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  1. #1251
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    Klondyke's Avatar
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    When they own already the US ports, why not few more near Taiwan?

  2. #1252
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Chinese, Singaporean navies hold joint drills in the South China Sea 'boosting trust and cooperation'


    Liu Xuanzun


    Published: Sep 23, 2021 11:22 PM

    "A far sea training task force of three advanced warships of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy conducted joint maritime drills with the Republic of Singapore Navy in the South China Sea on Wednesday, a move that, according to experts, boosted the two navies' mutual trust and enhanced the level of military cooperation between both countries.

    Kicking off the exercise, the PLA Navy task force, featuring the Type 052D guided missile destroyer Hohhot, the Type 054A guided missile frigate Huangshan and the Type 903 comprehensive replenishment ship Luomahu, met up with the Formidable-class frigates RSS Steadfast and RSS Supreme in waters near Singapore, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday.

    The two flotillas first established communications, as vessels from both sides sent multiple waves of tactical signals with a success rate of 100 percent, CCTV said.

    The warships then practiced navigation in different tactical formations, with the Hohhot on the lead, according to the report, noting that the RSS Supreme also conducted maritime replenishment maneuvers together with the Luomahu.

    In another training exercise, Chinese and Singaporean vessel-based helicopters landed and took off from each other's ships, CCTV reported, noting that the exercise was a success.

    Senior Captain Dong Renfeng, Chief of Staff of the PLA Navy Far Sea Training Task Force, said that the drill improved the professional communication between the two countries' navies, enhanced mutual trust, deepened friendship and contributed to cooperation, the report mentioned.

    A press release by Singapore's Ministry of Defense released on Wednesday said the drills are regular passage exercises and these aim to enhance mutual understanding and strengthen friendship with foreign navies, enabling the Navy of the Republic of Singapore to keep ties warm with their counterparts, even amid the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

    This is not the first time the two navies have held a joint drill this year. In February, China and Singapore conducted a joint naval exercise in the South China Sea.

    China's joint naval exercises with Singapore, a country from within the region of the South China Sea, shows that the two countries have a high level of mutual trust and cooperation which contributes to regional peace and stability, a Chinese military expert who requested to remain anonymous told the Global Times on Thursday.

    By comparison, countries from outside of the region, particularly the US and the UK, are sending warships to the South China Sea to flex their muscle and show off presence on their own agendas, which harms regional peace and stability, the expert said."

    Chinese, Singaporean navies hold joint drills in the South China Sea 'boosting trust and cooperation' - Global Times
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  3. #1253
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Yes, I'm sure Singapore completely trusts the chinkies now.


  4. #1254
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    How China Would Wage War To Conquer The South China Sea

    A few years back, China’s defense minister, General Chang Wanquan, implored the nation to ready itself for a “people’s war at sea.” The purpose of such a campaign? To “safeguard sovereignty” after an adverse ruling from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The tribunal upheld the plain meaning of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), ruling that Beijing’s claims to “indisputable sovereignty” spanning some 80-90 percent of the South China Sea are bunk.

    A strong coastal state, in other words, cannot simply wrest away the high seas or waters allocated to weaker neighbors and make them its own.


    Or, at any rate, it can’t do so lawfully. It could conceivably do so through conquest, enforced afterward by a constant military presence. Defenders of freedom of the sea, consequently, must heed General Chang’s entreaty. Southeast Asians and their external allies must take such statements seriously—devoting ample forethought to the prospect of marine combat in the South China Sea.


    That’s the first point about a people’s war at sea. A clash of arms is possible. Statesmen and commanders in places like Manila, Hanoi, and Washington must not discount Chang’s words as mere bluster.


    Indeed, it’s doubtful China could comply with the UNCLOS tribunal’s ruling at this stage, even if the Chinese Communist Party leadership wished to. Think about the image compliance would project at home. For two decades now, Beijing has invested lavishly in a great navy, and backed that navy up with shore-based firepower in the form of combat aircraft, anti-ship missile batteries, and short-range warships such as fast patrol craft and diesel submarines.


    Party leaders have regaled the populace with how they will use seagoing forces to right historical wrongs and win the nation nautical renown. They must now follow through.

    It was foolish to tie China’s national dignity and sovereignty to patently absurd claims to islands and seas. But party leaders did so. And they did so repeatedly, publicly, and in the most unyielding terms imaginable. By their words they stoked nationalist sentiment while making themselves accountable to it. They set in motion a toxic cycle of rising popular expectations.


    Breaking that cycle could verge on impossible. If Beijing relented from its maritime claims now, ordinary Chinese would—rightly—judge the leadership by the standard it set. Party leaders would stand condemned as weaklings who surrendered sacred territory, failed to avenge China’s century of humiliation despite China’s rise to great power, and let jurists and lesser neighbors backed by a certain superpower flout big, bad China’s will.


    No leader relishes being seen as a weakling. It’s positively dangerous in China. As the greats of diplomacy teach, it’s tough for negotiators or political leaders to climb down from public commitments. Make a promise and you bind yourself to keep it. Fail to keep it and you discredit yourself—and court disaster in the bargain.


    Like any sane leadership, Beijing prefers to get its way without fighting. Fighting, though, could be the least bad of the options party leaders have left themselves. Quite the predicament they’ve made for themselves.


    Which leads to the second point. Judging from Chang’s words, small-stick diplomacy has run its course. Small-stick diplomacy was about deploying the China Coast Guard and fellow nonmilitary sea services to police waters Beijing claimed. It depicted China’s sovereignty in the South China Sea as a fact, and dared woefully outmatched rivals to reverse that fact.


    Left unopposed, de facto Chinese sovereignty—a near-monopoly on the use of force within borders sketched on the map—would have become entrenched over time. Once it became the new normal, it might even have taken on an aura of legitimacy among seafaring states.


    The UNCLOS tribunal struck China’s approach a grievous blow, collapsing the quasi-legal arguments underlying small-stick diplomacy. The tribunal’s decision makes it clear that Chinese maritime forces operating in, say, the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone are invaders or occupiers—not constables.


    If Beijing can’t get its way through white-hulled coast-guard vessels, that leaves military force. Sovereign states deploy law-enforcement assets to police what is rightfully theirs. They deploy military forces to fight for things that are in dispute. Chang’s warlike talk implies that Beijing has abandoned the softly, softly approach and has tacitly admitted Southeast Asia constitutes a contested zone.


    And the lingo he employs matters. People’s war is a Maoist phrase used to convey certain martial ideas. Mao Zedong’s Red Army waged people’s war to seize contested ground from Japanese invaders and Chinese Nationalists. It appears China now sees the South China Sea in similar terms—as an offshore battleground where rivals must be overcome by force.


    But not by military force alone. Beijing won’t withdraw the coast guard, maritime enforcement services, or the fishing fleet—an unofficial militia—from embattled waters. They will stay on as part of a composite whole-of-government armada. But the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy and Air Force will figure more prominently in the force mix.


    In the days of small-stick diplomacy, the naval big stick posed an implicit threat from over the horizon. Philippine or Vietnamese mariners knew the China Coast Guard had backup if they defied it. In all likelihood Chinese commanders will flourish the big stick more promiscuously in the future—rendering the threat overt and visible rather than latent and unobtrusive.


    Here’s the third point. A people’s-war-at-sea strategy will confront a motley coalition in which outsiders—America, maybe joined by Japan or Australia—supply the bulk of the heavy-hitting combat power. The Philippines is lopsidedly outgunned. Vietnam has pluck and a formidable military, but it can hardly stand up to the northern colossus without help.


    The coalition’s curious makeup would furnish Beijing opportunities for coalition-breaking. China might reckon that any conflict in the South China Sea would be a “war by contingent” for the United States, a war in which Washington fixes the size of a force dispatched to support regional allies and instructs the commanders of that force to do the best they can with the resources they have.


    Such strategies are excellent for troublemaking but seldom decisive in themselves. Lord Wellington, for instance, led a contingent ashore in Iberia in 1807. The expedition gave Napoleon a “Spanish ulcer,” a nagging commitment on a new front. Yet Wellington never kidded himself that he would win a continent-spanning war with a modest expeditionary force augmented by partisans and the Royal Navy.


    Such an approach, in other words, would betray half heartedness on Washington’s part. After all, America would have embarked on an open-ended enterprise in a distant theater off the opponent’s shores without any real thought of victory. Half Heartedness kills in such ventures.


    People’s war is about outlasting stronger foes under circumstances like these. If the weaker contender is a China, endowed with sizable reserves of hard power to tap, then that contender needs time. Its armed forces protract the campaign, both to gain time to muster more strength and to wear away at enemy combat strength.


    In short, China could win even if it remains weaker than America in the aggregate. The PLA could narrow or reverse the balance of forces in the theater—overpowering the U.S. contingent at the place and time that truly matter. It could dishearten Washington. U.S. leaders might despair of sustaining the undertaking indefinitely. Or, China could outlast America—inflicting numerous tactical losses over a long time, and thus driving the price tag of preserving freedom of the seas higher than U.S. leaders are willing to pay. If America goes home, the venture collapses.


    How, in operational and tactical terms, can PLA commanders bring this about? By hewing to their own warmaking traditions. China is politically and strategically predictable in the South China Sea yet operationally and tactically unpredictable. Politically and strategically predictable because party leaders painted themselves into a corner with domestic constituencies. Tactically unpredictable because that’s how Chinese forces have fought since the age of Mao.


    Indeed, “active defense,” the concept whereby Mao codified his ideas about people’s war, remains the heart of Chinese military strategy. Just ask Beijing. To oversimplify, the conceit behind active defense is that a weaker China can lure a stronger pugilist into overextending and tiring himself before delivering a punishing counterpunch. Conjure up the great Muhammad Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle in your mind and you get the idea.


    If the rope-a-dope approach works on a grand scale, Chinese forces can inflict tactical defeats that enfeeble the foe over time. Active defense, then, is all about harnessing tactical offense for strategically defensive campaigns.


    To prosecute it, Chinese commanders seek out isolated enemy detachments they can assault on “exterior lines,” encircling and crushing them. The cumulative effect of repeated tactical setbacks wears down the strong—and could prompt their leadership to question whether the endeavor is still worth its hardships, perils, and costs. If not, cost/benefit logic will prod U.S. leaders toward the exit—and China will prevail even without an outright victory over allied forces.


    U.S. and allied mariners and airmen, accordingly, must study China’s martial traditions, gleaning insight into how offshore active defense might unfold in the South China Sea. If you’re Beijing and have built up a seagoing militia, an impressive coast guard, Asia’s biggest indigenous navy, and a sizable arsenal of land-based weaponry to influence events at sea, how do you alloy those components into a sharp combat implement—and consolidate control over a semi-enclosed sea?


    Essaying some foresight into these matters now could pay off handsomely if China tries to put General Chang’s—and Mao’s—strategic concept into practice.


    Speaking of whom, a final bit of advice from Mao Zedong. Chang deployed China’s traditional lexicon, centered on people’s war, to describe how Beijing may transact business in Southeast Asia. But bear in mind that a strategy of the weak was expedient for Mao, not his strategic preference. He was writing for a China that was flat on its back, wracked by civil war and foreign invasion.


    It could do little else. But the goal of active defense—of people’s war—was to make the Red Army the stronger antagonist. Once Maoist forces reversed the force imbalance, they meant to unleash a counteroffensive and win on the conventional battleground.


    This is not Mao’s China. It’s already a brawny economic and military power, and would be fighting on its own ground. Today’s PLA enjoys far more offensive options than did Mao’s Red Army. Rather than revert to pure people’s war on the Maoist pattern, PLA commanders could pursue a mix of small- and big-unit engagements against the U.S.-led coalition.


    People’s war, then, could start to look awfully like conventional marine combat if Beijing believes the military balance and the trendlines favor China.


    By all means, let’s review China’s way of war, discerning what we can about Chinese warmaking habits and reflexes. But these are not automatons replaying the Maoist script from the 1930s and 1940s. How they might transpose Maoist doctrine to the offshore arena—and how an unruly coalition can surmount such a challenge—is the question before friends of maritime freedom.



    How China Would Wage War to Conquer the South China Sea - 19FortyFive

  5. #1255
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    It was foolish to tie China’s national dignity and sovereignty to patently absurd claims to islands and seas. But party leaders did so. And they did so repeatedly, publicly, and in the most unyielding terms imaginable. By their words they stoked nationalist sentiment while making themselves accountable to it. They set in motion a toxic cycle of rising popular expectations.
    Extremely cogent words.

    And they won't go away until Mr. Shithole is deposed.

  6. #1256
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Yes, I'm sure Singapore completely trusts the chinkies now.
    There's a group of fervent pro-China 'expat' Chinese in Singapore who pour over social media constantly decrying the west and glorifying China; Singaporeans call them the Fifty-Cents people . . . as that's all they're worth and what they're getting paid by their Beijing masters per post

    Yea, try to persuade a wealthy nation that the very political doctrine they fought against is a good thing because of common ethnic roots . . . good luck.

    It's like having hundreds/thousands of Klongdicks and OhWoe's -

  7. #1257
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    China ready to work with Malaysia to strengthen communication and properly handle differences on South China Sea issue: Chinese Defense Minister

    By Global Times Published: Sep 27, 2021 10:38 PM

    "China is ready to work with Malaysia to oppose hegemonism and power politics, strengthen communication and properly handle differences on the South China Sea issue, jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and inject more positive energy into the turbulent world, said Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister, Wei Fenghe, on Monday during a conversation with Malaysian Defense Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, through video link.

    The two militaries should maintain high-level communications, promote the creation of cooperation mechanisms, strengthen multilateral coordination and constantly upgrade practical cooperation, Wei said.

    Hishammuddin said that Malaysia sincerely appreciates China's assistance in Malaysia's fight against the epidemic and stands ready to deepen exchanges and cooperation with China in fields such as epidemic control and military affairs.

    Malaysia will coordinate positions and strengthen cooperation with China on major issues concerning regional security and raise bilateral relations and military-to-military cooperation to a new level, Hishammuddin said.

    As Southeast Asian countries grow unnerved about AUKUS, a trilateral pact between the US, the UK and Australia that will provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, Malaysia announced it would seek China's views on AUKUS, as the key ASEAN member is concerned about regional peace and stability that could be ruined by a security pact-triggered arms race.

    The Malaysian Defense Minister said on Wednesday that his ministry is planning a working visit to China soon to discuss the matter, especially on defense-related issues. "


    China ready to work with Malaysia to strengthen communication and properly handle differences on South China Sea issue: Chinese Defense Minister - Global Times

  8. #1258
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Jeez, that's a long winded way of saying "We're going to give Malaysia some more cake tins".


  9. #1259
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    China is ready to work with Malaysia to oppose hegemonism
    China will work to oppose itself????

  10. #1260
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    New Regional Alliances Highlight ASEAN’s Irrelevance, Analysts Say


    Newly minted alliances among nations in the Indo-Pacific region have sidelined ASEAN, analysts say, with some arguing that the 10-nation grouping of Southeast Asian countries dug its own grave through its inaction on regional issues.


    Within a span of just seven months, two Washington-led Asia-Pacific groupings – one ideological and one military – have quietly circumvented the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in a bid to blunt China’s growing dominance and militarization in the South China Sea.


    ASEAN has for long touted its “centrality” to the region, and powers such as the United States, China and Russia have described it as the anchor of the Indo-Pacific security landscape, but such words are starting to ring hollow, said James Chin, a professor at Tasmania University.


    “[W]ith the Quad and AUKUS, they clearly bypassed ASEAN. They pay lip service to ASEAN, but they don’t really care what ASEAN thinks,” Chin told BenarNews.


    AUKUS is the new security alliance under which the United States and the United Kingdom will provide Australia the technology needed to build nuclear-powered submarines.


    It was preceded by the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), whose members – the U.S., Japan, India and Australia – said at the group’s first summit in March that they are committed to an open, secure and coercion-free Indo-Pacific region.


    The White House statement on AUKUS and a statement subsequently issued by Australia’s ambassador to the regional bloc both nodded to ASEAN, but little else.


    And ASEAN is to blame for that, Chin said, an opinion echoed by other analysts.


    “ASEAN itself is the cause of its own problem. The fact that it cannot resolve the South China Sea issue, can’t even get China to agree to the Code of Conduct after 20 years, can’t solve the Myanmar problem… It shows that ASEAN can’t be taken seriously based on its historical track record,” Chin argued.


    For nearly two decades, China and ASEAN have been negotiating a Code of Conduct, to lay out guidelines for how nations with competing claims in the South China Sea must behave. In 2019 ASEAN agreed with China to finalize the code in three years, but there is no sign a COC will be ready by next year.


    After the Feb. 1 military coup in Myanmar, ASEAN struggled to come to a consensus on how to deal with its member state. The bloc’s nations in late April finally agreed to send an emissary to help resolve the post-coup crisis there, but it took ASEAN more than 100 days to name a special envoy. That envoy has not yet secured permission from the Burmese junta to talk to all stakeholders.


    Meanwhile, amid mounting violence against civilians in Myanmar, ASEAN successfully lobbied to block a U.N. call to suspend arms sales to the Burmese military, in the wake of the coup.


    Jeremy Maxie, an associate at Strategika Group Asia Pacific, a security consultancy in New Zealand, noted that ASEAN is often a hindrance in resolving regional issues.


    “ASEAN has proven over the last several years that it is irrelevant, even counterproductive, in responding to regional security issues from Myanmar to SCS,” Maxie said on Twitter.


    Some ASEAN members may complain about AUKUS, but it is a lesson for the regional bloc, said former Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.


    It is a reminder of “the cost of its dithering and indecision on the complex and fast-evolving geopolitical environment,” Natalegawa told The Jakarta Post.

    ‘Picking up the slack’


    Meanwhile, Derek J. Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, a U.S. think-tank, said ASEAN members should not have been surprised an alliance such as AUKUS was formed.


    “[O]ne has to genuinely ask: what did ASEAN expect if it couldn’t [or] wouldn’t act vs China’s growing military threats? Someone has to pick up their slack,” Grossman said on Twitter.


    The governments of Southeast Asia face a dilemma in responding to China’s assertion of its sweeping claims in the South China Sea, in large part because of their economic dependence on Beijing.


    Regional analyst Oh Ei Sun told BenarNews last week that Malaysia preferred to maintain a working strategic relationship with Beijing, “despite China’s frequent incursions into what Malaysia considers to be its territorial waters” in the South China Sea.


    Moreover, to the shock of the country’s opposition parties, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he would seek China’s views on AUKUS on a trip to Beijing.


    It was “a little embarrassing for Malaysia to so publicly subcontract its foreign policy,” said John Blaxland, professor at the Australian National University.


    Indonesia, meanwhile, recently downplayed the lingering presence of a Chinese survey ship working in Jakarta’s exclusive economic zone – even after warning Chinese fishing boats and their Coast Guard escorts to get out of the Natuna Sea on multiple occasions.


    China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including waters within the EEZs of Taiwan, and of ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. While Indonesia does not regard itself as party to the South China Sea dispute, Beijing claims historic rights to parts of that sea overlapping Indonesia’s EEZ as well.


    Beijing has repeatedly rejected a 2016 international arbitral award that declared China’s claim over most of the South China Sea baseless.

    ‘A polarized situation’


    Though it famously operates by consensus, there is no common stance among ASEAN nations on AUKUS, said Rizal Sukma, a senior researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, who is a former Indonesian ambassador to Britain.


    “Some are supportive, like Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. Some are opposed like Malaysia and there are those who are concerned including Indonesia. Others remain silent, such as Brunei and Laos,” he told BenarNews.


    “But, the question is really, does ASEAN have the capacity to be a place where great powers’ interests can be managed? I doubt it. ASEAN has even become more irrelevant.”


    Still, Rizal said, the three AUKUS countries should recognize that the region’s nations are worried about the escalation of tensions in Southeast Asia.


    “The issue is not AUKUS, but the U.S.-China rivalry, which is the driving force for AUKUS cooperation and for the consolidation of the PRC’s military position in the South China Sea,” he said.


    “It is better for ASEAN to focus on how to manage the rivalry if it wants to remain relevant."


    Former Malaysian deputy defense minister Liew Chin Tong concurred that there is still a role for ASEAN in the current geopolitical landscape – if it can step up.


    “I would like to see some of the ASEAN member states – seeing the danger of a polarized situation – come together to find a strong common position to hold back the great powers,” Liew told BenarNews.


    ASEAN needs to be more dynamic, and AUKUS may well push it to be so, Nick Bisley, professor of International Relations at LaTrobe University in Australia, noted on Twitter.


    “ASEAN never works as well as when it feels its centrality is at risk.”

    New Regional Alliances Highlight ASEAN’s Irrelevance, Analysts Say — BenarNews

  11. #1261
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Moreover, to the shock of the country’s opposition parties, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he would seek China’s views on AUKUS on a trip to Beijing.
    Someone's looking for a cake tin....

  12. #1262
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    China Survey Ship Leaves Indonesia EEZ but Another Appears off Malaysia


    The Da Yang Hao, is now operating in an area that runs through the EEZs of three countries: Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.


    The Chinese survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 10 has left Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after almost a month, marine traffic data show.


    The 3,400-ton survey ship, tailed by a Chinese coastguard vessel, is moving northeast out of the North Natuna Sea, where it has been since the end of August.


    It is unclear where the vessel is heading, but it may stop at Fiery Cross Reef, where China operates a large outpost, for rest and resupply. Experts say it could yet head back toward Tuna Block, the oil field where U.K.-based Harbour Energy and its partner, Russia’s Zarubezhneft, are drilling two appraisal wells. The Chinese ship spent the last month surveying around the area.


    The submersible rig Noble Clyde Boudreaux, commissioned by Harbour Energy, had just completed the first appraisal well “despite Chinese meddling,” the industry web portal Energy Voice reported Monday. It added that the drilling of the second well was planned to finish in early November.


    Meanwhile, marine traffic data show that another Chinese survey ship, the Da Yang Hao, is now operating in an area that runs through the EEZs of three countries: Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. None of the countries has made any public comment about the Da Yang Hao yet.


    Malaysia, however, keeps “tracking and shadowing Chinese vessels” which are spotted in the Malaysian waters, said Thomas Daniel, senior fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies.


    “Malaysia has always preferred quiet diplomacy in dealing with China in the South China Sea. There have been exceptions to this, but they are few and far between,” Daniel said.


    “My understanding is that Malaysia is often very forthright about its concerns and positions with China on these matters. But it is unlikely that policymakers or officials will speak of this openly as drawing public attention might be seen as potentially counterproductive in the long run,” he added.


    The same approach may be adopted by the Indonesian authorities who have not said much about the Haiyang Dizhi 10, despite public pressure. Countries in the region seem reluctant to challenge China openly, mainly due to their economic reliance on the Chinese market but also to their limited maritime capabilities.


    Earlier this week, the Indonesian government announced a budget proposal for 2022 in which 12.2 trillion rupiah, or $853 million, would be allocated to develop the security infrastructure in the Natuna Sea.


    Indonesian media report that the budget will be used to build up defense infrastructure on strategic islands and procure maritime security equipment including unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.


    The budget would be divided equally between the Indonesian Navy and the Maritime Security Force, which is known as Bakamla.


    The government said 41 percent of the budget was used to meet the weapon system needs of the navy in Natuna and 44 percent was used to fulfill Bakamla's marine security equipment needs.


    China has been accused of harassing its neighbors’ fishing and oil and gas activities in the South China Sea, where its sweeping claims overlap with the claims and EEZs of other nations. Beijing asserts that these are lawful operations in waters under its jurisdiction.

    China Survey Ship Leaves Indonesia EEZ but Another Appears off Malaysia — Radio Free Asia

  13. #1263
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    chinky bastards at it again.

  14. #1264
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Philippines Files New Protests over Chinese Presence in South China Sea

    The Philippine foreign secretary on Thursday ordered that new diplomatic protests be filed against Beijing over the ongoing presence of more than 100 Chinese ships in waters claimed by Manila in the South China Sea.


    Teodoro Locsin Jr., who is in the United States for an official visit, issued three messages via Twitter ordering the Department of Foreign Affairs to file the protests. The new diplomatic protests are the latest since the Philippines began filing daily protests against Chinese incursions in Manila’s exclusive economic zone in the sea earlier this year.


    “File now our protest on China’s incessant & unlawful restriction of Filipino fishermen from conducting legitimate fishing activities in Bajo de Masinloc,” Locsin said, using the Philippine name for the Scarborough Shoal.


    Manila considers Scarborough Shoal, a reef located 118 nautical miles (218.5 km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, to be within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).


    In his other tweets, Locsin ordered protests on “Chinese radio challenges unlawfully issued against Philippine maritime patrols,” and on the “continued presence of Chinese fishing vessels in [the] vicinity of Iroquois Reef.”


    Additional details about the Chinese ships were not released.


    In early April, Locsin said the Philippines would file “daily diplomatic protests” with Beijing during a quarrel that began in March, when the Philippine military reported spotting more than 200 Chinese fishing boats which, it alleged, were manned by militia. The fishing boats later scattered, but security analysts said they may have moved to other parts of the disputed region.


    BenarNews could not immediately determine if the daily protests had stopped. Diplomats previously said that, for as long as there were Chinese incursions, the protests would continue.


    Locsin’s orders came a day after Rep. Ruffy Biazon said that 150 Chinese fishing ships had been spotted in the West Philippine Sea, Manila’s name the South China Sea. Without elaborating, Biazon said the Chinese ships appeared to be part of a fishing fleet and were moving from one area to another.


    The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond when contacted by BenarNews.


    Last month, the military’s Western Command (Westcom), based in Palawan province, said Philippine aircraft were warned by China while they patrolled the skies above the South China Sea. An internal Westcom report claimed that China had fired five flares between June 16 and 22 at Philippine military aircraft conducting security patrols.


    China took control of the shoal in 2012 and engaged with the Philippine Coast Guard in a tense standoff before both sides agreed to leave waters around it.


    The Philippines stuck to the deal but the Chinese never left, forcing Manila to file a case with an international arbitral tribunal, which in 2016 ruled in its favor. China however has said that it does not recognize the ruling by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague.


    China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including waters also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. While Indonesia does not regard itself as party to the dispute, Beijing claims historic rights to parts of that sea overlapping Indonesia’s EEZ as well.


    Philippines Files New Protests over Chinese Presence in South China Sea — BenarNews

  15. #1265
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post
    Philippines Files New Protests over Chinese Presence in South China Sea
    Boring and spineless Flippies - did nothing, do nothing and now?

  16. #1266
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Malaysia Summons China’s Envoy to Protest Ships in its EEZ

    Malaysia on Monday protested the presence of a large Chinese survey ship which sailed into its exclusive economic zone last week.


    Ship-tracking data on Sept. 29 revealed the 4,600-ton Da Yang Hao operating in an area that runs through the EEZs of three countries: Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. At one point it was only 40 nautical miles from the Philippines’ Balabac Island and 60 nautical miles from Malaysia’s coast.


    The Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Monday saying it “called in the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to convey Malaysia’s position and protest against the presence and activities of Chinese vessels, including a survey vessel, in Malaysia’s Exclusive Economic Zone off the coasts of Sabah and Sarawak.


    The statement said the presence and activities of these vessels “are inconsistent with Malaysia’s Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1984, as well as the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”


    “Malaysia had also protested against the previous encroachments by other foreign vessels into our waters,” it added.


    “Malaysia reiterates that all matters relating to the South China Sea must be resolved peacefully and constructively, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS.”


    While it took several days for Malaysia to issue this statement after the Chinese survey ship showed up in its EEZ, the strong wording shows that Kuala Lumpur, under increasing domestic pressure, felt the need to speak up against China’s assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.


    The Da Yang Hao first appeared in the area around Sept. 25-26. Its exact location on Monday could not be determined by ship-tracking as it was not broadcasting its position.


    'Malaysia’s strategic space continues to tighten'


    It’s not uncommon for Chinese vessels to show up uninvited in the EEZs of its neighbors.


    Another Chinese survey vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 10, was conducting a survey in an oil field in Indonesia’s EEZ for a month before retiring to Fiery Cross Reef last week for re-supply.


    And last Thursday, the Philippine foreign secretary ordered that diplomatic protests be filed against Beijing over the ongoing presence of more than 100 Chinese ships in waters claimed by Manila in the South China Sea. He complained about “incessant and unlawful restriction” of Filipino fisherman at Scarborough Shoal.


    Like its neighbors, Malaysia faces a dilemma in its relationship with China – challenging Beijing over its maritime incursions without straining ties with what is the region’s dominant economic power.


    “A fundamental calculation for Malaysia in managing China’s increasingly aggressive approach in the South China Sea is the latter’s escalation dominance and willingness to escalate if given an excuse. Malaysia has and will practice caution in its response, especially at sea,” Thomas Daniel, senior fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies, told BenarNews last week.


    “Unfortunately, Malaysia’s strategic space continues to tighten, leading to difficult challenges that policymakers might not have an immediate solution to,” he added.


    Last year Malaysia and China were entangled in a month-long standoff in the South China Sea.


    Chinese survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 8 was operating in the EEZ, close to a drillship contracted by Malaysian state oil firm Petronas in waters claimed by Malaysia and Vietnam as well as China.


    Both the Malaysian drill ship and the Chinese ship left after a month. The incident had prompted the United States to call on China to stop its “bullying behavior” in the disputed waters.


    At that time, Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hishammuddin Hussein, now defense minister, said in a statement: “Due to the complexity and sensitivity of the issue, all parties must work together to maintain peace, security and stability in the South China Sea.”


    He said that disputes should be resolved amicably, indicating that even if Malaysia had not spoken publicly about it, it had been working to resolve the situation behind the scenes.


    On Sept. 22 this year, Hishammuddin told parliament he would seek Beijing’s views on a new U.S.-U.K.-Australia security pact and determine what action China plans in response – comments that some critics viewed as inappropriate given China’s frequent incursions by its ships and planes around Malaysia.


    Hishammuddin said he would have to “tread carefully” to try and balance the “two major powers” – China and the U.S. – and that was “not any easy thing” to do.

    Malaysia Summons China’s Envoy to Protest Ships in its EEZ — BenarNews

  17. #1267
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    Well done malaysia

  18. #1268
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    Chinese Survey Ship Reenters Indonesian Waters After Week of Retreat

    The Chinese survey ship that had been criss-crossing the North Natuna Sea is back in Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after a week’s retreat, ship-tracking data shows.


    Indonesia played down the presence of the Chinese Haiyang Dizhi 10, like it did when the vessel was operating in the area for almost the whole month of September.


    But the Haiyang Dizhi 10 was seen being escorted by a Chinese coastguard ship and appeared to be carrying out unlawful research activity in Jakarta’s EEZ, said Imam Prakoso, a researcher at the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative (IOJI).


    “It’s unlikely it was not conducting research activities, especially since they’ve been in and out of the area for a month. If you look at the pattern, they are likely to be active for a whole month,” Imam told BenarNews.


    The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires governments to seek permission in advance for marine scientific research in another state’s EEZ, a requirement China often ignores.


    “There must be firm action. Do they have permission or not? If not, it’s clearly illegal because we have clear rules regarding scientific research activities at sea,” Imam said.


    The Chinese research vessel committed no violations, according to Lt. Col. Laode Muhammad, spokesman for the Indonesian Naval Fleet Command 1.


    “The North Natuna Sea is the entrance to the ALKI [Indonesian Archipelagic Lanes] and the Singapore Strait. All foreign ships are allowed to pass, not only Chinese ones,” Laode told BenarNews.


    “As far as international relations are concerned, we must avoid conflict and exercise restraint. If we insist on boarding their ship, they won’t accept it and there will be tremendous consequences,” Laode said.


    On Monday, the Haiyang Dizhi 10 was spotted reentering the area near the Tuna Block, an important oil and gas field where a submersible rig contracted by Indonesia’s exploration partners is drilling appraisal wells.


    By mid-day on Tuesday, the vessel was firmly back in the lawn-mowing grid it created last month while surveying the North Natuna Sea.


    This area lies within Indonesia’s EEZ but overlaps with the so-called “nine-dash line” that China draws to claim most of the South China Sea but is not recognized by international law and disputed by China’s neighbors.


    The Haiyang Dizhi was operating in the area for almost the whole of September but left for resupply in Fiery Cross Reef that China has reclaimed and developed into a flagship outpost.


    Chinese ‘ship didn’t just pass’


    Adm. Dato Rusman, commander of the Marine Combat Group, told President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in a video conference that Chinese and U.S. ships were detected in Indonesian waters but they were “conducting innocent passage.”


    “Everything is safe and under control,” he added.


    Indonesian authorities have constantly played down the presence of the Chinese ship, analysts say, prioritizing a diplomatic approach and behind-the-scenes negotiations.


    For instance. Indonesia said last month that the Haiyang Dizhi 10 had not violated shipping rules. But, analysts had said, the Chinese vessel’s movement in a grid pattern showed that it was clearly engaged in research activities.


    Similarly, IOJI’s Imam didn’t seem convinced by Rusman’s explanation on Tuesday about the latest Chinese incursion.


    “The ship [Haiyang Dizhi 10] didn’t just pass [by],” Imam noted.


    “It formed a grid pattern that covers part of the North Natuna Sea, which is within the nine-dash line that they [China] claim.”


    The Haiyang Dizhi 10’s activities last month brought media and public attention, prompting Indonesian officials to send warships as well as conduct an air patrol.


    On Tuesday, Indonesia’s Armed Forces Day, the navy held a combat readiness exercise in the North Natuna Sea. Six naval vessels, a maritime patrol aircraft, and a helicopter took part in the event.


    Indonesia has also deployed a hydro-oceanographic research vessel, the KRI Rigel, to the area.


    President Jokowi reportedly quizzed his staff about the presence of foreign ships off the Natunas and called on the armed forces (TNI) to be ready to deal with a range of threats.


    “I … call on the TNI to be constantly prepared for a wider spectrum of threats, including violations of sovereignty, theft of natural resources at sea, radicalism and terrorism, as well as cyber, biological threats,” Jokowi said.


    Governments in countries bordering the South China Sea are facing growing domestic pressure to defend national interests amid China’s assertive activities.


    On Monday, Malaysia summoned the Chinese ambassador to convey its position and protest “against the presence and activities of Chinese vessels, including a survey vessel, in Malaysia’s EEZ off the coasts of Sabah and Sarawak.”

    Chinese Survey Ship Reenters Indonesian Waters After Week of Retreat — BenarNews

  19. #1269
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    Chinky bastards at it again.

  20. #1270
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post
    The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires governments to seek permission in advance for marine scientific research in another state’s EEZ, a requirement China often ignores.
    Yet they scream, like stuck pigs when anyone comes near what they 'claim' is theirs - revolting country

  21. #1271
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post
    None of the countries has made any public comment about the Da Yang Hao yet
    China 'building runway in disputed South China Sea island'-3ldw8ua73gnfbtgiq7tuoa-jpeg

  22. #1272
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    US, UK Aircraft Carriers Lead Show of Naval Might Around South China Sea

    Three aircraft carriers and a dozen other warships from United States-allied nations sailed on the fringes of the South China Sea this week in one of the biggest shows of Western maritime might in the region for years.


    These drills in the Philippine Sea will be followed by two weeks of large-scale military exercises in the South China Sea – sending a message to Beijing and asserting the freedom of navigation in an increasingly tense Indo-Pacific.


    “This is probably the first time since the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996 that we saw these kind of carrier-based operations,” said Richard Bitzinger, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.


    On Oct. 3, the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, together with two U.S. carriers – the USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan - joined 14 other naval ships from the U.S., U.K., Japan, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands to conduct so-called combined exercises in the Philippine Sea.


    Images taken at the scene show the impressive armada sailing in the sun, with an arrow-like formation of fighter jets overhead.


    “Half a million tons of sea power projection from six nations with an equally impressive air wing,” was how it was described by Commodore Steve Moorhouse, commander of the U.K. Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth.


    A day later the SCS Probing Initiative, a Chinese research network, alerted that the USS Carl Vinson and HMS Queen Elizabeth had crossed the Bashi Channel into the South China Sea – the second time for both of the aircraft carriers since July.


    The Carl Vinson has since left for Japan.

    A statement from the U.K. Ministry of Defence on Tuesday said that over the next two weeks the Queen Elizabeth “will navigate the South China Sea with ships and aircraft from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States” and take part in a large-scale joint maritime exercise.


    The RSIS expert Bitzinger was likening the show of force to March 1996, when America deployed two aircraft carriers in response to China testing missiles in seas near Taiwan in the run-up to an election there – sending a warning to the self-governing island not to declare independence.


    At the time, observers touted it as the biggest display of military power in Asia since the Vietnam War. The U.S. deployed two carrier groups led by the USS Nimitz and the now-decommissioned USS Independence.


    The main purpose of the show of force then, same as now, was to send a message to Beijing – and some see that as provocative.


    “They are assisting the U.S. in threatening China,” said Mark J. Valencia, adjunct senior scholar at China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), reflecting Chinese concerns.


    But the exercises take place against a backdrop of escalated military activity by China in the Taiwan Strait.


    On the same day the U.S. and U.K. aircraft carriers entered the South China Sea, Beijing sent a record 52 military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ). Over a four-day period beginning last Friday, Taiwan reported that nearly 150 Chinese air force aircraft flew into its ADIZ.


    The Taiwanese Defense Minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, told lawmakers on Wednesday that the cross-strait tension was “the most serious” in more than 40 years.


    The U.S. State Department on Sunday accused the Chinese army of carrying out “provocative military activities” that “undermines regional peace and stability,” adding “the U.S. commitment to Taiwan is rock solid.”


    China considers Taiwan a break-away province and vows to unite it with the mainland, by force if necessary. Taiwan, however, regards itself as a sovereign state.


    “A lot of countries attached around Asia worry about Chinese aggressiveness and this is a way of sending a powerful message [to China] about freedom of navigation and operations,” Bitzinger said of the aircraft carrier joint exercises.


    “It is also to show that the U.S. have allies and friends who participate actively and closely with the U.S.”

    Homegrown aircraft carriers


    The presence of aircraft carriers is generally perceived as a potent symbol of freedom of navigation promoted by the U.S. and its allies. It also reveals an interesting trend in the way some countries in the Indo-Pacific develop their maritime defense capabilities with homegrown aircraft carriers.


    The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF or Japanese Navy) announced on Tuesday that they conducted take-offs and landings of the U.S-made F-35B advanced fighter jets to the helicopter destroyer JS Izumo, effectively making it into an aircraft carrier.


    “The JMSDF continues to steadily carry out the necessary modifications to the Izumo class to acquire the capability to operate the F-35Bs,” it said.


    The Japanese government in 2018 gave the green light to convert two existing Izumo-class destroyers into light aircraft carriers that can operate F-35B fighters.


    This was based on a major policy shift since 2015 when Japan – whose military activity is constrained by its post-World War II pacifist constitution – expanded its commitments to the U.S. security alliance, according to Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies and a professor at Temple University in Tokyo.


    “Japan has greatly increased its ability to project its maritime power and shrugged off longstanding taboos on security policy in doing so. Geopolitically it is a response to a heightened perception of risk due to China’s military modernization program and regional hegemonic ambitions,” Kingston told BenarNews.


    “Japan participates in the Quad [grouping between the U.S., India, Japan and Australia] and has been an advocate of a free and open Indo-Pacific, a concept aimed at containing the expansion of China’s regional influence that involves, among other things, joint naval exercises,” explained the professor, adding, “Now Japan can include aircraft carriers.”


    Valencia from the Chinese NISCSS however warned that the making of aircraft carriers and support for the U.S. to constrain China could be a mistake for Japan.


    “Of course, Japan should have the capability to defend itself but fielding aircraft carriers is another matter entirely,” he said.


    According to RSIS’s Bitzinger, Korea and Singapore are both also looking at developing some of their amphibious naval vessels into de-facto aircraft carriers.


    “Twenty years ago, everybody was negative about them [aircraft carriers], what they called cruise missile magnets because they’re too big. But now everybody is trying to get them.”


    “It’s as if they’re trying to counter the fact that China’s increasingly got carriers. It’s sort of saying that ‘we’re going to match you guys. In fact, we can overmatch you.’” said Bitzinger.


    China, aiming at becoming a maritime superpower, has two aircraft carriers in active service – the Liaoning and Shandong, and is building a third. China already has the largest navy in the world but mainly of smaller classes of ships. Supercarriers would greatly boost its power projection.


    The race to develop bigger and better carriers highlights the precarious situation in the South China Sea, which is seen by observers as one of potential conflict zones between superpowers.


    It will also force smaller, poorer countries in the region “to pick a side, to a large extent,” said Bitzinger.


    “All the smaller ASEAN [Southeast Asian] countries would love for China and the U.S. to get along but that’s not going to happen and trying to remain outside of it all becomes harder and harder,” he added.

    US, UK Aircraft Carriers Lead Show of Naval Might Around South China Sea — BenarNews

  23. #1273
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Images Show Land-Filling at another Vietnamese Island in South China Sea


    Vietnam is carrying out construction and land-filling on another island under its control in the South China Sea, commercial satellite images analysed by BenarNews show.


    The images show an extension is being developed to the western tip of Namyit island in the Spratly chain.


    The then-Republic of Vietnam took possession of Namyit, which it calls Nam Yet, in 1973. North Vietnam’s army took over the island in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War.


    A Planet Labs image on Oct. 30 shows building activities in Namyitm including a barge and construction platform that were not visible Sept. 29.


    Sources familiar with the development plan who were not authorized to speak publicly, said Vietnam may be building a ship dock to improve access to the island.


    Meanwhile, Vietnamese analysts said their country carries out work to prevent erosion and landslides to protect but not to expand or change the island features under its control.


    At the same time as Namyit, construction work is being carried out on Pearson Reef, another Vietnam-controlled feature in the Spratly islands. Images taken on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 show what appears to be dredging work at the southern tip of the reef, BenarNews has revealed.


    Vietnam has 49 or 51 outposts in the South China Sea spread across 27 features including ten islets, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI). Two of the 10 islets, Amboyna Cay and Namyit island, had not seen discernible reclamation work until now, AMTI said.


    Namyit is a natural-occurring coral island with a total area of 13 acres, the fifth largest among Vietnam-administered islands in the South China Sea.


    It is one of the more developed, with an array of new civilian facilities including a Buddhist temple, a medical center, a “cultural house” and a nature reserve which is under construction, local media have reported.


    Namyit is also claimed by China, the Philippines and Taiwan.


    China, which claims most of the South China Sea for itself, has been criticizing other countries, especially Vietnam, for construction efforts on islands in the region. By 2016, Vietnam had created just over 120 acres of land in the South China Sea compared to almost 3,000 acres created by China, AMTI said.

    Images Show Land-Filling at another Vietnamese Island in South China Sea — BenarNews

  24. #1274
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    Possession is nine tenths of the law, eh ?

    Oh well....good on 'em for buffering the arrogant Chinese expansion.

  25. #1275
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    Quote Originally Posted by Latindancer View Post
    Possession is nine tenths of the law, eh ?

    Oh well....good on 'em for buffering the arrogant Chinese expansion.

    Warning: Be cautious if you are a fragile pink

    Yeah but the ol' chinkies will be whining again won't they?

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