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| PLA Amphibious Tank |
Yoshiaki Yano, a retired general of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, has said China would be able to occupy Okinawa with just 15 PLA divisions in two weeks by 2025, reports our sister newspaper Want Daily.
As the dispute between China and Japan over the disputed Diaoyutai (Diaoyu or Senkaku) islands in the East China Sea rumbles on, certain voices in China have arisen saying that the country should go to war to claim the entire Ryukyu island chain that stretches between Japan's main islands and Taiwan, of which Okinawa is the largest.
Yano said that China will have the military muscle to wage such a campaign by 2025, and if a war should break out between Israel and Iran that would tie up the United States, Japan could have to face an aggressive China without any support from its key ally in the Pacific, since an anti-access and area denial strategy could be employed by China's air force and submarine fleet to prevent American intervention.
Yano postulates a scenario in which China attacks on Apr. 16, with the PLA Air Force deploying 900 advanced fighters to launch attacks against Japan's major cities, against which Japan might be only to send 300 fighters. Without long-range ballistic missiles, Japan would be unable to strike military bases within China, allowing the PLA to wipe out Japan's air defenses by May.
Read the full story at Want China Times