Quote:
Originally Posted by ET2SN
You should understand why Hainan is so important to China.
The southeast corner of the island is the home of the PRC's SSBN fleet.
Why Hainan? Anyone who's played sub sims in the Yellow Sea can answer that. 
Why SSBN's? That's a more tricky question. The PRC really didn't need them at the time and wound up in a "tail wagging the dog" situation. 
Basing the SSBN fleet on Hainan meant having closer access to deep water and the Pacific as a whole. It also placed their fleet a LOT closer to foreign Navies which becomes a big problem if your designers and shipyards happily ignore building quiet subs.  |
Hainan is not the same island as Taiwan and the Philippines are actually closer.