Hypothetical. If a war with China went sideways and we destroyed 3 Gorges Dam, would that be enough to trigger nuclear retaliation?

 Navy Surface Officers, the old skool dudes, are some blood thirsty bastards.

Why do I say that?

Cdr Salamander over his blog was talking about the dam breach in Ukraine and then pivoted to talking about how if things got sideways in a war with China that we should consider taking out the 3 Gorges Dam.

He went on to say that 400 million people are downstream of that and a quick look at the map shows major cities.

Taking out that dam would be a massive disaster with huge loss of life and property.

It would plunge China into the dark ages.  At least a large portion of it.

Monitoring the conversation on this blog, the discussion is a strike in kind from the Chinese with them hitting the Hoover dam.

Personally I don't think it comes close. 

But let's pivot again.  We're talking about a catastrophe of massive proportions.  Don't you think that under those circumstances the Chinese would simply launch a nuke or three at a couple of our major cities?

I say all that to say this.

The SecDef wants to talk to China so that lines of communication are open.

I think he's totally misreading the Chinese.  The US wants war but wants a "moderated" war but I don't think the Chinese are viewing it that way.

Do you hear all the talk of competition with the Chinese?  The grey zone talk?  

I personally believe that if it comes to war the Chinese will bang their fangs into the floorboard and come at us with everything they got short of nukes.  I don't think they'll pause until they've achieved their goals and I believe they'll be in it for the long run (which makes their manufacturing capacity concerning...we need to nationalize large caliber gun and missile production NOW).

If the fight is over Taiwan and they're initially repulsed I think they'll keep feeding units into the fight and make it war of attrition.  If the fight is over rubble and dead bodies then so be it for them.  Its the goal that's important.  They'll rebuild after they take it.

Bottom line.  Don't think a war with China will be easy.  They're determined, they're smart and they're disciplined.  No they're not 10 feet tall and we can take them.  But if the powers that be know its coming then they need to up the game fast.  

Misconceptions and missteps can lead to terrible outcomes for all involved...on both homelands.