A new slant on RIMPAC Naval politics/The Fight To Control The South China Sea

[Jimbuna]

Threads merged.

[Aktungbby]

[QUOTE: me]One things for certain: it's a' comin' They're not 'rattlin' the sabre'yet! but they're sure forging it![/QUOTE] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32331964 Nothing like a 10, 000 ft runway built on a reef in the middle of the 'Cow's Lick' of Chinese expansion. It's capable of accommodating military aircraft...and like Midway in WWII, is in reality a 'carrier you cannot sink' this one will bear monitoring. The slow trudge of Sino-dominance in the Western Pacific is well underway.

[Onkel Neal]

http://shanghaiist.com/2015/05/21/ch..._spy_plane.php

The Chinese navy warned a U.S. surveillance aircraft to turn away eight times yesterday as it approached disputed airspace above a chain of artificial islands in the South China Sea where China is constructing military installations.
CNN was on board the P8-A Poseidon for its surveillance mission directed at observing Chinese activity in the disputed area and more broadly signaling that the U.S. does not recognize China's territorial claims in the region. This marks the first time that the Pentagon has allowed a news team to tag along on an operation in the South China Sea. They have also declassified video taken by the surveillance operation, as well as the audio of the communications with Chinese navy, in order to raise awareness about Chinese military build-up on the man-made islands that is causing the U.S. and neighboring nations to feel a bit uneasy.

And what a mission to be on! Predictably, China was not terribly welcoming to the American spy plane. As the P8 approached Fiery Cross Reef, an island made by China some 600 miles off the coast, a voice in English crackled through the radio: "This is the Chinese navy ... This is the Chinese navy ... Please go away ... to avoid misunderstanding."

All eight such warnings were rebuffed, with the American pilots responding that they were flying through international airspace.

That wasn't quite the answer the Chinese were looking for. Unable to take the hint, the frustrated Chinese radio operator finally said in exasperation: "This is the Chinese navy ... You go!"

[Onkel Neal]

The video that accompanies the article tells it all


How long until somene gets killed over this BS?

[Onkel Neal]

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/loo...out-1691571576

The reality is that under the UN's Law and Sea Convention, an island, even a small one, gets 12 nautical miles out to sea of territory to call its own and another 200 miles in any direction of mineral and fishing rights. You can imagine that if China has a string of these reefs-turned-sea-base-islands, they can claim a continuous swath of control ranging over hundreds of miles. With proven oil reserves measured in the billions of barrels and trillions of cubic feat of natural gas, China's man-made island chain also could end up greatly offsetting its ferocious appetite for energy, the vast amount of which the Chinese are relegated to importing.

[Aktungbby]

ahem: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=214616 POST #17 [QUOTE: me]One things for certain: it's a' comin' They're not 'rattlin' the sabre'yet! but they're sure forging it![/QUOTE] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32331964 Nothing like a 10, 000 ft runway built on a reef in the middle of the 'Cow's Lick' of Chinese expansion. It's capable of accommodating military aircraft...and like Midway in WWII, is in reality a 'carrier you cannot sink' this one will bear monitoring. The slow trudge of Sino-dominance in the Western Pacific is well underway.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

The video that accompanies the article tells it all


How long until somene gets killed over this BS?

My thoughts exactly....the closer to their homeland meaning their boldness will become greater.

This area will fast become a no-fly zone at this rate and it was quite concerning to learn that civilian flightpaths are practically right above them.

[Onkel Neal]

The Fight To Control The South China Sea


Plus, threads merged, thanks Aktung.

[Aktungbby]

An aerial photo taken though a glass window of a Philippine military plane shows the alleged on-going land reclamation by China on mischief reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines, May 11, 2015.
"The U.S., which said that the man-made islands cannot be recognized as sovereign Chinese territory, may be expecting that any possible deployments of military units in the region would impact the Chinese aggression. However, the move could also backfire if China decides to double down its efforts in defiance of the U.S., the Journal reported.
“The risk of this is that China may use such deployments as a reason to try to challenge or confront U.S. forces,” Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Chinese embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan told Reuters that China had “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands, and that the country’s construction in the area was “reasonable, justified and lawful.”
China has expanded the artificial islands in the Spratly Islands to 2,000 acres of land, which is significantly up from 500 acres last year, according to a February estimate by experts who studied the images released by IHS Jane’s, a defense intelligence provider." http://www.ibtimes.com/us-military-mulls-sending-planes-navy-ships-counter-chinese-expansion-south-china-sea-1919959 It is well past time to forge a pact with Viet-Nam, Japan, Brunei and Malaysia and put an extremely forceful halt to this expansion.

[Onkel Neal]

China’s Military Blueprint: Bigger Navy, Bigger Global Role

China laid out its military strategy in its first-ever defense white paper, promising not to hit first, but vowing to strike back hard if attacked in a world full of what it sees as potential threats.

The paper, released by China’s State Council, the chief administrative body of the Chinese government, is especially noteworthy at a time of heightened tensions with the United States over China’s aggressive behavior in disputed areas of the South China Sea. On Monday, Chinese state media spoke of war with the United States as “inevitable” if the United States keeps pressing Beijing on its illegal activities; in the United States, meanwhile, the consensus over accommodating China’s rise seems to have given way to a more hawkish stance on the need to contain the rising Asian giant.

China’s new white paper provides plenty of points of continuity with past strategies, especially with Mao Zedong’s doctrine of “active defense,” known in the United States as the Billy Martin school of conflict management. (“I never threw the first punch; I threw the second four.”)

[mapuc]

Yesterday in the Danish news paper, I read this
"Make no mistake about it: the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law admits it"
Said by the Minister of defense Ash Carter

It was about this growing tension between USA and China.

Markus

[Onkel Neal]

Yeah, this has the potential to be B.A.D.

China isn't putting all that money and effort into those islands to be told no.

Building of Islands Is Debated, but China and U.S. Skirt Conflict at Talks
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/wo...alks.html?_r=0

It was an unexpectedly direct exchange: With nearly every significant Asian defense official gathered in a single room, a senior Chinese military officer on Saturday defended his country’s island-building spree in the South China Sea and rebuked Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter for saying it threatened the region’s stability.

If anything, “the region has been peaceful and stable just because of China’s great restraint,” said Senior Col. Zhou Bo, the Chinese officer.

[mapuc]

Now the Ruskies have something to say

http://rt.com/news/263533-rusia-mult...l-navy-drills/

Antonov also said he was concerned about stability in the region, naming the US as the main destabilizing factor. He said that Washington's policies have been aimed against Russia and China: "We are concerned by US policies in the region, especially since every day it becomes increasingly focused on a systemic containment of Russia and China."

Markus

[Aktungbby]

We seriously need to revisit T. Roosevelt 101: send 'em out and see who really wants to enforce what. Just one Iowa led battle-group is impressive;

[Commander Wallace]

Tom Clancy wrote a great number of novels such as The hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, The Sum of all fears and many others. These novels evolved into screenplays which became the basis for the highly acclaimed movies of the same name. Tom also wrote a book titled simply " SSN " detailing a Sino / U.S scenario or war over the Sprately Islands which are supposed to have huge deposits of untapped oil.

It's Ironic That Tom, who was in Insurance before writing his novels foresaw the Sprately Island dispute many years before it has actually happened.

Hopefully these disputes can all be resolved amicably