South Korea has emerged as an industrial and military power perched on the edge of northeast Asia.
For China, South Korea has become a crucial trading partner and dangerous regional naval power.
As the TDR ouija board foretold:
As long as Chinese power projection didn't reach out much beyond about 50 miles from China's coast, this wasn't an issue. But South Korea is a major trading power with shipbuilding industries thriving on foreign orders. They just launched a large Aegis-equipped destroyer for their growing fleet.
With a large GDP reliant on trade, South Korea now has the need to have open access to the sea. With a large GDP, South Korea has the means to protect those sea lines of communication. And with China heading out to sea, South Korea has the impetus to build a fleet capable of defending those sea lines of communication.
China is surrounded by actual enemies or potentially hostile neighbors and I'd never trade places with them. As China builds up, others are reacting. Like any communists, they don't understand that there is no free lunch. Not ever.
Nineteen years later, China faces more opposition to its ambitions.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
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NOTE: I made the image with Bing.
