
The PLA strategy for SCS is simple. Do nothing.
The USAF/USN can basically destroy all Chinese infrastructure in the SCS. However, this is basically a declaration of war where the initiative is on the Chinese side to decide the level of escalation e.g. striking Guam or even Hawaii in return. There are no permanent air basing on the island so the benefits of striking these are limited at best.
The USN can of course invade the ("artificial") islands but basically they turn into an occupation force itself because the US has no ownership claims. It can of course pass the ownership to various claimants. However none of these are capable of defending the islands on their own which necessitates a permanent (and likely illegal) US occupation force.
This would be complex to execute because all this happens within the range of the full submarine fleet of the PLAN to which shipping interdiction is what they are designed for. With no SoSUS equivalent, the US would have to deploy a large part of its fleet and air assets to sanitize the area. That basically means no one (including Japan, Korea, Taiwan etc) can use the SCS for commercial shipping. Now what would the US gain out of this? Absolutely nothing.
FONOPs are the appropriate response to the SCS to which the Chinese themselves can't do anything. Note, none of these actually need a J-20.
The USAF/USN can basically destroy all Chinese infrastructure in the SCS. However, this is basically a declaration of war where the initiative is on the Chinese side to decide the level of escalation e.g. striking Guam or even Hawaii in return. There are no permanent air basing on the island so the benefits of striking these are limited at best.
The USN can of course invade the ("artificial") islands but basically they turn into an occupation force itself because the US has no ownership claims. It can of course pass the ownership to various claimants. However none of these are capable of defending the islands on their own which necessitates a permanent (and likely illegal) US occupation force.
This would be complex to execute because all this happens within the range of the full submarine fleet of the PLAN to which shipping interdiction is what they are designed for. With no SoSUS equivalent, the US would have to deploy a large part of its fleet and air assets to sanitize the area. That basically means no one (including Japan, Korea, Taiwan etc) can use the SCS for commercial shipping. Now what would the US gain out of this? Absolutely nothing.
FONOPs are the appropriate response to the SCS to which the Chinese themselves can't do anything. Note, none of these actually need a J-20.