Why is China risking a major war, even a nuclear one, by deploying cruise missiles on South China Sea outposts? The US has warned that there will be consequences with this move by China. If the US launches a pre-emptive strike on these island outposts using its stealth bombers with JASSMs, China will surely retaliate against US air bases harboring said bombers in Japan, South Korea, Australia, and even Guam. China has the capability of obliterating these US air bases in a matter of 15 minutes or less with their DF26 and DF17 ballistic missiles with hypersonic glide vehicle warheads.

Corpus, V. (2018, May 17). Why China is risking war with the US in SCS. Manila Times, p. A6.