China's aircraft-carrier

[waltky]

China gettin' ready to Pearl Harbor us...

China looks to be on the warpath
Tue, Sep 27, 2011 - In a disturbing parallel, China this year seems to have started down the same warpath that led Japan to attack the US at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The emergence of this similarity has not gone unnoticed. A Washington think tank, for instance, has suggested that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has devised a strategy that “mimics the Japanese Imperial strategy of 1941-1942.” The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), whose researchers have working ties with the Pentagon, has even speculated on possible Chinese targets — US air bases on Guam in the central Pacific, Kadena on Okinawa and Misawa in northeastern Japan. Just as Japan sought to knock out the US fleet based at Pearl Harbor, so “the PLA’s objective would be to deny US forces the ability to generate substantial combat power from its air bases in the Western Pacific.” The think tank says researchers based their findings on extensive PLA writings. The evident similarities between the China of today and the Japan of yesteryear are striking:‧

The highly nationalistic PLA has become increasingly independent of the Chinese Communist Party. Like the Japanese Imperial Army, the PLA has struck off on its own foreign and military policy even as it pledges loyalty to the party in the same way the Japanese Imperial Army pledged loyalty to the emperor.‧ The objective of the PLA is to drive US forces and interests out of East Asia, just as the Japanese intended to drive the French, British, Dutch, Portuguese and US colonialists from Asia. (Even though Japan was defeated in 1945, the European and US colonies in Asia became independent.)‧ Japan intended to impose its own colonial rule in Asia under the guise of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. China today appears to be reviving the ancient concept of the Middle Kingdom in which the nations surrounding China become vassal states and the rest are outer barbarians.‧ The Japanese saw themselves as the rightful rulers of Asia, but tried to persuade other Asians that they came as protectors, not as masters. The Chinese have taken somewhat the same stance, asserting that as a “big country” they are only seeking to protect Asian nations from outside exploitation.‧

In a specific instance, a Chinese admiral proposed several years ago to then--commander of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral Timothy Keating, that the US withdraw to Hawaii and the eastern Pacific, while Chinese warships patrolled the western Pacific, much as the Japanese proposed 1941. Keating and his predecessors demurred.‧ Japan and China have claimed the South China Sea as sovereign waters as each sought to control the waterway through which resources such as oil and ores flowed to their home economies. Japan turned Hainan Island into a logistics base while Chinese have built naval and air bases there.‧ According to the historian Herbert Feis, Japanese Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura was sent to Washington in early 1941 “to persuade the US government to accede to what Japan was doing.” The Chinese, in their appeals to the US to accept Beijing’s view of Asia and the Pacific, have demanded much the same.

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[Baruch Menachem]

How? The US has 8 carrier groups all over the world, plus the pilots who get more training time in a month than the average chinese pilot gets in a year. The US has a better collection of the types of aircraft that China can fly than China does. (We collected a nice set of modern aircraft from Iraq and we use them to train US pilots in Red style tactics.) Plus we have aircraft two generations ahead of what the Chinese have. We have a huge submarine fleet that can sink their Navy in their harbors.

The Chinese can want all they want. They can't even project off their own coast. Let alone in the blue ocean.

Of course, they have a ton of cash and can probably buy the toys, but they can't do the training or allow the thinking that makes for an effective military beyond a police force.

 

[Unkotare]

but they're working on it...

 

[waltky]

China goin' for the Spratly Islands?...

Chinese analyst calls for war in South China Sea
Fri, Sep 30, 2011 - ‘SEA OF FIRE’: Long Tao wrote that Beijing should strike the Philippines and Vietnam, the two ‘noisiest troublemakers,’ to strike fear into other claimants

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reaffirmed Taiwan’s sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea and called on all claimants to peacefully resolve the impasse. The comments came after an editorial published in the Chinese-language edition of the Chinese Communist Party-run Global Times called on the Beijing government to declare war on Vietnam and the Philippines, two countries that have been proactive in defending their claims over the islets. The op-ed, titled “A good time to take military action in the South China Sea,” was penned by Long Tao, a strategic analyst at the non-governmental China Energy Fund Committee and also at Zhejiang University’s Non-Traditional Security and Peace Development Research Center.

“Do not worry about small-scale wars; it is the best way to release the potential of war. Play a few small battles and big battles can be avoided,” Long wrote, adding that military action should be focused on striking the Philippines and Vietnam, “the two noisiest troublemakers,” to achieve the effect of killing one chicken to scare the monkeys. Through military action, he wrote, China could transform the South China Sea into “a sea of fire,” an act made possible by the fact that “of the more than 1,000 oil rigs and four airfields on the Spratly Islands, none belongs to China.” On the risks of military action inviting intervention by the international community, the author took an optimistic note.

“The US has not withdrawn from the war on terrorism and the Middle East ... so it cannot afford to open a second front in the South China Sea,” he wrote, adding that the “decisive shot” by Russia in the Caspian Sea in 2008 served as a model. “[Military] action by a big country in the international arena may result in initial shock, but in the long run, regional stability can be achieved through great power strategic reconciliation.” Taiwan, along with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and China, claims sovereignty over archipelagos in the area, which are believed to have rich oil and natural gas resources. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang said the ministry would not comment on Chinese media reports.

However, Chang reiterated the government’s position that the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Macclesfield Islands, Pratas Islands and nearby waters were part of Taiwan’s territory and territorial waters, and called on claimants to peacefully resolve disputes surrounding the region through negotiation and dialogue. Taiwan has always upheld the principle of shelving sovereignty disputes and jointly exploring resources based on the principle and spirit of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, he said. Taiwan does not recognize any resolution reached without its participation and has called for a multilateral mechanism for countries in the region to participate in discussions to seek peaceful development of the region, he added.

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[mawlarky]

"Currently, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Spain, Italy, India, Brazil and Thailand, operate a total of 21 active-service aircraft carriers"

The U.K has not got a single aircraft carrier to its name, its last aircraft carrier was scrapped 2 years ago along with all its naval aircraft which were either scrapped or sold to India (harriers).

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says dey gonna park it inna South China Sea...

Chinese aircraft carrier begins second sea trial
FEARS: China has insisted that its first carrier is only for training and research, which underwent further refitting and testing following its first sea trial in August

China’s first aircraft carrier began its second sea trial yesterday after undergoing refurbishment and testing, the government said, amid heightened regional tensions over maritime territorial disputes. The 300m ship, a refitted former Soviet carrier called the Varyag, underwent five days of trials in August that sparked international concern about China’s widening naval reach. “China’s aircraft carrier platform, after successfully completing its first sea trial in August, returned to the shipyard as planned for further refitting and testing,” the Chinese defense ministry said in a statement. “The work has been carried out and it set sail again on Nov. 29 to carry out relevant scientific and research experiments.”

The announcement comes against a background of growing tensions over maritime disputes in the Asia-Pacific region. China has become increasingly assertive in its claims over the East China Sea and South China Sea, most of which it views as its maritime territory, but where several other Asian nations have competing claims. Last week, Beijing said it would conduct “routine” naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean, following a major diplomatic campaign by US President Barack Obama to assert the US as a Pacific power. Beijing only confirmed this year it was revamping the old Soviet ship and has repeatedly insisted that the carrier poses no threat to its neighbors and will be used mainly for training and research purposes.

However, the August sea trials were met with concern from regional powers, including Japan and the US, which called on Beijing to explain why it needs an aircraft carrier. China reportedly bought the carrier’s immense armored hull — with no engine, electrics or propeller — from the Ukraine in 1998. The People’s Liberation Army — the world’s largest active military — is extremely secretive about its defense programs, which benefit from a huge and expanding military budget boosted by the nation’s runaway economic growth. Earlier this year, China announced military spending would rise 12.7 percent to 601.1 billion yuan (US$91.7 billion) for the year.

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[waltky]

Granny wonderin' what dey gonna do with dat 200 million man army?...

US seeks 'transparency' in growth of Chinese military power
Dec 7, 2011, WASHINGTON: Amid growing uneasiness in the US over the rapid growth of Chinese military power, Washington on Tuesday asserted that Beijing has the right to develop its military but underlined the need for full "transparency".

"The United States views the Asia-Pacific region as a top priority. Our policy is focused on the region and not on any one country in particular," George Little, the Pentagon press secretary told reporters during an off camera news conference. "With respect to China, they have the right to develop military capabilities and plan just as we do and we repeatedly call for transparency from the Chinese and that's part of the relationship we are continuing to build with the Chinese military. That's important and transparency is the key," Little said.

The remarks came after the Chinese President Hu Jintao urged his navy to prepare for military combat and advance naval modernization as part of effort to safeguard world peace. The navy should "accelerate its transformation and modernization in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security and world peace," Hu said in a speech.

China has the right to develop naval forces, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt John Kirby. "Our naval forces are ready," he noted. "The peaceful rise of China is a good thing for the region, is a good thing for the world. We continue to seek a better military relationship with China. We continue to pursue that. That is not only in their interest, ours but the entire world as well," Kirby said.

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