"China's Navy Now Outguns The Japanese Fleet" Topic

"China has surpassed Japan as Asia's leading naval power. After two decades of explosive growth, the Chinese fleet now possesses more ships and more missiles than the Japanese fleet does.

"The balance of naval power in Asia is shifting dramatically," Toshi Yoshihara, a fellow with the Washington, D.C. Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, wrote in a May 2020 study. "China's rise as a sea power could undermine Japan's longstanding position in the Western Pacific and, in the process, undercut U.S. regional strategy in Asia."

Yoshihara reveals the tilting balance of power in a series of informative charts. This first underscores the fundamental dynamic at play. In opening its economy starting the late 1990s, China fueled a broad economic expansion than paid for a much bigger and more powerful military…"
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Amicalement
Armand

My money's on the Japanese, since they have a proven naval tradition and warfighting ability on the high seas.

China has no such tradition.

The IJN was destroyed 75 years ago. The military culture that created the IJN is long gone.

And as we have seen with decline of some western European militaries ala Germany, only a copule of decades is required to turn a potent Cold War era force into a bunch of hapless bureaucrats.

My bet is on who shoots first.

It is to be expected as China has way more money to waste on armaments.

And lives too….

Amicalement
Armand