As always, while prowling the net i found this very, very interesting (to me at least) what-if scenario, brief resume being things go a bit better for the imperial chinese dinasty, the revolution is avoided and they enact a major naval expansion programe in 1909, namely building a fleet of 8 BBs and 20 cruisers.
http://www.avalanchepress.com/DragonChinese1.php
Of course, nothing of the sort happened because the revolution, subequent fragmentation and continuous internal civil wars and war with Japan.
But what if China does get to build a powerful navy starting early 20th century up to before WW2, regardless whether under the imperial or republican rule? I was always wondering about such a scenario, and the idea above is a very good start. I know there's a TL on the forum, Superpower China or something like that, but unfortunately the navy side is not having a prominent role in it, not before WW2 anyway.
There are some ideas about the possible ships China could have in the link above up to 1915, but what about after that? I thought that post WW1 there's an absolute load of ships that could find their way in China (if they can pay), either american, british or german, you can have half the HSF sold to China or something! Of course Japan will be mortified, and who knows what happens with the WNT.
So suppose China does have a go and building this powerful fleet, what then, specifically what then in regards to Japan? As Japan will likely see such rise in China's power as a mortal threat, will there be a war already in 1915 as postulated above, and this chinese fleet will be destroyed yet again? And if the chinese try once more, it will be destroyed AGAIN in the twenties or thirties? In this scenario then, with a stronger China in their back yard, the japanese cannot direct their full effort to maintaining parity with the US and UK, especially as i would be guessing that China would also have a much stronger army to go with this navy?
Thanks for any input.