War: Can China take Russia with 200 million men?

I read the possibility on a site that China could attack Russia with it's army of 200 million men in the north. I started wondering could this happen? Could Russia be defeated by a modernized army of 200 million Chinese? China's economy is going gang busters right now and I'm confident they are modernizing their army.

If you give China a few years to modernize and then attack, do you think they could succeed? If they do what would stop them from taking over the rest of Asia, then the Middle East? I'm looking for insight and what you guys think. Please consider China versus Russia even if they might want to take out North Korea and Taiwan first before they go after Russia. I'm just looking for more insight.

I think China could take any country in the world with 200 million men. Not only do they have 2 million men, they have a lot of machinery of war.

#1, Russia is not as toothless as a lot of people think. China is up and coming but not in the same class yet. The Bear could still set the planet on fire. Respect friends.

Other than the deterence of Russias nukes there would not be much chance of stopping China from taking mineral rich Siberia.

Maybe that was the point of the missile tests by Russia in the past year - a reminder to China that it is still a country to be cautious of.

China could probably do a number on Russia...but has absolutely no interest in any such thing. They want to be superpower and have respect and fill our Walmarts with their goods...not to turn the world into a nuclear hell.

Where did 200 million men come from?

China's conventional army currently stands at 2.3 million, which over the past 3 years has been reduced from 2.5 million.

Incidentally it's not much larger than the current US millitary.

As for the original question, yes china probably could invade russia on the strength of numerical supperiority and the fact it's army has been built to fight russia for the past 50 years.

Currently the Type-99 MBT is better than anything russia is fielding and Chinese air to air missiles are also better.

Russia has better APC and SAM technology, though that depends on just how much they are willing to sell to China.

WE Already defeated China back in 69 and we have some pretty unconventional-Conventional weapons were gonna use on any nation if we ever have to go to war with a powerful country.

Originally posted by SiberianTiger
WE Already defeated China back in 69 and we have some pretty unconventional-Conventional weapons were gonna use on any nation if we ever have to go to war with a powerful country.

This isn't '69. If China really wanted to they could just throw men at you... They could impose a law where all men have to fight in the war and any nation would be screwed... hell they could lose half their population and still have more people than every other nation besides India!

China does not have the military firepower to go on the offensive against against India let alone Russia..
They may be a extremely potent defensive force but I do not see any aspect (PLA/PLAAF/PLAN) which holds any conventional offensive might..

And Lucretius..In a tank war Russia would whip China silly..
Infact Russia would whip all of the EU silly..

From my understanding: China actually has more to gain from being allies with Russia then it does from being their enemy. Although, Siberia would be a worthwhile ‘gain’ the amount of lives they would loose, as well as money it would cost, a long time trading partner, someone who has shared technology, etc.

Why would they go to war? At this moment, they need Russia for their Navy and Air Force. Maybe once the Dragon has surpassed the Bears Navy, we might see a confrontation - but till that day, they need each other. With them allied together, the way it is - it also deters other Nations from bothering them to much.

China will attack but it will do so ONLY if/when Russia is at war /distracted by war -with U.S.A.=EU

Most of chinese technology is based on russian tech or copied russian tech. I would also not think that china have technical superiority, especialy in air force, until chinese take last of junky J-7's from line units. A russian Mig-29 pilot would laugh to death if he see a J-7 on his radar. On land chinese army bases more on numbers than on quality. And i doubt that China have anything better than T-90.
And there is one rule according to russian military form start of cold war and it works still. If you know whats best russian ship/tank/fighter you should also know, that they have something that is better and it is classified and you wont know about it until they build something even better.

It is not possible to feed 200 million man in Siberia or eastern Russia. Do you know how much food, fuel (the army needs to be motorized, because the large distances) etc. they would need? NOT possible. There is a reason , why china has "only" few million army, while it has well over 1 billion population, don't you think?
Plus the China infrastructure is really poor and completely unsuitable for such large logistic operation.

Originally posted by Lucretius
Where did 200 million men come from?

China's conventional army currently stands at 2.3 million, which over the past 3 years has been reduced from 2.5 million.

Incidentally it's not much larger than the current US millitary.

As for the original question, yes china probably could invade russia on the strength of numerical supperiority and the fact it's army has been built to fight russia for the past 50 years.

Currently the Type-99 MBT is better than anything russia is fielding and Chinese air to air missiles are also better.

Russia has better APC and SAM technology, though that depends on just how much they are willing to sell to China.

Correct. At the moment there is only around 2.5 million enlisted. However there is around 200 million able. In a time of war these 200 able would definetly be enlisted/drafted.

If china went to war with russia I think Russia would get alot of help from the US, however i dont See china and russia goin at it for the time being, and US-India relations are getting better and India-china relations are dwindling, Russian Pilots are trained better then chinese pilots Russia has the military to reach out and touch anyone they want china has built there military on defense

And im probably wrong on this but didnt Russia Kind of sorta join nato to some extent,

And Europe and russia are better friends now then they were a few years ago so if US steps in to help russia So i think Most of US and allies would to.

It would be worst move ever for Chinese to launch invasion to Russia, simple words pride over mother Russia. Chinese would need to have really good upper hand and quick strike forces to disable rocket forces, but still invading Russias soil could cause nuclear war. But if it wouldnt go for nuclear war, Russia still is pretty able defend its own soil, good long range capabalitys, whole land under radar system, a lot of interception capabilitys. This wouldnt be guerilla war, it could be really dirty war in terms of Geneve convention, Russia holds a lot of biological and chemicals weapons on its stock and could remove large masses of Chinese or cause general panic. So Russias effectivenes couldnt be compared on its past wars in Cheznya or Afganistan, not to forget its defender and civilian population is on its side. World would also be on Russias side on this one, so there wouldnt be problem of getting aid, for example EU now builds those huge transport planes that has humongous radius, think you could see such in theatre sharing aid? Or even military support.

I really doubt whole idea about Russia been invaded, only possible scenario currently is some military conflict between Taiwan, US, Japan and this would wake up rest of the world and cause many goverment changes.

China supposedly has something better than the T-90..Its the T-98 i think with dazzler tech..
But still IMHO Russia is still much more powerful in terms of tanks..
I compare russian tank power to that of the US..
Maybe even better on a overall scale inclduing numbers, tech etc..
All in all China should not pick on the russians..nobody should pick on the russians..

China won’t attack Russia.

They work to well together. They are the only non-westernised superpowers. (Since India and Japan are allied with America/E.U.) if China attacked Russia, then the two communist superpowers would be at war with one another. Not a very wise idea. Is it?

The Type 98 is a damn fine tank - but it has yet to be tested against others. So, who knows how well it can do? Russia, on the other hand has a massive tank force. From what I know it still has tanks from WW2 that can work? But they have the upper hand. Their soldiers are used to the conditions of Siberia. If you’re not used to that sort of cold and not prepared you die. Germany and their invasion of Russia during WW2, is a good example of this.

And since a lot of Chinese technology, was made with Russia, planes, etc they’d already know what it could do.

China won’t invade. It would be foolish. It would cost a lot of man power, money and lives. The last thing they need when they’re busy focusing on Taiwan, controlling North Korea and annoying Japan/India.

Why would they waste the man power, lives and money to loose their most important ally?

Agreed... at the moment I think an invasion of russia is the last thing on chinese minds.

If I recall correctly russia and china recently sorted out their border disputes so I can't for the life of me think why they would invade or try a land grab.

I'll agree right now it makes no sense for China to attack Russia. I'm thinking actually more than a few years away. It would probably be more like 30 to 50 years as China has become a superpower possibly getting close to the US with upgraded military abilities and a vast resource of human capital to draft soldiers for combat wherever China wants. I can only hope the US stays ahead of China economically and militarily but China could grow into a formible force especially given time. With great power they say comes great responsibility and great power often gets abused. I can imagine an army of 200 million but it would be a colossal undertaking and difficult to stop. Right now I just see this as a be peaceful, acquire technology, expand business phase of development. Later on, I can imagine China starting to flex more and more muscle.