Australia will join naval drills involving India, U.S., Japan

China has denounced the Quad as an attempt to contain its development.

So..."territorial expansion" and "development" are the same word in Chinese?

A welcome move to increase good relations between four like minded countries. This should increase stability across the region.

China is the one who tells Japan to learn from history. The entire world, excluding China and Koreas, believe they have. Yet China is the one who has failed to learn from it's own history; the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

It was hard to think Australia one day would join naval drills with India, Japan, and the US.

I hope this positive development will soon encourage Vietnam and smaller claimants in the Southeast Asia Sea to become members of this group. If it is the case, the big bully China has only itself to blame for strengthening this QUAD.

In theory, the US army alone can defeat the PLAN in a precise and conventional war.

However, to win a cold war with China as a nation in its influential region – the Southeast Asia, the US definitely needs to establish the QUAD not because of having some more standard ships from India, Japan, and Australia but something that would make China much more vulnerable.

With the alliance of Australia alone, Australia can provide the US with rare earth elements for hi-tech weapons and industry. And more importantly, China would have to buy many essential commodities elsewhere.

Is China that strong as this article makes it out to be? It takes four countries? I’d think the US alone would be enough

Desert Tortoise,

I meant the US forces instead of army.

It is best for the region to have a shared commitment for both strength and stability. The CCP is and has been preparing for a military conflict. They are building on undermining regional governments and playing at creating false border incursions to wear out responders threat levels.

Hopefully, the Quad will get every country's preparedness back on track, allowing them to sharpen their vigilance...

Is China that strong as this article makes it out to be? It takes four countries? I’d think the US alone would be enough

Also their man made island bases in the South China Sea put much of that body of water within range of Chinese missiles based on those islands. If the Chinese wanted to deny the use of the South China Sea to outside nations to deny them their trade or access to resources or to punish them for some other perceived misdeed those outside nations would have to first take out those islands. Doing so will not be easy with the high end air defense and anti-ship missiles, radars and fighter aircraft now based on them. Between the man made islands and their fortress at Sanya on Hainan, complete with underground submarine pens, the Chinese are well positioned to shut everyone out of the South China Sea and it would be a long, ugly fight to regain access if China decided to close that body of water to the world.

I meant the US forces instead of army.

Without the cooperation of allies proximate to China from which those US forces could conduct military operations from, successfully prosecuting a non-nuclear war against China might not be possible. I don't think the general public at this point realizes how tough a war with China would be. China has a high quality military now. Their Generals watched CNN during Desert Storm and they were stunned at what they saw. And, they took what they saw seriously. They are out to match every capability the US has and then some, backed up by a huge country and 1.3 billion people. They train seriously and sincerely believe they will prevail against the US and its allies. They are that confident now, which is why they are pushing out everywhere.

Is China that strong as this article makes it out to be? It takes four countries? I’d think the US alone would be enough

China has 1.3 billion people. The US has 330 million. Numbers matter. China also has very developed very good equipment over the past 10-15 years and built an awful lot of it. Numerically the PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy) is the worlds largest. They have many weaknesses still but again, size matters and that size means there an awful lot of targets that have to be engaged to degrade their ability to hurt you. Now they have two aircraft carriers operating and at least one larger catapult equipped carrier under construction at a new shipyard in Shanghai. More will certainly be built. Their air defenses are such that trying to operate within 500 km or closer to their shores or borders requires all aspect low observable aircraft or you get shot down. That goes for their naval forces too btw. Their ships carry the same high performance air defense missiles used by their land forces. In most ways their equipment is better than anything the Russians or Soviets ever had, especially their navy.

In theory, the US army alone can defeat the PLAN in a precise and conventional war

I don't think anyone in the US Army believes that to be the case. That statement also ignores how vital the US Air Force and Navy would be, possibly more important than the US Army, in a war with China. The reality is a strong, well balanced military and the credible threat to use it if attacked is less costly overall than deterrence failing and a war erupting. Nobody on either side wants to see cities vaporized.

Hopefully Aussie is bullying China in Australian waters in the Southern Hemisphere and not Chinese waters in the Northern Hemisphere?