Showdown: Why China Wants War With the United States [Hardcover]

Jed Babbin (Author), Edward Timperlake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 22, 2006

Will the U.S. go to war with China over Taiwan or oil? Yes-bestselling authors Ed Timperlake and Jed Babbin say Chinese aggression is virtually inevitable and in their new book, "Showdown", they address the threat of mainland China and Bush's promise to defend Taiwan - at any cost. "Showdown" offers indispensable strategies and tactics for the U.S. to respond to the Chinese military threat in this ongoing battle for democracy and freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Are CHINA and the UNITED STATES headed for WAR?

Yes, say bestselling authors Jed Babbin (former deputy undersecretary of defense) and Edward Timperlake (veteran defense analyst) in this riveting new book that takes you from the latest developments in China’s quest to become a superpower to the possible battlefields of what might become World War III.

Babbin and Timperlake unveil China’s aggressive military buildup (more rapid than that of Nazi Germany before World War II) and expose how China is engaging in a new Cold War aimed at expanding its commercial and military reach at the expense of the United States. Babbin (a former Air Force JAG) and Timperlake (a former Marine fighter pilot) do more than offer expert analysis. In dramatic Clancy-esque style, they take you into the field with Navy SEALs and Air Force bomber pilots, invite you inside the war councils at the White House and the Pentagon, and peer within China’s own Politburo in an exciting—and all too likely—series of war scenarios.

In Showdown, Babbin and Timperlake reveal:

* The unholy alliance between Communist China and radical Islam—and a possible war over Middle Eastern oil
* How China is infiltrating Latin America—including oil-rich Venezuela—to create an anti-American axis
* How a Chinese attack on Taiwan could spark the biggest war in the Pacific since World War II
* The vulnerability of Japan and the United States to Chinese cyber-warfare
* The likelihood of a second Korean War . . . only this time, the madmen in North Korea have nuclear weapons

As Babbin and Timperlake make clear, China is the greatest—and most dangerously ignored—threat to America’s national security. If America does not deter China’s aggressive ambitions, the result could be global war. Provocative, thrilling, and must-reading, Showdown is a wake-up call for America.

About the Author

Jed Babbin is the author of Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe Are Worse Than You Think and the novel Legacy of Valor. A former Air Force JAG, he served as a deputy undersecretary of defense in the first Bush administration, writes regularly for the American Spectator, appears frequently on television as a military and foreign affairs analyst including on The O'Reilly Factor, FOX & Friends, and Scarborough Country and has served as a guest host on radio for Oliver North, Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt, and John Batchelor. He lives near Leesburg, Virginia.

Edward Timperlake is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds an MBA from Cornell. He trained as a Marine infantry officer before qualifying as a Marine fighter pilot and has held high national security positions in Congress and the Pentagon. He has published extensively and is the co-author of the New York Times bestselling Year of the Rat and Red Dragon Rising. He has been on numerous radio and television shows as an expert on national security. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing; annotated edition edition (May 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596980052
• ISBN-13: 978-1596980051
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #603,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars China is a rising power in the world and they justly have a right to project power. We simply need to wake up!, June 4, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Showdown: Why China Wants War With the United States (Hardcover)

China is growing in economic power and with that will come a greater desire to become more dominant in world politics and affairs. Along with this will come a greater emphasis on military might to not only protect its internal interests, but to project its power around the world. The United States cannot simply assume that its Superpower status will remain unchallenged. Certainly, other nations have already realigned to "balance" our interests. China has interests, goals, and purposes different from ours and from those of its neighbors. It will insist that its interests influence the course of future events just as we do. How those interests will play out remains to be seen. However, it would be foolish to assume that American interests will carry the day in the future as they have for the past century. China has every right to advance its own goals in the world and we ignore that reality to our disadvantage.

This book is a series of military scenarios that show how China's interests and how the military power they have been building in many areas could play out in key strategic areas such as Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and for oil in the Middle East. The authors show how not only standard military operations of submarines, surface ships, land forces, manned jets, and missiles might be used, but also the effect of cyber warfare including the paralysis that would follow the use of EMP weapons.

I do not believe the authors are trying to predict the future in this book. Nor do I personally believe that war with China is likely or inevitable. However, the stories do make clear the strategic and tactical considerations we must think about as China's power continues to rise. The authors also make clear that China does not have to "win" these conflicts with us in order to advance their purposes and China has shown a wiliness over its history to accept losses if the outcome advances their goals and enhances their future position. Patience is something they understand and apply as a tactic as well as a virtue.

The authors also show how a policy of half-measures and dithering while assuming a powerful competitor is "just like us" and simply wants to talk is a foolish policy for America to take. While we talk, they make off with the goods. The last forty-six pages reprint a government report on China's military growth that was written in 2005. This report is worth the whole book. Everyone should read it and take it seriously

Again, I am not saying China is our enemy and we need to prepare for imminent war. However, they are not our family or friend either. They are a rising power and will soon be a great power in the world. They are likely to have an economy as large as ours or even larger (still smaller per capita) in the decades to come. We simply need to wake up and take a strong approach to the strategic realities they represent in their competition for markets, resources, and influence. This is an interesting book to help the reader see that through stories of hypothetical military conflict.

51 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Send a Copy to Your Congressman, May 26, 2006

By 

D. Buxman "A Seeker of Truth" (Pueblo, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Showdown: Why China Wants War With the United States (Hardcover)

This book is an eye opener of the first magnitude and so interesting that I finished it the day after it was delivered. The authors, Babbin and Timperlake, use a captivating mixture of fact reporting and fictionalization to produce a strong argument for being prepared for a future war against China. Contrary to some assertions, the facts speak for themselves.

The fact is that China and the United States have an insatiable need for finite oil supplies that, in the near future, will engender competition at best and conflict at worst.

The fact is that China is engaged in a military modernization and buildup program that is unrivaled since Nazi Germany.

The fact is that China has threatened the United States with war if we intervene in their planned annexation of Taiwan.

The fact is that China is developing a wide range of offensive weapons systems, including cyber-warfare and anti-satellite systems.

The fact is that our "allies," in Europe are willing to sell sophisticated weapons systems to the Chinese without regard to the dangers associated with doing so.

This book is well researched and sourced. It clearly distinguishes between the chapters that are non-fiction and those that represent fictionalized accounts of possible conflict scenarios. It is highly readable and enjoyable.

I would also like to point out that, as a former Reagan Republican, I've vehementently disagreed with many policies of the Bush Administration, but oddly enough, their China policy seems reasonably coherent. There is much, however, that remains to be done.

29 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Showdown" is fascinating!, May 19, 2006

By 

Leslie H. Wiesenfelder (Chevy Chase, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Showdown: Why China Wants War With the United States (Hardcover)

"Showdown" is an unusual book. In between being a well-documented description of China's emergence as a superpower and providing some practical ideas on how to avoid a war, the authors have included a series of fictional chapters describing scenarios of how war with China might erupt, be fought, and end. Though the fiction is as riveting as a Clancy novel (and in much the same style), the results aren't what you'd expect. There's not a lot of good news or chest-thumping over-the-top America can't be beat nonsense. We lose some, we tie some, and only win a couple. It's a terrific read, and a wake-up call as subtle as a bucket of ice water.