Zimmemr @ #7: Sure do. WW1 started with some dumbass and bad attitude, lots more willing participants this time around trying to replicate "Fight Club". I haven't forgotten about what a great idea the "Southeast Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" was in 1939 either, just maybe the players have changed. Regardless of what you think about the Chinese battle prowess, starting with a 12,000 mile open ocean supply chain to a battle front is a very bad idea. Modern weaponry rather stalemates your ships. The hypersonic ship killers reduce you to aircraft & submarines. The very best we could do is to jump off with aircraft from an Argentinian base over the South Pole to Australia, and that will require some very fancy footwork to repair the rift between the US and Argentina, not to mention all of those other South American countries the CIA has hammered on inbetween.
China is patient. The reinforced islands are part of their 50 year plan. Hard to sink an island unless you go nuclear, and then the rules get real ugly fast. You know it's part of the long plan because the Chinese have recreated the flying boat. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVIC_AG600 ) Flying boats don't need a landing strip. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-runway_penetration_bomb ) If the opposition makes your runway unusable, you still get to resupply. The artificial islands all have landing strips. There is virtually no other justification for flying boats, they were phased out in the 1950's when wheeled planes became stone reliable. It's not a good idea to underestimate these boys.