BRICS is not a faction like NATO or a military and political alliance.

Why would India help China when they view China as a potential enemy who arms its real enemy (Pakistan). It would probably suit India for China to bleed a little if a war did happen to erupt.

As for Taiwan, the purpose of Taiwanese forces would not be to defeat PLA, but rather delay it as much as possible.

This does two things:

1. Allows US to build up additional forces and initiate contingency plans.

2. Prevents China from refocusing its attempts on Japan or other US targets.

I want to know what happens when Australia is required to deploy to a combat zone without the US, what will the tank crews use then?

They won’t be there.

Australia doesn’t deploy by itself other than really small key stuff that generally doesn’t involve combat (Solomon Islands, East Timor, UN peacekeeping etc). Heavy armour was not deployed in those instances.

When’s the last time Australia deployed to a combat zone without the US or in the past Great Britain? The answer is NEVER.

When it comes to fighting wars, Australia only does so under Major Ally auspices (Boer War, WWI, Russian Civil War, WWII, Korean War, Malayan Confrontation, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan).

In fact the last time Australian tanks were deployed was in Vietnam and their main purpose was guarding bases. They did see combat too as it was an insurgency.

Yet no Abrams were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan despite Afghanistan seeing Aussie combat deaths.

Invasion of Taiwan is theoretically possible but very very unlikely. China and Taiwan have established a mutually beneficial equilibrium in their relation that neither wants to disturb.

Last time I did research on this at Uni in the early 2000’s, China’s official policy was to launch a military response if Taiwan declared independence.

Is this still the case?

With regard to an invasion of Taiwan, it has to be primarily seaborne i.e. an amphibious invasion. The world’s largest most sophisticated submarine fleet is still operated by the US Navy which shouldn’t be counted out anymore than naval aviation should.

Taiwan Strait is a pretty narrow stretch of water (130-180 km) and only up to 70m deep (not exactly great submarine territory).

It’s within range of all Chinese naval aircraft and smaller surface combatants. It is basically a Chinese pond.

US SSNs would struggle operating in such a dense Chinese environment especially with little room to maneouvre.

It’s our best bet.

I suspect if it ever meets an alien, we’ll all be dead and buried!