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

Originally Posted by Norton

Bit worn out and repetitive innit?

Not at all, more pertinent as time passes.

US marines to join Australian warship after HMAS Toowomba was Challenged by Chinese Navy in SCS


American marines will soon embed on Australia's largest warship for a tour of Pacific island nations, as concerns grow among western allies over Beijing's rising influence in the region.



Key points:

Defence Minister Marise Payne said planning for "Indo-Pacific Endeavour 18" had been underway since late last year
Several dozen US marines will be embedded on HMAS Adelaide ahead of war games in Hawaii in July
Last month, Australian ships had been challenged by the Chinese Navy as the transited through the South China Sea

The ABC can reveal preparations are almost complete for the Australian Defence Force's Joint Task Group mission, centred on the amphibious Landing Helicopter Dock, HMAS Adelaide.

In a statement, Defence Minister Marise Payne said planning for "Indo-Pacific Endeavour 18" had been underway since late last year.

"IPE 18 is a major activity for the Australian Defence Force, and aims to promote security in our near region through a series of bilateral and multilateral engagements with our regional partners, as well as training and capacity-building activities," Senator Payne told the ABC.

The Minister said Royal Australian Navy ships HMAS Adelaide, HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Toowoomba and HMAS Success would take part "in a range of training and engagement activities in Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and the Solomon Islands".

"Ships assigned to IPE 18 will also take part in Exercise Rim of the Pacific, a bi-annual multinational joint exercise staged in and around the Hawaiian Islands," the Minister said.

Defence sources have confirmed several dozen US marines, who are part of a current rotation in Darwin, would also be embedded on HMAS Adelaide ahead of the RIMPAC war games in Hawaii in July.
HMAS Toowoomba
Photo: HMAS Toowoomba had recently been challenged by the Chinese Navy in waters claimed by Beijing. (Supplied: Royal Australian Navy)

Euan Graham, the Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute, has welcomed the impending Pacific deployment.

"It's a clear signal that Australia is stepping up its presence and its defence diplomacy in the immediate region," Mr Graham said.

"There is a connection that could be made between the geopolitical competition that we're starting to see unfold in the Pacific, with China becoming more present as an actor (including military deployments that will become more regular in the future) and Australia doesn't want that gap to be filled by outside actors."

Last month the ABC revealed HMAS Toowoomba and HMAS Success, along with HMAS Anzac, had been challenged by the Chinese Navy as they were transiting towards Vietnam through the South China Sea, in waters claimed by Beijing.

The old chinkies are flexing their muscles.

Since taking power as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of its Central Military Commission in late 2012, Xi Jinping has taken bold steps to reform the Chinese military and demonstrated a willingness to project military power. The new five-year military reform plan that began in November 2015 has already led to a major restructure of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and concentration of more powers in Xi’s hands, thus further weakening civilian oversight over the military.

The projection of China’s military power is particularly noticeable in the militarization of the artificial islands in the South China Sea, despite claims to the contrary. Earlier this month, the US media reported that American intelligence sources have confirmed that China has installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles on three of these islands. The presence of the PLA Navy (PLAN) infrastructure and other hardware in the South China Sea has reached such a point that recently it prompted the incoming chief of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Philip S Davidson, to tell a US Senate Committee that “China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States.”

If China’s growing naval power in the South China Sea is worrying the United States and its allies, its increasing presence in the Indian Ocean is ringing alarm bells in New Delhi, Washington and several other capitals. China’s naval presence in the Indian Ocean region has increased as its dependence on oil imports from the Middle East and Africa has grown. China began its naval engagement in the Indian Ocean as part of its collaborative efforts with the international community to control piracy and deal with terrorism. It worked closely with the European Union countries and the US in the Gulf of Aden in their anti-piracy operations, sending more than two dozen naval groups to the region between 2008 and 2017.

China’s anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden provided China with a cover to establish a permanent presence in the region by building its first overseas military base in Djibouti. Initially flagged as a logistics base to support the PLAN’s counter-piracy operations, the facility in Djibouti is a full-fledged military base with the presence of all branches of the Chinese military. Located only a few miles from the United States’ only military base in Africa, the Chinese base, which became operational on 1 August 2017, has a large helicopter facility and accommodation for 10,000 military personnel. It is also believed to have exclusive access to at least one of the berths of the Chinese-built Doraleh Multipurpose Port.

In 2011, long before China began the construction of its Djibouti base, the nationalist Global Times newspaper had called for China to build overseas military bases. The stated rationale behind such calls by the Chinese state media and some scholars was that in addition to resisting pirates and terrorists, such bases will help the Chinese military in fulfilling its international obligations as part of China’s participation in UN Peacekeeping operations in Africa. Moreover, they argued, the overseas military bases can also be used to evacuate Chinese citizens from conflict zones.

The scale and layout of the Chinese base in Djibouti, however, suggests that it is not a facility designed solely to protect trade routes from pirates and terrorists and to help with peacekeeping operations. Some analysts believe that it may be part of a Chinese plan to establish a network of military bases in the Indian Ocean region. In fact, American and some Indian strategists have long argued that China is trying to surround India with a network of dual-use port facilities in the Indian Ocean. This was dubbed as a ‘string of pearls’ strategy by the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in a report prepared for the US Defence Department in the early 2000s. Entitled “Energy Futures in Asia”, the report argued that the construction of these ports was meant to not only “protect China’s energy interests, but also to serve broad security objectives.”

There is much speculation that China’s next naval base would most likely be built in the Pakistani port city of Gwadar, where a Chinese built port is already managed by a Chinese company and there is a strong Chinese presence. Gwadar is the terminus of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project of Xi Jinping’s One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR), which is now officially translated as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China has also taken a 99-year lease on Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, which was built by Chinese companies and funded by a Chinese loan. As the port hardly generates any income and Sri Lanka was unable to repay the loan, China offered to convert its loan into equity. Although the Sri Lankan government has said the Hambantota port will not be used as a Chinese military base and it would not compromise India’s security, there remains a possibility that a debt-ridden Sri Lankan government might be pushed into allowing the PLAN use of the port.
The Indian government was concerned when a Chinese submarine and a warship docked in Colombo in October 2014. The new Sirisena government which took power in January 2015, however, may have adopted a different approach to visits by Chinese submarines and warships as it rejected another request from China for a submarine visit to Colombo in October 2017. It is not clear whether this represents a policy change on the part of the Sri Lankan government or the request was denied so as not to cause offence to the prime minister of India who was visiting Sri Lanka the same month.
Regardless of the short-term tactical changes in the policies of Indian Ocean states in relation to naval cooperation with China, the long-term trend in the region seems to be one of competition and rivalry between the two rising powers of Asia. China is likely to continue to push ahead with an enhanced naval presence in the Indian Ocean. While India on its own might not be able to counter the growing Chinese presence in what the Indian Navy regards as its Area of Responsibility (AOR), it has stepped up naval cooperation with the United States, Japan and other like-minded countries. The future seems less certain than the imagery of a recent Wuhan summit between Xi and Prime Minister Modi might suggest.
Pradeep Taneja is a Lecturer in Asian Politics, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne.

https://cpianalysis.org/2018/05/17/c...-indian-ocean/

Be interesting to get a perspective through Chinese eyes on this thread....

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Be interesting to get a perspective through Chinese eyes on this thread....

try squinting

Originally Posted by uncle junior

try squinting

Bastard! Coffee on keyboard!

You're waffling again.

It doesn't matter what your stupid fucking "opinion" sites say, a base is a base and yes, I know there are military stationed all over Africa, but you're wasting your fucking time, you pedantic twat.

It is irrelevant.

US warships sail near disputed islands in South China Sea in a move likely to anger Beijing



Two US Navy warships have sailed near South China Sea islands claimed by China, two US officials say, in a move likely to anger Beijing as President Donald Trump seeks its continued cooperation on North Korea.


Key points:

The Freedom of Navigation Operations had been planned months in advance
The operations came just days after the Pentagon uninvited China from a major US-hosted naval drill
Critics say the move was largely symbolic and would have little impact on Chinese behaviour

The operation was the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as Beijing's efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters.

While this operation had been planned months in advance, and similar operations have become routine, it comes at a particularly sensitive time and just days after the Pentagon uninvited China from a major US-hosted naval drill.

The US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the Higgins guided-missile destroyer and the Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser, came within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which China has territorial disputes with its neighbours.
A guided missile cruiser does a high-speed turn.
Photo: The operation included the Antietam. (Wikimedia Commons: Lt Doug Houser)

The US military vessels carried out manoeuvring operations near Tree, Lincoln, Triton and Woody islands in the Paracels, one of the officials said.

Mr Trump's cancellation of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has put further strain on US-China ties amid a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

Critics of the operations, known as "freedom of navigations", have said they had little impact on Chinese behaviour and were largely symbolic.

The US military has a long-standing position that its operations are carried out throughout the world, including in areas claimed by allies, and that they are separate from political considerations.

Satellite photographs taken on May 12 showed China appeared to have deployed truck-mounted surface-to-air missiles or anti-ship cruise missiles at Woody Island.

Earlier this month, China's air force landed bombers on disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of a training exercise in the region, triggering concern from Vietnam and the Philippines.
Chinese H-6K bomber patrols the islands and reefs in the South China Sea


Photo: Chinese aircraft have taken off and landed on an island air base in training exercises. (AP: Liu Rui/Xinhua)

The US military did not directly comment on Sunday's operation, but said US forces operated in the region on a daily basis.

"We conduct routine and regular Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs), as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future," US Pacific Fleet said in a statement.

Neither China's foreign nor defence ministries immediately responded to a request for comment.
Before and after: South China Sea

See how China is converting reefs to military facilities by building artificial islands in the South China Sea.

Pentagon officials have long complained China has not been candid enough about its rapid military build-up, and about its use of the South China Sea islands to gather intelligence in the region.

US warships sail near disputed islands in South China Sea in a move likely to anger Beijing - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The SCS is one busy place. I hope the warships don't hit a large Chinese Container ship exercising it's freedom of the ocean.

Looks like they're building ships as fast as they are building cars...

That's the third island chain.

Originally Posted by OhOh

That's the third island chain.

That's Chinese ships escorting a Chinese carrier.

China opposes US provocation in its territorial waters: spokesperson

BEIJING - China on Sunday voiced strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to two US warships trespassing China's territorial waters off the Xisha Islands.


Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in a statement released on Sunday night that the US warships trespassed into China's territorial waters off the Xisha Islands on Sunday without permission of the Chinese government, and the Chinese navy identified the US warships, warned and expelled them.


"The Chinese side strongly urges the US side to immediately stop such kind of provocative operations that violate China's sovereignty and threaten China's security," Lu said.



China opposes US provocation in its territorial waters: spokesperson - Chinadaily.com.cn

One hopes the US will politely tell them to fuck off and take their claim to the ICJ.

Only when ameristan politicians ratifies the treaty a government employee signed and claim they are upholding. Maybe the treaty they allege they are upholding has clauses they don't approve of?


Why do you thing the vassal Philippine government, of the time, took the case to court. ameristan has no leg to stand on.

Originally Posted by misskit

the Chinese navy identified the US warships, warned and expelled them.

Like an arrogant dog that yaps triumphantly when the more composed dog has left on its own accord.

Or ENT, when he had "won" debates with me.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Only when ameristan politicians ratifies the treaty a government employee signed and claim they are upholding. Maybe the treaty they allege they are upholding has clauses they don't approve of?


Why do you thing the vassal Philippine government, of the time, took the case to court. ameristan has no leg to stand on.

Perhaps the issue is a bit complex for you: Until someone has been legally granted ownership, it belongs to no-one.

It's like saying America owns the moon because they put a flag on it.

I own this page.

OhOh.....I now declare you expelled from this thread.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Until someone has been legally granted ownership

Pray tell who excatly is the body which "grants ownership"?

Originally Posted by Latindancer

OhOh.....I now declare you expelled from this thread.

Now if you are speaking on behalf of the moderators here at TD I cannot argue with their decision. However if you are not:

Originally Posted by Latindancer

the more composed dog

Who pray tell is this "more composed dog"?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

It's like saying America owns the moon because they put a flag on it

Were they the first to do such a thing?

Originally Posted by Latindancer

I own this page.

Sure of it or is it wishful thinking?

Originally Posted by OhOh

Pray tell who excatly is the body which "grants ownership"?

You're fucking doing it again FFS.

READ THE POSTS.

One hopes the US will politely tell them to fuck off and take their claim to the ICJ.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Were they the first to do such a thing?

Oh don't try going off on another useless fucking tangent because you're talking out of your arse again.