China's SCS Strategy Thread

[Blackstone]

It should be 59 missile But according to the Russian only 23 hit the target and the rest missed or get lost. If that supposed to scare Xi the effect would be the opposite

I don't know who is telling the truth The American claim every one of their missile hi t the target. But the runway is escaped unscathed and they are using it again

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Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian defence ministry, said Russia would help Syria strengthen its air defences, though he did not mention whether Russian air defences currently in place in Syria were told to stand down. He said a “range of measures” would be put in place to help “protect the most sensitive Syrian infrastructure facilities”.

Konashenkov claimed that only 23 of the 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles reached the base, with the rest missing the target. He said six Syrian fighter jets at the base had been destroyed, but many remained unscathed and the runway was undamaged.

“This step will have far-reaching consequences,” said the Russian MP Mikhail Yemelyanov on Friday morning. “There’s a risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and the US and the consequences could be very difficult, right up to an armed clash and exchanging strikes – nothing can be excluded here.”

I don't believe Russia's claims over US, and reports out of Washinton is 58 out of 60 hit their intended targets. That's an impressive operation.

 

[Jura The idiot]

now I read
Chinese patrol ships keep presence around Malaysian reefs

Exclusive: Ship-tracking data shows Chinese coastguard vessels at Luconia Shoals, 1,000 miles from mainland

Chinese coastguard vessels maintain a near-constant presence around reefs claimed by Malaysia in the

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, ship-tracking data shared with the Guardian has revealed.

The findings show the extent of Beijing’s military ambitions far south of its borders, antagonising south-east Asian countries and deepening a potentially explosive foreign policy crisis with the US president, Donald Trump.

During the first two months of 2017,

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the Luconia Shoals, an area of islets and reefs that are more than 1,000 miles (1,600km) from mainland China and only about 90 miles (145 km) north of Malaysian Borneo.

The ships were traced by the

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, part of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the non-profit

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(C4ADS).

The US-based groups said the two months were not unusual and were consistent with regular rotations of up to 11 Chinese patrol ships it had traced in the area since late 2015.

Control over the South China Sea, a route for half the world’s commercial shipping, has become a major international conflict point, with Beijing asserting sovereignty over maritime areas also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan,

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, Brunei and the Philippines.

China has spent years reclaiming reefs and last month

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in the region that have naval, air, radar and missile-defence facilities.

The issue is expected to be high on the agenda for a meeting between Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping,

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.

Chinese vessels with armed personnel aboard that escort Chinese fishing boats have been

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around Luconia Shoals before. Malaysian fishermen say these vessels have chased them away from the area.

In 2015, Malaysia departed from its normally soft approach to the South

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Sea dispute to protest against what it said was an intrusion.

The Chinese vessels were said to have withdrawn in late 2015 but AMTI and C4ADS said “it appears that Chinese ships returned almost immediately”. In March 2016, Malaysia

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to explain why a large number of China-flagged boats were in Malaysian waters.

During January and February this year, only one Malaysian government vessel patrolled the shoals, the AMTI and C4ADS said, adding that it came a close as four miles to a Chinese ship, “indicating that its purpose was likely to monitor the CCG presence”.

Malaysia’s ministry of defence did not respond to a request for comment.

The shoals, which remain under water at high-tide, are inside the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone claimed by Malaysia and are located between the hotly contested Spratly Islands to the north and James Shoal, which China often calls its southernmost territory, to the south.

China’s coastguard fleet is often armed with machine guns and can be placed under army control during wartime. The largest ship type operating in the Luconia Shoals is the 5,000-tonne Shuoshi II-class.

China denies it is militarising the South China Sea.

The US conducts regular air and naval patrols to assert its rights of passage. The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said in January the US should

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to islands it has built in the South China Sea. A Chinese military aircraft had an

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with a US navy surveillance aircraft over the area in February.

China has installed HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles at one island as well as anti-ship cruise missiles, AMTI said. It had also built enough hangars for 72 combat aircraft and several larger bombers.

The reclamation of the islands has also had a

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on some of the world’s most biodiverse coral reefs.

source is The Guardian

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[joshuatree]

now I read
Chinese patrol ships keep presence around Malaysian reefs

source is The Guardian

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Luconia Breakers actually has a little island that is above high tide. It is reported as natural and rather recently made by natural forces. Don't think UNCLOS has any proper mechanisms in resolving such scenarios. Its definitely outside of territorial waters and EEZs do not afford the right to make soveriegnty claims.

 

[antiterror13]

I don't believe Russia's claims over US, and reports out of Washinton is 58 out of 60 hit their intended targets. That's an impressive operation.

I believe the figure from the US side ... anyway Tomahawk is a precision expensive cruise missile and the target is well defined and unprotected ......... so unless engine malfunction, I'd expect it would hit 100%

 

[antiterror13]

Never the less Melania Trump looked stunning in that red dress!

Yeapp, just age differences between the two first ladies ... but both are stunning

btw .. I can see the big differences of Trump manners/attitudes toward Xi then a few weeks a ago toward Merkel .... its a humiliation to Merkel ... in my opinion

 

[mr.bean]

Yeapp, just age differences between the two first ladies ... but both are stunning

btw .. I can see the big differences of Trump manners/attitudes toward Xi then a few weeks a ago toward Merkel .... its a humiliation to Merkel ... in my opinion

i have the same thoughts like you. i was surprised how President Trump treated Merkel, a heavy weight in Europe and a traditional ally. despite treating China as the biggest political punching bag during his election, Trump IMO went out of his way to be cordial and respectful to Xi Dada.

 

[Blackstone]

i have the same thoughts like you. i was surprised how President Trump treated Merkel, a heavy weight in Europe and a traditional ally. despite treating China as the biggest political punching bag during his election, Trump IMO went out of his way to be cordial and respectful to Xi Dada.

I wonder if Trump read US intelligence intercepts where Merkel badmouthed Trump to other world leaders. That might explain the seeming bad blood between the two.

 

[advill]

I am a realist - I think the South China Sea will be put on back burners & there could be light at the end of the tunnel. Our worry is North Korea - Trump will do what he says, & my gut feeling is that he may have sounded off President Xi Jiping during their recent meetings.

 

[delft]

North Korea wants to survive. It is only dangerous when attacked.

 

[davidau]

A J-11 on airstrip at Woody Island...