The Chinese vs Japanese Navy Head To Head: An Infographic

The Chinese vs Japanese Navy Head To Head: An Infographic

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defau.../picture-5.jpg Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/27/2014 20:52 -0400

Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. Perhaps just as importantly, this weekend is also the 120th anniversary of the first Sino-Japanese war: a war between China's Qing dynasty and Meiji Japan. A war which China lost, and which has been a chip on China's shoulder ever since.
As Hong Kong's SCMP reports "China's loss of the first Sino-Japanese war has been attributed to a disorganised navy. Although the northern fleet equalled, some say exceeded, the Meiji navy in terms of firepower, it was annihilated because it lacked coordination among its military units."
In the context of constant recent flare ups over various contested East China Sea islands, one can see why the anniversary of the war coupled with a sudden spike in nationalistic ambitions of Japan's PM Abe, would be a sensitive issue to China. However, as we can see below, China no longer has an inferiority complex when it comes to its navy compared to that of Japan.
While Japan's navy may still have a qualitative advantage over China's, the People's Liberation Army is catching up, analysts say. In sheer manpower, China has the upper hand, with Beijing putting the PLA Navy's strength at 235,000, or more than five times the number in the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force.
According to SCMP:

"PLA units are still exploring new ways to operate jointly, which could lead to merging their different weapon systems together," Wong said. Toshi Yoshihara, an associate professor at the US Naval War College, said that although the Japanese navy was still superior in technological sophistication and experience, China was catching up quickly.

"China is out-building Japan virtually across the board," Yoshihara said. He said the PLA Navy was deploying modern destroyers, frigates, fast-attack craft and submarines. "Japan is already having trouble keeping pace with this level of Chinese output."

Sounds kinda, sorta like the US, Russia nuclear arms race. However, unlike the use of nuclear ICBMs, launching a naval war has far less dire consequences if it goes wrong, and thus a lower hurdle to enactment. One which both China and Japan seem eager to jump over based on their behavior in recent months. The key variable remains US involvement.

As so many Chinese warships had entered production, adding mass and balance on the fleet, Japan could no longer rely on its qualitative advantage, Yoshihara said. But a deciding factor would be the support of the US Navy. "The US-Japanese alliance is essential to weighing the overall naval balance," he said.

China might even have the edge now, according to Dr Lyle Goldstein, an associate professor at the China Maritime Studies Institute under the US Naval War College.

"In my opinion, the forces are quite evenly matched now, but China may even have pulled ahead in recent years," Goldstein said. He added that this was not the official assessment of the US Navy.

Which is the worst possible situation as neither side has a massive advantage and thus serves a powerful deterrent.
So where are the two navies currently:

Japan last year formally unveiled the biggest warship in its fleet since the second world war - the Izumo-class helicopter destroyer.

The 248-metre ship, due to enter service next year, is designed to carry 14 helicopters, and complements Japan's two serving Hyuga-class helicopter destroyers, which are 197 metres long and can accommodate 11 helicopters.

Shanghai-based military expert Ni Lexiong said the helicopter destroyers could function as aircraft carriers for US planes, while China had only one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, although observers say more are in the works.

China required nearly 10 years to convert the 67,500-ton Soviet-built Varyag into the Liaoning. It was formally delivered to the PLA in September 2012, and so far has been used for training.

"But Japan's helicopter carriers have been battle-ready for more than three decades with the help of the United States," Ni said. "Every one of its carriers is able to operate independently in combat."

Japan also enjoys an advantage in submarines, according to Wong. The PLA's existing submarines, many of which are old models, have been criticised by Western forces as "too noisy and too easily detected", while Japan has some of the most technologically advanced diesel-electric submarines in the world

And visually, just in case one of these days the infamous Gulf of Tonkin incident takes place again, only this time it happens to involve a Chinese and Japanese warship.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defau...20navies_0.jpg

So what happens next? For the answer we go to SCMP again:

On Friday, the North Sea Fleet held a commemoration off Weihai in Shandong , where the Beiyang Fleet was based. The Beiyang was the pride of the Chinese navy at the time, but suffered heavy losses against Japanese forces.

When the war ended on April 17, 1895, little of the fleet remained and Taiwan was ceded to Japan.

Xinhua quoted a naval political commissar as saying the ceremony should stir soldiers' patriotism by reminding them of past humiliations. Chinese media have also pointed to remarks President Xi Jinping previously made about the anniversary. Xi said in February China should remember the painful lesson of losing Taiwan to Japan, and then in June noted the special meaning the anniversary carried in the traditional Chinese calendar.

Under its 60-year cycle, 1894 was a jiawu (wood horse) year, as is 2014. The occurrence has led some hawks to argue that the humiliation of a weak China then should be avenged by a strong China now.

Beijing has increasingly been referring to a string of historical events to highlight old grievances. The central government held an unusually high-profile commemoration on July 7 marking the 77th anniversary of the start of China's second war with Japan.

Giving prominence to such anniversaries is part of a broader domestic agenda, analysts say.

"An important aspect and end goal of achieving the Chinese dream is to rid China of past humiliations inflicted by foreign powers, and Japan perhaps did more than its share," said Yuan Jingdong, a professor at the University of Sydney Centre for International Security Studies.

That sounds like warmongering, and incidentally, a war may just be the thing Princeton's Keynesianomics (not to be confused with Clownianomics) department ordered to send the Nikkei225 to fresh cycle highs now that it appears to have stalled and is still down YTD. Because how else will the wealth effect trickle down to the 0.01%, which is really all the New Normal has been about.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...ad-infographic

China Expands Live-Fire Gulf Of Tonkin Drill; Warns Of Massive Flight Disruptions

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defau.../picture-5.jpg Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/27/2014 16:03 -0400

In a surprise announcement, China revealed that in addition to scheduled naval drills to be held near Vietnam (in case there isn't nearly enough tensions between China and the former US war foe) the country's Military of Defense announced that it would expand military drills in the East China Sea, which will re-escalate the already boiling territorial disputes which involve Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam. While the scale of the current drills is bigger than in the past, it’s a coincidence the annual exercises are being held at the same time, Beijing News reported yesterday, citing Zhang Junshe, a researcher at Navy Military Research Institute.
The irony that this is happening as China is already conducting a massive live-fire drill off Beibu Bay, also known as Gulf of Tonkin, will hardly escape readers, although we doubt even China will be so daring as to troll the US with a follow up "false flag" operation that launches a "contained" regional war. In addition to Tonkin, China is also engaging in a drill in the Bohai Strait next to North Korea, and now: the East China Sea, just to make sure Japan and Taiwan are also covered just in case.
Why is China doing this now, when virtually every corner of the world is on the verge of war? Well, why not: with the rest of the world back into Cold War territory if not worse, China itself has engaged in numerous territorial disputes with its neighbors, so what better option than to be prepared if and when the crisis presents itself: a crisis which everyone knows by now, should never be put to waste. Ironically, that appears to be the tactical thinking behind every other conflict around the globe: all it would take for things to spiral out of control on a global scale is a series of domino-like events resulting from a crisis which everyone thinks can be contained. Incorrectly so.
Most are familiar with the story. For those who aren't, Bloomberg explains: President Xi Jinping has been expanding the reach of China’s navy and using the added muscle to more aggressively assert territorial claims in the region. Chinese and Japanese ships regularly tail one another off disputed islands in the East China Sea, while deadly, anti-Chinese riots broke out in Vietnam in May after China set up an oil rig in waters also claimed by that country. The Philippines has sought United Nations arbitration in its maritime spat with China.
Not surprisingly, just like with Syria, just like with Ukraine, just like with most wars in the history of the world, the underlying conflict is about one simple thing: energy and natural resources.
China claims much of the South China Sea, which may be rich in energy and mineral deposits, under its “nine dash-line” map first published in 1947, which extends hundreds of miles south from China’s Hainan Island to equatorial waters off the coast of Borneo, taking in some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. In the East China Sea, Japan and China both lay claims to a chain of uninhabited islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu by the Chinese. The U.S. has said it will come to Japan’s defense in any clash over the islands.
The nine-dash line, shown in green, is picture below:

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defau...d%20line_0.png

With the current drills “what’s different from the past is that China is doing it in a more high-profile way, which does make China appear to be raising military tensions,” said Suh Jin Young, a professor emeritus of Chinese politics at Seoul’s Korea University. “But in Chinese eyes, the tensions were begun by the U.S. and Japan, and China thinks it’s only conducting what it has been doing annually.”
More irony: the latest drill announcement takes place during a rare sign of military cooperation with the two countries, China is participating along with the U.S. and Japan in the five-week-long Rim of the Pacific Exercise that runs through Aug. 1 in waters off Hawaii. China’s four ships make up the second-biggest naval contingent after the U.S. of the 22 nations taking part. But not all is at it seems there either because as we reported last week, China has sent a surveillance ship to Hawaii in retaliation to US navy build up in its back yard. Simply said, China is pretending to be a diplomatic ally of the west even as it is actively engaging in trade pacts with Russia and subverting US military influence around its borders, and especially in regions it deems of vital national interest.
It is also notable that as part of the ongoing drills, Chinese airlines last week were ordered to cut a quarter of their flights at a dozen airports, including two in Shanghai, because of “high frequency exercises,” state media reported on July 22. China’s airline regulator has issued an orange alert for massive flight delays in eastern and central regions due to “rainstorms, routine military exercises and other comprehensive factors.” Both China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines said yesterday they expected delays or cancellations.
And while military and civil aviation authorities have taken steps to minimize the impact of the new drills, the Defense Ministry said in the statement, let's hope no Malaysian, Vietnamese, or Japanese Airline flight ends up mysteriously diverted over the live fire zone in the South China Sea: not even the US State Department has enough YouTube clip producers and directors to "explain" the global panic that would result.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...ht-disruptions