US-China Military Scorecard (2017) Rand Corporation

 Thanks to Joe for the link!

Read and weep bro.  This is from 2017 and things aren't looking good for the home team.  

Long story short?

China has achieved at least parity in most areas in 2017. 

Things haven't improved since then either.  

You wonder why the US is so big on coalition warfare in the region? Simple. Head on its a near thing...very near thing.  As a matter of fact its so close that I believe if either side were to engage in peer to peer hostilities it would be VERY difficult for the losing (or perceived to be losing) side to avoid using AT LEAST tactical nukes.

Lets be real.  There's a reason why we haven't waded even deeper into Ukraine (although I see signs of NATO tiptoeing to placing advisors on the battlefield...at least in Command/Control Posts).

via Rand.

Over the past two decades, China's People's Liberation Army has transformed itself from a large but antiquated force into a capable, modern military. Although China continues to lag the United States in terms of aggregate military hardware and operational skills, it has improved its relative capabilities in many critical areas. To advance the public debate, RAND used open, unclassified sources to compile The U.S.-China Military Scorecard: Forces, Geography, and the Evolving Balance of Power. This comprehensive report examines U.S. and Chinese military capabilities in ten operational areas, and presents a "scorecard" for each.

Each scorecard assesses the relative advantage or disadvantage of U.S. and Chinese forces in diverse types of conflict, at varying distances from the Chinese mainland, at different points in time from 1996 to 2017. Advantage means that one side is able to achieve its primary objectives in an operationally relevant time period while the other side would have trouble in doing so. The chart below collects the scorecards for each evaluated operational area.

Check it out here and remember.  This is from 2017.  Think about where we're at today and then fast forward to 2030.

Once you've done that little exercise tell me why you believe Taiwan won't fall to a Chinese assault!