South China Sea

[Vikrant]

Four Indian warships on overseas deployment


NEW DELHI: India has dispatched four warships, including a frontline destroyer and a stealth frigate, on a long overseas deployment through the strategic Malacca Strait to Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines.

The four warships from the country's Eastern Fleet — stealth frigate INS Satpura, guided-missile destroyer INS Ranvijay, missile corvette INS Kirch and fleet tanker INS Shakti - will make port calls at Klang in Malaysia, Da Nang in Vietnam and Manila in Philippines before returning to India towards end-June. Eastern Fleet commander Rear Admiral P Ajit Kumar is leading the flotilla.

 

[waltky]

You can bet China will make much of this to impress India...

US, China Pledge Heightened Military Cooperation
August 19, 2013 > The U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs met Monday in Washington, with both of them pledging to strengthen military cooperation between the two superpowers.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Washington is committed to a "positive and constructive relationship with China." He said a sustained military-to-military relationship is "an important pillar" between the two countries. Hagel's counterpart, General Chang Wanquan, said Beijing wants to work on a defense relationship with the U.S., to "elevate it to a new height." But he said it must not be "a relation dominated by either side."

Chang said the U.S.-Chinese military relationship should be based on mutual trust, "not a relation of mutual suspicion." Both Hagel and Chang said the military forces in the two countries would increase joint exercises, including naval training soon in the Gulf of Aden. Hagel's meeting with Chang is part of a U.S. effort to focus more on its relations with Asia, even as conflict and uncertainty in the Mideast dominate world headlines.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel gestures during a joint news conference with Chinese Minister of Defense Gen. Chang Wanquan at the Pentagon

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in June in the western U.S. state of California, discussing a wide range of issues, but failing to reach an agreement on cybersecurity. The U.S. leader accused China of intellectual property theft, while Xi said his country also was the victim of cyberattacks.

Hagel said the two countries have established a working group to discuss cyberattacks. Chang said China faces "severe threats" from cyberattacks and wants "common exploration with the United States" on the problem, "rather than ungrounded accusations and suspicions." The Chinese defense chief said no nation should use technology "to take advantage of other countries."

US, China Pledge Heightened Military Cooperation

 

[Moonglow]

China has not shown any where close to being a global military super power.

 

[Meathead]

China has not shown any where close to being a global military super power.

Certainly not naval, but it's just a matter of time.

 

[longknife]

This is being ignored by the Lame Street Media but drawing a lot of attention elsewhere in the world.

Japan, the Phillippines, India, Australia, and other southeast Asian countries are showing more and more alarm at actions by China to lay claim to and occupy "disputed" territories in an effort to gain control of oil fields.

The Chinese navy is comparatively lacking in major warships but far outnumbers every other nation in the region in small craft, all heavily armed.

Sooner or later, something is going to happen to ignite the region.

 

[Vikrant]

Chinese navy is mainly geared towards disruptive capabilities. Their objective is to disrupt the shipping in South China sea and other sea areas that are not far from Chinese coast. Iranian navy is similarly modeled although not as capable as Chinese navy. You will notice that both navies have placed heavy emphasis on submarine and missile boat acquisitions.

 

[Moonglow]

This is being ignored by the Lame Street Media but drawing a lot of attention elsewhere in the world.

Japan, the Phillippines, India, Australia, and other southeast Asian countries are showing more and more alarm at actions by China to lay claim to and occupy "disputed" territories in an effort to gain control of oil fields.

The Chinese navy is comparatively lacking in major warships but far outnumbers every other nation in the region in small craft, all heavily armed.

Sooner or later, something is going to happen to ignite the region.

CNN and Fox both ran stories on Chinese asserting pressure over islands in the South China Sea that China wants that belongs to other countries. The Philippines has ask for US aid to deter China, but the constitution of the Philippines does not allow foreign nations to have military bases, the Philippine legislation is changing the law to allow the US back onto the Philippine Islands.
Maybe instead of complaining you should be researching current events.

 

[Meathead]

At the end of the day it is only the US that can check the Chinese leviathan. Clearly then, a coalition ranging from Japan to Australia and from India to the Philippines is forming. The problem is potential, so not current. It is well worth following as it certainly could be a flash point in a matter of a decade.

 

[Vikrant]

China’s aggression in South China Sea a global challenge

In late October, the American destroyer USS Lassen sailed within the 12 nautical mile territorial waters limit claimed by China at Subi Reef in the South China Sea. China has no right to such a claim under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the US was exercising its rights to freedom of navigation under the convention.
Predictably Beijing has protested while others have cheered the US action but American freedom of navigation (FON) operations are nothing new and have been carried out regularly in other seas despite the fact that the US itself has not ratified UNCLOS. In the South China Sea itself, the US has carried out FON operations to counter excessive maritime claims by Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
The reclamation activities carried out by China and other claimants are part of these excessive claims even though under UNCLOS, they do not enhance sovereignty or change their legal status. Nevertheless, Chinese reclamation outstrips those of the others by a wide margin and has clear implications for over-flight and freedom of navigation in the region despite Beijing’s rhetoric to the contrary.
While an actual conflict would render these distant Chinese outposts vulnerable, they are extremely useful short of such a situation to harass and deny other parties and thus change the facts on the ground. This ensures Chinese sovereignty de facto if not de jure.
Meanwhile, the US is also clear that it is not taking sides in the South China Sea sovereignty disputes.
China’s territorial claims are based on ‘historical rights’ that other parties in the region do not recognise. At the same time neither China with respect to its nine-dash line in the South China Sea nor the other disputants have actually clearly defined their claims.
China has also been selective in its application of international law. It has, for example, sought to restrict innocent passage of foreign ships through its territorial sea under a national law in contravention of UNCLOS principles but exercised the same right of innocent passage in early September when PLA Navy ships transited through American territorial waters in Alaska on their way back from exercises with Russia.
Thus, China’s territorial claims and actions and American FON operations also raise questions about the nature and development of international law. If international law is about practice and precedent, then the Chinese are not just trying to change ground realities by their construction activities in the South China Sea but also attempting to set new precedents that will change international law as it currently stands and is supported by the West.
What of the chances of conflict? The US and China certainly understand the consequences of a conflict. The US had previously also ignored the Chinese-declared air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea to little Chinese response. In the latest instance, too, the sabre-rattling notwithstanding, Beijing will not actually pick a fight it knows it cannot win. Even a stalemate might potentially threaten the Communist Party in power.
The USS Lassen’s passage was the first time since 2012 that the US had conducted a FON operation in the area. In the interregnum, China has reclaimed more than 2,000 acres in territories it claims. This in itself shows that the US has largely been restrained in confronting the Chinese and cautious about setting off a conflict, no matter how limited or weak China’s naval assets.
In fact, China mostly employs non-PLA Navy vessels, including merchant vessels and fishing boats, to enforce its territorial claims. It is these boats that can create an incident or be responsible for an accident involving the US Navy or other navy ships while the PLA Navy itself stays at a safe distance.
The blame in such incidents could be more easily pinned on the larger and armed American vessels or be dismissed by the Chinese as a case of over-enthusiastic Chinese civilians trying to protect the national honour. Either way, China could potentially damage or limit operations by expensive US naval assets.
Thus, it should not surprise anyone that despite the USS Lassen’s passage, the Chinese and American navy chiefs were quick to agree on the need to stick to established protocols at sea and to declare that their bilateral military exchanges would continue.
All said, there is no question of China backtracking on its sovereignty claims or not continuing reclamation in the South China Sea. If things get too hot, it will likely bide its time and wait the US out in the full knowledge of the American reluctance to get involved in yet another theatre of conflict.
China is also well aware that many rival claimants lack the naval capabilities and often the political will to confront it directly, given their economic dependence on it and that neither the US nor any other regional power such as India or Japan will support its rivals in any significant way.
China will continue to provoke and continue its ‘forward policy’ in the South China Sea. This is a reality that the USS Lassen episode does not change and therein lies the challenge for the international community.

China’s aggression in South China Sea a global challenge

 

[longknife]

This is going to be an area of deep tensions as other countries with claims of territory in the South China sea are going to try to do something about China's attempts to claim large chunks of it.

 

[Vikrant]

BOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT, South China Sea: As soon as the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen breached 12-nautical-mile territorial limits around one of China's man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea last week, a Chinese warship shadowing its movements began demanding answers.
"'Hey, you are in Chinese waters. What is your intention?'," it asked, as recounted to reporters on Thursday by Commander Robert Francis, commanding officer of the Lassen.
His crew replied that they were operating in accordance with international law, and intended to transit past the island, carrying out what US officials have called a freedom-of-navigation exercise designed to challenge China's claims to the strategic waterway.
The response from the Chinese destroyer?
"The same query, over and over," said Francis, speaking onboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt as it sailed 150 to 200 nautical miles from the southern tip of the Spratly archipelago, a chain of contested islands where China's seven artificial outposts have taken shape in barely two years.
The Lassen had joined the carrier strike group the night before, ahead of a visit to the Theodore Roosevelt by US secretary of defence Ash Carter, who while on board blamed China for rising tension in the region.
Beijing has rebuked Washington over the Lassen's patrol, the most significant US challenge yet to territorial limits China claims around its new islands.
READ ALSO: Ignoring China, US defence chief visits aircraft carrier in South China Sea
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
In comments that underscore the frequency with which US warships now come across Chinese vessels in Asian waters, Francis said the Lassen had had about 50 "interactions" with Chinese military ships and aircraft since May while on patrol in the South and East China Seas, something he described as routine.
"Every day a U.S. ship is down here, we interact with the Chinese," Francis said.
Experts say China has dozens of naval and coastguard vessels deployed in the South China Sea at any given time, adding that encounters with US warships are likely to increase after US officials said the navy planned to conduct patrols within 12 nautical miles of China's artificial islands about twice a quarter.

...

'Hope to see you again': China warship to US destroyer after South China Sea patrol - Times of India

 

[Unkotare]

The US navy should sail right up to shore, deploy hover craft to scoot straight over the middle of the 'island' then pick them up on the other side.

 

[Vikrant]

The US navy should sail right up to shore, deploy hover craft to scoot straight over the middle of the 'island' then pick them up on the other side.

This video gives slightly better perspective to this drama created by China: