Konflikti Kiinan merellä

[ctg]

China will raise its defence spending by seven to eight percent this year, a top official said Friday, a smaller increase than the double-digit rises of the past as Beijing seeks a more efficient military.

At the same time the rising power is increasing its military heft and asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, raising tensions with its neighbours and with Washington.

"China's military budget will continue to grow this year but the margin will be lower than last year's and the previous years," said Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the National People's Congress (NPC), the Communist-controlled parliament.

"It will be between seven and eight percent."

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_defence_spending_to_rise_7_to_8_in_2016_official_999.html

The parade also saw more than a dozen "carrier-killer" anti-ship ballistic missiles rolling through the streets of the capital, with state television calling them a "trump card" in potential conflicts and "one of China's key weapons in asymmetric warfare".

Analysts say that for a fraction of the cost of an aircraft carrier -- for decades the mainstay of Washington's ability to project power around the world -- the DF-21D missile threatens to alter the military balance in the Pacific.

At the parade, Xi said China's troops would "carry out the noble mission of upholding world peace", faithfully protect national security, and would never "seek hegemony".

 

[ctg]

The commander of the US Pacific Command (Pacom) came under political fire from China last week following recent comments critical of Beijing’s military encroachment in the South China Sea.

The communist party-affiliated Global Times, in a front page report, accused Pacom’s Adm. Harry Harris of “China bashing” and “making waves in the South China Sea” for comments accusing China of regional hegemony made during recent speeches and congressional testimony.

The publication, often used as an official outlet for hardline anti-US propaganda, then issued a veiled threat that harsh comments from the admiral were creating stepped up competition between the United States and China and could lead to conflict.

“If two nuclear powerhouses engage in a competition to test each other’s willpower, the whole world will face the repercussions,” Global Times stated March 4.

http://atimes.com/2016/03/beijing-targets-us-pacific-commander-as-carrier-sails-south-china-sea/

 

[ctg]

The U.S. Air Force plans to sell at least three high-altitude Global Hawk drones to Japan and four to South Korea as part of an effort to better arm and equip allies in the Pacific theater, senior service officials said.

“South Korea and Japan are going for the Global Hawk,” Heidi Grant, undersecretary of the Air Force for international affairs, told Scout Warrior in an interview.

The U.S. already deploys RQ-4 Global Hawks made by Northrop Grumman Corp. from Japan through a cooperative arrangement, launching the large surveillance drones from a Japanese base to beam back video feeds across the region from strategically vital regions — such as the South China Sea.

http://www.defensetech.org/2016/03/24/japan-south-korea-going-for-global-hawk-drones-official-says/

 

[ctg]

Japani käynnisti maanantaina tutka-aseman Itä-Kiinan merellä sijaitsevalla Yonagunin saarella. Asema toimii pysyvänä tiedustelutukikohtana lähellä Taiwania sekä saariryhmää, jonka hallinnasta Japani ja Kiina kiistelevät.

Japani kutsuu kiisteltyjä, asumattomia saaria Senkakusaariksi. Kiina puolestaan kutsuu niitä Diaoyusaariksi.

Yonaguni ja sen tutka-asema sijaitsee 150 kilometriä etelään kiistellystä saariryhmästä ja noin 100 kilometriä itään Taiwanista.

– Eiliseen saakka Okinawan pääsaaren länsipuolella ei ollut havainnointiyksikköä. Se oli tyhjiö, joka meidän piti täyttää, sanoo Yonagunin tukikohdan komentaja everstiluutnantti Daigo Shiomitsu.

– Nyt voimme valvoa Japania ympäröivää aluetta ja vastata kaikkiin tilanteisiin.

Shiomitsu osallistui maanantaina tutka-asemalla järjestettyyn seremoniaan, jossa oli läsnä 160 sotilasta ja noin 50 arvovierasta. Osa tukikohdan rakennuksista on vielä keskeneräisiä.

Yonagunin asukasluku kasvaa viidennneksellä

Yonaguni on noin 30 neliökilometrin kokoinen saari, jolla asuu noin 1 500 ihmistä. He elävät pääasiassa viljelemällä sokeriruokoa ja kasvattamalla karjaa.

Armeijan henkilöstön saapuminen perheineen Yonagunille tuo saarelle noin 300 lisäasukasta.

Nihonin yliopiston professori ja Japanin puolustusvoimien eläköitynyt kenraalimajuri Nozumu Yoshitomi arvioi, että tutka-aseman avaaminen tulee ärsyttämään Kiinaa.

Yoshitomin mukaan asema voi toimia tiedustelupisteen lisäksi myös alueellisena sotilasoperaatioiden tukikohtana.

Japani aikoo seuraavan viiden vuoden aikana vahvistaa joukkojaan Itä-Kiinan meren alueella. Maa aikoo muun muassa lisätä alueelle ohjuspuolustusta.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/japani_avasi_...kiisteltyja_saaria_ita-kiinan_merella/8771659

 

[ctg]

Beijing just put a bulb in one of its three lighthouses on fake islands in the South China Sea. “China’s transport ministry held a “completion ceremony”, marking the start of operations of the 55-metre (180-ft) high lighthouse on Subi Reef, where construction began in October.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-china-idUSKCN0X3048

 

[ctg]

Tensions mount as satellite images show Chinese military has landed fighter jets on hotly disputed South China Sea island

• Chinese Shenyang J-11 fighter jets can be seen parked on Woody Island
• Air force has also strengthened hold by deploying surface-to-air missiles

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ts-hotly-disputed-South-China-Sea-island.html

 

[ctg]

China is "strongly dissatisfied" with a Group of Seven statement calling for restraint in disputed waters, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, as worries grow in Asia over Beijing's territorial and military ambitions.

"China is strongly dissatisfied with relevant moves taken by G7," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement.

"We urge G7 members to abide by their promise of not taking sides on territorial disputes, respect the efforts by regional countries, stop all irresponsible words and actions, and make constructive contribution to regional peace and stability."

A two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers -- a grouping that excludes China -- in the Japanese city of Hiroshima issued a joint statement saying: "We are concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and emphasise the fundamental importance of peaceful management and settlement of disputes.

"We express our strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions."

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_slams_G7_statement_on_maritime_disputes_999.html

 

[ctg]

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said he would visit a warship close to flashpoint waters of the South China Sea on Friday, as Beijing reacted defiantly to an American military build-up in the area.

"Later today, I will visit the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, sailing in the South China Sea, after some of its sailors and Marines participated with you in Balikatan," Carter said in Manila, referring to annual war games with the Philippines that ended Friday.

Carter's trip to the warship is the latest move by the United States to show it is committed to maintaining security in the hotly contested waters

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_..._to_visit_warship_in_South_China_Sea_999.html

Carter announced on Thursday that the US had launched joint naval patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, as he spoke of growing concern about China's "land reclamation" and "militarisation" of the region.

China reacted defiantly to the announcement, with its defence ministry warning the military would protect the nation's territory.

"US-Philippine joint patrols in the South China Sea promote regional militarisation and undermine regional peace and stability," said a Chinese defence ministry statement released late Thursday.

"The Chinese military will pay very close attention to related developments, and firmly safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests".

 

[ctg]

Samaa asiaa Suomeksi. Huvittaa, että ylen toimittaja nimesi kiinan rakennuspataljoonat "pieniksi sinisiksi miehiksi."

Kiinassa uskotaan toiston tehoon ja tenhoon ulkopolitiikassa. Kiina on viime aikoina käyttänyt kaikki mahdolliset kulissien takaiset tilaisuudet valistaa muita maita lempiaiheestaan, Etelä-Kiinan merestä.

Kiihkeällä diplomaattisella väännöllä Kiina yrittää taivuttaa muita maita pysymään kaukana Etelä-Kiinan meren aluekiistoista. Kiina ei voi sietää muiden maiden kiinnostusta ongelmaan, jota se pitää sisäisenä asianaan.

Kiina on toistuvasti läksyttänyt muun muassa EU-maita siitä, että niiden pitäisi olla hyvin varovaisia puhuessaan Etelä-Kiinan merestä.

Viesti on suunnattu ennen kaikkea suurille EU-maille, Britannialle, Ranskalle ja Saksalle, mutta koskee yhtä lailla Suomen kaltaisia pienempiä maita.

Itse asia on vakava: kiistaan Etelä-Kiinan meren omistuksesta ovat sotkeutuneet kaikki sen rantavaltiot, mutta muskeliensa ansiosta juuri Kiina tekee mitä haluaa.

Miljoonien neliökilometrien merialue on erittäin kalaisa, ja sen pohjan alta uskotaan löytyvän valtavat öljy- ja kaasuvarat.

Kiina pitää koko aluetta omanaan ja käyttäytyy sen mukaan. Kiina on viime vuodet linnoittanut asemiaan merialueella rakentamalla riutoista saaria ja varustamalla saaria yhä järeämmällä kalustuksella.

Ulkopolitiikkansa jatkeena Kiina käyttää kalastuslaivastoaan sekä sen mukana puolisotilaallisia joukkoja, joita on Venäjän pienten vihreiden miesten tyyliin sanottu Kiinan pieniksi sinisiksi miehiksi.

Maaliskuussa kiinalaiset kalastuslaivastot joutuivat välikohtauksiin sekä Malesian että Indonesian kanssa.

Kun muut maat eivät mukisematta hyväksy Kiinan aluevaatimuksia, Kiina muuttaa maisemaa niin, että sen valtaukset olisivat käytännössä pysyviä.

Niin ne erittäin todennäköisesti ovatkin, vaikka kukaan ei sellaista myönnä ääneen.

Sellaista mahtia ei taida maailmasta enää löytyä, joka häätäisi Kiinan rakentamiltaan saarilta, tai edes kiinalaisyritykset niitä ympäröiviltä merialueilta, vaikka kansainvälisen yhteisön mielipide alueen omistuksesta kallistuisi mihin tahansa suuntaan.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/analyysi_kiin...tiikan_jatkeena_pienet_siniset_miehet/8815318

 

[ctg]

Kolme pientä sinistä miestä on joutunut pulaan ja Kiina joutui lennättämään heidät pois saarilta sotilaskoneella. Tuntuu oudolta, että saarilla ei ole sairaaloita, taikka tohtoreita.

A Chinese military aircraft has landed at a new airport on an island China has built in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on Monday, in the first public report on a move that raises the prospect of China basing warplanes there.

In a front-page story, the official People’s Liberation Army Daily said a military aircraft on patrol over the South China Sea on Sunday received an emergency call to land at Fiery Cross Reef to evacuate three seriously ill workers.

They were taken in the transport aircraft back to Hainan island for treatment, it said, showing a picture of the aircraft on the ground in Hainan.

It was the first time China’s military had publicly admitted landing an aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef, the influential Global Times tabloid said.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ands-on-disputed-south-china-sea-island-media

 

[ctg]

On April 7, a Filipino paratrooper jumped out of an aircraft so large that it sometimes ferries tanks. The parachute on his back was up to the task of slowing him down enough to survive meeting ground. Unfortunately, a wind gust blew him into the waters just off Subic Bay. He later passed away from his injuries in a hospital.

The unnamed trooper died taking part in the Balikatan military exercise, a joint U.S.-Philippine war game and one of the largest to have taken place in recent years. More than 5,000 American and 3,000 Filipino soldiers took part in the exercise, which included simulated seizures of offshore oil rigs, airborne parachute drops and mock amphibious assaults of contested beaches.

On the surface, these drills fit within a still morphing relationship borne out of joint U.S.-Philippine shadow wars with the country’s myriad insurgents. They also, however, more closely align with growing unease borne out of Chinese expansionism in the heavily contested South China Sea.

The Philippines has reason to worry. The South China Sea, long claimed by China, is increasingly being viewed as Chinese property not just in name, but in fact. The country has, through dredging, audacity and will, turned half-submerged reefs into island complexes sometimes dubbed, however controversially, as “unsinkable aircraft carriers.”

https://warisboring.com/one-death-w...n-the-south-china-sea-60809118ed6c#.l7xskonxv

Olen itse miettinyt nato arsenaalista löytyvää tornaadoon kiinnitettävää "lentokentän" tuhoajaa modattuna muutamaan risteilyohjustimeen ajamaan saaren päältä muodostelmassa. Varsinkin kun jenkit on miettimässä B-52selle valtamerellä operointia.

Besides, new motors and other modifications could breath extra life and more efficiency into the old BUFFs. In February, the Pentagon announced it was looking into building an “arsenal plane” that could spit out dozens of long-range missiles or other weapons to get past ever improving surface to air missiles and air defense radars. Depending on the exact requirements, the B-52 could be a perfect platform for that plan.

With the help of new anti-ship missiles, the BUFFs could help offset the potential threat of hostile warships in the Persian Gulf or the South China Sea. Since at least April 2014, the Air Force has been looking at turning some of its remaining H-model bombers back into maritime patrol planes — a role older G variants previously filled during the later stages of the Cold War.

“I could be wrong as I’m not down range planning,” Laslie added during his online discussion of the bomber’s merits.

But deterring China, Russia and Iran correspond with the B-52’s strengths. Flying around Iraq picking off individual buildings and militants riding around in pickup trucks does not. And it’s far from economical.

https://warisboring.com/let-s-be-re...overdoing-it-a-little-b48e4764d519#.in5ibq203

 

[ctg]

In April 2016, the U.S. Air Force deployed four A-10 Warthog attack jets to The Philippines for patrols over the South China Sea, where China has been building artificial islands and sailing warships in order to expand its territorial claims on mineral-rich waters.

The low- and slow-flying A-10 — the Air Force’s premier tank-killer — might seem like an odd choice for a maritime patrol plane, especially in air space where there’s a good chance of running into supersonic Chinese fighters.

Indeed, the Warthogs’ deployment seems to be a matter of convenience for the U.S. military, which has struggled to field an adequate number of fighters. “Given the demand around the world, a tactical fighter squadron is a tactical fighter squadron is a tactical fighter squadron,” Bob Work, the deputy defense secretary, told Breaking Defense.

But the radar-less A-10 is capable of fighting at sea, provided some other plane does the sensor work. Warthogs gunned enemy patrol boats during the NATO intervention in Libya in 2011. And 27 years earlier in 1984, the late novelist Tom Clancy described A-10s taking on the Soviet navy in his classic technothriller The Hunt for Red October.

https://warisboring.com/tom-clancy-predicted-ship-killing-a-10s-234eeded6052#.t7jacqgnh

 

[ctg]

The US on Tuesday sailed a warship close to a disputed South China Sea reef Beijing has built up into an artificial island, officials said, prompting China to express "dissatisfaction and opposition".

Guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence navigated within 12 nautical miles of the Fiery Cross Reef, occupied by China and also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, the Pentagon said.

"This operation challenged attempts by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam to restrict navigation rights around the features they claim," Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban said in a statement.

"Because the Philippines' maritime claims in relation to South China Sea features do not purport to restrict the exercise of navigation rights and freedoms under the law of the sea by the United States and others, they were not challenged during this operation," he added.

It is Washington's third "freedom of navigation" operation in the disputed waters launched in recent months after China built several artificial islands as it asserts claims to nearly all the sea.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed the operation on Tuesday, saying the warship "illegally entered waters near the relevant reefs of China's Nansha islands without the permission of the Chinese government".

Nansha is China's name for the Spratly Islands, where Fiery Cross Reef lies.

Authorities monitored the passage, Lu told a regular briefing.

"China hereby expresses dissatisfaction and opposition," Lu said, adding: "I want to stress that the action taken by the US has threatened (the) security, interests and sovereignty of China."

Beijing has significantly expanded Fiery Cross -- which is around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from its island province of Hainan -- since 2014, building a 3,000-metre (10,000 foot) runway there.

It landed an air force plane on the reef last month and last week sent military singer Song Zuying to serenade hundreds of troops and construction workers there.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, even waters close to Southeast Asian neighbours including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei who have competing claims.

Washington regularly accuses Beijing of militarising the South China Sea, saying it has built runways and deployed missiles to islands there.

Beijing denies the accusations and says US patrols have ramped up tensions.

The sail-by comes ahead of a ruling by an international tribunal on a case brought by the Philippines over the issue.

"These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise," Urban said.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_warship_sails_by_South_China_Sea_reef_irking_Beijing_999.html

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte is willing to talk with China over a highly sensitive territorial dispute in the South China Sea, his spokesman said Tuesday, in a significant reversal of the incumbent's stance.

Duterte, who won Monday's election in a landslide, is also willing to form partnerships with China to extract gas and oil deposits that are believed to be in the sea, as well as explore joint fishing management systems, Peter Lavina said.

"This is the difference between the current and the Duterte administrations, the mayor is open to bilateral talks with China," Lavina told reporters in Davao, the major southern city that Duterte has ruled as mayor for most of the past two decades.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Philippines_Duterte_open_to_territory-row_talks_with_China_999.html

 

[SJ]

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_warship_sails_by_South_China_Sea_reef_irking_Beijing_999.html

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Philippines_Duterte_open_to_territory-row_talks_with_China_999.html

Eipä ole viherpipertäjät nähneet syytä milenosoitukseen, kun aatetoverit tuhoavat koralliriuttaa.

 

[Bushmaster]

Eipä ole viherpipertäjät nähneet syytä milenosoitukseen, kun aatetoverit tuhoavat koralliriuttaa.

hankala marssia vettenpäällä ja Kiinassa voi vaikka "hävitä"..?

 

[SJ]

hankala marssia vettenpäällä ja Kiinassa voi vaikka "hävitä"..?

Ei ole estänyt mesomasta jenkkienkään tekemisistä.

 

[Bushmaster]

Ei ole estänyt mesomasta jenkkienkään tekemisistä.

se on eri asia...Jenkeissä /länsimaissa ei ihmiset sentään katoa kun osoittavat mieltään mutta "demokraattisissa oikeusvaltioissa" niin voi jopa käydä tai ainakin voi häkki heilahtaa helposti muutamaksin vuodeksi...?

 

[ctg]

aatetoverit tuhoavat koralliriuttaa.

Se tässä harmittaa eniten. Koralliriutoilta on löydetty uusia antibiootteja, ja kiina menee tuhoamaan niitä ajattelematta. Ennemmin heillä on ajatuksissa mineraalit ja muut rikkaudet, sekä lentokenttä verkon rakentaminen laajentumispyrkimyksiä silmällä pitäen. Miksi kukaan ei tuo sitä asiaa esille?

 

[Bushmaster]

Se tässä harmittaa eniten. Koralliriutoilta on löydetty uusia antibiootteja, ja kiina menee tuhoamaan niitä ajattelematta. Ennemmin heillä on ajatuksissa mineraalit ja muut rikkaudet, sekä lentokenttä verkon rakentaminen laajentumispyrkimyksiä silmällä pitäen. Miksi kukaan ei tuo sitä asiaa esille?

Ei Kiinaa antibiootit kiinosta...niitä (kiinalaisia) on jo nyt ihan liikaa...

 

[ctg]

Tuli mieleen tuosta kiinan laajentumisesta saksan laajentuminen itävaltaan ennenkuin puolan rajan yli mentiin. Kuvio on sama, mutta pelikenttä on erinlainen.