Thomas P.M. Barnett - Army America needs versus the wars Americans prefer to wage

[Tacitus]

If waging small wars is a tool of the weak against the strong, would China really resort solely to a small war in any conflict with the US? Unless I am mistaken, China sees itself as a major power; if not completely on par with the US then at least close and working to create parity. If this is indeed the case, wouldn't a resort to an insurgent strategy present a completely different picture of China to the world?

Moreover, if this were the strategy, why China's increasing interest in force projection (deep water navy, 5th gen fighters, anti-satellite capability, etc.)? Is it possible that China may employ a hydrid war that blends conventional and unconventional tactics and strategy?

China has alot of options to resist any invader. A Navy to attack supply lines across an ocean, or get in the way of any Normandy style landing.

Look, I'm just saying that they could take a page out of the Russians' play book assuming somebody chose to make a landing on the mainland. They wouldn't need to mirror US forces to come out ahead in such a fight. Retreat inwards, wearing down the invader through a multi-million strong infantry army, organizing guerilla operations in the rear of the invader. Maybe they retreat to a place of their choosing and fight conventionally, as the Russians did at Borodino. Then harass the invader every step of the way back to the coast. An invader might see the whole spectrum from guerilla operations on up. It is merely an option.

Who said guerilla warfare had to be used only by a weak country against a strong one, anyway? You can make your own call on how weak the USSR was on the eve of Operation Barbarossa and afterwards. It certainly got stronger as the war went on in the east. They used a partisan army in the rear to cause trouble, in conjunction with building up large conventional forces in the front. Any Eastern Front experts out there could chime in on how many forces they tied down, but just from looking at maps in books, it seemed to have been a considerable amount that could have been used elsewhere.

But back to the topic, at hand. I have a question. Assuming Iraq is an aberration, and you are preferring instead to focus on conventional war with rising powers like China. What would that change about how the U.S. armed forces looked before we invaded Iraq? How do you plan to organize, outfit, and conduct a war with China, even if is a conventional only fight?