"The Pacific Rim’s Future Wars Belong to Marines" Topic

"Across the Pacific Rim, regional powers are creating new marine infantry units.

Fast, highly-trained and designed for military missions originating from the sea, marines are invaluable for the kinds of conflicts Asian and Pacific nations might fight in the future.

Since 2009, India, Australia and Japan have all announced the creation of seagoing infantry forces.

These units are tiny in comparison to the U.S. Marine Corps. But Asia's regional powers are not just creating mini-marine forces of their own, they're buying the landing ships and transport aircraft to carry troops to danger zones and—if necessary—into battle…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

No mention in that article about the principle reason all Asian nations are developing marine & naval capabilities: to claim, seize and hold newly emerging volcanic and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Territorial rights over the tiniest piece of wet rock gives the owning nation sovereign rights to vast oil and mineral resources underneath as well as shipping channels and ownership of airspace.

It's always about the money.

There's also the fishing rights to the areas, which is no small matter when you're trying to feed your populations.

I will note that the disagreement between Japan and Taiwan over the Senkaku Islands basically stopped when Taiwan asked for (and received) fishing rights in the area. Dunno if they leased the rights or were granted them in exchange for not pursuing the mineral rights, but that simple agreement stopped one side of the 3-way fight cold.

Since 2009, India, Australia and Japan have all announced the creation of seagoing infantry forces.

Sounds like a good idea. I believe the "ANZACs" have had a Bn for a few years already …

And I thought Pacific Rim wars belong to Kaiju and Jaegers…