Japan deploying 1,050 troops to Senkaku islands

[GhostZ06]

China is bullying Japan? About time if so, they owe them some serious payback for all the shit the Japanese inflicted on them.

what a stupid post. If you know your history then you'd know that neither one of them are good or bad

 

[ElKarlo]

China is bullying Japan? About time if so, they owe them some serious payback for all the shit the Japanese inflicted on them.

Yep let the cycle or violence and madness continue. Idiot

 

[MyOwnSummer12]

Thanks for posting the article.

 

[ZroC]

I have no idea what "8 km long total land mass" means, but there is one island that is 4 sq. km (roughly 2km by 2km), one that is 1 sq. km, and the rest are like literally tiny rocks. Less than half a square km.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senkaku_Islands

None of them are remotely defensible.

The total combined size of the islands about 7.5km. Even with the larger island being 4km and the smaller ones being 500m or so they're still large enough to be turned into a defensive outpost. It's not like you'd pitch a few tents up and run out of room or something.

In any case, China and the Philippines have been building everything from defensive platforms to luxury hotels on shallow reefs. The Philippines have turned an old scuttled WW2 era battleship into a defensive outpost just so they can say the reef belongs to them. China have apparently been building an airstrip right on top of a reef they recently stole from the Philippines.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...ars-to-be-building-airstrip-on-disputed-reef/

I can't find the island's name, but the Philippines built an airstrip on one small island which extends out into the water. I just don't see any reason why it's not possible for a country to make use of 7.5km worth of land, even if some of those islands are very small. I guess you could argue that one bombardment could wipe out the whole island, but if you have the right defences around and on the islands that isn't going to happen. At least the idea is your set up should prevent that from happening.

 

[Jolomies]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29947967

At least there are some good news in this ebola ridden ISIS infested world.

 

[Madmick]

 

[Pem123]

1000 troops, wow.

Japan is not playing any games.

 

[Banchan]

[YT]8trsDPpAI5E[/YT]

 

[Roaming East]

potential dick waving over an island where one nation has state of the art naval capabilities and the other....has a big army stuck on the homeland.


non-issue.

 

[Madmick]

1000 troops, wow.

Japan is not playing any games.

For what? Beyond posturing, I don't understand what is happening here. What's the purpose? To scare off the other nation's fishing boats? Zroc is working hard up there to demonstrate that these islands have some sort of defensive relevance, but they really don't. They're indefensible against anything but, quite literally, fishing boats. You could build an air strip, sure, and use it a re-fueling station, but the moment any sort of unrestrained conflict breaks out the opponent is going to bomb that to shit.

Building an airstrip or a couple platforms doesn't mean they'll hold up to a real offensive. Where is the perimeter for your AA? Where is the cover? Where is the proximal major island that can house troops & ships to deploy as an effective naval shield? Nowhere. These things are at least 330km+ from both China and Japan's nearest controlled land which could offer that sort of functional, ancillary support for the outpost. That's close enough to bomb, easy...not close enough to so easily defend.

I don't see any military application they could have beyond housing an observation outpost with just a few small structures and a few troops: a target unworthy of the resources of any sort of serious dedicated air raid.

The claim to these islands isn't even about the potential oil reserves in their supposed vicinity. This is pure dick measuring in the escalating and ongoing the South China Sea saga. They are not, nor have they ever been, a significant military preoccupation.

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

[YT]8trsDPpAI5E[/YT]