PLAN SCS Bases/Islands/Vessels (Not a Strategy Page)

Deino

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Deino, please tell me you're not starting with the falmpalm photos as well...


Promised ... I'll stop ... but sometimes even me - especially in times of great tense - is loosing my patience!
 

Tyler

Captain
Registered Member
If you're talking about long-term habitation over the decades/centuries, Taiping Island is a better option for an inhabited island in the SCS.

Yes, a South China Seas version of the Xinjiang BingTuan would make sense.

But I think it should be on a much smaller scale, and the reclaimed SCS islands are best limited to aquaculture, agriculture, tourism and helping the islands become more self-sufficient.

Plus the SCS islands have strategic value as they help the Chinese military protect the sea lanes carrying China's trade.
If the Chinese consider these islands to be of very high strategic value, then they should protect them well. Some people would recommend further land reclamation, but due to global warming, higher water levels need to be taken into consideration.
 

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
If the Chinese consider these islands to be of very high strategic value, then they should protect them well. Some people would recommend further land reclamation, but due to global warming, higher water levels need to be taken into consideration.

Ask yourself why the SCS islands are of high strategic value?

The islands are relatively small fixed installations, so they will always be vulnerable to attack and being isolated.

We've already had this debate and discussion in the SCS strategy thread many times.

 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
They found more andmore fresh water well under Yongshu aka fiery cross island via Nan Yang

Freshwater reservoir found at one of Beijing’s artificial islands in the South China Sea
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
  • Chinese scientists discovered the body of water beneath Fiery Cross Reef and it’s thought to be expanding at a fast rate of 1 metre a year
  • They believe land reclamation has accelerated the process, and similar reservoirs may be forming at other man-made islands
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
in Beijing
Published: 6:00pm, 28 Jun, 2020

A fast-expanding body of fresh water has appeared under one of Beijing’s controversial man-made islands in
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
, a Chinese study has found.

The fresh water was discovered beneath Fiery Cross Reef, known as Yongshu in China, and is believed to be growing at a rate of about 1 metre (3.3 feet) per year – more than twice the speed observed on naturally formed islands.

Similar reservoirs could also be building up under other artificial islands across the region, according to researchers from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology in Guangzhou.


They could “serve as an important water resource for local inhabitants and ecosystems”, the team led by marine geologist Xu Hehua said in a peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of Hydrology last month.

Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the resource-rich South China Sea, but there are
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
, and its island-building activities over the past six years have unnerved the region and drawn criticism from the US.
Fiery cross well.jpg
Fiery Cross Reef is part of the disputed Spratly archipelago claimed by China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Once a small coral atoll, China began building on the reef back in 2015 – turning it into an island that is 10 times the original size and now spans more than 2 sq km (0.77 sq miles).

With military facilities including missile launchers and a runway, Washington-based think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies calls it Beijing’s “most advanced” artificial base in the South China Sea.

It also gets a lot of rain. According to the study, annual rainfall was nearly 3,000mm (118 inches) at the reef – five times the average in mainland China.

While most of that rainwater sank underground through silt and sand, a belt of fresh water was found to be floating on top of the salt water, which is heavier and more dense.

This phenomenon, known as a “freshwater lens”, can take up to 150 years to form and stabilise on a naturally formed island, according to earlier studies.

But at Fiery Cross Reef, it appears to be moving a lot faster. Based on data from observational wells across the island, Xu and his team found the freshwater lens had appeared just two years after the land was reclaimed. This year it measured 7 metres (23 feet), and they predict it will have expanded to a depth of 15 metres (49 feet) by 2035.


Fiery cross well_2.jpg

The scientists believe land reclamation has sped up the process.

Five years ago, China sent in dredgers and cranes to build on the reef. They dredged up sand from the shallow lagoon and pumped it into the coral reef to create an artificial island 5 metres (16 feet) above sea level.

“This process is very similar to the formation of natural coral islands, which mainly depends on storm or tidal waves to move and carry coral debris to form the island,” Xu said in the paper. “[Land reclamation has] accelerated this process.”

The researchers found that the level of fresh water changed with extreme weather such as typhoons, which brought salt water flooding onto the island. But according to their computer modelling, the freshwater body on Fiery Cross Reef could become stable in as little as 15 years.

It would be important not just for humans on the island, but also its ecosystem, with many plants and animals depending on fresh groundwater to survive and thrive.

At present, people on China’s man-made islands rely on desalination, and there is a shortage of fresh water, according to official newspaper Science and Technology Daily.

Lu Chunhui, a professor of hydrogeology at Hohai University in Nanjing who was not involved in the study, said the freshwater lens could be fragile – and if it was tapped too early it could cause seawater to contaminate the reservoir.

He said it was possible to estimate how much fresh water could be extracted without damaging the resource, but it would require a wide range of data such as weather records and geological surveys.

Marine engineers have proposed ways to stop seawater intrusion on the island, including by building a wall. “Such technology works not only on remote islands but in coastal cities with water problems such as Singapore and Hong Kong,” Lu said.
 
Last edited:

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
It has been a while since we got video about life in SCS Here is a new one via Xinhui It must be hard for those young soliers isolated, boredom, hot and humid. limited water facility, limited food choice. but at least they have 4G wireless service to keep in touch with family

The main content of this program: There are romantic white beaches and clear blue seas and blue sky here; few people set foot here, but a group of "special residents" are stationed here. Zhongjian Island, with an area of only 1.2 square kilometers, is located at the southwestern end of my country's Paracel Islands and is an important coastal defense outpost in my country. This "vacation resort" in the eyes of ordinary people is different in the eyes of the officers and soldiers stationed all year round. This program tells you about three special islands and takes you to see how the "special residents" live on the islands. #军纪实 #Military
1597896502091.png

1597896325119.png
 
Last edited:

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
From Henri k blog this is an excellent use of old plane
Chinese logistics giant SF Express's FH-98 cargo drone made its first commercial flight today, between Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. Derived from the Y-5B transport aircraft, the #drone can transport up to 1.5t of cargo over a distance of 1200 km
1598019860009.png

A cheap way to resupply those islet in SCS with medicine, mail,vital spare parts, foods
1598019873794.png
 

advill

Junior Member
Thank you for the Interesting Videos Hendrik_2000. BTW, the Chinese Senior Foreign Affairs dignitary visited Singapore recently. He had talks with our PM Lee HL, Snr Minister Teo Chee Hean & Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Trade, Investments etc. with China. Singapore continues to have good relations with China since the time of Ding Xiaoping, and may it continue for many More years to come.
 
Top