Guam, and destroyed a whole lot of superior U.S. jet fighters.
China’s scenario was, if something, worse. It landed troops on Taiwan and seized the island’s southern third, however its amphibious fleet was decimated by relentless U.S. and Japanese missile and submarine assaults and it couldn’t resupply its personal forces. The capital, Taipei, was safe in Taiwanese arms, and Beijing was low on long-range ballistic missiles to counter America’s still-potent air and maritime energy.
