comment: >
  
  It's all the armchair generals on reddit that keep saying paper tiger,  whereas real generals regard them as legitimate.
context: This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 87%. (I'm a bot)
  
  
  TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan scrambled fighter jets, put its navy on alert and activated missile systems in response to nearby operations by 34 Chinese military aircraft and nine warships that are part Beijing's strategy to unsettle and intimidate the self-governing island democracy.
  ADVERTISEMENT. China has sent warships, bombers, fighter jets and support aircraft into airspace near Taiwan on a near-daily basis, hoping to wear down the island's limited defense resources and undercut support for pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen.
  Chinese fighter jets have also confronted military aircraft from the U.S. and allied nations over international airspace in the South China and East China seas, in what Beijing has described as dangerous and threatening maneuvers.
  
  
  Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Taiwan^#1 China^#2 military^#3 U.S.^#4 Chinese^#5 >
  
  
  “China is always a force for regional and global peace and stability,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular briefing.
  
  The vast majority of China's neighbors would attest otherwise. >
  
  Yeah, Vietnam would HEAVILY disagree… >
  
  Publicly, they can’t be too antagonistic with China, but the South China Sea dispute and Vietnam’s growing ties to America seem to suggest a different view…. >
  
  Anti-Vietnam Propaganda?
  I thought that this was about the militarized islands that China keeps on building in Vietnamese territorial waters and Vietnam dredging in a bid to keep their own military presence in their own territorial waters strong enough to deter Chinese aggression in the region. I mean, China's doing that to FIVE DIFFERENT NATIONS to the point where various countries are trying to rename the South China Sea to things like the "West Philippine Sea" or the "Natuna Sea" to rhetorically bolster their claims while they are, also turning rocks and reefs into fortified bunkers against repeated and aggressive Chinese incursion. >
  
  Taiwan having a claim to something is largely irrelevant, they aren't the ones building air strips and missile bases in the area and demanding that others stay out. Besides, I wasn't just talking about the Spratlys. I was talking about the Scarborough Shoals, the Parcels, and the utterly nonsensical fight the CCP is picking with Indonesia.
  Ideally, all of this would have been solved if China would simply accept the judgement of an independent arbitration and the proper application of the United Nations Law of the Sea (a treaty that China is a signatory to) or if they didn't torpedo the ASAEN treaty negotiation that was intended to hash out all these territorial disputes when it became clear that literally no one (with the possible exception of Taiwan) takes the 9 Dash Line seriously. >
  
  Doesn’t Taiwan literally have a military installation on one of these islands >
  
  Coast guard stations may or may not be military. There's a dock, an air strip, and a couple of support buildings. It hasn't been operated by the Taiwanese marines since 2000. Coast Guard does more in the way of customs enforcement and rescue than fighting of other nations.
  Though the 2016 arbitration agreement means that they should probably abandon its claim to the island. The US does not recognize Taiwan's claim to the island, and still use the pre-1946 name and nationality markers for it in all official documents. >
  
  So same same, different... but still same >
  
  China making threats it can never back up. >
  
  And yet every 5 minute EU/Washington/Japan is busy "warning the world" that a invasion is imminent. 
  It is almost like schrodinger's China. Either posing a threat to world stability or a paper tiger meowing in the corner.