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    Japan's Smaller Military Could Match China 05-05-14

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    Even a smaller military is better than what some of the rest of the world have

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    Japan's Smaller Military Could Match China 05-05-14

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    Amir
    29 views2 pages
    Even a smaller military is better than what some of the rest of the world have

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    Even a smaller military is better than what some of the rest of the world have

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    29 views2 pages

    Japan's Smaller Military Could Match China 05-05-14

    Uploaded by

    Amir
    Even a smaller military is better than what some of the rest of the world have

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    5/29/2014

    Japan's Smaller Military Could Match China - Business Insider

    Why Japan's Smaller Military Could


    Hold Its Own Against China
    JEREMY BENDER AND GUS LUBIN
    MAY 5, 2014, 12:55 PM

    China's soaring military


    spending up 12.3% this
    year and aggressive
    gestures in the region could
    be setting the scene for
    major conflict. With various
    countries feuding over
    Pacific territory, Japanese
    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
    compared the ratcheting
    tensions to Europe before
    World War I.
    China's $188 billion military
    budget far surpasses the
    $49 billion budget of Japan,
    its biggest regional rival,
    even if it doesn't come close
    to America's budget of $640

    U.S. Air Force

    A Japanese F-15.

    billion.
    China's military is also much bigger than Japan's, with lots more equipment and 2.3
    million active personnel compared to 58,000. Consequently, China ranks third on the
    Global Firepower Index, which heavily weights sheer numbers, behind the U.S. and
    Russia and ahead of Japan at tenth.
    But is China's military actually stronger than Japan's?
    First of all, it should be noted that any military conflict between China and Japan would
    likely draw in Japan's superpower ally. The U.S. is bound by a mutual defense treaty to
    protect Japan, including the contested Senkaku islands, and it operates numerous
    military bases in Japan.
    http://www.businessinsider.com/japans-smaller-military-could-match-china-2014-5

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    5/29/2014

    Japan's Smaller Military Could Match China - Business Insider

    Even on its own, however, Japan's smaller military has a qualitative advantage over
    China.
    The majority of Chinese weapons systems are in various stages of decay, as detailed by
    Kyle Mizokami at War Is Boring. Only 450 of China's 7,580 tanks are anywhere near
    modern. Likewise, only 502 of China's 1,321 strong air force are deemed capable the
    rest date to refurbished Soviet planes from the 1970s. Only half of China's submarines
    have been built within the past twenty years.
    China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is a refurbished Soviet ship from the 1980s that
    is too small to launch most long-range planes and will probably be limited to hugging
    China's coast.
    In comparison, Japan has been supplied with advanced military equipment from the
    U.S. In the coming year, it is slated to purchase new anti-missile destroyers, submarines,
    amphibious vehicles, surveillance drones, fighter planes, and V-22 Ospreys from the U.S.
    Japan also expects to receive deliveries of F-35s starting in March 2017.
    The F-35 is Liaoning's worst nightmare, China's state-owned Global Times reported
    based on a Kanwa Asian Defense, which found that the F-35 could strike the Liaoning
    with hard-to-intercept joint strike missiles from a safe distance of 290km. The F-35
    should also be able to locate and engage China's main aircraft, the J-15, before the F-35 is
    even detected.
    The Japanese islands are also well protected by a missile defense system equipped with
    Standard Missile-3 and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors. These missiles are capable
    of shooting down a ballistic missile both inside and outside of Earth's atmosphere.

    "Japan has the strongest navy and air force in Asia except for the United States," Dr.
    Larry M. Wortzel, the president of Asia Strategies and Risks, said in a presentation
    at the Institute of World Politics last September. "They're still restricted by Article 9 of
    the Constitution, which forever renounces war as a sovereign right of the nation ... but
    you don't want to mess with them."
    While Japan maintains a significant qualitative advantage, however, the vast size of
    China's military should not be understated, nor its rapid expansion and modernization.
    No wonder Japan has responded with its first military expansion in more than 40 years.
    Meanwhile, the standoff is hurting most groups short of the military industrial complex.
    As noted by U.S. Trust's Joseph Quinlan: "No one is predicting an armed conflict between
    China and Japan, but the rising ill will between the two parties hardly engenders investor
    confidence in a region built on peaceful regional relations and unfettered trade and
    investment flows."
    * Copyright 2014 Business Insider, Inc. All rights reserved.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/japans-smaller-military-could-match-china-2014-5

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