China start AEGIS on type 051C.
052C can be considered the first mature AEGIS syste,
052D is an improved one with more function and 055 is still under development..
Nihonjin San
From my personal opinion, I fully agree with you that we should be in peace in east Asia..
Yet US did intervene in Taiwan issue in 1996.
As Japan is an ally of US, I doubt if Japan can stay away.
That is why China is developing its military force, to stop this kind of intervene..
For Taiwan issue, usually we can solve it by economy..
As Taiwan`s economy is much rely on mainland China, we will use economy rather than war..
Yet we should have the capacity to stop intervene.
China will not start a war, yet will not be afraid of war..
@hans - sama,
As it is now, we Japanese value our partnership with China. The only China we recognize is the People's Republic of China, as per our two nations' 1978 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which we Japanese had explicitly stated that we recognize only One China, and that is the People's Republic of China, and not the Republic of China. Tho we do have business relations with Taiwan, we do not consider Taiwan as an independent state, but, rather, a rogue province of China, officially. As per our agreements.
Given Japan's historical presence in Taiwan and our much-praised economic cooperation with Taipei, you have to understand that our appreciation and interest in Taiwan is that of a cultural one, as well as an economic one. The same goes for China, which also has a strong cultural, historical and economic relationship with Taiwan.
China-Taiwan-Japan have deep interlocking interests and prerogatives, which requires peace and stability. Right? Our peoples want peace, the majority of our peoples are peace loving, cherish and admire harmony. Compromise and diplomacy is also an important characteristic. Because of this aspect, I doubt that a situation would arise wherein China and Japan are at gun point over Taiwan. You know what I mean? We have no claims over Taiwan, we only want peaceful development for them and the promise of safety for our interests , investments in Taiwan (the same with China).
As it stands Japan and China are developing emergency communication channels to ensure that our militaries will evade any worrisome exigency. And this step is part of the overall warming of ties between Tokyo and Beijing. And this is why I do not think Japan will engage in any military escalation, but will probably play a role in de-escalating in the event it is required.
My friend, we know full well what is going in the volatile areas of the world such as in Subsaharan Africa, Middle East and parts of South and Central Asia where conflict is rampant. We , as East Asian Race, should not wish that kind of instability and disharmonious state to ever befall on our Region. East Asia must remain peaceful, developing and progress together. We are, as a region, integrating already. Let us hope that our respective leaders will see the wisdom of peaceful development.