There has been more and more talk that USN will shift most of its fleet to the pacific, that USAF will shift some additional forces there, that the bases on philliphines will be re-made etc. Now i dont want to talk about whether it will happen.
Let us assume with certainty that it WILL happen. That by 2020. US will have reopened Subic bay naval base and Clarke air force base on the Philliphines. And base a lot of its forces there. Alongside that, there will still, of course, be bases in japan, notably the AFB on Okinawa, and base in Guam.
My question is: What should Chinese MoD do to neutralize, as much as possible, those added bases and added forces? I am not talking about war right now, i am talking about strategic military and logistic shifts in PLA to counter the new developments.
Even more MRBMs for those bases? More carriers? More frigates? More long range bombers? Plans for amphibious assault? Extensive mine laying platforms? How much of each? would mere increases in numbers be a solution? or should some thinking outside the box be required?
Is it possible to prevent that? Is it plausible to literally shower the philliphines with hundreds of billions, give them the territorial claims they want, in return for symbolic military presence of chinese on the philiphines - not as a meaningful force, but merely as a sign that there is no room for the US forces there. Would the philippines accept, given enough political/economic gifts? would that even be worth it? or would a conventional military build up be more cost efficient?
Of course, we dont know how much forces would the US station there but in their old versions those philliphine bases were basically largest in the world. New ones could be just as large. We could be talking abour literaly hundreds of planes, tens of destroyers, subs etc.
Let us assume with certainty that it WILL happen. That by 2020. US will have reopened Subic bay naval base and Clarke air force base on the Philliphines. And base a lot of its forces there. Alongside that, there will still, of course, be bases in japan, notably the AFB on Okinawa, and base in Guam.
My question is: What should Chinese MoD do to neutralize, as much as possible, those added bases and added forces? I am not talking about war right now, i am talking about strategic military and logistic shifts in PLA to counter the new developments.
Even more MRBMs for those bases? More carriers? More frigates? More long range bombers? Plans for amphibious assault? Extensive mine laying platforms? How much of each? would mere increases in numbers be a solution? or should some thinking outside the box be required?
Is it possible to prevent that? Is it plausible to literally shower the philliphines with hundreds of billions, give them the territorial claims they want, in return for symbolic military presence of chinese on the philiphines - not as a meaningful force, but merely as a sign that there is no room for the US forces there. Would the philippines accept, given enough political/economic gifts? would that even be worth it? or would a conventional military build up be more cost efficient?
Of course, we dont know how much forces would the US station there but in their old versions those philliphine bases were basically largest in the world. New ones could be just as large. We could be talking abour literaly hundreds of planes, tens of destroyers, subs etc.