China's man made islands as offensive spring boards?

Consider this "what if".

What if China's man made islands serve a defensive purpose (as I have been doing) but have the added benefit of being springboards to carry out offensive operations?

That puts them in a totally different light doesn't it?

If the conventional wisdom only has it half right.  If they are for both defense and offense then we're looking at a type of aggression that is often talked about but rarely seen.

The iron fist is cloaked in a velvet glove and cherry blossoms.

China Defense Blog (yep...I link to them alot because they put out such good stuff...subscribe to them damn you!) has a post on it and the writers from the US Naval War College are definitely onto something.  Long story short.  We're not seeing the reality of these islands.  This is a MUCH bigger deal than we're being told.