"If China and Japan Went to War: What Would America do?" Topic

"Over the last several months China has instituted daily non-naval maritime patrols around the hotly disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. Beijing is even sending fully-fledged naval assets within the islands' 12 mile exclusion zone while its aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, exercised only 50 miles away from the islands back in February — truly the end of Beijing's small-stick diplomatic strategy.

But on 1 March the plot thickens. Two Chinese SU-27 fighters come within 25 feet of a Japanese P-3 Orion surveillance plane just 10 miles west of the Senkakus (sound familiar?). The Japanese pilot gets nervous. A slight tweak at the controls and the Japanese plane collides with one of the Chinese fighters. Both aircraft crash into the ocean, with no survivors.

Naturally each side blames the other. Beijing accuses the Japanese pilots of violating Chinese sovereign airspace and violating its Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ. Japan claims the Chinese pilots acted recklessly, flying so close. The media in both countries fan the flames of nationalism. Just 72 hours later, a group of twenty Chinese nationals land on one of the disputed islands under the cover of darkness. Rumors swirl that Beijing knew of the voyage but did nothing to stop it. A Japanese naval task force carrying a small detachment of soldiers is dispatched. Their goal: remove the only residents of the disputed five-island chain.

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Amicalement
Armand

There was a time when all Americans understood that an attack on a treaty partner was tantamount to an act of war.
Those Nations that might consider acts of aggression had no doubt of our resolve, By not reacting with minimum show of force in The Libyan ,Syrian,and Ukrainian crisis they have become emboldened and will escalate without pause. War is coming….

Since when are any of those countries, Syria… Libya… Ukraine, our good buddies? Why should any young American die for their self-made mess?

The JMSDF is also one of a growing but select group of Navies the use the American 4D ABMDF system. The launch of that carrier killer missile would have been detected long before it reached its terminal phase. These systems can detect hundreds of targets and engage 16 at a time from track to terminal destruction…Since that area is so close to Japan proper there is no doubt that American Naval units would also be involved in the defense against such an attack.
Even if the Chinese fired thier entire stock of RTF missiles there is no guarantee of destruction of enemy naval forces that would leave them free from retaliation. Apparently the American system has improved so much from the early 90s that neither Russia,China,Iran or Nk feels ready to test it…BTW one of the minor EU Navies just tested their own 4D system which detected a test luanch 2000 miles away while this Navy has not yet developed a missile to go with the radar they developed it so it can tie in to US Tactical data system so can provide guidance for US missile systems so that they can destroy the target BM…So even if every toy brought to the party dose not work as advertised that would still require the Chinese or whoever to expend everything in the fridge and still not be sure of doing anything worth while…I think it's going to be a contest in the air Thats where I think the muscle flexing will occur…

Space Monkey back in the day before WW2 most Americans felt the same…the problem is if you close your door to the bad guys they don't go away they just knock harder. So America decided it was better to fight a forward defense and break up the furniture in the neighbor's house instead of getting our stuff broken..it seemed to work up to 9/11 we thought all the kids had grown up and learned not to be so violent we were obviously wrong..Id still rather fight in the neighbors house tho instead of mine..

it seemed to work up to 9/11

That an interesting interpretation of events…

It might seem that way but Im an old soldier and it dosent matter who is in office so much as what they do to defend us and our families Im as tired of war as the next guy . If we are percived as weak or having lost our resolve,The more likely the chance of a larger conflict and the louder the knock on the door. On a military note not political one Had we simply deployed an AB brigade to Poland (with thier permission)when the Ukrain crisis began deplomacy might have had a better chance to resolve the issue. I fully admit the Iraq Crisis is a hard nut to crack having fought there i dont want to see it all go douwn thw tubes,But then again Maliki is not the guy to be leading that country. I actualy think deploying SOF is the better of two evils. and if they can support the Iraqi SF (The only units to stand and fight)They would have the ISIS trapped between them and the kurds id leave that border post open and only interdict the stuff comming into Iraq as long as they used it to retreat id leave it open you always want to leave the enemy an out it makes them want to run more then fight. BTW The 9/11 comment was to show my displeasure with the Bush,Obama administrations not one over the other.

"If China and Japan Went to War: What Would America do?"

Turn on CNN and pop some popcorn … But seriously, the geopolitcal world situation has changed significantly, in many regions through out the world. Sending troops, firing missiles, etc. is always an option, just times it may be the last worse resort today … A PRC vs. Japan, could actually turn into a real nightmare scenario …

@kyotebluer: So am I.

Legion 4…you beat me to it…exactly :)

Pass the salt …