China's belligerent defense of its illegal claim to own the South China Sea has forced the United States, Japan and South Korea into a tacit military alliance that will make it impossible for China to assert its claims to the East China Sea without recourse to a war China cannot win.

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Already beset by international condemnation because of its refusal to abandon its claim to the South China Sea, China has embarked on a coercive diplomacy offensive that has threatened Australia with war and is provoking Japan by sending its fishing vessels escorted by coast guard ships into the East China Sea.

All this is surprising since China has no maritime ally in Asia. It can only pray that Russia's feckless support will translate into military action when push comes to shove in the disputed Asian seas.

The Russian Navy, however, is just beginning a rearmament process that won't be completed until the next decade. Until then, it has to rely on a few modern submarines and even fewer modern surface ships, many of which are tied-up in the Black Sea supporting Russia's involvement in Syria.

China basically stands against the world in a coming two-front war it cannot win.

Now, China worries South Korea's plan to share missile intelligence about North Korea with Japan will bring Tokyo and Seoul even closer together, and cement a de facto military alliance that will thwart China's claim to own the East China Sea.

South Korea has been wary in the past of bilateral military cooperation with Japan because of ongoing territorial disputes and World War II atrocities inflicted on Koreans by the Japanese.

South Korea's hesitation seems to have changed Aug.4 when its Ministry of National Defense said information sharing with Japan would be possible. A ministry spokesman cited a memorandum signed in 2014 by the U.S., South Korea and Japan about North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

Some military analysts said the beginnings of this information sharing between Japan and South Korea will lead to a broader information sharing and quite possibly a military alliance.

"This could mean a three-party alliance, rather than two-sided alliances (of the US and Japan, and the US and South Korea) and this would pose a damaging threat to the stability of Northeast Asia," said Song Zhongping, a Beijing-based military analyst who previously worked as an instructor for the People's Liberation Army's Second Artillery Corps, the former name for China's strategic missile force.

He noted that if South Korea becomes more military engaged with Japan, China's influence on the Korean peninsula could be badly compromised.

Tagschina, South China Sea, Japan, South Korea