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

Jeff Head said:

Yes, I am aware of what the ships and structures the Chinese have are doing.

My question was really whether the pictures on the Vietnam side, of the island with the trees and the buildings where they too are constructing is also from Johnson South Reef.

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Sorry ,I forgot to translate it .Which I show are Sin Cowe Island (景宏岛 in Chinese)and West London Reef(西礁 in Chinese).

so this Sin Cowe Island is occupied by Vietnam ... but is claimed by PRC, ROC and the Philippine ?

This is huge news, pun intended! It's extremely bold to build such a base only a few kilometers or less from a Vietnamese outpost. The South China Sea is like the Wild West with few rules governing what you can and cannot do. Land and reefs belong to the taker. The Spratly Islands are very small and spread out. But for every square meter of dry land there is probably 20 square meters of submerged reef that can be easily raised through land reclamation. China has lots of experience with land reclamation. Some of the reefs are big enough to support air and naval bases. Just look at how the Hong Kong airport was built on reclaimed land.

youngtomous said:

That change is started by VIETNAM from last half year to now.
here is some photo which show ealier .
View attachment 9577and View attachment 9578View attachment 9579

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What was ultimately built by the Vietnamese on Sin Cowe Island? Harbor? Runway? Land reclaimed? Radar?

Notice not one single media reported any of this?

joshuatree said:

What was ultimately built by the Vietnamese on Sin Cowe Island? Harbor? Runway? Land reclaimed? Radar?

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Painted target?

Vietnam has been upgrading one of their outposts.

Here is an older photo:



And here is a more recent photo of the building in the foreground, date unknown:



They might be different buildings, though. What do you think?

Geographer said:

Vietnam has been upgrading one of their outposts.

Here is an older photo:

And here is a more recent photo of the building in the foreground, date unknown:

They might be different buildings, though. What do you think?

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Hard to say, the position between the two piers seem to be different in the pics, not unless that was part of the upgrades. They all seem to be mainly outposts for showing the flag. Not much in terms of larger ELINT facilities. I don't find it that bold for the Chinese to be building in front of the Vietnamese outpost. If what the Vietnamese built on Sin Cowe Island not far away was rather big, this is a response as well as insuring they can repel an attack if the Vietnamese feel they have an advantage. But as I mentioned earlier, not a single media mentioned the construction on Sin Cowe Island which would be a violation of the so called Code and all that one-sided provocation mumbo jumbo talk.

The land reclamation project makes with AP. Surprisingly it's from the Philippines even though the Vietnamese must have known about it for months. I guess Vietnam has its hands full with the oil rig protests and doesn't want to stir up the country's red hot anti-Chinese sentiment.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has protested China's efforts to reclaim land in a disputed reef in the South China Sea that can be used to build any facility, including an airstrip or an offshore military base in the increasingly volatile region, the country's top diplomat and other officials said Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told The Associated Press that the Philippines lodged the protest against China last month after surveillance aircraft confirmed, and took pictures of the reclamation and dredging being done by Chinese vessels at the Johnson Reef in the Spratly Islands, which Manila says violates a regional non-aggression pact.

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They say it's at Johnson Reef.

Geographer said:

The land reclamation project makes

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with AP. Surprisingly it's from the Philippines even though the Vietnamese must have known about it for months. I guess Vietnam has its hands full with the oil rig protests and doesn't want to stir up the country's red hot anti-Chinese sentiment.


They say it's at Johnson Reef.

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Not surprising. Clearly, it's just part of their propaganda tactic as this thread has already shown photos the Vietnamese were building nearby themselves yet no protest. Where the Vietnamese built is still territory that the Philippines lay claims to as well thus part of the dispute as well as part of the non-aggression pact. But the Philippines overlook it. Right now, the real bullying is this attempt to gang up on China and the blatant lie that none of the other parties have made any provocative moves themselves.

But going back to the land reclamation, could it be used to build part of China's SONUS network?

I thought you guys might be interested from the perspective of someone who's actually working on these islands in the SCS:

One of my brother in law is a senior engineer with China Mobile, and he's been sent on a one month 'deployment' to the islands in the Paracels. His is tasked with the supervision of building communication networks and their maintenance. I've been following his blog on WeChat

He says almost all of the inhabited islands in the Paracels now have full 4G coverage and is connected with undersea fiber optics to the mainland in Hainan (mainly for military use).

He says the airport at Sansha (Woody Island) is the busiest with military fighters it has ever been (just in today) - and he's been to the island a few times. There is a heavy presence of major construction firms, military personnel and surprisingly TV crews. He would gladly take photos but apparently the whole island is littered with surveillance cameras he's afraid to get caught.

He also complains about the length of his trip because he won't be able to see his newborn daughter for a month, and that conditions are tough! They eat all sorts of weird tropical fish the fishermen catch in the surrounding waters, and things like no fresh-water showers and drinking water of questionable quality (he jokes about being told coloured 'natural water' is good for health) are amongst the elements they face.

It looks like China is serious about stepping up presence in the SCS and they are increasing the pace of infrastructure building to support it. Anyway I hope I haven't bored you guys with these stories