re: #1 Destro

That would also ignore that those same Backfire/Hong10s could be used as offensive weapons against Taiwan (saber rattling) as well as Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan over disputed access/ownership of coastal waters/islands for fishing and other natural resources. Since the US has alliances with South Korea and Japan, those territorial conflicts could bring in the US as well.

The use of those bombers would give China first strike capabilities against Taiwan and coupled with standoff weapons such as long range air to surface missiles could negate the US Navy’s surface fleet advantage if needed to come to Taiwan’s aid.