] I’ve read “81097” and “81192”.
Looking for.
] Take a look at the alarm at just the talk of China building an aircraft carrier.
India and Thailand already have STOVL carriers. Japan has LCAC-and-VTOL carriers. Yet the US doesn’t pity their neighbouring China and Pakistan who haven’t.
] if the Chinese or the Russians sent planes or subs just outside of the 12 nautical mile zone, the US cannot do anything about it but track its presence. During the Cold War, I believe the Russians did just that,
FYI, on 9 December 1987, a flight of four FSU Tu-16s flew near Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Two JASDF F-4EJs scrambled to escort them. One Tu-16 ignored radio warnings, and boldly went. It was finally convinced to go home, after it flew over Kadena AB, and one F-4EJ fired warning shots with its 20 mike-mike.
On 21 December 1987, the FSU claimed its navigation equipment malfunctioned, and punished its pilot.
BTW, in recent decades, both JASDF and JMSDF have scored non-combat air kills (F-15 and A-6, respectively), but these are off-topic here. 8D
] Today, we all know what this was all about
Hai Nan Province is also one of the proposed sites for new rocket bases. The closer to the Equator, the merrier. For comparison, the Japanese rocket base is at the historically significant Tanegashima Island: back in 16th century Japan, “Tanegashima” means muskets, just as “Winchester” means rifles in 19th century USA.
] Although I do agree that the China-bashing in the US government is completely irrational.
The US government, or at least the US lobbyists, always need a villain. In early 2001, China was it. In late 2001, Afghanistan was it, and China wasn’t; because the US needed China’s support at the UN.
] Americans during the Cold War turned their allies the Japanese out to be more evil than the Soviet Union.
The Japanese economy picked up after the 1964 Olympics at Tokyo. Personally, I miss the Japan-bashing 1980s, when Europe and USA helped to modernise the Chinese military until 1989, because the FSU hadn’t helped China since the 1960s.
For decades, India had FSU and Western hardware, even North Korea and Viet Nam had FSU MiG-23s, MiG-29s, Su-27s, and ZSU-23-4s; while China had domestic MiG-21 variants. OTOH, South Korea now has BMP-3s and Ka-32s, while North Korea has BMP-1s.
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