China's SCS Strategy Thread

[siegecrossbow]

Dream on. There is zero chance the even DDP leaders would give an inch of Chinese territory to the Japanese. Even if Tsai English-language's family were Japanese collaborators in WW2, she wouldn't for fear of being lynched by her consistuents.

I am just trying to illustrate the point that it is even less likely for them to hand it over to mainland China.

 

[tidalwave]

I think Japan has a better chance of acquiring Taiping Island from the DPP than China.

Japan does not have the gut to take it even if its given. No US treaty to help. China would attack Japan at Taiping for sure.

DPP motto is Taiwan decided by Taiwanese. Well there's no taiwanese civilians living at Taiping so it ought be to returned first.

If China brought this up, what's DPP excuses for not returning?

 

[Jeff Head]

I am just trying to illustrate the point that it is even less likely for them to hand it over to mainland China.

I too agree that Taiwan is not planning on willingly giving up that island to anyone.

Taiping may not be that large, but it has been built up pretty well, and is a very good "outpost" for Taiwan.

There are naturally occurring fresh water springs/wells on the island, but many of them have too much chloride salt for drinking, so that water has to be filtered. Some of the wells on the east side of the island are fresh enough for use as drinking water. In addition, Taiwan has drilled several deeper wells and also installed two desalination plants on the island.

The facilities there include the Taiping Airport which has a 1,200 meter runway and a shelter that can accommodate two C-130 aircraft. But there is no refueling facilities available. There have been a number of proposals to further improve the airport with a longer runway and refueling...but those have not been approved. A military C-130 aircraft makes regular visits to the island every two months.

In addition, on the island there is a hospital, a weather station (which is permanently manned by the ROC Meteorological Service and launches weather balloons daily), satellite telecommunications facilities, a radar surveillance site, a cellular base station, and a small base for the Republic of China Coast Guard. Three small Coast Guard watercraft are used to patrol the vicinity. These are M8 class watercraft the Nanhai 4, Nanhai5, and Nanhai6...but they are not really sufficient for extensive patrols.

Each year a larger military transport ship arrives at the island to help provision it in April and November. In addition to that, a civil merchantman comes every 20 days. These vessels usually remain for a day or two when hey come to resupply.

Power for Taiping Island has historically been provided by five 200 kW diesel generators, where all fuel had to be shipped from the Taiwan. But those are backup power now because two solar initiatives provided the island with first a 20.3 kW facility in 2001, and then in 2014, a 40 kW photovoltaic power station with a 612 kW storage facility was installed. This facility now produces about 50MWh per year. itself. The solar systems save about 49,000 liters of diesel fuel per year and generate more than enough power for the islands needs.

As I say, it's a nice island and a very decent facility for Taiwan.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Exercise comes first on Yonshu Island.

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[Blackstone]

The mouse that roared.

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Taiwan held small-scale military drills on an island it controls just off the Chinese coast Tuesday, in a renewed signal of its determination to defend itself from Chinese threats.


The head of Kinmen's defense command said the beach landing exercise and simulated attack by the navy's elite "frogman" commandos were to show the ability of the armed forces to provide security in the Taiwan Strait ahead of next month's Lunar New Year holiday.

The drills follow live-fire exercises held by China in the area just days after Taiwanese voters elected independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen as president on Jan. 16. The unit involved in those exercises, the 31st Group Army, is charged with responding to contingencies involving Taiwan and is based in the city of Xiamen, directly across a narrow waterway from Kinmen.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory and threatens to use force to bring the island under its control.

The Kinmen commander, Hau Yi-he, said no unusual Chinese military movements had been detected since the election and Taiwan's forces would continue with routine drills.

"We have been monitoring their (China's) military movements. So far, it has remained normal," Hau told The Associated Press during a visit to the island organized by Taiwan's Defense Ministry.

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Taiwan's "frogmen" Marines perform covert landing drills just a few kilometers from ma …
Taiwan retained Kinmen and the Matsu island group to the north as frontline defense outposts for Nationalist forces that retreated to Taiwan following the Communists' 1949 sweep to power in China's civil war.

Reporters were later flown to an air base in the southern county of Chiayi that is home to some of the air force's F-16A/B fighter jets, along with an air rescue group. Taiwan has sought to purchase the more advanced F-16C/D version of the plane from the U.S., a bid that, if successful, would be sure to elicit a furious response from Beijing.

While China in recent years has promoted the concept of peaceful unification rather than outright invasion, it has refused to drop its military threat and passed a law in 2005 laying out the conditions under which it would attack. While not setting a timetable, President Xi Jinping has told visitors he doesn't wish the issue of independence to be put off for future generations.

Writing Monday in the Communist Party newspaper Global Times, commentator and retired general Luo Yuan said China would never bend in its determination to realize unification, regardless of developments on Taiwan.

"As long as 'peace' has not died, we will give 100 percent," wrote Luo, whose views reflect a popular strain of thinking among nationalist Chinese. "But if the 'Taiwan independence' elements force us into a corner, then we have no other choice but 'unification by force.'"

 

[PanAsian]

I also don't think that Taiwan will be giving up Taiping Island to anyone but it's interesting that the DPP declined to send a representative on this trip given that the DPP won the presidency and will also be the largest block in the legislature. There are a lot of ways the DPP can alter Taiwan's SCS claims without giving Taiping Island away.

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World| Wed Jan 27, 2016 12:02am EST
Taiwan president to visit contested South China Sea island on Thursday
TAIPEI | BY J.R. WU

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will fly to the Taiwanese-held island of Itu Aba in the disputed South China Sea on Thursday, a visit that comes amid growing international concern over rising tensions in the contested waterway.

Ma's office said the president, who steps down in May, wanted to offer Chinese New Year wishes to residents on Itu Aba, mainly Taiwanese coastguard personnel and environmental scholars. Ma will spend a few hours on Itu Aba, known as Taiping in Taiwan, his office added.

Itu Aba lies in the Spratly archipelago, where China's rapid construction of seven man-made islands has drawn alarm across parts of Asia and been heavily criticized by Washington.

Taiwan has just finished a $100 million port upgrade and built a new lighthouse on Itu Aba, which has its own airstrip, a hospital and fresh water.

Ma's visit follows elections won by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Ma's office said it had asked DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen to send a representative, but the party said it had no plans to do so.

Both Taiwan and China claim most of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also have competing claims.

Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said he expected the Philippines and Vietnam to lodge a strong protest, likely seeing the visit as a violation of their claimed sovereignty over Itu Aba.

"But I do think it is unlikely they would stage a similar visit involving a senior political figure going to one of their own occupied islands ... that would risk inflaming relations with China and neither want to go that far," Storey said.

Asked to comment on Ma's planned visit, the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office reiterated that China and Taiwan had a common duty to protect Chinese sovereignty in the waterway, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

"Safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as safeguarding the overall interests of the Chinese nation is the common responsibility and obligation of compatriots across the straits," spokesman Ma Xiaoguang told reporters in Beijing.

CHINA UNFAZED

The claims of both China and Taiwan are based on maps from the late 1940s belonging to the Nationalists, when they ruled all of China. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated in a civil war with China's Communists.

Beijing deems Taiwan a wayward province to be retaken by force if necessary.

But it has appeared unfazed by Taiwan's upgrading work on Itu Aba. Military strategists say that is because Itu Aba could fall into China's hands should it ever take over Taiwan.

Taiwan for its part has tended not to take sides with China in the South China Sea, despite the historical connection, given the political mistrust between them and because of its need to maintain good ties with the United States.

Dustin Wang, a long-time Taiwanese scholar on the South China Sea and who has visited Itu Aba, said one of Ma's goals was to highlight the island's civilian uses.

"Ma will demonstrate that facilities on the island, like the hospital, provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," he said.

Itu Aba was now the fourth largest island in the Spratlys after China's land reclamation work on Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef and Subi Reef, Taiwan's coastguard said in October.

The island supports around 180 people, about 150 of them coastguard personnel who have had oversight of the 46-hectare (114-acre) island since 2000.

The last Taiwan president to visit Itu Aba was the DPP's Chen Shui-bian in 2008.

(Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing, Sui-Lee Wee in Singapore and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Editing by Dean Yates)

 

[tidalwave]

Taiwan should sue Philipines in the court for Perjury, lying in the court about Taiping island is a rock incapable of supporting life.
Taiping island is the only naturally formed island in Spratley island chain that has natural fresh water, definitely capable of supporting lives.

On top of that, it's outside 200 miles of either philippines and Vietnam.

 

[siegecrossbow]

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TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's planned trip to the Taiwanese-held island of Itu Aba in the disputed South China Sea is "extremely unhelpful" and won't do anything to resolve disputes over the waterway, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

Ma's office earlier announced that the president, who steps down in May, would fly to Itu Aba on Thursday to offer Chinese New Year wishes to residents on the island, mainly Taiwanese coastguard personnel and environmental scholars.

But Ma's one-day visit to Itu Aba, known as Taiping in Taiwan, comes amid growing international concern over rising tensions in the waterway and quickly drew the ire of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

"We are disappointed that President Ma Ying-jeou plans to travel to Taiping Island," AIT spokeswoman Sonia Urbom said in an email to Reuters.

"Such an action is extremely unhelpful and does not contribute to the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea."

The United States wanted Taiwan and all claimants to lower tensions, rather than taking actions that could raise them, Urbom added.

On a visit to Beijing on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington and Beijing needed to find a way to ease tensions in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

"We talked about the possibility of a diplomatic way forward and Foreign Minister Wang Yi accepted the idea that it would be worth exploring whether or not there was a way to reduce the tensions and solve some of the challenges through diplomacy," Kerry said.

Both Taiwan and China claim most of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also have competing claims. Vietnam's most senior official in Taiwan said Hanoi "resolutely opposes" Ma's planned visit.

Itu Aba lies in the Spratly archipelago, where China's rapid construction of seven man-made islands has drawn alarm across parts of Asia and been heavily criticized by Washington.

Taiwan has just finished a $100 million port upgrade and built a new lighthouse on Itu Aba, which has its own airstrip, a hospital and fresh water.

Ma's visit follows elections won by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Ma's office said it had asked DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen to send a representative, but the party said it had no plans to do so.

Beijing, recognized by most of the world as the head of "one China", deems Taiwan a wayward province to be retaken by force if necessary.

Yann-huei Song, a prominent Taiwan scholar who advises the government on South China Sea issues, said Ma was making the trip to make sure Taiwan, recognized by only a handful of countries, had a voice.

"No one is listening to Taiwan," Song, who is a research fellow with the prestigious Academia Sinica in Taiwan, told Reuters. "You are not allowed to participate in the multilateral dispute mechanism. What would you do?"

Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said he expected the Philippines and Vietnam to lodge a strong protest.

"But I do think it is unlikely they would stage a similar visit involving a senior political figure going to one of their own occupied islands ... that would risk inflaming relations with China and neither want to go that far," Storey said.

CHINA UNFAZED

Asked to comment on Ma's planned visit, the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office reiterated that China and Taiwan had a common duty to protect Chinese sovereignty in the waterway.

"Safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as safeguarding the overall interests of the Chinese nation is the common responsibility and obligation of compatriots across the straits," spokesman Ma Xiaoguang told reporters in Beijing.

The claims of both China and Taiwan are based on maps from the late 1940s belonging to the Nationalists, when they ruled all of China. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists.

But it has appeared unfazed by Taiwan's upgrading work on Itu Aba. Military strategists say that is because Itu Aba could fall into China's hands should it ever take over Taiwan.

Dustin Wang, a long-time Taiwanese scholar on the South China Sea who has visited Itu Aba, said one of Ma's goals was to highlight the island's civilian uses.

"Ma will demonstrate that facilities on the island, like the hospital, provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," he said.

Itu Aba was now the fourth largest island in the Spratlys after China's land reclamation work on Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef and Subi Reef, Taiwan's coastguard said in October.

The island supports around 180 people, about 150 of them coastguard personnel who have had oversight of the 46-hectare (114-acre) island since 2000.

 

[joshuatree]

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TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan's coastguard said on Monday (Jan 25) that one of its vessels used water cannon this month to drive off a Vietnamese fishing boat near disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Two Vietnamese fishing boats were sighted on Jan 6 some 2.5 nautical miles (around 4,600m) off Taiping Island, an Taiwan-administered islet in the Spratlys, the coastguard said in a statement.

The Spratly islands are also claimed in part or in whole by Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

The two Taiwanese coastguard boats, which have been deployed there since December to replace smaller vessels, scrambled to drive off the Vietnamese boats.

One left while the second refused and instead attempted to zigzag. One coastguard vessel opened fire with water cannon because of fears it might be rammed, the statement said.

While denying accusations in Vietnamese media that Taiwanese coastguards had enforced the law outside their territorial waters, the coastguard tried to keep the event low-profile.

"That was a regular law-enforcement practise in a sensitive area," one coastguard official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

China is seen by other claimants as the biggest threat in the South China Sea.

The Philippines and Vietnam have complained that China is becoming increasingly aggressive in its actions in the area - such as harassing fishermen - and also through bullying diplomatic tactics.

As part of efforts to strengthen defence capabilities, Taiwan late last year inaugurated a solar-powered lighthouse, an expanded airstrip and a pier on Taiping Island.

It serves as the home port of the 100-tonne coastguard cutters and could accommodate 3,000-tonne naval frigates.

 

[Blackstone]

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Hehe, Obama and Neocons in the American government forgot their new attack dog, Vietnam, is actually a loose cannon that are just as likely to bite friends as foes. My prediction is Hanoi will become a tar baby and Washington would rue the day it embraced that Communist regime.