1950s Sino-American War?

POD takes place when China intervenes early / more aggressively in Korea, resulting in the UN force not arriving in time or being forced to retreat altogether. China, emboldened by the success, decides to go after American territories in the Pacific (Hawaii/Alaska) despite the USSR imposing not to do so. USSR-China relationship are stranded, but not to the point where they go at each other's throat. No USSR involved, atomic war averted.

Is this scenario even plausible or is it stepping into ASB territory already? I'm not very knowledgeable about logistics and such, which I assume would play a major factor. I know Turtledove toyed with the idea in Hot War, but it involves way too much atomic warfare, which I'd like to avoid.

Implying it is, however far-fetched it is, what consequences would it have for the U.S.? I presume the Second Red Scare would last longer, fueled by the war, and maybe Joseph McCarthy would be taken more seriously than he was in OTL, possibly allowing him to make a career out of the people's paranoia for the "red menace" (possible president?). This is the only major consequence I can think of ATM, but I'm sure there'd be many more.

Dropping this for criticism and consistency check more than anything else.
 
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Hawaii and Alaska are literally untouchable for the PRC even if they throw everything they have on it.

If they somehow manages to take them (which is,as said,an ASB event),the USA would nuke them to the moon and back.
 
POD takes place when China intervenes early / more aggressively in Korea, resulting in the UN force not arriving in time or being forced to retreat altogether. China, emboldened by the success, decides to go after American territories in the Pacific (Hawaii/Alaska) despite the URSS imposing not to do so. URSS-China relationship are stranded, but not to the point where they go at each other's throat. No URSS involved, atomic war averted.

Is this scenario even plausible or is it stepping into ASB territory already? I'm not very knowledgeable about logistics and such, which I assume would play a major factor. I know Turtledove toyed with the idea in Hot War, but it involves way too much atomic warfare, which I'd like to avoid.

Implying it is, however far-fetched it is, what consequences would it have for the U.S.? I presume the Second Red Scare would last longer, fueled by the war, and maybe Joseph McCarthy would be taken more seriously than he was in OTL, possibly allowing him to make a career out of the people's paranoia for the "red menace" (possible president?). This is the only major consequence I can think of ATM, but I'm sure there'd be many more.

Dropping this for criticism and consistency check more than anything else.

You had me until you started mentioning Hawaii and Alaska...
Outside of bambo-pontoons, the PRC couldnt even dream about a Navy, let alone one that could match the likes of the US Sixth Fleet!
 

CalBear

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Can't be done. Hell, the PRC couldn't do it TODAY (they would be very hard pressed to invade Taiwan if push came to shove and the island is only 100 miles off shore.
 
The PRC wouldn't even be able to seize Taiwan at this time, let alone Alaska and Hawaii.

And the Korean War occurred before the Sino-Soviet split, so you would need another ATL alone on why the USSR doesn't get involved in such a large scale conflict.
 
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I think a Sino-American War stemming from the Korean War is doable but it's impossible for the PRC to seize US territories in the Pacific at the time; and would be kept mainly between the two combatants due to Stalin not needing to risk making this conflict spiral into WWIII (though that's another topic for another time).
 
I think a Sino-American War stemming from the Korean War is doable but it's impossible for the PRC to seize US territories in the Pacific at the time; and would be kept mainly between the two combatants due to Stalin not needing to risk making this conflict spiral into WWIII (though that's another topic for another time).

So ruling out a PRC invasion of the US Pacific territories, how would the whole thing play out? Do the US invade China and get swamped in a Vietnam War-like conflict ahead of time?
 
If we want to talk about Chinese amphibious assaults, let's talk about Kuningtou, where the Chinese invasion fleet, made up of hundreds of fishing boats, ran into ROC beach defenses that could have fared well against a US assault (comparable to the early Marshall Islands battles in WWII). Of course, the ROC was very lucky that their navy was smuggling peanut oil at the perfect time to destroy the Chinese invasion fleet on the beaches, that the PRC troops had so little defense against armor that ROC tanks that had run out of ammunition were literally running over Chinese troops, and that those ROC tanks could meet the PLA on the beaches because one of them had broken down the previous night and the other two had stayed there to guard it.
 
you would need a pre-1949 POD where the US intervenes in the Chinese Civil War on the side of the Nationalists.
 
If we want to talk about Chinese amphibious assaults, let's talk about Kuningtou, where the Chinese invasion fleet, made up of hundreds of fishing boats, ran into ROC beach defenses that could have fared well against a US assault (comparable to the early Marshall Islands battles in WWII). Of course, the ROC was very lucky that their navy was smuggling peanut oil at the perfect time to destroy the Chinese invasion fleet on the beaches, that the PRC troops had so little defense against armor that ROC tanks that had run out of ammunition were literally running over Chinese troops, and that those ROC tanks could meet the PLA on the beaches because one of them had broken down the previous night and the other two had stayed there to guard it.

That's a very unfortunate string of bad luck (and pathetic amphibious resources) for the Communists there. At least in Hainan, they already have communist cells on the island to clear the way for that kind of amphibious landing.
 
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