Business, History, Political Commentary, War Commentary

The South China Sea

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China is getting more aggressive. This is a dangerous game. One wonders, of course, how much more aggressive they’d be if Hillary had won. Of course, she’d have give Xi Jinping a misspelled “Reset” button.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Three quarters of a century after they were hitting the beaches against each other, in a joint exercise, Japanese amphibious troops establish a beachhead alongside U.S. Marines from the Seventh Fleet.

10 thoughts on “The South China Sea”

  1. I think the Chinese would find the JDF a pretty tough nut to crack. There’s also the fact the JDF has a larger fleet of aircraft carriers now than it did at Pearl Harbor – except they call them helicopter destroyers these days. Some even wear the names of their IJN ancestors.

    1. Not quite. The JSDF has two Hyuga-class and two Izumo-class DDH’s. The Izumo decks were designed with AV-8 and F-35’s in mind. The Hyuga’s could be modified to operate VSTOLs. There is also the issue of the entire island chain of Japan being inside the envelope of long range attack aircraft operating from Chinese mainland. Carriers are most effective when operating in deep blue water at the fringes of land based aircraft range and eroding Red forces as they work their way in. Japan would be a tough nut to crack in any amphibious scenario.

      2. Japan would be a tough nut to crack in any amphibious scenario.

        Austin, Buick, Cadillac… Thank God we didn’t have to go that route…


        Operation Olympic, the invasion of Kyūshū, was to begin on “X-Day”, which was scheduled for 1 November 1945. The combined Allied naval armada would have been the largest ever assembled, including 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts. Fourteen U.S. “division-equivalents” (13 divisions and two regimental combat teams)[29] were scheduled to take part in the initial landings. Using Okinawa as a staging base, the objective would have been to seize the southern portion of Kyūshū. This area would then be used as a further staging point to attack Honshu in Operation Coronet.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall

        1. If you have a couple hours to spare, I highly recommend this video:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4uDfg38gyk

          It’s just an interview (no graphics), so you can even just listen to it if you can handle MHV’s accent.

          The logistical aspects of Downfall included a lot of information that I had never heard of (particularly how the ETO was affected in 1945 by all of the units earmarked for the invasion). It also puts paid to all of the claims that Japan was ready to surrender, or that they surrendered because of the Soviets; in reality, they had a plan to suck the Russians in and then cut off their supplies, and as for us, they had an actual strategy to kill enough troops to make our public beg for peace talks, even if it meant giving Japan most of what it wanted. They figured this would require over a million dead GIs (plus wounded), and that it would cost them 20 million dead Japanese–and they were completely o.k. with that.

          WTWT. And remember that while Japan can no longer afford to take such losses, China just might, especially given their horrid demographics.

          1. +10 sounds like a book I need to own…

            “Hell To Pay” by D.M. Giangreco
            Get the updated & expanded edition with the B&W cover.

      3. You are correct. I was under the impression the Japanese had seven DDH’s in commission. My bad.

        Japan is still tied with France for the second most formidable carrier fleet after the U.S., with four each, but probably deserves to own the title outright as the three French Mistral-class ships have no capability to operate fixed-wing aircraft and are much slower than the Japanese Hyugas and Izumos. The Charles de Gaulle is big and nuclear-powered, but has never performed up to expectation.

        By weight, the Hyugas are about half the size of the U.S.’s WW2 Essex class. The Izumos are about 3/4 of an Essex each and nearly the same length. Both classes are also nearly as fast as were the Essexes. Their maximum fixed-wing aircraft complements are smaller, but VSTOL jets are more capable than F6F’s and F4U’s.

        If the Chinese think they can take the Western Pacific just by being pushy, they’ve got some serious pushback coming from more than just the USN.

  2. One wonders, of course, how much more aggressive they’d be if Hillary had won.

    We would never know because they would never have been challenged over anything. But we do know that they would be doing the same thing as now, steadily expanding their territory and spheres of influence. Of course if you were to mention it during the Obama years, you would be branded a racist or just having a paranoid fit of the red scare.

    Now Trump is in office, we can safely recognize the actions of China and correctly blame Trump for creating the situation. /s

  3. If Clinton had won, she’d have invited China to take over America. Or what was left of it, after WWIII.

    Apparently, while she was Secretary of State, she signed off on the ‘free shipping from China to the US’ policy that Trump has just said he’s going to eliminate. Not to mention Bill giving China ‘most favored nation’ status in the 90s.

    I’m guessing they’ve been bought and paid for by the Chinese for a long time.

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