Konflikti Kiinan merellä

[Bushmaster]

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

niipä...mutta Kiinalaisa on vaan niin pirusti enemmän...?

 

[SJ]

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...?

Lähinnä tarkoitan sitä, että kyllähän ne mellastaa jenkkien tekemisistä täällä suomessakin. Jos eivät muualla, niin sitten lähetystön edessä.

 

[Bushmaster]

Lähinnä tarkoitan sitä, että kyllähän ne mellastaa jenkkien tekemisistä täällä suomessakin. Jos eivät muualla, niin sitten lähetystön edessä.

Niinhän ne tekevät juu kuten näitä sotaharjoituksia /USA:ta vastaan... ... mutta Itäisten maiden edesottamuksia ei kukaan ole juurikaan (en ainkaan muista yhtään sellaista?) tuomitsemassa ja/tai marssimassa niitä vastaan...?

 

[ctg]

Mitä jos se naapurin uusi ydinase on tarkoitettu heidän kumppaniaan vastaan, eikä jenkkejä. Siinä hävityksen määrässä ei ole mitään järkeä ellei kohde ole tajuttoman laaja, taikka kyse on kohteen kieltämisestä sekä alueelle pääsemisen vaikeuttamisesta. Toisaalta eihän mirv ole tuntematon käsite jenkeille jos kiina lähtee yrittämään laajentumista. Joka tapauksessa ydinsota on tässä kyseessä jos kiina lähtee tosissaan vyöryttämään. En usko että he pysähtyvät perinteisessä sodassa ennenkuin australian pohjois-osa on valloitettu taikka se maa jaettu kahtia.

 

[Bushmaster]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-islands-in-south-china-sea.html?intcmp=hpbt3

Pentagon report says China weaponizing man-made islands in South China Sea

A new Pentagon reported released Friday said that China has reclaimed more than 3,200 acres of land in the South China Sea and the country’s focus has shifted to developing and weaponinzing the man-made islands.

The Defense Department said three of the artificial lands in the Spratly Islands sport 10,000-foot runways and large ports in various stages of construction. China has also excavated deep channels, created and dredged harbors, and constructed communications, logistics and intelligence gathering facilities.

The report states that China will enhance its presence in the contested South China Sea with its airfields, ship facilities, surveillance and weapons equipment. And those things don’t give the country any new territorial rights.

"This would improve China's ability to detect and challenge activities by rival claimants or third parties, widen the range of capabilities available to China, and reduce the time required to deploy them," according to the report released Friday.

"China is using coercive tactics short of armed conflict, such as the use of law enforcement vessels to enforce maritime claims, to advance their interests in ways that are calculated to fall below the threshold of provoking conflict," the report adds.

The acre figure only represents the land China reclaimed in the Spratly chain and doesn’t include the building in the Paracels and Woody Island. The Pentagon said China has deployed anti-aircraft missiles to Woody Island.

The Pentagon declined to release details on the amount of increased reclamation in the Paracels or to provide a more concrete estimate of the increase in building in the Spratly Islands.

China has repeatedly defended its land reclamation projects, by saying it is Beijing’s territory, adding that the buildings and infrastructure are for public service use and to support fishermen. It accuses the Philippines, Vietnam and others of carrying out their own building work on other islands.

The report also notes that China has continued to assert sovereignty over the East China Sea, including the Senkaku Islands, which are administered by Japan.

Vietnam, China and Taiwan all claim the Paracels, and the three along with the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim all or parts of the Spratlys. The U.S. says it takes no side in the territorial disputes, but supports freedom of passage through the area, which is one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

The report also repeats assertions by Defense Secretary Ash Carter that continued provocation by China may only improve U.S. relations in the Asia Pacific.

"China's increasingly assertive efforts to advance its national sovereignty and territorial claims, its forceful rhetoric, and lack of transparency about its growing military capabilities and strategic decision-making continue to raise tensions and have caused countries in the region to enhance their ties to the United States," the report said.

U.S. officials have been increasingly concerned China's activities could be a prelude to enforcing a possible air defense identification zone over the South China Sea, similar to one it declared over disputed Japanese-held islands in the East China Sea in 2013.

As noted in previous year's reports, China continues to target U.S. government and Defense Department computer systems through cyber intrusions. The report said that during 2015, China used it's cyber capabilities to spy on the U.S. and steal information from computer networks.

"The information targeted could potentially be used to benefit China's defense industry, high-technology industries, and provide the CCP insights into U.S. leadership perspectives on key China issues," the report said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[ctg]

Two Chinese fighters have conducted an “unsafe” intercept of a US spy plane in international air space over the South China Sea, the Pentagon has said.

“The Department of Defense is reviewing a May 17 intercept of a US maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft by two tactical aircraft from the People’s Republic of China,” Pentagon spokesman Major Jamie Davis said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Initial reports characterized the incident as unsafe,” he added, without giving additional details.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ea-fighter-jets-unsafe-intercept-us-spy-plane

 

[aj77]

Kiina ei ole ainoa joka rakentaa tekosaaria. Vietnamilla on aikamoiset projektit käynnissä.

http://nordic.businessinsider.com/v...ce=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer?r=US&IR=T

 

[Bushmaster]

Kiina ei ole ainoa joka rakentaa tekosaaria. Vietnamilla on aikamoiset projektit käynnissä.

http://nordic.businessinsider.com/v...ce=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer?r=US&IR=T

nehän ovat tapelleet tuolla keskenään ihan verissäpäin männävuosia sitten...

 

[Bushmaster]

Vietnamista ja Kiinasta puheenollen....USA teke peliliikkeen samaan tyyliin kuin Kuuban kanssa...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...o-in-move-to-counter-china.html?intcmp=hplnws

US lifts Vietnam arms embargo in move to counter China
Published May 23, 2016
FoxNews.com
Facebook0 Twitter0 livefyre Email Print

May 23, 2016: President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang at the International Convention Center in Hanoi, (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Obama announced Monday that the U.S. is lifting its 41-year-old arms embargo against Vietnam in an effort to shore up the communist country's defenses against an increasingly aggressive China.

Obama announced the full removal of the embargo at a news conference in Hanoi alongside Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, saying the move was intended as a step toward normalizing relations with the former enemy and to eliminate a "lingering vestige of the Cold War."

U.S. lawmakers and activists had urged Obama to press for greater human rights freedoms in the one-party state before lifting the embargo. Vietnam holds about 100 political prisoners and there have been more detentions this year.

Washington partially lifted the embargo on arms in 2014, but Vietnam wanted full access as it tries to deal with China's land reclamation and military construction in the disputed South China Sea. Vietnam has not bought anything, but removing the remaining restrictions shows relations are fully normalized and opens the way to deeper security cooperation.

"At this stage both sides have developed a level of trust and cooperation," Obama said, adding that he expected deepening cooperation between the two nations' militaries.

Lifting the arms embargo will be a psychological boost for Vietnam's leaders as they look to counter an increasingly aggressive China, but there may not be a big jump in sales.

Obama was greeted Monday by Quang at the Presidential Palace, where the American president congratulated Vietnam for making "extraordinary progress."

Obama is the third sitting president to visit Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Four decades after the fall of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, and two decades after President Bill Clinton restored relations with the nation, Obama is eager to upgrade relations with an emerging power whose rapidly expanding middle class beckons as a promising market for U.S. goods and an offset to China's growing strength.

The United States is eager to boost trade with a fast-growing middle class in Vietnam that is expected to double by 2020. That would mean knocking down auto, food and machine tariffs to get more U.S. products into Vietnam.

Obama will make the case for stronger commercial and security ties, including approval of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Trade agreement that is stalled in Congress and facing strong opposition from the 2016 presidential candidates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[Bushmaster]

Näin ne ajat muuttuvat. Entisistä vihollisista tulee kavereita /kauppakumppaneita ja päivastoin...?

 

[ctg]

Entisistä vihollisista tulee kavereita /kauppakumppaneita ja päivastoin...?

Yeah. Näitä tapahtuu, mutta en usko että kaupankäynti loppuu vaan jotakin muuta sattuu tuolla suunnalla. Jännitystä tässä riitti aivan samanlailla kuin kylmänsodan aikana.

 

[Bushmaster]

Yeah. Näitä tapahtuu, mutta en usko että kaupankäynti loppuu vaan jotakin muuta sattuu tuolla suunnalla. Jännitystä tässä riitti aivan samanlailla kuin kylmänsodan aikana.

ei kaupankäynti lopukkaan..nythän se vasta Vietnamin kanssa alkaakin. Jännästi Yle:n teksti Tv uutisissa mainittiin että tämä ei ole tehty Kiinan uhan vuoksi...?
No eipä tietenkään ole.. ei ..USA on + 30 vuotta miettinyt miten saisi tilaneen nollattua Vietnamin kanssa...

 

[aj77]

Tämän sodan eturintamassa on Vietnamilaiset kalastusalukset jotka joutuvat väistelemään Kiinalaisi sotalaivoja ja lentovehkeitä.

 

[ctg]

Ei ole yllättävä veto kiinalaisilta.

Chinese state media on Tuesday slammed the lifting of a decades-old US arms embargo against Vietnam, saying the move was aimed at Beijing and calling Barack Obama's assurances to the contrary "a very poor lie".

Obama announced the end of the 41-year-old ban on weapons sales to the United States' former foe in Hanoi on Monday, as Washington and Beijing jockey for influence in Asia and tensions mount in the strategically important South China Sea.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Chinese_media_slam_US_lifting_of_Vietnam_arms_embargo_999.html

 

[Bushmaster]

Tässä suomenkielinen kirjoitus aiheesta

Etelä-Kiinan meren tilanne kiristyy - USA toimittaa aseita Vietnamiin
25.5.2016 11:18 Martti Asikainen
http://masik.puheenvuoro.uusisuomi....anne-kiristyy-usa-toimittaa-aseita-vietnamiin

• 
  kuva: wikimedia commons / usnavy official
• 
  kuva: wikimedia commons / usnavy official
• 
  kuva: google maps

Yhdysvaltain presidentti Barack Obaman päivät valkoisessa talossa käyvät vähiin, mutta vielä on hetki aikaa myydä aseita maailmalle. Presidentti Obama julisti viime maanantaina yli 40 vuotta kestäneen aseidenvientikiellon Vietnamiin päättyneen. Päätöksestä ilmoitettiin viime maanantaina upein menoin maan pääkaupungissa Hanoissa. Tällä hetkellä vaikuttaisi siltä, että Etelä-Kiinan meren aluekiistat ovat menossa rumaan suuntaan, kun kaksi kommunistivaltiotakin ovat jo pian käymässä tukkanuottasille, ja kommunismia vuosikymmenien ajan padonnut sekä pelännyt kapitalistikin joutuu valitsemaan puolensa. Miten tässä oikein näin kävi?

Presidentti Barack Obama piti viime maanantaina yhteisen lehdistötilaisuuden Vietnamin presidentin Tran Dai Quanin kanssa. Tilaisuudessa kävi ilmi, että aseidenvientikiellon poistaminen on osa syvempää puolustusyhteistyötä Yhdysvaltain ja Vietnamin välillä, ja samalla se saattaa päätökseen pitkään kestäneen suhteiden normalisoinnin. Toimilla pyritään torjumaan Kiinan pyrkimykset vaikutusalueensa laajentamiseen. Kiina on viime aikoina rakentanut uusia tukikohtia sekä öljynporauslauttoja Etelä-Kiinan merelle, minkä uskotaan herättäneen levottomuutta vietnamilaisissa.

Vietnamin tiede- ja kehitysministeri Nguyen Ngoc Truong pitää sopua symbolisena eleenä. Hänen mukaan kyseessä on todella hyvä uutinen, joka merkitsee paljon vietnamilaisille. Ministeri Ngoc Truong ei usko maansa olevan aluksi kovinkaan suuri asiakas amerikkalaiselle aseteollisuudelle, mutta tulevaisuudesta hän ei osannut vielä sano sen enempää. Kauppasuhteiden symbolinen arvo on paljon niiden rahallista arvoa merkityksellisempi. Ngoc Truong uskoo, että Kiina seuraa juuri nyt hyvin tarkasti Yhdysvaltain ja Vietnamin strategista yhteistyötä. Hän myös odottaa, että välien normalisoituminen toisi vakautta ja rauhaa koko alueelle. Kiinakin joutuu miettimään kahdesti ennen kuin se tekee mitään Vietnamille tai Etelä-Kiinan merelle, kommunistijohtaja latasi haastattelussa.

Yhdysvaltain presidentin vierailu Hanoissa oli näin ikään tarkoitettu viestiksi. Valkoisella talolla on myös omat intrestinsä tässä merkillisessä kuviossa, jossa kaksi kommunistivaltiota käy tukkanuottasille ja kommunismia vuosikymmenien ajan padonnut kapitalisti valitsee puolensa. Suhteiden normalisoinnin kautta Yhdysvallat tavoittelee aseidenvientikiellon kautta laivolleen tukikohtaa Cam Ranhin lahdesta Vietnamin rannikolla. Sieltä Yhdysvaltain sota-aluksilla olisi lyhyt matka Kiinan tukikohtiin. Yhdysvallat pääsee samalla näpäyttämään pahinta kilpailijaansa Venäjää, joka on maailman toiseksi suurin aseiden myyjä. Tiedettävästi Vietnamin puolustusvoimien budjetti on reilusti tuplaantunut vuosien 2004 ja 2013 välillä, jonka myötä siitä on tullut maailman kahdeksanneksi suurin aseiden ostaja. Huomattavin yksittäinen kauppa solmittiin muutama vuosi sitten, kun vietnamilaiset ostivat Venäjältä kahdella miljardilla dollarilla kuusi Kilo-luokan sukellusvenettä.

Etelä-Kiinan meren alueriidat eivät ole mikään uusi puheenaihe. Yhdysvalloilla ei luonnollisestikaan ole aluevaatimuksia Etelä-Kiinan merellä, mutta se on kuitenkin ilmoittanut toistuvasti kantavansa huolta merenkulun ja ilmailun vapaudesta. Kiina on viime vuosina rakentanut lukuisia keinotekoisia saaria kansainvälisille vesille, joiden kautta se on julistanut lähivesiä omiksi vesialueikseen. Yhdysvallat ja useat muut maat puolestaan pitävät saaria ympäröiviä vesialueita yhä kansainvälisinä vesinä, ja käyttävät niitä mm. sota-aluksiensa kulkureitteinä. Kiista Etelä-Kiinan merestä on yksi vaikeimmista kysymyksistä, jotka kiristävät maailman kahden suurimman talouden Yhdysvaltojen ja Kiinan välejä. Kiinan viranomaisten mukaan yhdysvaltalaisten sotalaivojen provokatiivinen kulku Etelä-Kiinan merialueella uhkaa maan suvereeniutta, kun taas Yhdysvaltojen mukaan Kiinalla ei ole mitään oikeutta rakennella omia saaria pitkin kansainvälisiä vesiä. Nouseva suurvalta ei ole ollut näistä syytöksistä moksiskaan, vaan jatkanut kivien ja hiekan ruoppaamista matalikoille entiseen tahtiin.

Tällä hetkellä merialueesta riitelevät keskenään Kiina, Filippiinit, Vietnam, Malesia, Brunei ja Taiwan. Etelä-Kiinan merellä uskotaan olevan runsaasti öljy- ja kaasuesiintymiä, jonka vuoksi monet eri valtiot ovat kiinnosteet sen kätkemistä rikkauksista. Tämän lisäksi alue on myös yksi keskeisimmistä reiteistä suurille rahtilaivoille. Edellä mainituista valtioista ainakin Kiina, Filippiinit, Malesia ja Taiwan ovat rakentaneet kiistanalaiselle Spratlysaarten alueelle luvattomia tukikohtia. Paracelsaarten omistuksesta puolestaan kiistelevät Kiina, Vietnam ja Taiwan. Pöydällä lepää myös ongelmat Scarboroughin matalikosta, jota pitävät omanaan Kiina, Filippiinit ja Taiwan. Taiwan vetoaa vaateisaan 1930-luvulla hahmoteltuun rajaan, kun taas Kiina katsoo, että se on muutenkin hallinnut aluetta ikimuistoisista ajoista lähtien. Scarboroughin matalikko sijaitsee 160 kilometrin päässä Filippiinien rannikolta. Alueella uskotaan olevan kaasu- ja öljyesiintymiä.

Vakavimmat yhteenotot aluekiistan taholta on kuitenkin käyty Vietnamin ja Kiinan välillä. Kiina valtasi Paracelsaaret Vietnamilta vuonna 1974 ja tuolloin yhteenotoissa kuoli 70 vietnamilaissotilasta. Maat ottivat toistamiseen yhteen myös Spratlysaarilla vuonna 1988, jolloin 60 vietnamilaismerimiestä sai surmansa. Eipä siis mikään ihme, että monella tilannetta tarkkailleella on mennyt ajan mittaan puurot ja vellit sekaisin, kun jokainen on vaatimassa omiaan. Se nyt kuitenkin on varmaa, että Yhdysvalloille nämä alueet eivät varmastikaan kuulu, mutta sen läsnäolo alueen stabilisoimisessa voi muodosta välttämättömyydeksi. Filippiinit ovat Yhdysvaltain tärkein liittolainen Etelä-Kiinan merialueella.

Kunhan nyt ei vain enää sitä freedomia ja demokratiaa lähdettäisi viemään..



Lähde: CNN

 

[ctg]

The Chinese military is poised to send submarines armed with nuclear missiles into the Pacific Ocean for the first time, arguing that new US weapons systems have so undermined Beijing’s existing deterrent force that it has been left with no alternative.

Chinese military officials are not commenting on the timing of a maiden patrol, but insist the move is inevitable.

They point to plans unveiled in March to station the US Thaad anti-ballistic system in South Korea, and the development of hypersonic glide missiles potentially capable of hitting China less than an hour after launch, as huge threats to the effectiveness of its land-based deterrent force.

A recent Pentagon report to Congress predicted that “China will probably conduct its first nuclear deterrence patrol sometime in 2016”, though top US officers have made such predictions before.

China has been working on ballistic missile submarine technology for more than three decades, but actual deployment has been put off by technical failures, institutional rivalry and policy decisions.

Until now, Beijing has pursued a cautious deterrence policy, declaring it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict and storing its warheads and its missiles separately, both strictly under the control of the top leadership.

Deploying nuclear-armed submarines would have far-reaching implications.

Warheads and missiles would be put together and handed over to the navy, allowing a nuclear weapon to be launched much faster if such a decision was taken. The start of Chinese missile patrols could further destabilise the already tense strategic standoff with the US in the South China Sea.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/26/china-send-nuclear-armed-submarines-into-pacific-us

Ja sitten artikkeli kiinan pienistä sinisistä miehistä.

China is using large numbers of irregular maritime militias, dubbed “little blue men”, to assert and expand its control over an increasingly large area of disputed and reclaimed islands and reefs in the strategically important South China Sea, the Pentagon says.

The militias, comprising hundreds of fishermen and motor boats mainly based on Hainan island, south of the mainland, have been involved in “buzzing” US navy ships and those of neighbouring countries with rival territorial claims.

By using ostensibly civilian craft and personnel, China is avoiding direct military-to-military confrontations and gaining an element of deniability, said Abraham Denmark, deputy assistant US defence secretary for east Asia, presenting a report on military security involving China.

“Some of their fishing vessels and coastguards [are] acting in unprofessional manners in the vicinity of the military forces or fishing vessels of other countries in a way that’s designed to attempt to establish a degree of control around disputed features,” Denmark said. “It seems … these activities are designed to stay below the threshold of conflict, but gradually demonstrate and assert claims that other countries dispute.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...tias-pushing-chinas-claims-in-south-china-sea

 

[Bushmaster]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/0...-drone-on-contested-island.html?intcmp=hplnws

New satellite imagery shows Chinese drone on contested island
By Lucas Tomlinson, Yonat Friling

Published May 26, 2016
FoxNews.com
Facebook1167 Twitter385 livefyre Email Print

EXCLUSIVE: New satellite imagery obtained by Fox News shows that China, for the first time, has deployed a drone with stealth technology to a contested island in the South China Sea, in another sign of escalating tensions in the region.

The new development comes as President Obama visits Japan. He lifted an arms embargo against Vietnam while visiting Hanoi earlier this week, drawing criticism from the Chinese government about stoking tensions in the region.

The newly obtained satellite images from ImageSat International (ISI) show a Chinese Harbin BZK-005 long range reconnaissance drone on Woody Island in the South China Sea.

The drone can remain airborne for up to 40 hours.

The Chinese drone did not appear armed in the satellite image taken last month. For the time being, the BZK-005 does not have the capability to fire missiles, unlike other drones in China’s inventory.

Other satellite images show some of the recently deployed HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island transferred from one cluster on the northern part of the island to other locations in a move most likely to make them more difficult to destroy in a potential air strike.

In February, Fox News first reported the deployment of the missiles to Woody Island as President Obama hosted leaders from 10 Southeast Asian nations in Palm Springs, California.

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The Chinese HQ-9 is similar in design to the Russian S-300 missile system according to U.S. defense officials and has a range of 125 miles.

Asked about the deployment of the Chinese drone to the island, a senior Pentagon official said he could not comment on intelligence matters.

When asked about the increasing drone threat by China in the South China Sea at a press briefing Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook did not address the issue directly, but acknowledged the Pentagon had “concerns” about China’s behavior in the region along with other countries.

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(Fox News)

“You've heard us talk at length [about] our concerns about militarization in the South China Sea, not just by China,” said Cook. "There are concerns about what's happening.”

The Chinese first built a runway on Woody Island in the 1990s. Located in the Paracel chain of islands in the South China Sea, Woody Island is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam in addition to China.

Separately, China has constructed 3,200 acres of artificial islands atop former rocks and reefs farther south in the Spratly Islands according to a recent Pentagon report to Congress.

Over $5 trillion in cargo and natural resources pass through the South China Sea each year.

The LA Times recently reported that China has sold its armed drone, the CH-4, to Nigeria, Pakistan and Iraq, raising concerns about the proliferation of this type of technology. In December, Iraq claimed to have successfully used a CH-4 against ISIS.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy sailed a guided-missile destroyer near Fiery Cross Reef, one of China’s man-made islands in the South China Sea.

The “freedom of navigation” operation as the Pentagon calls them, took the U.S. Navy warship within 12 nautical miles of the Chinese island, sending a message to China that the United States does not recognize China’s territory.

In response, China launched fighter jets. Early this year, China tested commercial airliners on a new runway on Fiery Cross Reef. Defense officials tell Fox News, that China has sent fighter jets and other military equipment there recently.

A week after the U.S. destroyer sailed near Fiery Cross Reef, two Chinese J-11 fighter jets buzzed a Navy EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft flying 50 miles east of Hainan Island where a large Chinese submarine base is located.

The Pentagon called China’s action “unsafe” and claimed the Navy EP-3 was flying in international airspace.

Chinese officials were quoted Thursday as saying China is ready to deploy nuclear-armed submarines in the Pacific, as a result of the United States moving more weapons to the region.

China has said previous freedom of navigation operations by the Navy “violated Chinese law” and called the actions “provocative.” A Chinese military spokesman vowed “dangerous consequences” if similar operations from the American warships continue in the future.

When China’s President Xi visited the White House in September, he vowed not to militarize the South China Sea.

China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, reiterated that pledge when Secretary of State John F. Kerry visited Beijing in February, but said some “self-defense” weapons were necessary to protect the Chinese islands.

Last month, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter visited the Philippines, where U.S. military forces have returned for the first time since the Subic Bay naval base was closed in 1992.

After Carter’s visit, a flight of U.S. Air Force A-10 attack planes flew near Scarborough Shoal, located only 200 miles from Manila, where U.S. defense officials have seen Chinese ships surveying the area for another potential dredging operation.


Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews

 

[ctg]

Miksi suomella taas tökkii näiden asioiden uutisoimisessa?

The leaders of the Group of Seven advanced democracies on Friday said they are worried over rising maritime tensions in Asia and called for disputes to be resolved without resort to force.

"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," they said in a statement at the end of a two-day summit, though refrained from mentioning any individual countries by name.

Their declaration comes as tensions have risen over competing claims in the South China Sea, a strategic body of water that encompasses key global shipping lanes and which is claimed in nearly its entirety by China.

Beijing's encompassing claims and ongoing militarisation of islets and outcrops there has angered some of its Southeast Asian neighbours, including the Philippines and Vietnam.

China is also locked in a dispute with G7 host Japan over rocky outcroppings in the East China Sea, stoking broader concerns about the country's growing regional might and threats to back up its claims with force, if necessary.

The G7, which groups the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada, also reiterated that settlement of disputes should be "peaceful" and "freedom of navigation and overflight" should be respected.

The leaders also said that claims should be made based on international law and countries should refrain from "unilateral actions which could increase tensions" while also avoiding "force or coercion in trying to drive their claims".

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/G7_says_concerned_by_situation_in_East_South_China_seas_999.html

Chinese state media warned the Group of Seven nations on Thursday not to "meddle" in South China Sea disputes, as leaders from the bloc gathered for talks in Japan.

The commentary came as European Council President Donald Tusk said on the sidelines of a summit in Ise-Shima that the bloc should take a "clear and tough stance" on China's contested maritime claims.

Beijing has angered several Southeast Asian neighbours by claiming almost all of the South China Sea and rapidly building reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.

China's official Xinhua news agency published an article saying the G7 -- which excludes Beijing -- "should mind its own business rather than pointing fingers at others".

Xinhua writer Chang Yuan accused Japan of "attempting to take advantage of its G7 summit host status and draw more 'allies and sympathizers' to isolate China".

Both Washington and Tokyo -- which is locked in a separate dispute with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea -- have warned against Beijing stoking tensions in the contested waters.

Chang wrote that such remarks showed "Japan's hidden agenda: to meddle in the South China Sea issue".

Weighing in on the South China Sea "exceeds the G7's current influence and capability. What's more, it reflects a lingering Cold War mindset", Chang added.

The commentary came ahead of a ruling expected within weeks on China's claims brought to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague by the Philippines.

China has warned outside parties not to meddle in the South China Sea, but has also attempted to draw nations as far away as Niger, Togo and Burundi into the dispute, insisting that they support its rejection of the tribunal.

British Prime Minister David Cameron warned China that it must abide by the outcome of the international arbitration as he arrived in Japan for the G7 summit, the Guardian newspaper reported.

Beijing summoned top diplomatic representatives from the Group of Seven nations including France and Britain in April to express anger at a joint statement on the South China Sea.

The G7 said at the time: "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."

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Chi..._G7_against_South_China_Sea_meddling_999.html

 

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The four-star admiral in charge of U.S. operations in the Pacific is calling on the Army to consider shouldering a greater role in coastal and maritime defense and to consider new ways of using land-based rocket and howitzer systems to defend against enemy naval threats.

Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, addressed a crowd dense with soldiers at AUSA’s Land Power in the Pacific, or LANPAC, Symposium on Wednesday in Hawaii.

Harris described a pressing concern for him, the South China Sea, where trillions of dollars in annual global commerce that passes through the region’s sea lanes is being threatened by Chinese territorial claims. The admiral has previously China’s deployment of missiles onto the territorially contested Paracel Islands near Vietnam represented “clear” acts of militarization.

“One thing I can tell you, the question of the role of land forces in ensuring access to and maneuver in shared domains, is something the US and our friends, allies and partners must address,” he said. “Not only as a matter of security, but also as a matter of economic prosperity. As I just told you, our adversaries get this.”

In light of threats presented by China and other near-peer adversaries, Harris called on the Army to look at ways to use High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and Paladin 155mm artillery as coastal defense systems.

“If we get this right, the Army will kill the archer instead of dealing with one of the its arrows,” he said.

New, sophisticated technology would give the Navy and Army an edge if they collaborated in long-range defense, Harris said. He described a 2015 exercise, Northern Edge in Alaska, in which F/A-18 Hornets located an enemy ship at sea and passed data to artillery systems on land by means of an extended tactical information network.

Other, similarly collaborative efforts, are within the realm of possibility, he said.

“How cool would it be to use ground-based artillery to put steel in the deep blue sea today, emplacing intelligent sea mines to restrict maneuver in the maritime domain,” Harris said. “In other words, we should be able to deny the enemy the sea from the land.”

Harris said he expected these kind of innovations to take significant work and he didn’t have solutions for all the cross-domain problems he hoped to address.

“But I figure that since soldiers are fond of telling sailors you’re a lot smarter than we are, I’ve come to the right place to get those answers,” he said.

http://www.defensetech.org/2016/05/...ts-artillery-backing-navy-in-south-china-sea/

 

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Turvallisuusalue ...

So-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) imposition by any country involves protecting its national security interests.

Foreign aircraft entering it without authorization may be intercepted, ordered out, or forced down if refuse. In the case of the South China Sea, vessels could be interdicted for entering protected waters without permission.

US-generated tensions risk escalating dangerously. A previous article indicated China intends deploying nuclear-armed subs in Pacific Ocean waters for the first time – to counter America’s growing threat.

Unjustifiably claiming freedom of navigation rights, provocative US air and naval military patrols, along with joint exercises with Asian allies, ups the stakes for possible direct Sino/US confrontation.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Beijing may declare “an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea, two years after it announced a similar one in the East China Sea, according to sources close to the People’s Liberation Army and a defence report.”

Timing depends on regional security concerns, notably increasing US hostile activities. According to an unnamed Beijing source, “(i)f the US military keeps making provocative moves to challenge China’s sovereignty in the region, it will give Beijing a good opportunity to declare an ADIZ in the South China Sea.”

Its Defense Ministry declared its sovereign right to impose it. Its 2013 East China Sea AZIZ includes waters and islands claimed by other regional countries.

Beijing considers America’s expanding Pacific military footprint the region’s greatest threat. Its Ministry of National Defense spokesman Yang Yujun urged Washington “to stop stirring up a storm in a teacup and stop sowing seeds of discord so as to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, which conforms to the common interests of all parties.”

Beijing wants provocative US air and sea-based surveillance activities stopped. Its Defense Ministry minced no words, calling “large-scale and frequent (US) close-in reconnaissance activities against China by US military vessels and aircraft” unacceptable close encounters, the “root cause” for its security concerns.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/beijing-may-declare-security-zone-in-south-china-sea/5528395