Quora Answer: Would the USA Respond with Military Might Should China Invade Hong Kong?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Would the USA really respond with military might should China invade Hong Kong in the near future?”

Hong Kong is a part of China.  China cannot invade itself.  Hong Kong has limited self-governance, but it is not an independent sovereign entity.  China already has troops based in Hong Kong, quartered near the old governor’s residence.

The US has no legal justification to invade Hong Kong, since that would be invading Chinese sovereign territory.  I cannot see any scenario where that would end well.  China is a near peer adversary with territorial advantage.  The US has to secure a thousand-mile logistics supply line from bases in South Korea and Japan, bases well within reach of China’s tactical missile envelope.