[section9]

The Chinese are making a bid for mastery of the Western Pacific, while at the same time, creating a new bogeyman: the Japanese Invader. It's not hard to do. The Japanese were beastly to the Chinese during the Sino-Japanese War of 1931-45.

This will have a deleterious effect. The Japanese signed a Naval Pact with the Americans in January. The key fact in the Pacific right now is that the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Combined Fleet will basically train to act as one unit, with an eye towards joint operations against the PLAN. Throw in the Royal Australian Navy and the Indian Navy as a possible wild card and I'd say you have the PLAN contained.

However, this doesn't alter the fact that there is an enormous need for a naval construction program here in the U.S..

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Wombat101]

Construct all the ships you want, but where do you get the sailors for them afterwards? As it is now, we have naval superiority, and can achieve air superiority from carriers and land-based aviation around Taiwan right now.

Given help from the Japanese, South Koreans, Aussies and especially the Indians, the Chinese would never get so much as a fishing junk out on the open oceans anywhere around West or Southeast Asia, if hostilities erupted.

What we need is not new construction, although a few new DD(X)'s and some new attack subs would be especially welcome.

[strategofr]

"However, this doesn't alter the fact that there is an enormous need for a naval construction program here in the U.S."

In the long run, it will alter that fact. The Japanese will take on more of the burdent, reducing ours.

Presumably, they should shoulder some R&D (and provide us with new weapons), which they are at least as capable of as we are.

[strategofr]

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