China and Japan are building forces to fight it out on Pacific islands — here's how they stack up...

Military success in the Pacific has always relied on two things: naval strength and amphibious capabilities. Bitter fighting between the Allies and Japan across the region's seas and islands during World War II made this abundantly clear.

China has carefully studied history, and its rapid increase in military might is now changing the balance of power in the world's largest ocean. That makes many of China's neighbors nervous — and one is responding in kind: Japan.