Thread: China 'building runway in disputed South China Sea island'

Originally Posted by Klondyke

^You could surely do better

I thought that was pretty good . . . and very applicable

China Works on Undersea Cables between Paracel Island Outposts

A Chinese ship appears to be laying undersea cables between Chinese outposts in the disputed Paracel Islands, vessel tracking software and satellite imagery shows.


Experts said the cables likely could have military uses and potentially strengthen China’s ability to detect submarines.


The cable ship began operations in the area nearly two weeks ago after departing from a shipyard in Shanghai. If the expert assessment of the intention is correct it could signal another step by China to militarize the South China Sea.


BenarNews spotted the activity when viewing high-resolution commercial satellite imagery of the Paracels, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.


Three U.S.-based maritime experts who have viewed the imagery agreed that the ship was doing something related to undersea cables, although exactly what is unclear from the imagery. It could be laying new cable, or repairing or upgrading existing cable, although none of the experts were aware of an existing cable network in the spots the ship is operating in.


Vessel tracking software shows the Chinese ship Tian Yi Hai Gong sailed to the Paracels on May 28. The imagery appears to show it laying cables between at least three different Chinese-occupied features – Tree Island, North Island and China’s main base in the Paracels, Woody Island.


The ship sailed southwest on June 5, visiting Drummond Island, Yagong Island and Observation Bank. As of Monday morning, it was operating on the northeast side of Observation Bank.


It is not clear if the Tian Yi Hai Gong has been laying cables at those features too, but its pattern of movement is similar to at the other features. All of the features host small, remote outposts for China and its military.


The last known instance of China laying underwater cables in the area was reported by Reuters in 2016, connecting the city and military base at Woody Island to the island of Hainan, China’s southernmost province off the coast of the mainland.


While it is not clear from the imagery what the function of new undersea cables would be in the Paracels, two of the experts told BenarNews that fiber optic connections between such Chinese-occupied features are likely meant for military purposes.


James Kraska, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, said they are probably for encrypted military communications between China’s various outposts, and will connect to the hardened undersea cable system already built along China’s east coast.


Sonar system


“The other thing that they could be doing is that they’ve got a SOSUS-type of network, an underwater sound surveillance system, to listen for adversary submarines,” he said. “So it could be passive listening for surface ships or submarines coming into the area.”


SOSUS refers to a passive system of sonars the U.S. Navy uses to track undersea activity.


Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank, also suspects that the cables could be for undersea surveillance.


“A sonar system would be important north of Woody Island because the PLAN’s South Sea Fleet submarine base is on Hainan Island at Yulin,” he said.


Yulin, according to Clark, is one of the most sophisticated bases for the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), replete with underground tunnels and maintenance pens for the PLAN’s growing number of nuclear submarines. It is on the southern tip of Hainan Island.


“A seabed sonar between Woody Island and Hainan Island would help find U.S. submarines that might be coming to spy on the base or its submarines in peacetime, or that may attack PLAN submarines during wartime,” Clark said. He also said such an array would be useful for ensuring PLAN submarines aren’t being followed as they leave their home base.


U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which is based in Hawaii, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.


There is no record of the Tian Yi Hai Gong’s operator in the International Maritime Organization’s database, save for information that it was built in early 2020 and flagged by China. There is similarly no record of it with the International Cable Protection Committee, a U.K.-based standards-setting and advocacy group for the submarine cable industry.


However, vessel tracking data shows it originally left from a shipyard in Shanghai on May 18. That same shipyard houses a different cable-layer, the Bold Maverick, which is owned and operated by S. B. Submarine Systems Co., Ltd. That company calls itself “China’s leading provider of subsea cable installation services and one of the key submarine cable installers in Asia” on its website.


Multiple companies in China work in the undersea cable industry and frequently partner with People’s Liberation Army research centers and national defense universities.


China Telecom laid fiber optic cables between Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef in the Spratlys in 2017, state media reported.


During the 20th National People’s Congress in late May, Chen Ying-yu, a senior official at China Telecom and a representative to the National People’s Congress, called on China’s government to better expand, protect and strengthen its submarine cable network.


The People’s Liberation Army operates its own cable ships as well, launching the first in 2015.


Kraska did not think it mattered who was responsible for installing the cables as it would be ultimately done at the behest of the Chinese government.


He said the transformation of remote Chinese outposts into a surveillance network was yet another indication of China entrenching its military presence on disputed rocks and reefs in the South China Sea, and seeking to control everything above and below them.


“This is further solidifying their ability to control what’s going on in what they define as the ‘near seas,’” Kraska said.


China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, including waters, islands and reefs close to the coasts of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam which have their own claims. China says it has “historic rights” for its sweeping claims, a stance unsupported by international law.

China Works on Undersea Cables between Paracel Island Outposts

Won't take long for someone to fuck those up.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Ukraine didn't invade Russia, you idiot.

No

You know the Crimea story

But you have to have 'villains-victims' or tyrans-heros.


You are too one dimensional.

And gullible

Who were your favorites in the Yugo war ?


(Back to China)

^Let me guess...

Originally Posted by helge

No

You know the Crimea story

But you have to have 'villains-victims' or tyrans-heros.


You are too one dimensional.

And gullible

Who were your favorites in the Yugo war ?


(Back to China)

What are you babbling on about? Are you trying to out-klondyke klondyke or something?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

What are you babbling on about?

Are you really so outdated, that you can't remember a few posts back.

Tell your programmer at MSNBC, that you are in need of an upgrade.

@Gullibler 2.0


Ps. Klondyke is perfectly understandable.

It is ofcourse helpful, that his points makes sense.

And I even agree with some of it.


So in conclusion, Gullibler

"Can't you fucking read " ?

Originally Posted by helge

Ps. Klondyke is perfectly understandable.

It is ofcourse helpful, that his points makes sense.

And I even agree with some of it.

Behave. He's even less understandable than Jeff and talks absolute nonsense/regurgitates Putin propaganda crap from the likes of RT.

You are being assertivistic now
Remember that the evaluations are estimations relating to the subjective standards of the evaluator

Originally Posted by helge

You are being assertivistic now
Remember that the evaluations are estimations relating to the subjective standards of the evaluator

Add a few grammar mistakes that your average 8 year old would make and then you're getting true Jeff.

Thanks

Looks like we've found ourselves another twat.

Originally Posted by helge

Ps. Klondyke is perfectly understandable.

It is ofcourse helpful, that his points makes sense.

And I even agree with some of it.

Many thanks for the flowers, it has made my day...

But please be lenient on 'arry, he is a paid agent provocateur...

Originally Posted by Klondyke

But please be lenient on 'arry, he is a harmless, paid agent provocateur...

FIFY.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

absolute nonsense/regurgitates Putin propaganda crap from the likes of RT.

^An example that the 100 years old brainwashing Hollywood style propaganda has not been disseminated in vain...

Vietnam Objects to China’s Undersea Cable Construction in Paracels

The Vietnamese government objected Thursday to report that China is laying undersea cables in the disputed Paracel Islands, saying it was a violation of Vietnamese sovereignty.


The foreign ministry comment came as Vietnam deployed a coast guard ship into another contested island chain in the South China Sea, the Spratlys, in apparent response to the presence of Chinese maritime militia around a Vietnamese outpost there.


In Hanoi, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang was asked about a BenarNews report on Monday that a Chinese ship was laying or repairing undersea cables near Chinese outposts in the Paracels. The reporting was based on commercial satellite imagery and vessel-tracking software, and was cited extensively by Vietnamese state media this week.


“Vietnam has sufficient historical evidence and legal grounds affirming its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes in accordance with international law,” Hang told reporters, according to the state-run Vietnam News Agency.


“Therefore, any activity relating to the two archipelagoes conducted without Vietnam’s permission are violations of its sovereignty and of no value,” she said.


U.S.-based experts interviewed by BenarNews said the cable work suggested that China was installing an undersea surveillance system for its occupied features in the Paracels, further militarizing the region.


Vietnam and China both claim the Paracel Islands, a series of rocks and reefs in the north of the South China Sea.


Meanwhile, BenarNews detected a Vietnamese Coast Guard ship that entered the Union Banks, an area in the Spratlys that hosts four Vietnamese and two Chinese-occupied military outposts. The ship, identifiable as the CSB-8005 on vessel-tracking software and spotted on satellite imagery, entered the area on June 4 and is patrolling near the Vietnamese outpost on Sinh Ton Dong/Sin Cowe East Island.


It appears likely that the Vietnamese ship was sent to scare off Chinese maritime militia boats. There has been a near-continuous presence of the maritime militia in the Union Banks area since March.


Satellite imagery shows what appear to be at least 30 Chinese fishing boats directly north of Sinh Ton Dong as of June 5, and vessel-tracking software indicates that at least five maritime militia ships are in the area. As of Thursday, the software showed the maritime militia had moved east, but were still in the Union Banks area.


In Union Banks, China occupies Johnson South Reef and Hughes Reef. Vietnam occupies Collins Reef, Sin Cowe Island/Dao Sinh Ton, Sin Cowe East/Sinh Ton Dong, and Lansdowne Reef.


China maintains it has “historic rights” to the entirety of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Beijing’s rival, Taiwan, have their own claims to portions of the waterway.

Vietnam Objects to China’s Undersea Cable Construction in Paracels

Originally Posted by misskit

Vietnam Objects to China’s Undersea Cable Construction in Paracels

No point in whinging about it, they won't listen.

Just drag an anchor across the fucker that will sort it out.

The only downside is the seppos have probably tapped into it already, so they'll have to go back and do it again.

Chinese Survey Vessel Venturing Near Vietnam’s EEZ

A Chinese government-owned survey vessel appears to have been sent into Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, vessel-tracking data shows, in a move that could stir more tensions in the South China Sea.


Two separate vessel-tracking tools showed the Hai Yang Di Zhi 4 traveling towards Vietnamese waters on Sunday, passing by the Chinese military base at Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. It was last detected Tuesday morning, just within 200 nautical miles of Vietnam’s coast and roughly 182 nautical miles from the Vietnamese island of Phú Quý.


China is known for sending survey vessels into other countries’ waters to assert what it considers its right to search for resources in the vast South China Sea. China claims nearly the entirety of the South China Sea, a stance that has never been supported by international law. Five other governments have territorial claims there.


Last July, another Chinese survey vessel, the Hai Yang Di Zhi 8, provoked a months-long standoff with Vietnam at Vanguard Bank – close to where the Hai Yang Di Zhi 4 is now -- in an attempt to stop Russian-owned oil exploration activity within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, or EEZ.


An EEZ extends 200 nautical miles from the coast. It is where a country has sole rights to explore resources but must allow free passage to shipping.


It wasn’t immediately clear why the Hai Yang 4 has been deployed in the area now. Neither the government of China or Vietnam has commented on it, although non-government South China Sea watchers in Vietnam have been tracking the ship this week and posting about its movements online.


China and Vietnam have increasingly been at loggerheads in recent weeks over the South China Sea. Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry last week objected to China’s recent laying of undersea telecommunication cables between disputed features in the Paracel Islands, describing it as a violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty.


Also last week, a Vietnamese fishing vessel was reportedly chased and rammed by a Chinese ship near the Paracels Islands. In the meantime, a Vietnamese coastguard vessel is currently in the Union Banks area of the Spratly Islands, where there is a large Chinese maritime militia presence and military outposts occupied by both countries.


Ship-tracking software shows that the Hai Yang 4 survey ship left Huangpu, in China’s Guangdong province, last Wednesday. According to its listing with the International Maritime Organization’s registry, it is operated by the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, which is part of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources. China’s geological survey agency also lists a ship named the Hai Yang Di Zhi 4 on its website, and notes its past work in polar expeditions.


Often the China Coast Guard (CCG) accompanies survey ships but the Hai Yang 4 appears to be traveling alone on its current mission, although a CCG ship, Haijing 5202, is in harbor at Fiery Cross Reef near its last reported location.


The Hai Yang 4’s deployment may be related to Vietnam’s oil exploration activity in its waters with international partners – which is what precipitated the Vanguard Bank stand-off between China and Vietnam last year.


There have been indications that oil exploration could be imminent about 215 nautical miles southwest of the ship is now, at an oil block off Vietnam’s southeastern coast licensed by Russian company Rosneft.


According to Vietnamese state media, the Clyde Boudreaux oil rig, operated by the U.K.-based Noble Corporation, was due to operate there. It was towed to Vietnam’s port at Vung Tau on April 22 but has yet to leave port, according to vessel-tracking software.


China has a track record of pressuring international oil companies out of working with Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea.


Between mid-April and mid-May, the Hai Yang Di Zhi 8 conducted a survey in Malaysian waters that appeared intended to pressure the West Capella, a Malaysian-contracted drillship that was operated by a London-based company. The West Capella eventually left the area.


On Saturday, Spanish oil company Repsol decided to transfer its shares in three oil exploration blocks off Vietnam’s southeastern coast to Vietnam’s state oil company, PetroVietnam, citing the inability to drill in the area after both it and Vietnam came under pressure by China in 2018. Vietnam at the time ordered Repsol to halt drilling days before its oil rig was set to leave port.


U.S. oil company ExxonMobil reportedly expressed interest in Vietnam’s gas and oil sector during a call with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on June 11, according to Vietnamese state-run media.

Chinese Survey Vessel Venturing Near Vietnam’s EEZ

Yea . . . nah . . . China gives itself the right to do so, yet screams like a banshee whe the reverse occurs even in waters not legally theirs

Originally Posted by panama hat

yet screams like a banshee whe the reverse occurs even in waters not legally theirs

You have sources for such behaviour, or is it your opinion?

Originally Posted by OhOh

You have sources for such behaviour, or is it your opinion?

Don't be fucking silly hoohoo the chinkies are always whinging, as are you.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

the chinkies are always whinging, as are you

Aren't they the ones who are accusing the others for anything? (presented daily by the man with big mouse and orange thatch?)

And don't we know the one (Master of Demagogy) who is whinging here daily about them whatever the news tell us?

(But perhaps I did not get correctly the meaning of "whinging", did I?)

And the puppy is always yapping at your feet.

Jakarta: ‘No reason to negotiate’ with Beijing on South China Sea

The Indonesian foreign minister said Thursday there was “no reason to negotiate” as she reaffirmed Jakarta’s stance that it has no overlapping claims with Beijing in the South China Sea, days after Indonesia sent the U.N. chief another letter on the topic.


The diplomatic letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, dated June 12, was in response to one submitted by China to the U.N. chief 10 days earlier. In its letter, Beijing had invited Jakarta to negotiate what it called “overlapping claims of maritime rights and interests” in the contested sea region.


“Indonesia’s position is very clear that … based on UNCLOS 1982 there are no overlapping claims with China. Therefore, there is no reason to negotiate,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi said during a press conference in Jakarta, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.


In its latest letter to Gutteres, Indonesia stated that features in the Spratly Islands – a chain in the South China Sea – were not entitled to an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or continental shelf and therefore could not overlap with Indonesia’s EEZ or continental shelf.


It also rejected China’s claim of historic rights in parts of the sea that do overlap Indonesia’s EEZ and said that even if any such rights existed, they had been superseded by provisions in UNCLOS 1982.


Indonesia “sees no legal reasoning under international law, particularly UNCLOS 1982, to conduct negotiation on maritime boundaries delimitation with the People’s Republic of China or on any other matters pertaining to maritime rights or interests’ claims made in contravention to international law,” the letter said.


Beijing’s letter calling for a negotiation, dated June 2, was responding to a first diplomatic note sent by Indonesia to the U.N. secretary-general on May 26, in which Jakarta rejected China’s Nine-Dash Line map or claim of historical rights to nearly all of the strategic waterway.


“There is no territorial dispute between China and Indonesia in the South China Sea. However, China and Indonesia have overlapping claims on maritime rights and interests in some parts of the South China Sea,” China’s permanent mission to the United Nations said in its letter.


“China is willing to settle the overlapping claims through negotiation and consultation with Indonesia, and work together with Indonesia to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea,” the letter said.


The notes were among a flurry of documents from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China following a Malaysian submission to the U.N. in December 2019. The Malaysian government claimed sovereignty over an extended continental shelf in the South China Sea off its northern coast, potentially an area with significant undersea resources.


Persistent objection


An expert on international relations at Gadjah Mada University, I Made Andi Arsana, said it was important for Indonesia to persist with its objection to China’s claims.


“It must be done continuously because that is also what China is doing with their claims,” he told BenarNews.


“Falsehoods that are repeated enough times without objections can seem like truth,” he said.


The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam – all ASEAN members – are among countries that, along with China and Taiwan, have competing claims in the South China Sea.


Indonesia is not among the claimant countries, but in early 2020 and in 2016, tensions flared between Jakarta and Beijing over the presence of Chinese fishing boats swarming in South China Sea waters near Indonesia’s Natuna Islands.


In 2002, the 10-nation ASEAN bloc and China agreed on a Declaration of Conduct, which was a statement of principles on how parties should behave in the South China Sea. But completing a more detailed – and binding – Code of Conduct (CoC) has proved much harder to establish.


Negotiations began in earnest in 2016 with a tentative deadline for acceptance in 2021. A draft of the text of the agreement has been released.


Jose Taveras, the Indonesian foreign ministry official who leads its office on ASEAN cooperation, said talks on the code of conduct had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.


“Negotiations are very difficult and cannot be done virtually because they are very technical,” he told reporters Wednesday.


Talks in Indonesia and China scheduled for August and October, respectively, were likely to be postponed, he said.


“It should have been completed in 2021 but at this stage it is difficult to set a new target. It all depends on the COVID-19 situation,” he said.

Jakarta: ‘No reason to negotiate’ with Beijing on South China Sea