PLAN SCS Bases/Islands/Vessels (Not a Strategy Page)
- Thread starter lilzz
- Start date
A picture of Huayang (Cuateron) Island, Not sure when it was taken. Someone pointed out that as the lighthouse was not completed, this could be taken some time back.
From the distance, it looks like a small beautiful seaside town.
The pic below attempts to show the location of the buildings on the island.
From the distance, it looks like a small beautiful seaside town.
The pic below attempts to show the location of the buildings on the island.
yuxiaochen
Junior Member
Woody Island is a semi-military governed island, i would say 75percent of the facilities on the island belong to the PLA Navy, i dont think it should come as a surprise that anti-ship missiles are being deployed on the island since there are at least two types of fighter jets with anti-surface capabilities stationed on the island.
yuxiaochen
Junior Member
well, since this video came out, I guess I can post more photos? haha
Make sure to include serials for Deino!
Go re-read the Indonesian press articles. The vessel was under tow and when inside the 12nm limit it was rammed by a CCG vessel. They intercepted the vessel at 10pm, the ramming occurred at midnight or before.
Vessels under tow travel at 3 to 10 knots per hour. 2 hours under tow.
Therefore the vessel was operating nearly at, or inside, the 12nm limit of Indonesia before being intercepted.
How China interprets this as their "traditional fishing waters", is a mystery to the Indonesians who immediately protested this via diplomatic channels.
Also the continued silence here regarding the Chinese ramming other vessels as policy is curious.
If Indonesia did this to China at the same distance, how would China react?
Vessels under tow travel at 3 to 10 knots per hour. 2 hours under tow.
Therefore the vessel was operating nearly at, or inside, the 12nm limit of Indonesia before being intercepted.
How China interprets this as their "traditional fishing waters", is a mystery to the Indonesians who immediately protested this via diplomatic channels.
Also the continued silence here regarding the Chinese ramming other vessels as policy is curious.
If Indonesia did this to China at the same distance, how would China react?
plawolf
Lieutenant General
I just love the hypocritical and self-contradictory nature of that quote, which sums up much of the public US military position perfectly.
On the one hand, they are insisting that Chinse military assets on those islands will be 'hard to defend', because the location of the islands are known (as if that is enough to pinpoint the missiles for strikes), yet in the next breath they are arguing for US military bases in the region. As if those bases would somehow be able to magically run away to be at a different location in times of war.
It is quite clear to me that senior USN officials in charge of the Pacific, examplified by Harris, has an almost unseemly appetite for rising tensions in the SCS, as both a means to leverage a greater share of shrinking US military spending, as well as a means of extending their military reach into the region once more.
The backdrop to all of that is the shocking complacency and casual dismissal of Chinese military capabilities in the SCS they, and their mouthpieces in the media, have publicly voiced.
It is a truly bizzar spectacle to behold the same person hype up Chinese military threats on the one hand as justification for greater US military deployments in the region, while at the same time downplaying and dismissing Chinese military capabilities in case anyone asks awkward questions like - just how much blood and treasure would a war with China in the SCS cost the US if the chickenhawks miscalculate and push China too far?
Even more amazingly is how no one in the so called 'free' western press could apparently see such an obviously self-contradiction and call them out to explain and reconcile it.
It's quite clear that Harris and his men wants to have their cake and eat it also. But China isn't going to be nearly so considering of their wants.
Either Chinese military deployments in the SCS are a serious threat, which would justify USN opposition to them, since those military deployments would pose serious challenges to the USN's ability to operate in the region in times of hostilities. OR, those military deployments (not to mention the thus far purely civilian deployments in the Sparatlies) are of minimal threat even in times of war, in which case it begs the question of why the USN is trying to make such a massive deal out of it if they can just roll in and take those islands out and/or over anywhere close to as easily as Harris and other media talking heads are implying? And no, invoking Pearl Harbour is a stupid excuse, not least because unless the US sets up a major military base in the region and park a large fleet there, there would be nothing to ambush from those islands.
When senior military commanders starts playing political games so openly and brazenly is when one should be careful of value of the 'professional' opinion they are giving out.
Normally i dont post on SCS threads (very political), but what chinese CG ships have done is not the way to behave at sea, even if they werent at indonesian territorial waters, and just at disputed EEZ waters. Just because china has a lot of CG vessels and the others dont, doesnt give them the legitimacy to do it, at least not in a way that will keep the friendship of these same nations. Although i think that in this case the chinese top leadership is aware that they went too far, judging by their intentions for indonesia to keep quiet about it:
However now indonesia is getting ready for more escalation.
IMO china must start to put red lines on its CG fleet. I understand that china is an infant naval power, and CG vessels perhabs dont have the same standart of behaviour as PLAN. However if incidents like these keep happening, china will have another adversary in SE asia, something that they really dont want to see. China already has more than enough of them in east asia, specially if we are talking about indonesia, a 255 million people nation.
Japan and the US had militarized the Ryukyus much more heavily than this and is expanding that militarization all along that island chain right up to Taiwan's doorstep and the disputed Diaoyus/Senkakus.