Letters | China is alone against US allies in the West Pacific – or is it?

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Your recent series about China’s military development provided in-depth analysis and made for interesting reading. The third part of the series, “PLA closing gap on US” (June 16), addressed how China and the United States are now more or less on a par in the West Pacific, but Washington’s formal military allies might tilt the balance in its favour.

It is true that US allies such as Japan and South Korea possess considerable firepower, while China is rather alone – or is it? It is a fact that China has no formal military allies as a matter of policy. If, or perhaps when, a war over reunification with Taiwan breaks out, mainland China may have to fight against the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines.

But South Korea perpetually worries about North Korea, which is a nuclear-armed country and would be inclined to move southwards should opportunities arise. Japan also neighbours North Korea, not to mention another formidable country – Russia.

Japan still remembers vividly that the Soviet Union snatched four islands in the closing months of the second world war. Geopolitically, Japan is in a rather unenviable position as it has three nuclear-armed neighbours, namely Russia, North Korea and China – not exactly close friends of Tokyo. Could Japan wholeheartedly join the US in a war with China without casting a wary eye over its neighbours? Does Japan really have an appetite for yet another Sino-Japanese war?