@Kaiserr92
"WW2 pls."
I've heard everything between $700-$1500 bandied about. But these are prices adjusted for inflation, which is a whole 'nother can of worms. Never use that price if you're trying to recreate something from the past.
"French Indochina was formed on 17 October 1887 from Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina (which together form modern Vietnam) and the Kingdom of Cambodia; Laos was added after the Franco-Siamese War in 1893.
The federation lasted until 21 July 1954.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Indochina"
Now compare the time Indochina spent as a vassal state of France with the amount of time Vietnam spent as a vassal state of China afterward. You can even count the time Vietnam spent "reunifying". Actually, now that I think about it, you can apply that to the entirety of the Warsaw Pact nations.
"They should have consider other means first before resorting to force, that's the whole point of the frakking quote, but this is a silly Japan wanking manga, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
It's not like NOT killing ppl in another nation is easy, what do I know. Not like they can be a mediator and secure peace btw those countries eh? UN's Peacekeepers are a joke anyway, never work! /s"
When one side has already marched on the other, without warning, taken land, sacked cities, committed atrocities on a mass scale. I think it's a little late for diplomacy. It's a Pearl Harbor + ethnic cleansing event between different nations, not a minor border conflict nor civil war. Your UN Peacekeeper analogy requires an organization on the scale of the UN. Which, btw, does exist in this world, but not that Japan knows yet. BTW, the Korean War is an example of the UN going to war. They haven't done just peacekeeping in the entirety of it's history.
"Do you consider bribery of foreign gov officials not part of "diplomacy"? What about the Beijing Olympic Games? China's Djibouti base? China's Sri Lanka port? The whole Belt & Road Initiative?"
I call that a Destabilization Op. If you want to call that "diplomacy" feel free to to do so, perhaps you have a broader definition of "Diplomacy" than I do. I call the examples you listed above as "unconventional warfare" or the new term "unlimited warfare" that's making the rounds. The whole purpose of diplomacy is to prevent or defuse open warfare, not prep for it. Or maybe that's what they call "Diplomacy, with Chinese characteristics." It does mesh appropriately with Sun Tzu's writings. Treat everyone like they're your enemy.