Konflikti Kiinan merellä

[ctg]

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - For the region’s military officers, diplomats, weapons manufacturers and spies, there are few livelier places than the lobby of Singapore’s Shangri-La hotel around mid-year.

Here, beneath pillared ceilings and chandeliers, they gather for an annual informal bash - called the Shangri-La Dialogue - organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

This year’s chapter was held at the weekend and the chatter was particularly lively given the strategic shifts shaking Asia, from North Korea to rapidly-evolving rivalry between India and China.

In the ballroom, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined his vision for a “rules based order” for the region before U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis championed the “Indo-Pacific region” - both evolving constructs that Chinese officials eye as containment.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...rs-and-spies-rub-shoulders-idUSKCN1IZ0M5?il=0

 

[ctg]

A group of Australian journalists has been blocked from travelling to China because of “frosty” diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The reporters have been denied visas to travel this week. Between five and eight journalists, including the veteran political reporter Paul Bongiorno, had been due to leave for China on Thursday with Bob Carr’s Australia China Relations Institute.

Each year the institute takes a delegation of journalists on a China trip. Carr told ABC radio on Tuesday that after speaking to China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, last week he had discovered that the visas were being blocked because of “frosty” diplomatic relations between the two countries.

He told the ABC that the refusal was “more than a bureaucratic challenge”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ournalists-due-to-frosty-diplomatic-relations

 

[ctg]

America’s de facto embassy in Taiwan has reopened after a $250m renovation, with an attending US official hailing the new building as “a symbol of strength and vibrancy” of the relationship between the US and Taiwan.

In a ceremony at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on Tuesday, which took place while the landmark summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore had the world’s attention, was attended by a delegation from Washington that included Marie Royce, the US assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs.

Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, several Taiwanese government officials as well as legislators were also present.

During the ceremony, US ambassador James Moriarty and Royce reiterated Washington’s commitment to uphold the relationship with Taiwan, calling the new facility “a symbol of strength and vibrancy of the US and Taiwan partnership in the 21st century”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-taiwan-reopens-as-symbol-of-strength-of-ties

 

[ctg]

Vietnam continues modest expansions to its outposts in the Spratly Islands, most recently on Ladd Reef. Satellite imagery from March and June shows that Hanoi has dredged a new channel, which did not exist in older photos, and is expanding one of its two facilities (the other is a small lighthouse to the west) at the feature.

The new construction involves the installation of a hexagonal platform about 100 feet across. At least one piece of construction equipment, likely a backhoe, is operating on the recently deposited sediment next to this platform. The new structure appears to be identical to expansions built onto four of Vietnam’s other pillbox-like facilities in the Spratlys, at Collins, Lansdowne, Tennent, and Discovery Great Reefs in recent years. Like those expansions, the new building at Ladd will presumably be connected to the existing outpost by a footbridge.

With the new construction at Ladd Reef, Vietnam has made modest upgrades to 21 of its 49 outposts in the Spratlys in recent years. The decision to expand its footprint at Ladd Reef, including with a new channel to facilitate resupply and allow larger vessels to shelter in the lagoon, is of particular interest given recent events. Ladd Reef is the westernmost of the occupied rocks and reefs in the Spratlys. To the southwest lie several undersea banks that China claims as part of the island group despite their being entirely submerged, along with Vietnamese oil and gas blocks that have been the focus of several high-profile spats between Beijing and Hanoi over the last year. Vietnam, the United States, and most of the international community consider that area to be a piece of the continental shelf belonging to Hanoi, but China claims ill-defined “historic rights” to it as part of its “nine-dash line” claim to most of the South China Sea.

https://amti.csis.org/vietnam-expands-another-outpost/

 

[ctg]

Taiwanin presidentti Tsai Ing-wen patistaa kansainvälistä yhteisöä liittymään yhteen vastustamaan Kiinan laajentumispyrkimyksiä ja puolustamaan jaettuja vapaamielisiä arvoja.

– Meidän täytyy toimia yhdessä vahvistaaksemme demokratian arvoja ja vapautta, jotta Kiinan laajentuminen ja hegemonisen vaikutusvallan kasvu voidaan minimoida, Ing-wen sanoi uutistoimisto AFP:lle.

Ing-wenin mukaan Kiinan vaikutusvallan kasvu ei ole vain Taiwanin, vaan koko Tyynenmeren alueen ja maailman haaste.

– Tänään se koskettaa Taiwania, mutta huomenna jokin toinen maa voi joutua kohtaamaan Kiinan vaikutusvallan kasvun, Ing-wen lausui AFP:lle.

Presidentin kommentit liittyvät Taiwanin viime aikoina kohtaamaan painostukseen Pekingin suunnalta.

Ing-wenin astuttua valtaan vuonna 2016 Kiina on järjestänyt sotilasharjoituksia saaren läheisyydessä. Lisäksi se on painostanut suuria kansainvälisiä yrityksiä listaamaan Taiwanin liiketoimintansa osaksi Kiinaa verkkosivuillaan.

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10272989

 

[ctg]

China is committed to peace but will not give up "even one inch" of territory, President Xi Jinping has said, after talks with visiting US Defence Secretary James Mattis.

Tensions between both countries are mounting over trade hostilities and China's increasingly assertive claims to territory in the South China Sea.

Mr Mattis is the first Pentagon chief to visit China since 2014.

It's part of a trip across Asia, meeting several regional US allies.

Mr Mattis said his talks with Mr Xi in Beijing and other officials on Wednesday had been "very, very" good, adding that the US was assigning a "high degree of importance to the military relationship" with China.

Mr Xi added that China had peaceful intentions, but reasserted his view that there would be no concessions from China about what it considers to be Chinese territory.

"We cannot lose even one inch of the territory left behind by our ancestors," Mr Xi said, according to Chinese state media. "What is other people's we do not want at all."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-44638817

 

[KymJP2K]

Reuters: China factory growth slows in June as trade tensions rise https://reut.rs/2KvQKmC

Kiinan talous"data" antaa viitteitä epävarmuudesta. Toisaalta kaikki kiinalainen data on lähtökohtaisesti paskaa, joten todellisuus näkyy vain paikanpäällä.

 

[KymJP2K]

Kiinan media täynnä sotaretoriikka USA:n asettamien tullien vuoksi. 3 vuotta kauppasotaa on Kiinalle katastrofi ja USA:lle pieni töyssy.

 

[arix]

Kiinan media täynnä sotaretoriikka USA:n asettamien tullien vuoksi. 3 vuotta kauppasotaa on Kiinalle katastrofi ja USA:lle pieni töyssy.

Kiinan vienti USA:n 500 miljardia ja USA:n Kiinaan 150 miljardia vuodessa...

 

[Osasto 31]

Kiinalaiset alkavat varmaan myydä vähän enemmän fentanyylia Amerikkojen suuntaan nyt...

 

[PekkaSavo]

Kiinan talous"data" antaa viitteitä epävarmuudesta. Toisaalta kaikki kiinalainen data on lähtökohtaisesti paskaa, joten todellisuus näkyy vain paikanpäällä.

Stubb on varmaan käynyt paikanpäällä
kun kertoi luottavansa enemmän Kiinan presidenttiin kuin Yhdysvaltojen.

 

[Leaderdog]

Stubbi voi luulla luottavansa keneen tahtoo, mutta Stubbiin ei luota kukaan. Ja se on huono juttu se.

 

[ctg]

Hong Kong

is taking unprecedented steps to ban a pro-independence party, in the government’s strongest action yet against the movement pushing for separation from China.

Police on Tuesday delivered documents to Hong Kong National Party founder, Andy Chan Ho-tin, detailing their recommendations to the city’s secretary of security that the group halt operations.

The development marks the first time since the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule in 1997 that it has sought to outlaw a political organisation.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ves-to-ban-citys-first-pro-independence-party

 

[KymJP2K]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1020262639719600129

Trumppi haluaa tullit kaikille kiinan tuontitavaroille.

 

[ctg]

Australia and the UK are discussing plans for the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to be sent to the Pacific amid tensions over China’s militarisation in the South China Sea.

The Australian defence minister, Marise Payne, and the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, have discussed joint naval operations in the Pacific region with the UK defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, during their visit this week.

In an effort to highlight the defence ties, Williamson and Payne visited BAe Systems shipyards on the Clyde in Glasgow to inspect new Type 26 frigates of the kind Australia bought last month in a £20bn ($36bn) deal, and the UK nuclear submarine base at Faslane.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...d-aircraft-carrier-to-back-australian-vessels

Jos tilanne kärjistyy konflikti asteelle niin mitä uskotte tapahtuvan kaukoidän tuontitavaroiden ja elektroniikan toimitusten kutistuttua hyvin pieniin määriin lisäksi? Isompi kahnaus Australian kanssa? Indonesian valloitus? Vai isompi Tyynenmeren kahnaus suurella määrällä sukellusveneitä ja lentotukialus osastoja?

 

[KymJP2K]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...d-aircraft-carrier-to-back-australian-vessels

Jos tilanne kärjistyy konflikti asteelle niin mitä uskotte tapahtuvan kaukoidän tuontitavaroiden ja elektroniikan toimitusten kutistuttua hyvin pieniin määriin lisäksi? Isompi kahnaus Australian kanssa? Indonesian valloitus? Vai isompi Tyynenmeren kahnaus suurella määrällä sukellusveneitä ja lentotukialus osastoja?

Mongolia, intia ja Taiwan on ensimmäisenä tulilinjalla. Meren yli kiinalaisilla on tuskin halua, varsinkin kun indonesiassa kiinalaiset on jo valmiiksi melkoisen vihattu vähemmistö.

Uutisessa mainittu lentotukialus ei ole taistelukykyinen (puuttuu koneet) ja frigate 26:lta poistettiin meritorjuntaohjukset. Lieneekö tarvetta puolikuntoisella lähteä sotimaan kiinan kotivesille?

 

[KymJP2K]

Oheinen wikipediasta. Jos Kiinalaisten saariruoppaus ihmetyttää, niin amerikkalaisten 1951 kehittämä saaristrategia näyttää ilmeisesti tältä.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Chain_Strategy

Selittää sekä saarien rakennuksen että filippiinien painostuksen. Taiwanin valtaus näyttäisi myös olevan korteissa.

 

[ctg]

The submarines will be powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), allowing them to navigate independently and work alongside existing fleets.

The crew-less submersibles will be relatively large and low-cost compared to other military watercrafts, according to scientists working on the project.

The AI submarines are rumoured to be fitted with diesel-electric engines to enable them to stay at sea for several months without returning to dock.

China will use these unmanned subs for intelligence gathering missions, planting sea mines, and 'kamikaze'-style attacks on high-value targets, the scientists said.

These missions are scheduled to start in the early 2020s, they added.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...-powered-submarines-stay-sea-months-time.html

 

[ctg]

Selittää sekä saarien rakennuksen että filippiinien painostuksen. Taiwanin valtaus näyttäisi myös olevan korteissa.

Jos katsot ketjun alkuun siellä on useita erittäin hyviä karttoja aiheesta.

 

[ctg]

While Australian warships and surveillance aircraft transit the South China Sea in international waters and airspace and are challenged over their presence, they have steadfastly avoided passing within 12 nautical miles of a disputed territory.

In comments to News Corporation, Ms Bishop rebuffed calls by a senior US congressman for Australia to do its own exercises contesting China's land grab that would probably further strain an already-tense relationship between Beijing and Canberra.

Ms Bishop reportedly said it would be an "extraordinary step" for Australia to conduct a unilateral freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea because it has never conducted one before anywhere else. She said unlike Australia, the US conducted freedom of navigation operations, or FONOPs, 24/7 throughout the world.

Opposition defence spokesman Richard Marles said Labor supported the rights of all nations to exercise freedom of navigation in accordance with international law, and would consider co-operating with other countries.

"We want to see a stable, peaceful, rules-based order in our region supported by a constructive relationship between the US and China," he told The Australian Financial Review.

"We have an interest in continued constructive US engagement in the region. Labor would consider opportunities for further co-operation with partners in the region."

https://www.afr.com/news/fresh-call...south-china-sea-island-claims-20180724-h132r0

A top CIA expert on Asia says China’s construction of military outposts on islands in the South China Sea is comparable to Russia’s brash annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

Michael Collins said Friday that China’s actions had turned the strategic waterway into the “Crimea of the East.” Moscow’s 2014 move to forcefully take over the Ukrainian territory was widely condemned by the West.

Collins, the deputy assistant director of the CIA’s East Asia mission center, said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado that Beijing doesn’t want to go to war.

However, he said the current government under Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping is subtly working on multiple fronts to undermine the U.S. in ways that are different than the more well-publicized activities being employed by Russia.

“I would argue ... that what they’re waging against us is fundamentally a cold war — a cold war not like we saw during the Cold War (between the U.S. and the Soviet Union) but a cold war by definition,” Collins said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e45b73a6866b