Japanese military expert Kazuhiko Inoue said that Japan’s self defense force is capable of taking on China’s People’s Liberation Army even without the assistance of the United States, Tokyo’s Sapio Magazine reports.

Inoue said that the ability of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force to resist a potential PLA invasion should not be underestimated. He also questioned whether China’s warships, designed based on technologies purchased from Russia, Ukraine, Israel are really that reliable compared to their Japanese counterparts. Using Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier as an example, Inoue said there is no catapult aboard the flight deck to launch carrier-based aircraft.

Without sufficient anti-submarine warfare capability, Inoue argued that most of the PLA Navy’s surface combat vessels will become the victims of JMSDF’s Soryu-class diesel-electric attack submarines should a military conflict erupt between China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China sea which Japan administers as the Senkakus (Taiwan claims them as the Diaoyutai and China as the Diaoyu). Unlike Japan’s Atago-class destroyers, the performance of air defense systems aboard the Chinese destroyers are questionable as well.

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