South China Sea and China (2011-2017)

[Dayuhan]

Should the US do nothing? And feel that all things are bright and beautiful and things will work out?

Or should US undertake to frustrate China in her designs to indicate enough is enough?

What exasctly do you want the US to do do prevent China from selling missile technology to North Korea? Of from buying oil from Iran? Or from selling arms to Iran?

Kwajalein Atoll

The island is about 1.2 square miles (3.1 km)

The U.S. Army has an installation at Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA).

Every atoll and every island has its value.

Iran dug into the mountain to build its reactors! Some would think that is crazy!

Necessity is the Mother of Invention!

There's a small observation station on Kwajalein, which exists to monitor ballistic missile tests. You could build suich a station on Pag-asa, but there wouldn't be much point, as there are no tests to monitor. As Bob's World says, you could build a small Coast Guard or weather station there. You could not relocate thousands of Marines from Okinawa or build a military facility large enough to have any impact on the balance of power in the SCS.

In any event, the US is not in fact building anything on Pag-asa. If they were, you could be sure the Chinese would be howling about it. The Philippine Government is repairing a badly eroded airstrip and a small wharf capable of docking shallow-draft vessels. Not a "seaport". That's all.

to defeat Red China or rather the PLAN and supporting aviation, the sea power that would do it has to be close enough to do it. So that means islands, as you say in post 293. So given all that, (which you won't, but I will) it seems to me foolish to give up the first islands in that barrier without a fight, since without possession of those island, I think the best we could hope for would be a stalemate with the PLAN, which would be a long term strategic victory for them and a long term strategic loss for us.

Will somebody with great strategic knowledge tell me why the US would need or want to rerun WW2, sail into areas where China has support from land-based aircraft and missiles, and fight there? China's great vulnerability is economic dependence on trade routes that extend far outside their naval reach. Why not exploit that vulnerability? Embargo Chinese imports to thje US, Set up in the Indian Ocean, cut off the oil coming in from the Middle East and Africa and the trade going out to those locations and Europe?

In the unlikely event that it's ever necessary to fight China, why would we fight them where they are strongest?