How the United States Would Fight China: The Risks of Pursuing a Rapid Victory

This is a detailed analysis of how the United States intends to fight a war against the People's Republic of China and why it risks strategic defeat--based on its doctrine, force structure and general 'way of war'.Franz-Stefan Gady contends that the US military's current approach to a potential war over Taiwan is flawed, relying heavily both on achieving rapid information superiority and on a decisive victory.This is unlikely to succeed, and may increase the risk of nuclear escalation between the world's only genuine superpowers. A US-China war would more likely be characterised by prolonged attrition across multiple domains (cyber, space, air, sea and land)--a conflict for which America's military and society are ill-prepared.The US also lacks a viable blueprint, the military forces or the industrial capacity for a long war of attrition.This deficiency stems from a military culture prioritising advanced technology over mass, and the lack of political will or public readiness for the s