WI: China Retaliated for 1999 Embassy Bombing?

CECBC

Banned
What if China made a more serious attempt to retaliate for the 1999 bombing of their Belgrade embassy?

An example could be holding the US ambassador to China, as well as American tourists hostage until the US turned over the pilots responsible. More extreme routes could be sinking a US navy ship or shooting down a US airliner as an act of revenge.

Could it trigger a second cold war? How far could they go without triggering a full-out nuclear war? I feel they could go pretty far, perhaps as far as a massive terror attack on US soil as the American government would be too scared of a nuclear apocalypse scenario to really push the button when it came down to it. They'd be more likely to use extreme sanctions and diplomatic pressure as their response in my opinion since the fear of nuclear war would remain too strong even in the face of some sort of horrible attack.
 
These would be acts of war. Nukes fall, everyone dies.

More like 'nukes fall, China dies.' The Chinese arsenal of some 460 warheads is not enough to kill everyone (arguably, it's not enough to wipe out America, since several warheads will share important targets for redundancy). The American arsenal, even after the arms reduction treaties, is an order of magnitude larger.

A Sino-American thermonuclear war would end with the U.S. Reduced to an economic and political basket case too busy rebuilding to exert power beyond its own borders, and the end of the PRC as a state.
 
More like 'nukes fall, China dies.' The Chinese arsenal of some 460 warheads is not enough to kill everyone (arguably, it's not enough to wipe out America, since several warheads will share important targets for redundancy). The American arsenal, even after the arms reduction treaties, is an order of magnitude larger.

A Sino-American thermonuclear war would end with the U.S. Reduced to an economic and political basket case too busy rebuilding to exert power beyond its own borders, and the end of the PRC as a state.
this with what ever is left of China falling into warlordism, also a global depression and more conflict involving North Korea vs the South and Japan and in South West Asia
 
More like 'nukes fall, China dies.' The Chinese arsenal of some 460 warheads is not enough to kill everyone (arguably, it's not enough to wipe out America, since several warheads will share important targets for redundancy).

Its not even close to destroying the USA. How many warheads could china deliver to the US in 1999? 20? Most or all of them on the western US?
That doesn't hold a candle against the absolutly unpretecented doom a US retailliation would bring against china...
 
OTL the Chinese milked this error, a stupid on e to be sure, for all it was worth. The USA was embarrassed, the USA paid China, and Chinese nationalism got a big boost. Getting in to a trade war, let alone some sort of armed conflict with the USA over this would be suicidal. Additionally, any sympathy the Chinese had in the international community would evaporate - this was an unfortunate accident in a war zone, apologies and reparations were made. Going further makes the Chinese the bad guys.
 
I've seen pictures of the bomb damage, a flatbed truck seems to have taken a direct hit (half of a deformed trailer is visible).The USA had just lost a F-117.Why send a B-2 to blow up a ammo dump when a cruise missle could do the job,What was on that truck?
 

gaijin

Banned
I've seen pictures of the bomb damage, a flatbed truck seems to have taken a direct hit (half of a deformed trailer is visible).The USA had just lost a F-117.Why send a B-2 to blow up a ammo dump when a cruise missle could do the job,What was on that truck?

Maybe one of those mysterious Russian suitcase nukes that we hear so much about but never show up.

Maybe a cache of plasma weapons the Chinese received from our reptilian overlords???

Maybe the embalmed body of Hitler the Chinese were trying to bring back to live to turn Germany into an ally in a future war with the free world???

Maybe it was Elvis and the lovechild of Princess Di planning to uncover the masonic secrets at the heart of the Windsor court???

All I know is that it was a close shave and that without a shadow of a doubt aliens were involved.

That, or it was a simple case of the US Airforce fucking up their targeting. Naaaah, that makes no sense: too simple, not enough aliens involved, amd doesn't allow us to feel part of the special few who are in the know. Conclusion: Must be fucking aliens then.
 
I've seen pictures of the bomb damage, a flatbed truck seems to have taken a direct hit (half of a deformed trailer is visible).The USA had just lost a F-117.Why send a B-2 to blow up a ammo dump when a cruise missle could do the job,What was on that truck?
Target was the HQ of the Yugoslav Supply and Procurement agency, not an ammo dump, the place that administered logistics, including ammo dumps AFAIK

Cost of a cruise missile is $750,000, a JDAM $25,000, a flight hour with a B-2 $135,000 when you have a 5 bomb mission, even with 20 hour flight time, savings of 700,000-2.2 million

Also US and UK just fired off 218 Tomahawks at Serbia, they don't have an unlimited amount in theater

F-117 is older tech than B-2, B-2 is stealthier and not nearly as vulnerable to the trick the Serbs used on the F-117, which only worked due to bad mission planning (though Serb competence made it possible)
 

gaijin

Banned
Target was the HQ of the Yugoslav Supply and Procurement agency, not an ammo dump, the place that administered logistics, including ammo dumps AFAIK

Cost of a cruise missile is $750,000, a JDAM $25,000, a flight hour with a B-2 $135,000 when you have a 5 bomb mission, even with 20 hour flight time, savings of 700,000-2.2 million

Also US and UK just fired off 218 Tomahawks at Serbia, they don't have an unlimited amount in theater

F-117 is older tech than B-2, B-2 is stealthier and not nearly as vulnerable to the trick the Serbs used on the F-117, which only worked due to bad mission planning (though Serb competence made it possible)


Bloody accountants. First you did in Al Caine. Now shredding conspiracy theories. What's next, getting the F-35 cancelled? ? ?

This madness has to stop I say.
 
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