When did China buy the Cougar?

at this time, no. alarmists in many countries see the sinister plot of the PLA behind every port development project involving Chinese company of capital ranging from Pakistan to Panama. the truth is, the main areas of Chinese maritime interests are close to home, Diaoyu Island, Taiwan and South China Sea. long range voyages by the PLAN are usually show of flag and training missions. each of the 14 naval escort task forces sent to fight Somalian pirates are accompanied by one underway replenishment ship. the main port of call for fuel and basic supplies is Aden, but other commercial ports in the region are also used. Seychelles was in the news a while back, when its government publicly invited China to establish a naval base there. China hasn’t taken up the offer so far. PLAN is not interested in forward basing its ships, the long voyage from China to Africa is kinda the point. These escort missions are mainly training missions. PLAN uses a different pair of ships for each task force, so more crews can get some experiences.

Is it me, or does J-20 carry RVV-AE Adder in its side weapons bay?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmJC1Kh7cfE

that’s suppose to be mockup of PL-10, a new WVR missile under testing, designed for internal carriage. the appearance is very different from previously published images of PL-10, which looked more like ASRAAM. the present configuration looks more like IRIS-T, while the rear fins reminds on of R-27.

There is little doubt that if the North starts a full scale attack, SK will launch a full scale invasion in return. The question is, will SK invade if NK does another Yeonpyeong or Cheonon? Does SK think now is the best time to initiate a full scale war based on their estimate that NK nuke is not weaponized yet?
You haven’t presented evidences to support that. The articles you linked all talk about reaction to a full scale North attack. Also Strategypage is basically worthless as a source, and that article doesn’t cite its source either. But there is some indication that the current South Korean government is will act more aggressively in response to NK provocation, perhaps more than its ally the United States is comfortable with.

I think certain elements in the SK government do share Slowman’s dangerous vision. Notice how recently Washington have disagreed with SK publicly over estimate of NK’s nuclear capability. http://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-casts-doubt-north-korea-miniaturizing-nuclear-020117676.html
Whose estimate is more accurate is irrelevant. Washington is saying it is already too late to invade NK. SK is saying no, this may be our last opportunity to invade before their nuke is weaponized.

Kerry is in Seoul now to try to calm things down.

Imagining if the fat man in the north decide to launch a missile or some other action that results in SK death. South decides to seize the opportunity and invade.

yes, along with mine fields and electric fences. anyone with military experience will tell you passive barriers are useless without firepower to back it up. plan on doing a lot of shooting desperate civilians.

with your logic, conquest of NK is easy, integration of NK will be easy, the conclusion would be, let’s seize the opportunity and invade now! if a significant percentage of SK population share your view, no wonder NK want the nuke.

Of course Taiwan won’t say it will drop its claims(Taiwan may give Diaoyu Island away in exchange for Japan’s recognition of Taiwan), but Taiwan will obviously not raise this issue from now on.

This allows Japan to focus its attention on China’s assault.

The Taiwanese position the same as China’s. The sovereignty question can be shelved in order to resource co-management negotiation to take place. This is what happened with this deal.
The CCP cannot back down on the territorial disputes (Diaoyu Island and South China Sea) because it inherited the territorial claims from the ROC when the KMT controlled the mainland. ROC’s claim to South China Sea is the same of PRC. It actually controls the largest island in the South China Sea to this day. After the experience of the past century, any Chinese government that doesn’t defend Chinese territorial claims will immediately lose all legitimacy.