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The PRC constantly skirmishes with India and has land grabbed many islands in the South China Sea, many already occupied. Yes, since and during the communist t

The PRC constantly skirmishes with India and has land grabbed many islands in the South China Sea, many already occupied. Yes, since and during the communist takeover of China, all of its military might has generally been directed inwards at it's own people, but they are still a military force and are well organized. I'd equate the current period of the PRC to the Soviet arms build up of the Cold War.

Apocryphon 4y ago
Yes they have a large and considerably upgraded military, but border skirmishes and planting flags on unpopulated rocks are hardly comparable to Russia’s recent post-Cold War military experience. The point is how the PLA would fare in an actual war is far from known yet. As far as the Soviet military went, the fallout of that buildup, and the actual condition of the Red Army, are known after the fact now.
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > Yes they have a large and considerably upgraded military, but border skirmishes and planting flags on unpopulated rocks are hardly comparable to Russia’s recent post-Cold War military experience. Skirmishing against a near-peer like India is probably better preparation for a large scale war against a well-financed enemy with modern equipment, doctrine, and Western support than Russia’s wars against lesser former Soviet states and in support of Syria.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    Were they actually "skirmishing" though? I thought it was mostly border guards scuffling, even engaging in hand-to-hand combat at one point.
coredog64 4y ago
What we’ve found out in Ukraine is that much of the military spending has been siphoned off by corrupt leadership. How do we know that the same thing isn’t happening in China?
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > What we’ve found out in Ukraine is that much of the military spending has been siphoned off by corrupt leadership We didn’t find that out in Ukraine, we’ve known that from fairly widely circulated news, often from direct participants in the corruption (such as the people to whom essential gear was sold), consistently since at least the First Chechen War of the mid-1990s (where sales of fuel, weapons, and ammunition by Russian military personnel with custody over them to the enemy were a significant and recurring thing.) What we have learned in Ukraine is a better idea of the extent of the effect of that longstanding problem on current Russian military capacity. Now, it could be that China has a similar problem and has been better at keeping it under wraps than Russia has been for the past 30 or so years, but there is not much reason to suspect that.

Apocryphon 4y ago

Yes they have a large and considerably upgraded military, but border skirmishes and planting flags on unpopulated rocks are hardly comparable to Russia’s recent post-Cold War military experience. The point is how the PLA would fare in an actual war is far from known yet. As far as the Soviet military went, the fallout of that buildup, and the actual condition of the Red Army, are known after the fact now.

dragonwriter 4y ago
> Yes they have a large and considerably upgraded military, but border skirmishes and planting flags on unpopulated rocks are hardly comparable to Russia’s recent post-Cold War military experience. Skirmishing against a near-peer like India is probably better preparation for a large scale war against a well-financed enemy with modern equipment, doctrine, and Western support than Russia’s wars against lesser former Soviet states and in support of Syria.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Were they actually "skirmishing" though? I thought it was mostly border guards scuffling, even engaging in hand-to-hand combat at one point.

coredog64 4y ago

What we’ve found out in Ukraine is that much of the military spending has been siphoned off by corrupt leadership. How do we know that the same thing isn’t happening in China?

dragonwriter 4y ago
> What we’ve found out in Ukraine is that much of the military spending has been siphoned off by corrupt leadership We didn’t find that out in Ukraine, we’ve known that from fairly widely circulated news, often from direct participants in the corruption (such as the people to whom essential gear was sold), consistently since at least the First Chechen War of the mid-1990s (where sales of fuel, weapons, and ammunition by Russian military personnel with custody over them to the enemy were a significant and recurring thing.) What we have learned in Ukraine is a better idea of the extent of the effect of that longstanding problem on current Russian military capacity. Now, it could be that China has a similar problem and has been better at keeping it under wraps than Russia has been for the past 30 or so years, but there is not much reason to suspect that.