tom22406
Footballguy
Pretty interesting flexing of the muscles that the Chinese have been doing with these artificially created islands they have laid claim to over the last few months and thought it might spark some good conversation here as to what exactly you think they are doing with all this movement.
Article here details some of the military actions they are doing
Article here details some of the military actions they are doing
Another hereChina’s military buildup in the South China Sea is 'beyond anything previously seen'
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/australia-chinas-military-buildup-in-the-south-china-sea-is-beyond-anything-previously-seen-2015-6#ixzz3boYkJ57C
China’s rapid claim on contested islands in the South China Sea is beyond anything seen previously and raises legitimate questions about Beijing’s intentions in the region, the secretary of the Australian defence department, Dennis Richardson, said.
Richardson told a Senate estimates committee on Monday that the military buildup on China’s reclamation program in the South China Sea “dwarfs” what other nations in the region have done previously.
“The land reclamation activity by China in the South China Sea has been at a pace and scale in the last two years beyond anything we have previously seen. It dwarfs what the other claimant states have done, and the size of the land reclamation does raise questions about its purpose,” Richardson said.
China has reportedly started building up its military presence in the artificially created islands, in a region believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves.
Several countries have laid claim to the islands, situated just north of Brunei, and the naval corridor is an important shipping route for Australian vessels.
Labor has also raised concerns over mounting tension in the South China Sea and has urged the government to tread carefully.
The shadow foreign minister, Tanya Plibersek, told ABC radio: “Australia and our Asian neighbours in particular and others in the region have an expectation of being able to move freely now and in the future in this area.”
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She urged the government to take a softly-softly approach to China’s land reclamation program.
“It’s important that we continue to see freedom of movement in that area, particularly freedom of shipping, but making sure that we use language that calms the situation rather than inflames it is very important,” Plibersek said.
“Our contributions should be to ensure that tensions are de-escalated and understandings between the parties continue to improve.”
Plibersek’s comments followed those made by the defence minister, Kevin Andrews, who has voiced opposition to any move by China to militarise the disputed islands.
Andrews hit out at Beijing’s reclamation program during an Asian security summit in Singapore on Sunday.
“We remain concerned by any developments in the South and East China Sea which raise tensions in the region,” he told the summit. “Australia has made clear its opposition to any coercive or unilateral actions to change the status quo in the South and East China Sea. This includes any large-scale land reclamation activity by claimants in the South China Sea.
“We are particularly concerned at the prospect of militarisation of artificial structures,” he continued.
Andrews urged all the parties involved in the dispute – which include China, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines – to sign a code of conduct immediately, in a bid to ease tensions.
“Disputes must be resolved peacefully and Australia urges all parties to exercise restraint, halt all reclamation activities, refrain from provocative actions and take steps to ease tensions,” Andrews said. “Because when tensions are high, the risks of miscalculation resulting in conflict are very real.”
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, echoed the defence minister’s call for multilateral cooperation.
“The only path to working out all these issues … is through international negotiation and discussion. There’s no other path to long-term peace than that,” Shorten said. “We’re all in this together.”
Labor has asked the Coalition for a briefing on the situation in the disputed region.
http://www.businessinsider.com/australia-chinas-military-buildup-in-the-south-china-sea-is-beyond-anything-previously-seen-2015-6
And anotherBEIJING — A Chinese admiral said Sunday that Beijing could set up an air defense zone above disputed areas of the South China Sea if it thought it was facing a large enough threat, according to Chinese news media.
Adm. Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, speaking at a regional security forum in Singapore, said that China had not definitely said it would create a so-called air defense identification zone, but that any decision would be based on an aerial threat assessment and the maritime security situation. He also said other nations should not overemphasize the issue.
The creation of an air defense zone would be viewed by the United States and Southeast Asian nations as a huge provocation. In recent years, foreign officials have speculated whether one of Beijing’s next moves in the South China Sea would be to set up such a zone, which would further solidify China’s military presence in the waters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/world/asia/china-says-it-could-set-up-air-defense-zone-in-south-china-sea.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=1
China is gambling Obama doesn’t have will to respond to its massive land grab
By Michael Auslin
You may not have noticed, as ISIS expands its reach across Iraq and Russia fuels conflict in Ukraine, but the odds of an armed confrontation between the United States and China just dramatically increased.
After years of ignoring China’s growing assertiveness in Asia, the Obama administration has been taken unaware by a major land and power grab by Beijing.
Over the past several years, China has steadily expanded its territorial ambitions, including a claim that the entire South China Sea is under its dominion.
The sea is one of the world’s most strategic bodies of water. It contains crucial sea lanes, such as the Malacca Strait, through which nearly 70,000 ships transit each year.
In the middle of the South China Sea is a loose chain of islets, shoals and reefs called the Spratly Islands. They are claimed by almost every nation in the region, including Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and, of course, China.
The rich fishing waters surrounding the Spratlys have been in contention for decades. The Philippines often have complained to the US — in vain — that powerful Chinese maritime patrol vessels have chased away their boats. Nor is this the only area in which China has thrown around its weight, having challenged Japanese control over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
Now the situation has escalated.
China has engaged in a massive reclamation project, dredging up sand and creating islands on shallow reefs. The US government estimates that up to 2,000 acres of new land has been built. On these “fantasy” islands, China is building airstrips and ports, erecting barracks and establishing radar systems. Guns and fighter jets are next.
Beijing is militarizing its new land and then claiming it as sovereign territory, demanding that other countries stay out of what was once international waters.
For years, Washington ignored treaty allies like the Philippines, which called it “a creeping invasion,” Instead, the Obama administration, like others before it, has bent over backward to try and improve relations with China, even inviting it to our biggest naval exercises.
Much like the supposed Russian “reset,” that goodwill has been spurned.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter last week publicly rebuked Beijing, demanding that it stop its reclamation activities and warning China that is isolating itself in the eyes of the world community. More concretely, Carter and other officials have stated that the US will ignore China’s claims and will fly military planes over the islands’ airspace and will sail within the 12-mile limit claimed by China.
Though no US ships have yet ventured inside that ring, the line has been drawn.
For its part, Beijing is not backing down. Indeed, not only have Chinese officials criticized Washington’s response, a state run newspaper, The Global Times, warned that a “US-China war is inevitable,” if Washington tries to force China to halt its activities. Official Chinese military doctrine is also ominously changing to reflect the new reality, stating that Beijing’s forces will no longer focus solely on territorial defense, but will project power far beyond its borders.
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All it would take is one hotheaded action by a Chinese fighter pilot to ignite an armed confrontation between the two sides. Unlike during the Cold War days, when Moscow and Washington established important crisis-management mechanisms, there are almost no working relations of trust between China and the United States. It is not assured that an accident or encounter could be prevented from spiraling out of control.
Yet neither side seems willing to back down. The US is being challenged again as a paper tiger, and if it fails to follow through on its promise to sail through the Spratlys, its Asian allies will wonder how strong America’s security commitments really are.
For Beijing, the stakes are just as high. Failing to assert its control over the waters it now claims will expose it as a geopolitical fraud. This will embolden other nations to similarly challenge China’s claims, and ironically possibly increase the likelihood of some type of military clash in Asia.
East Asia now stands close to a precipice. China figures the US is too distracted or uninterested to care about its expansion. They may be right.
http://nypost.com/2015/05/31/china-is-gambling-obama-doesnt-have-will-to-respond-to-its-massive-land-grab/
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