China's SCS Strategy Thread

[Hendrik_2000]

hey Hendrik...

like that:

huh?

What is this? Lu Kang the foreign ministry spoke person already respond to the question. If they don't heed then the other foot will drop

When asked about the Reuters report of the drilling, China's foreign ministry spokesman said that no country, organisation, company or individual can, without the permission of the Chinese government, carry out oil and gas exploration or exploitation activities in waters under Chinese jurisdiction.

"We urge relevant parties to earnestly respect China's sovereign and jurisdictional rights and not do anything that could impact bilateral relations or this region's peace and stability," the spokesman, Lu Kang, told a regular news briefing on Thursday.

China's U-shaped "nine-dash line" marks a vast expanse of the South China Sea that it claims, including large swathes of Vietnam's Exclusive Economic Zone. Maps of the area indicate the block is around 85 kms (53 miles) inside the contested area.

A series of dashes, the line is not continuous making China's claims often ambiguous. In recent years, though, China has increasingly patrolled and enforced the area, claiming historic rights to the resources and features within it.

In March, Vietnam halted an oil drilling project in the nearby "Red Emperor" block following pressure from China, sources told Reuters.

That block is licensed to Spanish energy firm Repsol, which has asked Vietnam to pay compensation over the issue.

 

[Jura The idiot]

What is this ...

I meant the Russian connection inside Today at 4:17 PM

after your dancing vid
Dec 17, 2017

...

anyway let's wait and see if Russians become yet another player in the SCS

 

[taxiya]

I meant the Russian connection inside Today at 4:17 PM

after your dancing vid
Dec 17, 2017


anyway let's wait and see if Russians become yet another player in the SCS

The Russians with its former incarnation (USSR) was always a player in SCS through Vietnam. They never left, only downsized from full blown navy base, arm supply to lower number of arm supply (Su-30 and boats and missiles), recently the oil company.

It's not a surprise that they are there. The question is if they are going to stay clear from the nine-dash line. And I am sure nobody will stay clear without some pressure. The Sino-Russo boarder was not finally settled without pressure and shooting.

Yes, today's Sino-Russo relationship was much improved than pre-2000s, but that improvement was not just based on good-wills alone.

So the actual question is "if Russians will make the right choice as they did in the 1990s and 2010s".

 

[Hendrik_2000]

The Chinese H-6K bomber landed and took off for the first time on Woody Island, Paracels in the South China Sea. The gain in scope of this operation is not significant but it augurs well the next step for the Spratleys, much further south.

 

[Hendrik_2000]

Here is the video

 

[Hendrik_2000]

Here is the range and coverage of H6K practically China can now access the whole SEA from woody island. And once those bases in Spratly active they can even cover Northern Australia and Guam
From AMTI

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The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) announced on May 18 that it had landed bombers, including the top-of-the-line H-6K, on an outpost in the South China Sea for the first time. Social media posts on the PLAAF’s Weibo account, as well as the state-owned People’s DailyTwitter account, showed a long-range bomber landing and taking off from Woody Island—China’s largest base in the Paracel Islands.

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Chinese bombers including the H-6K conduct takeoff and landing training on an island reef at a southern sea area

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AMTI has

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for eventual deployments to the Spratly Islands farther south.

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at all three of its “Big 3” outposts in the Spratlys (Subi, Mischief, and Fiery Cross Reefs) that can accommodate bombers like the H-6 series (as well as large transport, patrol, and refueling aircraft).

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Three medium-sized and one large hangar on Mischief Reef that could accommodate H-6 bombers. Subi Reef and Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands host similar hangars. Photo taken May 6, 2018.
The base H-6 aircraft’s combat radius of nearly 1000 nautical miles means even China’s basic bombers taking off from Woody Island could cover the entire South China Sea. Nearly all of the Philippines

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, including Manila and

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under the U.S.-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. An H-6K, with its technical upgrades giving it a combat radius of nearly 1900 nautical miles, would dwarf this radius, putting all of Southeast Asia in range of flights from Woody Island.

Future deployments to the Big 3 in the Spratlys would bring Singapore and much of Indonesia within range of even China’s lower-end bombers, while the H-6Ks could reach northern Australia or U.S. defense facilities on Guam.

This news comes on the heels of

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of Chinese military platforms in the South China Sea, including

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, YJ-12B cruise missiles, and HQ-9B surface-to-air missile systems on each of the Big 3.

 

[SteelBird]

more news on this... (video of the H-6K landing inside)

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[Jura The idiot]

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now noticed what's related which is Rosneft says South China Sea drilling is within Vietnam waters

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Drilling in the South China Sea by Rosneft is within Vietnamese territorial waters, the Russian state oil firm said in a statement on Thursday, two days after its Vietnamese subsidiary began drilling in Vietnamese waters claimed by China.

Rosneft’s local unit, Rosneft Vietnam BV, is concerned that its recent drilling in an area of the South China Sea that falls within China’s “nine-dash line” could upset Beijing, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Wednesday. [nL3N1SN56V]

“Offshore license areas of Rosneft on the South China Sea are situated within the territorial waters of Vietnam,” Rosneft said in its statement.

“The Company conducts its operations on the shelf of Vietnam in a strict accordance with the license obligations and compliance with the subsoil use legislation of the Republic of Vietnam”.

 

[Jura The idiot]

Beijing lands nuclear bombers in the South China Sea in clear sign that it has pushed out the US without firing a shot
I guess

• Beijing upped the ante in the South China Sea on Friday by releasing footage of its H-6K nuclear-capable bombers landing on artificially made islands in disputed waters — and it sends a clear message of who dominates the region.
• China has taken an increasingly aggressive stance to back up its unilateral, illegal claims to the waters of the South China Sea, where trillions in international trade pass through every year.
• Flying bombers in and out proves China runs the show, and nobody will fight them over it because there's too much at stake.

etc.:

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[Hendrik_2000]

Illegal landing? No for sure from Beijing POV Here is article from China daily via Taishang

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China Daily, May 19, 2018

An H-6K bomber during an exercise. [Photo/Xinhua]

The People's Liberation Army Air Force landed its H-6K bomber aircraft on an airport in the South China Sea during a recent exercise, marking the first time Chinese bombers have used an airport in the region.

Several H-6Ks from an unidentified aviation division, headed by division commander Hao Jianke, took off from an undisclosed air base in South China and made a simulated strike against sea targets before landing on an island in the South China Sea, according to a statement published by the Air Force on Friday.

The aircraft then conducted takeoff drills using the island's airport, the statement said. It noted the operation provided experience for Air Force bomber units to use islands as their bases.

The division involved in the exercise has taken part in patrols over the western Pacific Ocean, South China Sea and plateaus, according to the Air Force.

The statement quoted Wang Mingliang, a researcher at the PLA Air Force Command College, as saying that takeoff and landing exercises on islands in the South China Sea will help the Air Force strengthen its combat capability to deal with marine security threats.

Wang Yanan, editor of Aerospace Knowledge, told China Daily that after the Air Force's bombers are able to be deployed on islands in the South China Sea, their operational range as well as China's maritime defense parameters will be tremendously extended, adding to existing prowess to deter any plots to compromise China's territorial integrity from the sea.

According to the Chinese government, there are at least four large airports in the South China Sea - on Yongxing Island in the Xisha Islands and Meiji, Zhubi and Yongshu reefs in the Nansha Islands - that are capable of handling large aircraft.

In 2016, large jetliners from Chinese airlines carried out landings and takeoffs using airports on Meiji, Zhubi and Yongshu reefs.

The H-6K is the PLA's most advanced bomber and is capable of carrying supersonic cruise missiles to make precision strikes against land targets or ships. Foreign analysts speculate that the aircraft has a flight range of about 3,500 kilometers while China's CJ-10 series cruise missiles have a minimum range of 1,500 km, which means the bomber is able to hit targets at least 5,000 km from where it takes off.

Aviation Industry Corp of China, the nation's leading aircraft maker, is developing a new long-range strategic bomber, which observers say is likely to have an operational range of at least 12,000 kilometers and a maximum carrying capacity of 20 metric tons of bombs and missiles.