give it a few more years, China gonna turn those into resort islands. China's hawaii if you will, complete with a set of military installations like pearl harbor in hawaii. I think that's the endgame.
Those pictures put things in scale of how freaking big those islands are. holy cow. each one is bigger than Pearl harbor.
Good article showing how big those islands are compared to pearl harbor etc...
Not sure, but sources say the "Rail Gun" have been in development by the PLA for about 5 years. it's possible that it's been longer. the one developed by BAE systems was started way back in 2005.
Curbing vehicle growth only works if you increase corresponding public transportation services. this will break american cities if they tried this but perfect for places where public transportation are adequately developed.
geography is the problem. Not many people live in western china, and the ones that do have below average income. All the wealthy Chinese live on the Pacific coast.