I mean seriously, as was noted a few years ago China has Coast Guard cutters larger than American guided missile cruisers:
"Beijing Builds ‘Monster’ Ship for Patrolling the South China Sea"
From The Diplomat:
According to Chinese state media, the ship will be the largest coast guard vessel in the world.
From Strategy page:
On Point: Manila's Beijing Bromance Wrecks on Pag-asa Island
April 10, 2019
On April 4, the prickly Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, warned China that his country would react militarily if the China Coast Guard and fishing vessels continue to "swarm" and surround a small Filipino islet in the Spratly Islands, Pag-asa Island (also called Thitu). Duterte's warning followed a March 29 formal diplomatic protest the Philippines delivered to China's embassy in Manila.
Beijing's aggressive South China Sea territorial grab relies on a bully's bilateral perception of power: strong China versus weak neighbor. China is an emerging great power with global economic clout and a powerful, modernizing military. In comparison, the Philippines is vulnerable militarily. It is also anemic economically, and it owes China so much money that both Duterte (belatedly) and his political opponents fear a Chinese debt trap. China could seize Filipino assets for nonpayment of loans.
Nevertheless, the usual loan shark doesn't seize sovereign territory, for it's an act of war. Hence Duterte's blunt vow to spill blood in defense of Filipino sovereignty. "I will not plead or beg," he said to Beijing. "But I am just telling you lay off the Pag-asa because I have soldiers there." OK. Then Duterte added some extreme heat: "If you touch it, that's another story. Then I will tell my soldiers 'prepare for suicide missions.'"......MUCH MORE
*The Vietnam line is in reference to the fact that General Võ Nguyên Giáp, possibly the greatest general of the 20th century, defeated in turn, the French empire, the U.S.A. Cambodia and China in 1954, 1975, 1978 and 1979 respectively.
That last conflict was the result of China's invasion of Vietnam in an attempt to force Vietnam out of Cambodia which Vietnam had invaded in 1978, putting Pol Pot and the Kmer Rouge génocidaires out of business. It didn't work, Vietnam stayed in Cambodia until 1989.
The General died in 2013 age 102.
