[quote=Eugene]Navy is useless without strong aviation support. Chinese air force is relatively outdated compared to Americans. They have lots of aircraft (mostly Russian-bought), but they lack stealth capabilities.

Also, aviation is only good if you can get it to where the action is. Fighter jets can’t go much further than 1000 miles from the base. Which means (1) military bases on foreign soil and/or (2) aircraft carriers. US Navy has 11 aircraft carriers (more than all other countries in the world combined), they carry around 300 F/A-18’s which will be gradually replaced with F-35’s. Chinese have no aircraft carriers, though they are expected to launch two or three in the next ten years. Without aircraft carriers, their sphere of influence is limited to 1000 miles from their soil and any bases they manage to establish. They can’t even do much in Iran because it’s too far. They’d have to work with Russians (fighters launched from Russian bases in Caucasus could, in principle, bomb Tehran and make it back.)
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Eugene: No disagreement here. No one projects power like the US. However, China is coming on fast and they are proving quite adept at adapting MiG designs for homegrown manufacturer (e.g. the J6 and J11 fighters).

The “new” MiG 35 Fulcrum-F (which is a MiG 29 Fulcrum derivative) is actually a pretty good fighter plane and it incorporates look down AESA radar and improved avionics, including OLS (optical locator system). Russia has already approached China regarding selling them the Fulcrum-F design for licensed manufacture (as reported by Jane’s Defence).

I would imagine the new Sino-Russian defense lash up postulates the establishment of air bases in Central Asia. Same undoubtedly goes for the Chinese presence in Africa.

Rus: Read “The Great Game” by Peter Hopkirk. It’s a very enlightening book and it shows how little has changed over the last 150+ years.