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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 01 Feb 2018 08:32
by Singha
NSCN, ULFA and other NE terror bands received a lot of weapons and help from the Yunnan side. .... from decades ago.
china is infact notorious for selling weapons to various bandits worldwide from chile to the bering sea their "red princes" weapons factories spread the net wide.
and then ofcourse the sponsorship, nuclearizing and cover for Pakistan once its relations with the US started to sour.
not indicative of a benign attitude.

poor or rich does not enter into any equation..its the degree of current and future threat you perceive.
USSR was relatively quite poor per capita vs EU/USA. north korea is vs Soko/US/Japan. the poor / rich thing might come from sinic perception of worshipping money and despising the poor as unworthy and feeble :D when you abandon all your old gods, the only god left to worship is money....thats what chairman deng reiterated too.

after the USSR threat receded , I imagine India took over as #2 on their threat perception. and unlike other nations in east asia, India is not a huge investor in china or badly dependent on china for any resource. our vast population and market size instead has the cheen cos supplicating and sequealing to be allowed to invest and vendor finance billions in what I see as some very risky plays, but what to do the cheen govt domestic policy of locking out the US means the US locks it out of wherever, so India is the only large market relatively unlikely to bow to US pressure on non-bilateral trade matters.

eg the anil ambani telecom GSM venture was i believe entirely vendor financed by ZTE or huawei and it struggled for years before shutting down recently. will the original vendors have recovered their take from AMC? maybe but probably not worth the money and time they spent on it.

its like the Congress claiming that Modi is a threat in 2014, while in reality they were targetting him on all fronts from 2000.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 01 Feb 2018 09:37
by shiv
Singha wrote:NSCN, ULFA and other NE terror bands received a lot of weapons and help from the Yunnan side. .... from decades ago.
china is infact notorious for selling weapons to various bandits worldwide from chile to the bering sea their "red princes" weapons factories spread the net wide.
If you look at this from the Chinese viewpoint - they will accuse Indians of being sympathetic to the west that has done exactly the same thing. In fact the west have supplied weapons to our adversaries predictably and regularly. They ahve done that ll over the world and must not be let off the hook. Both China and the West are "wrong" but that is a highly moralistic Indian viewpoint.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 02 Feb 2018 10:24
by Prasad
https://twitter.com/StephenMcDonell/status/959219212291006464

:rotfl: :rotfl: They're censoring BBC coverage of their PM visit to China & coverage over HR abuse in Xinjiang.

Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 03 Feb 2018 14:48
by Peregrine
TAKE - DO THE TALK!

Trump nuclear doctrine takes tougher stance on Russia

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration on Friday announced it will continue much of the Obama administration's nuclear weapons policy, but take a more aggressive stance toward Russia. It said Russia must be convinced it would face "unacceptably dire costs" if it were to threaten even a limited nuclear attack in Europe.

In a 74-page report summarizing the review's findings, the US additionally warned countries+ against supporting non-state actors and terrorist groups trying to obtain or employ nuclear weapons.The report calls North Korea a "clear and grave threat" to the US and its allies. It asserts that any North Korean nuclear attack against the US or its allies will result in "the end of that regime."

It also casts China as a potential nuclear adversary, saying the US arsenal is tailored to "prevent Beijing from mistakenly concluding" that it could gain advantage by using its nuclear weapons in Asia, or that "any use of nuclear weapons, however limited, is acceptable." Could might be possible that the same applies to the Jumhooriyat Islamia al Bakistaniya aka Terroristan!"

The sweeping review of US nuclear policy does not call for any net increase in strategic nuclear weapons — a position that stands in contrast to President Donald Trump's statement, in a tweet shortly before he took office, that the US "must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes." In his State of the Union address Tuesday, he made no mention of expansion, though he said the arsenal must deter acts of aggression.

US officials have in the past expressed concern over the possibility of nuclear weapons of Pakistan landing into the hands of non-state actors or terrorist groups and thus has been working with Islamabad in enhancing the security of its nuclear weapons.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied such fears and asserted that its nuclear arsenals are one of the safest and secure ones in the world. :twisted:

Shannon said that nuclear terrorism remained a major threat in the 21st century and countries need to work to mitigate it.
"The potential threat of non-state actors getting their hands on a nuclear weapon remains at the front of all of our minds," Shannon told reporters at a news conference held at the Pentagon.

"The US will hold accountable any state or non-state actor that supports terrorist efforts to obtain or employ a nuclear weapon," under secretary of state for political affairs, Tom Shannon, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference where the Trump administration rolled out its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.

The Pentagon-led review of the US nuclear arsenal and the policies that govern it was ordered by Trump a year ago. In a written statement, Trump said US strategy is designed to make use of nuclear weapons less likely. In an apparent reference to the threat of catastrophic cyberattack, he said the US aims to strengthen deterrence of major attacks against the US and its allies, including those that "may not come in the form of nuclear weapons."

Known officially as a nuclear posture review, and customarily done at the outset of a new administration, the report drew blistering criticism from arms control groups.

"President Trump is embarking on a reckless path — one that will reduce US security both now and in the longer term," said Lisbeth Gronlund, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She said the administration is blurring the line between nuclear and conventional war-fighting.

The Trump administration concluded that the US should largely follow its predecessor's blueprint for modernizing the nuclear arsenal, including new bomber aircraft, submarines and land-based missiles. It also endorsed adhering to existing arms control agreements, including the New START treaty that limits the United States and Russia each to 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads on a maximum of 700 deployed launchers.

The treaty, negotiated under President Barack Obama, entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011, and its weapons limits must be met by Monday. The US says it has been in compliance with the limits since August and it expects the Russians to comply by Monday's deadline. As of Sept. 1, the last date for which official figures are available, Russia was below the launcher limit but slightly above the warhead limit, at 1,561.

"Moscow has repeatedly stated its intention to meet those limits on time, and we have no reason to believe that that won't be the case," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Thursday.

The Pentagon's nuclear review concluded that while arms control can advance American interests, "further progress is difficult to envision," in light of what the US considers Russia's aggression in Ukraine and violations of existing arms deals. Administration officials briefed Russian and Chinese officials Friday prior to the review's public release.

The Trump nuclear doctrine breaks with Obama's in ending his push to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in US defense policy. Like Obama, Trump would consider using nuclear weapons only in "extreme circumstances," while maintaining a degree of ambiguity about what that means. But Trump sees a fuller deterrent role for these weapons, as reflected in the plan to develop new capabilities to counter Russia in Europe.

The administration's view is that Russian policies and actions are fraught with potential for miscalculation leading to an uncontrolled escalation of conflict in Europe. It specifically points to a Russian doctrine known as "escalate to de-escalate," in which Moscow would use or threaten to use smaller-yield nuclear weapons in a limited, conventional conflict in Europe in the belief that doing so would compel the US and NATO to back down.

"Recent Russian statements on this evolving nuclear weapons doctrine appear to lower the threshold for Moscow's first-use of nuclear weapons," the review said.

The administration proposes a two-step solution.

First, it would modify "a small number" of existing long-range ballistic missiles carried by Trident strategic submarines to fit them with smaller-yield nuclear warheads. John Rood, the undersecretary of defense for policy, declined to provide an estimate of the cost, saying it would be partially included in the 2019 budget that will be submitted to Congress later this month. He said the missile would be fielded "in the near term," but he refused to be more specific.

Second, "in the longer term," the administration would develop a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile — re-establishing a weapon that existed during the Cold War but was retired in 2011 by the Obama administration.

Robert Soofer, a senior nuclear policy official at the Pentagon who helped direct the policy review, said Moscow is likely to push back on the US plan for fielding those two additional weapons.

"I'm sure they won't respond well," Soofer said Thursday.

The press secretary at the Russian Embassy in Washington, Nikolay Lakhonin, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 04 Feb 2018 05:34
by Pulikeshi

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 04 Feb 2018 12:31
by Prasad
China arrested 100 christian Uighur converts (from islam) and sent them to re education camps.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 04 Feb 2018 12:50
by chetak
The US is endorsing an Indian response, however hypothetical, the situation may seem.


INDIA-CHINA TIES A 'COLD WAR-LIKE' BOND IN MAKING: US EXPERT




INDIA-CHINA TIES A 'COLD WAR-LIKE' BOND IN MAKING: US EXPERT
Saturday, 03 February 2018 | Washington

India-China ties a 'cold war-like' bond in making: US expert
India and China have a "cold war-like" relationship in the making but New Delhi is unlikely to join something framed as a US-led front to contain Beijing, a former American diplomat has said.

Alyssa Ayres, who served in the South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department, made the remarks last week in New York during the launch of her latest book 'Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World'.

"It is a cold war-like relationship in the making. India and China have had a strong commercial relationship, but that is increasingly less satisfying for India, for many of the same reasons the United States is dissatisfied with its trade relationship with China," she said.

To a question on India-China ties, Ayres, currently a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a top American think-tank, said that for a while the commercial relationship between the two countries had relegated their strategic competition to the backseat.

"I think India (is) concerned about the increasingly larger presence that China is establishing across the Indian Ocean, with a base in Djibouti," she said.

She added that India may also be concerned over China's "deep relationship" with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the investments it is making in the two countries.

Asked about the impression in the US that New Delhi is a "good bet" to contain Beijing, she said India is unlikely to be part of such an initiative.

"I think India is going to be highly unlikely to be enlisted in something framed as a US-led effort to contain China. That is not what India seeks to do. It seeks to defend its own interests. It seeks to uphold the liberal world order," Ayres said.

"India has been a big supporter of global norms, of freedom of navigation. But it also partners with China in many arenas. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), India is the number two capital contributor," she noted.

The BRICS organisation went from being just an idea in a research paper to being a real institution, she said, adding India is very active with that and the five-nation grouping has created its own development bank.

"India became a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. It's hedging its own bets as global governance reform lags on in the 20th-century institutions. And so where it has put some of its eggs in the new organisations basket, it has partnered with China on that front," Ayres said.

To another question, she said that there would be a measured response from India if there was a repeat of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.

"Based on what we saw with the surgical strikes of the previous year or the year before last, I would not expect a completely passive response. I would expect something measured, but much more active," she said.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 19:35
by Philip
https://www.voanews.com/a/countries-pus ... 39171.html
Four Powerful Countries Plan Resistance To China in a Disputed Asian Sea
February 05, 2018 3:15 AM
Ralph Jennings
U.S. Navy Adm. Harry Harris, left, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command and Australian Navy Vice Adm. David Johnston take part in a ceremony marking the start of Talisman Saber 2017, a biennial joint military exercise.
U.S. Navy Adm. Harry Harris, left, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command and Australian Navy Vice Adm. David Johnston take part in a ceremony marking the start of Talisman Saber 2017, a biennial joint military exercise.

TAIPEI, TAIWAN —
A bloc of four powerful, Western-allied nations, intent on keeping the South China Sea open for international use despite growing Chinese control, will probably issue stern statements, help China’s maritime rivals and hold joint naval exercises near the contested waterway this year, analysts say.

Australia, India, Japan and the United States, a group known as the quad, are most likely to take those measures rather than directly challenging Chinese claims such as its military installations among the sea’s 500 small islets.

“Number one, presence is probably going be driven by the U.S.,” said Stuart Orr, professor of strategic management at Deakin University in Australia. “If I were to take a guess, I would say probably follow that by India, with Japan taking a little bit more of the same role as Australia does, at providing high-level logistical support.”

The quad countries want to keep the 3.5 million-square-kilometer, resource-rich sea open while protecting their own economic ties with Beijing, say experts who follow the issue. Multiple countries ship, fish and explore for oil in the South China Sea today.

Cautionary pronouncements

Heads of state from the four-way alliance met in Manila in November to discuss keeping the sea open. Australia and Japan separately called then for “rules-based order” and “respect for international law” in the sea.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told leaders from 10 Southeast Asian countries, including four that compete with China for maritime sovereignty, January 26 that India was committed to working together more on maritime matters.

Expect more statements designed to keep China on guard, analysts say.

“I think the most concrete thing they can do is to issue some statements on the South China Sea dispute, and even then I believe that China might not even be explicitly named in such a statement,” said Ben Ho, senior analyst with the Military Studies Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

World leaders at the ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines.
World leaders at the ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines.
China calls about 90 percent of the sea its own. Chinese expansion since 2010 has irritated rival claimants Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Those governments, all militarily weaker than Beijing, bristle when China fortifies disputed islets for military use and passes coast guard ships through contested waters.

Beijing says historical records prove its claim to the sea, an argument rejected in 2016 by a world arbitration court.

Joint military exercises

Combinations of the four countries might pass naval vessels through the South China Sea, especially along its perimeters or the coastal waters of smaller countries that want help resisting Chinese vessels, experts say.

The United States, the world's top military power, has sent naval vessels to the South China Sea five times under President Donald Trump, extending a practice under his predecessor to assert Washington’s view that the sea should allow freedom of navigation.

Japan may follow as it tries to “break out of its self-imposed restraints,” said Oh Ei Sun, international studies instructor at Singapore Nanyang University.

Tokyo passed a helicopter carrier through the disputed sea in June 2017. Japan vies with China over tracts of the East China Sea, as well. Leaders are in Tokyo are studying constitutional changes to give the armed forces more power.

“You will see Japan trying to make more frequent port calls and indeed join military exercises, providing training and so on to these nations,” Oh said.

India and Australia would support any military movement aimed at warning China, analysts say. Australia could become a place to monitor “what’s going on” and become a platform for any follow-up, Orr said.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd arrives off the coast of India in preparation for Malabar 2017, a series of exercises between the Indian Navy, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and U.S. Navy.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd arrives off the coast of India in preparation for Malabar 2017, a series of exercises between the Indian Navy, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and U.S. Navy.
India will make port calls and join any naval patrols with other countries, said Sameer Lalwani, deputy director for U.S. think tank The Stimson Center’s South Asia program. India vies with China for geopolitical control in south and central Asia.

“India could also enhance the number of military exercises, both national and joint with other countries to improve proficiency, enhance cooperation, and signal capabilities,” Lalwani said. “Obviously more visible cooperation with the United States would send an even stronger message.”

Arms supplies

Japan will “continue to bolster the capacities” of allied Asian countries, said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor in politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo.

Expect military training, new equipment and two naval destroyer visits this year to Vietnam “as a message that their relations are deepening,” he said.

Vietnam has been the most aggressive South China Sea claimant aside from China. In January 2017 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to provide six patrol boats for Vietnam's coast guard. The U.S. government is also planning to let one of its aircraft carriers visit the Southeast Asian country this year.

President Donald Trump, accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, right, waves to reporters at a meeting during the ASEAN Summit at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Nov. 13, 2017.
President Donald Trump, accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, right, waves to reporters at a meeting during the ASEAN Summit at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Nov. 13, 2017.
“With the U.S. sending ships as well, Vietnam and other countries are being courted for more security partnerships,” Nagy said.

India has previously helped Vietnam explore the sea for oil. It may look to the quad for chances to grow its economy, technology and foreign relations, experts believe.

Chinese reaction

China is expected to react to the quad one act at a time. If they make statements, China will use words in return, Ho said. If the other countries hold military exercises, China might double down on fortifying the islets it holds now in the Paracel and Spratly chains.

India and Japan are unlikely to push too hard overall as they grapple with their own disputes involving China, Ho said. India and China contest two tracts of their mountainous land border.

China’s chief deterrent for the quad players may be its economic might. Australia, for example, counts China as its No. 1 trade partner, with a 27 percent increase in exports in 2016 and 2017, official Australian data show. A naval drill is unlikely, Ho said.

“I think Canberra has too much at stake in terms of economic links with Beijing to take such a drastic measure,” he said. “After all China is Australia’s top trading partner, both in terms of imports and exports, and Canberra will not do anything drastic to damage its relationship.”

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 21:55
by ShauryaT
A key thing to note, ever since the stapled visa issue of Kashmir in 2010, one report says that India has refused to acknowledge Tibet as a part of China and demands that China adhere to a one India policy in exchange.

This is an important point to track. India is probably the only country in the world not to kow-tow to Chinese demands at their pleasure.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 06 Feb 2018 00:50
by rsingh
^^^
Source please.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 06 Feb 2018 03:47
by NRao
The hazards of China’s global ambitions
HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka — In December, a Chinese state-owned enterprise took over a port here in this small fishing town on Sri Lanka’s southern coast. The port was never intended to be Chinese-owned and operated, but it was Chinese-financed and built, creating a debt that Sri Lanka could not repay. As Sri Lanka celebrates 70 years of independence from British imperial rule, some fear the nation now faces a new form of colonialism.

The episode has turned tiny Hambantota into something of a global lighthouse. Sitting in the Indian Ocean, it serves as a warning about the hazards of China’s global infrastructure push, which could make small economies dependent even while helping them develop. It also reveals the challenges that India, Japan and others, including the United States, face in mounting an effective response.

..............................

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 06 Feb 2018 08:23
by Agasthi
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_Civilizations
"In Huntington's view, East Asian Sinic civilization is culturally asserting itself and its values relative to the West due to its rapid economic growth. Specifically, he believes that China's goals are to reassert itself as the regional hegemon, and that other countries in the region will 'bandwagon' with China ............,Huntington therefore believes that the rise of China poses one of the most significant problems and the most powerful long-term threat to the West, as Chinese cultural assertion clashes with the American desire for the lack of a regional hegemony in East Asia."

and,

"Huntington sees Islamic civilization as a potential ally to China, both having more revisionist goals and sharing common conflicts with other civilizations, especially the West. Specifically, he identifies common Chinese and Islamic interests in the areas of weapons proliferation, human rights, and democracy that conflict with those of the West, and feels that these are areas in which the two civilizations will cooperate."
This was in 1992 and some these have or are coming true. The west had already gamed this at the end of cold war and has been trying to subvert both India and China through faith and probably through other things as well and each country is responding in its own style. The subversion though is not happening fast enough even though they had sent and are probably still sending in researchers/humanities to study and identify pressure points in each. We are in a unique situation, we should demand a lot more for being part of the Quad and at the same negotiate with China for a great deal to get out of of the Quad. Maybe that is already underway!

One can see the silence on Uighurs/Hui even while Pakistan is helping China develop allies in the Islamic World. A country which is getting older before getting richer seeks to replace those who are old and rich, I would want to tie them down with malsi hordes who have just enough tribal cohesiveness to tire and distract them. And, would direct them at the Indu as well.

However, this is a strategy that is fraught with lots of risks and If I were President Xi with the kind of authority that he has, I would settle the boundary in India's favour, work out a mutually beneficially trade deal with India and return Aksai Chin to India (Icing on the cake) without sacrificing Pakistan, just like how the West manages Pakistan and India. Simply applying the 'bully thy neighbour' template from China's imperial past to India will just not work especially when it is the single largest young demographic backed by nukes. It would be stupidity of enormous proportions to convert whats is a huge market into hostile entity. And, the western powers would be delighted at such an outcome. And, that would make the CPC, the biggest enemy of China.

P.S reading a couple of books on China, however mostly are by Western authors and they write the same way they write about India. Can anyone recommend any indian authors, I could find only one on the net "On China By India: From Civilization to Nation-State by Chih-yu Shih, Swaran Singh, and Reena Marwah", has anyone read it?

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 06 Feb 2018 08:52
by ShauryaT
rsingh wrote:^^^
Source please.
Trump Should Read India’s Playbook for Taunting China - New Delhi has been poking at Beijing's One-China Policy for years without wrecking the relationship
One Chinese provocation cut deeper than the rest. In 2010, Beijing denied a visa to Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal on account of his posting as the head of India’s military command in Kashmir, the long-disputed territory claimed by China’s “all-weather friend” Pakistan. China had been employing consular chicanery with India for years — stapling separate, unique visas to Indian residents of Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as an informal challenge to Indian sovereignty there — but the denial of a visa to Jaswal struck a nerve.

New Delhi’s reaction was uncharacteristically swift and punitive, suspending all forms of bilateral military ties and joint exercises. When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited New Delhi in December 2010, for the first time India refused to acknowledge the One-China policy in a joint statement with China. Beijing, New Delhi signaled, would have to recognize Indian sovereignty over Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh if it wanted India’s consent on the One-China policy. “The ball is in their court. There is no doubt about that,” explained Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao at the time.

Joint statements in the years to follow continued to omit the One-China policy, a position adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he assumed office in 2014. “For India to agree on a one-China policy, China should reaffirm a one-India policy,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj declared before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first trip to New Delhi in September 2014. “When they raised the issue of Tibet and Taiwan with us, we shared their sensitivities.… They should understand and appreciate our sensitivities regarding Arunachal Pradesh.”

China relented on the visa question two years after Wen’s visit, and military ties were restored shortly thereafter. More important, six years after India’s change of heart on One-China policy, it has suffered no discernable political or economic backlash that can be tied to the policy shift.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 06 Feb 2018 17:33
by Iyersan
What are the chances and probability of an India China border conflict in 2018?

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 06 Feb 2018 17:45
by chola
Going by what happened at Doklam, nearly nil. Weeks of “we’re going to war!” rhetoric fizzled out like a balloon deflating after all the hot air is gone.

Chinis are going to only jaw jaw and Hindis are never going to punch jaw. We had perfect reason to punch with all that hot and smelly air blown in our faces by toothless bully. Should have smashed his face in. But we and chinis are both short rice-eating non-warrior races onlee.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 07 Feb 2018 14:38
by SaiK
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-bu ... look-24372

What Would a Naval War Between China and India Really Look Like?

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 08:11
by chanakyaa
No waar sir, why kill the goose that can lay lots of golden eggs for you. On one had we are worried about Chinese influence in Maldives and at the same time opening up our markets. Aa bail muze maar...

Alibaba targets India as key ecommerce battleground
Chinese retail group set to face off with Amazon over spoils of burgeoning market.

...Chinese tech giant from making India its first major overseas foray, as it pumps investment into the country at a growing pace. In the past week alone it has secured a $200m stake in leading online grocery group BigBasket, while its payments affiliate Ant Financial agreed to pump the same sum into food-ordering app Zomato...

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 08:19
by Singha
and in parallel Ant financial has been banned by a secretive US congressional board from some takeover they were planning in US. cheen is effectively shut out of US telecom and financial markets. huawei cannot even sell its phones there, let alone big gear.

GOTUS protects its interests. we are mere traders chasing the next buck.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 09:00
by chanakyaa
Yes, that takeover was of MoneyGram. It facilitates money transfer worldwide.

Alibaba's Failed MoneyGram Deal Shows How China's Payment Wars Are Spilling Over Into U.S.
...China's Ant Financial withdrew its bid to acquire Dallas-based MoneyGram International for $1.2 billion. The $18 a share all-cash bid was stymied by opposition from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a Treasury Department interagency committee that reviews foreign takeovers of U.S. companies...

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 09:11
by NRao
chanakyaa wrote:No waar sir, why kill the goose that can lay lots of golden eggs for you. On one had we are worried about Chinese influence in Maldives and at the same time opening up our markets. Aa bail muze maar...

Alibaba targets India as key ecommerce battleground
Chinese retail group set to face off with Amazon over spoils of burgeoning market.

...Chinese tech giant from making India its first major overseas foray, as it pumps investment into the country at a growing pace. In the past week alone it has secured a $200m stake in leading online grocery group BigBasket, while its payments affiliate Ant Financial agreed to pump the same sum into food-ordering app Zomato...
I hope India does NOT get sucked into this, because of: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7610&start=520#p2248313

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 12:30
by Arjun

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 12:52
by chola
Warfighting is actually the least potent threat that Cheen poses. They can’t fight and haven’t fought in decades. But we always point to it as the main threat.

The greatest threat from Cheen is that it is an authoritarian state focused on science and technology with an elite and middle class educated in the West.

If it were an isolated commie basketcase like NoKo or Mao’s PRC then we would have an easier time. But Cheen is a global trading power which is creating “empires” in many different realms — business, science, education, etc. as well as the gray zone like the SCS. We need a strategy to challenge them across those realms.

Importing weapons won’t do it. We need to build out our technical and scientific base. We need to build out our MIC.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/bl ... -take-note
I see an academic empire rising in China, and the West should take note

January 8, 2018

By Keith Burnett


...

We have benefited from an extraordinary rise in Chinese wealth – money that came from a burgeoning market economy with Chinese characteristics. Wealth that was hard earned and saved by Chinese parents to pay for the very best education, a Western education, for their children.

There has never been such a tidal wave of affluence produced in the history of the world. And we have seen the benefits as millions of smart young Chinese travelled the world to study with us in the UK.

...

Some of these graduates will have worked in high technology companies, some will even have started them and created jobs. We know and admire these young people. But that is all changing, so let’s look at what has been going on.

Anyone who has an outdated view about substandard Chinese research simply hasn’t been paying attention. China will soon pass the US in science output. Donald Trump will help that happen faster.

Chinese science and technology infrastructure will soon be as good as or superior in many respects to what we find in the West. Investment in key new technologies is staggering and long term. The environment for starting new enterprises in places such as Shenzhen and Shanghai is simply superb.

Leading Chinese academics who once worked abroad are now returning to this transformed and well-funded world of academia. I have recently had meetings with the leaders of the top Chinese universities, national research institutes and leading business organisations. In every case I have met experienced and purposeful academics who have spent years working in top institutions in the US.

...

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 12:57
by Arjun
Its good to have a smart competitor like China! But India has to keep pace and ensure that we are equally competitive in Science, Technology and industries of the future.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 13:01
by Philip
Chin naval activity with Pak to counter the IN.Pl ck the link for sat pics,map,etc.
https://theprint.in/2018/02/02/chinese- ... tani-help/
Chinese Navy seems to be preparing to counter Indian submarines with Pakistani help
COL. VINAYAK BHAT (RETD) 2 February, 2018
China's Plan Oceanographic Survey Ships Shiyan 1,2,3
Vinayak Bhat/ThePrint
Satellite images accessed by ThePrint suggest Chinese Navy conducted joint exercises with its Pakistani counterpart; has increased activities around India.

New Delhi: There has been a sharp rise in Chinese naval activity to map the Indian Ocean region, with survey vessels being observed even in the company of Pakistani warships at times, satellite images accessed by ThePrint suggest.

These activities around India indicate possible preparations for anti-submarine operations.

In the past year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy or PLAN has been sending a large number of oceanographic survey ships to the Indian Ocean region. Besides, Chinese warships and nuclear submarines have been making port calls in Colombo for the past three years.

In February 2016, a PLAN Type 926 submarine tender was seen in Colombo, suggesting a continuous survey mission. A submarine tender is a type of ship that supports submarines.

The Type 926 submarine search and rescue tender #865 Liugongdao is known to travel along with China’s nuclear submarines. This ship is also the mother-ship of the world’s most advanced rescue submarines — the Type 7103 deep submergence rescue vessel (DSRV). The DSRV can dive up to 600 m and rescue up to 18 personnel from a ‘Kursk’ like incident.

China's Plan Type 926 ASR #865 Liugongdao
Vinayak Bhat/ThePrint
The rescue submarine, however, was not observed on board the mother-ship when it was docked in Colombo. Satellite images accessed by ThePrint suggest that the DSRV was possibly on a special survey mission around Colombo.

China's Plan Type 636A Haiyang #22
Vinayak Bhat/ThePrint
More recently, PLAN’s top naval survey ship — the Type 636A hydrographic survey ship Haiyang #22 class, named after Chinese nuclear physicist Qian Sanqiang — was observed in a satellite image of 4 February 2017. This 130m-long marine comprehensive survey ship with a crew of 134 personnel can endure a journey of 15,000 nautical miles at speeds of 15 knots on its own steam.

The presence of Haiyang #22 in Colombo clearly indicates Chinese interest in surveying the Indian Ocean region for smoother submarine operations. Earlier this year, China conducted a joint exercise with the Pakistani Navy to survey the Makran Trench in the Persian Gulf–Arabian Sea region. The ship involved is PLAN’s modern Type 625C Shiyan 3 is an oceanographic survey ship.

China's Plan Oceanographic Survey Ships Shiyan 1,2,3
Vinayak Bhat/ThePrint
China's Plan Oceanographic Survey Ship Shiyan 3
Vinayak Bhat/ThePrint
It is surprising that the survey ship was on the west coast of India as of 18 January. The reasons are obvious — Shiyan 3 is conducting underwater surveys of areas in the Arabian Sea on India’s west coast.

The largest oceanographic survey catamaran in the world is undergoing sea trials in China’s Guangzhou. The length is a gigantic 90 m and beam 32 m. The ship is larger than USS Impeccable, which measures 85 m.

China's largest oceanographic surveillance catamaran
Vinayak Bhat/ThePrint
The ship is a small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) type catamaran and looks very different than its predecessors. It has a humongous funnel at the centre of the ship. This suggests larger engines indicating longer endurance at sea. These ships are supposedly equipped with numerous modern and world-class measurement systems, including submarine geomorphology, submarine surface geological survey, ocean gravity, area temperatures, salinity, density, tide among others.

These ships act as force multipliers in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) for tracking adversaries’ submarines with oceanographic data collected. Their foray into the IOR suggests that China is preparing for an ASW in the region.

Colonel Vinayak Bhat (retd) is a Military Intelligence veteran of the Indian Army with vast experience of satellite imagery analysis. He has worked as a Chinese interpreter and is a specialist on PLA and Pakistan’s armed forces. He tweets @rajfortyseven

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 08 Feb 2018 13:18
by jaysimha
Intrusion by Chinese Army

There is no commonly delineated Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the border areas between India and China, there are areas along the LAC where both sides have differing perception of LAC. Due to both sides undertaking patrolling upto their respective perception of the LAC, transgressions do occur. Government is taking measures to ensure that defence forces are in a state of readiness to meet operational and security challenges.

Government regularly takes up such transgressions along the LAC with the Chinese side through established mechanisms including Border Personnel Meetings, Flag Meetings, meetings of Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs, as well as through diplomatic channels.

The Government consistently maintains that peace and tranquillity in the India-China border areas is an important pre-requisite for the smooth development of bilateral relations.

This information was given by RakshaRajyaMantriDr.SubhashBhamre in a written reply to Shri Darshan Singh Yadav and others in Rajya Sabha today.



NAo/Nampi/Rajib


(Release ID :176192)

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 10 Feb 2018 16:15
by SSridhar
How South China Sea is fast turning into Beijing’s military outpost - NY Times
China has spent years building military outposts on a group of contested islands in the South China Sea — a project that has left the country at odds with many of its neighbors and the US.

First, there was the dredging, in which ships sucked sediment from the seabed and pumped it atop formerly barren reefs. Then came the buildings — once said to be for civilian purposes but which analysts now say are small military installations — followed quickly by international uproar.

But the building continued. Now, some of the islands part of the group known as the Spratlys, where China began large-scale development in 2013, have been transformed from barren reefs into military outposts, as seen for the first time in great detail in a series of new photos.

The images, obtained by The Philippine Daily Inquirer from an unnamed source, offer the clearest views yet of the scale of construction and the nature of military development. The Pentagon and Philippine military both declined to comment on the images. The New York Times has been unable to independently verify these photos, which were released with annotations that indicate they were taken between June 2016 and December 2017.

But South China Sea experts say the photos are consistent with satellite imagery of the development they have been monitoring for years.

Conor Cronin, a research associate at the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the buildings in the new images were at the same scale as the structures in the photographs his group regularly assesses from the region. What's striking about these images, he said, is that for the first time, significant surfacelevel details can be seen.

"These are kind of rare shots to see publicly," he said. "It's another indication of how well established these facilities are and kind of the capabilities they are going to have."

The development of the Spratlys has ignited outrage from neighbors that also lay claim to the islands. To varying degrees, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia all stake claim to its parts. While tensions have eased somewhat as China negotiates an agreement with other players on a code of conduct for the region, the unabated pace of construction could stir fresh tensions.

On Mischief Reef, once largely underwater, 1,379 acres have been developed by China. The latest images from the island purportedly show a nearly two-mile runway and concrete building. "They are going to begin to operate out of these runways and, I believe, start to actually store these aircraft, at least short term, in these hardened shelters," said an expert.

While negotiations over a code of conduct for development in the sea with the 10-country ASEAN have stalled, China's development continues. "While they take forever to put this agreement together, China has not slowed in building up these bases," Mr. Cronin said. "They are continuing apace."

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 10 Feb 2018 18:05
by chola
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s- ... an-n845876
The U.S. military says it carried out a series of punishing bombings last weekend of Taliban militant camps that also support a separatist Chinese terror group.

A bombing raid Sunday on a region bordering China and Tajikistan set a record for the number of precision-guided munitions launched at one time from a B-52 bomber, according to Air Force Maj. Gen. James Hecker, who spoke to reporters at the Pentagon in a video teleconference from Kabul on Wednesday.
It took the US military to bomb the crap out of muzzi terrorists targeting Cheen. Right on the chinese border.

The PLA was and is too chicken to strike the Uighurs in Afghanistan and allowed its biggest rival to drop a record number of bombs right up to chini borders.

Nothing proves more the Short Rice Eating non-warrior nature of Cheen than this.

So how does fit into what is happening in the South and East China seas? Those seas are in gray zones where jurisdiction is disputed. Where control can be established by ships, aircraft or artificial island. In that game, Cheen is counting on its massive industrial complex to win.

Those seas are also surrounded by rational states that rather not fight over gray zones when Cheen had already placed ships or flying aircraft. They will not start a war over a reef that Cheen had turned into an airstrip. The PRC has calculated this and encrouches in patterns of salami slicing that is always short of war when dealing with a rational state.

The terrorists on the other hand is not rational. Any action against them will turn into a fight. It will mean little emperors will die leaving whole family lines extinct. This is why the PLA will not cross the border to fight the Uighurs and allows the US to bomb right up to it.

So what should be our strategy? If we just import weapons and wait for the dhoti-shivering “two front war” to begin then we will be waiting forever as the chini go ahead with OBOR and their gray zone salami slicing and turn the IOR into a region filled with chini roads, chini ports, chini ships and possibly even chini fake islands.

We can build out our MIC and match the chini ship fir ship and aircaft for aircraft in the gray zones and global commons. We can pit our industrial versus theirs in a bloodless competition.

Or we can go to war over their gray zone tactics and spill blood. Even a short war with a few hundred casualties will achieve the desired effect. Create a sense of irrationality, like the Uighurs in Afghanistan. Once singed, the SYRE nature of Cheen will cause it to avoid areas that can kill its little emperors.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 06:58
by Dumal
https://m.timesofindia.com/world/pakist ... 863388.cms

China is digging in deeper... Probably a cover for much more than just surveying tectonic subduction zone...

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 12:12
by Arjun
China desperately wants ingress into future Indian economy for her products....trying through CPEC, Hambanthota and now Maldives !

India should ensure that none of these efforts succeed. Maybe pass a law that requires every product sold in the country to have a Blockchain based certification of origin of components?

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 12:26
by pankajs
Forget the Military base argument for the moment ...

That is exactly what China wants from CPEC at least. Yesterday TOI too had flagged the same logic wrt Sri Lanka and Maldives push. It seems we have some kind of a FTA [or a pseudo-FTA] with Maldives which provides a kind of roundabout access to the Indian market for China. In this regard also note the Chinese statement that it does not want Maldives to become a point of friction with India. That is because that would mean India will just switch off that route too, after all in India-Maldives relationship, India holds the access switch. Check what China could do to SoKo and Philippines.

BTW, yesterday or was it a day before ... Maldives declared that its closest allies in the world to be China, Bakistan and Saudi Arabia. This is not about sending envoys but an explicit statement to that effect. Well .. if China wanted to use the Maldives-India relation for its push into the Indian market this latest pronouncement will just make it that much harder for it.

BTW, you don't even need special laws. Make ONE port as the sole entry point for imports from Maldives. Instruct the super-efficient custom guys to physically inspect EVERY item, piece by piece often times opening sealed crates, all the while assigning a single guy to process all imports to India from Maldives. AND charge a heavy storage charge for all the items in Indian warehouse pending inspection. That will ensure that whatever makes through the customs to the India market will not only slow down to a trickle but also end up exiting the customs line 2x or 3x costlier without imposing any additional customs duty! Simple only.

Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 13 Feb 2018 13:24
by Peregrine
China coercing neighbours to reorder Indo-Pacific region: Pentagon

WASHINGTON: China is coercing its neighbours to reorder the Indo-Pacific region, the Pentagon told Congress in its annual budget proposals for the fiscal 2019, beginning October 1 this year.

Trump administration on Monday released their proposal for the fiscal year 2019 budget. Fiscal years are different from calendar years. The budgetary proposal covers October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019.

"China is leveraging military modernisation, influence operations and predatory economics to coerce neighbouring countries to reorder the Indo-Pacific region to their advantage," the Pentagon said in its annual defence budget for the fiscal 2019.

As China continues its economic and military ascendance, asserting power through an all-of-nation long-term strategy, it will continue to pursue a military modernisation programme that seeks Indo-Pacific regional hegemony in the near-term and displacement of the US to achieve global preeminence in the future, it said.

The most far-reaching objective of this defence strategy is to set the military relationship between the US and China on a path of transparency and non-aggression, it said.

According to the Pentagon, the central challenge to the US prosperity and security is the reemergence of long term, strategic competition by what the national security strategy classifies as revisionist powers.

"It is increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model — gaining veto authority over other nations' economic, diplomatic and security decisions," it said.

The Pentagon said Russia seeks veto authority over nations on its periphery in terms of its governmental, economic and diplomatic decisions to shatter the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and to change European and Middle East security and economic structures to its favour.

The use of emerging technologies to discredit and subvert democratic processes in Georgia, Crimea and eastern Ukraine is concern enough, but when coupled with its expanding and modernising nuclear arsenal the challenge is clear.

"Rogue regimes such as North Korea and Iran are destabilising their regions by pursuing nuclear weapons or sponsoring terrorism," the Pentagon said.

North Korea seeks to guarantee regime survival and increased leverage through a mixture of nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional and unconventional weapons and a growing ballistic missile capability to gain coercive influence over South Korea, Japan and the US.

In the Middle East, Iran is competing with its neighbours, asserting an arc of influence and instability while vying for regional hegemony, using state-sponsored terrorist activities, a growing network of proxies and its missile programme to achieve its objectives, the Pentagon said.

According to the budgetary proposals, competitor states, especially China and Russia have narrowed department of defence's military technological advantages, demanding the US find new and innovative ways to fight in the future.

"China is now a strategic competitor, using predatory economics to intimidate its neighbours while militarising features in the South China Sea. Russia has violated the borders of nearby nations, and pursues veto power over the economic, diplomatic and security decisions of its neighbours," it said.

Concurrently, North Korea's actions and rhetoric continue despite the United Nation's censure and sanctions.

Iran continues to sow violence and remains the most significant challenge to the Middle East stability.

Despite the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) physical caliphate, threats to stability remain as terrorist groups with long reach continue to murder innocent people and threaten peace, the Pentagon added.

Cheers Image

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 13 Feb 2018 17:16
by Philip
The US has just said that China is trying to turn the Indian Ocean into the "China's Ocean" .

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 13 Feb 2018 23:34
by Prasad
China uses race to unite and divide
Very interesting article about how China uses race to target Adm Harris.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 14 Feb 2018 02:18
by mehroke
Why has this not been widely reported in the indian media?
APOLOGIES if posted in wrong thread.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.scr ... dian-ocean

India gets access to strategic port in Oman for military use, to counter China in the Indian Ocean
The Duqm port is located close to both the Chabahar port in Iran, which India is helping develop, and the Gwadar port in Pakistan, which has Beijing’s help.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 14 Feb 2018 04:30
by anupmisra
China Wants To Turn The Indian Ocean Into The China Ocean
China wants to turn the vast Indian Ocean into the China Ocean—when it comes to investment and commerce, that is.
Beijing is investing heavily in several infrastructure projects. Like Sri Lanka’s ports of Colombo and Hambantota, which give Beijing a trade outpost into the Indian Ocean. And the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a colossal infrastructure project, which connects China’s western territories to the Indian Ocean.
The new news is that China is turning Maldives into another trading outpost with the acquisition of land there, and the signing of a free trade agreement.
Sri Lanka and Maldives can serve as a base for China to flood the Indian market with its products. Malvides, for instance, has a free trade agreement with both India and China.
The other reason is geopolitical. China wants to encircle India by turning trade outposts into military outposts.
In the past four years, Chinese submarines have begun suddenly and repeatedly showing up in the Chinese-operated South Container Terminal in the port of Colombo.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourd ... de1ceb5bef

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 14 Feb 2018 10:32
by Prasad

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 14 Feb 2018 10:44
by SSridhar
Tremendous set of pictures on Chinese construction & militarization activities in ICS. Remarkable & clear pictures.

Beijing's 'island fortresses': China's aggressive militarization of diusputed South China Sea is revealed in new photos showing the communist nation's 'unrestrained' show of power
Beijing's militarisation of the South China Sea has been revealed in new aerial photos obtained by a newspaper in the Philippines.

In what the news organisation described as an 'unrestrained' show of power China has apparently transformed seven reefs in the Spratly islands into military island fortresses featuring runways and observation towers.

The dramatic military build-up is shown in pictures taken from a height of 1,500m (4,920 feet) in the last six months of 2017, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

One of the fortresses is situated on Panganiban, a reef which a United Nations-backed court has previously ruled belongs to the Philippines, it is reported.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 14 Feb 2018 11:05
by arun
When the machismo of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is more focussed on directing his military to shoot women in their vagina’s
( ‘Dangerous macho-fascist’: Critics slam Duterte over order to ‘shoot female rebels in the vagina’) rather than protect Philippine territorial sovereignty on the Panganiban Reef, nothing much can be done about the Peoples Republic of China’s territorial irredentism in the South China Sea.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 14 Feb 2018 11:56
by Philip
The fascist pigs in Beijing now lust after every islet they cast their beady slit-eyes upon.The Japanese have finally decided that "enough is enough" and are doing unto China what China is doing to everyone else.past time for India to to stand up and be counted and intervene and cleanse the polluted Maldives from the stench of rotting carcasses of democracy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 08586.html
China Sea crisis: Japan to bolster military base on island idyll that could become front line in event of war
Island of Ishigaki is set to be the site for a substantial deployment of hardware and troops, amid China bolstering its


Kim Sengupta Ishigaki
A Japanese Self-Defence Forces' vehicle carrying units of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles leaves a port on Japan's southern island of Ishigaki, Okinawa prefecture Reuters
If war is to break out, then Ishigaki would be the frontline. This is the island where Japan feels the most under threat from China and the place it will be installing missiles and troops amid clashes at sea, accusations and recriminations.

While international attention is on whether Games diplomacy in South Korea, with the presence of Kim Jong-un’s sister and henchmen present for the Winter Olympics, will lead to peace breaking out, tension between China and its neighbours have continued to grow.

Throughout last year, while Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un traded public insults, Beijing has been quietly bolstering its presence on the extraordinary chain of artificial isles it has been building in waters near and far taking advantage of what it calls "the strategic window of opportunity.”

READ MORE
UK to send warship to South China Sea in challenge to Beijing

Three airfields have been put into its seven bases in the disputed Spratley chain. There, and elsewhere, aerial photographs from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington reveal facilities awash with fortified shelters for warships, hangers for aircraft and radar, underground bunkers and missile emplacement positions.

The Chinese calls a series of archipelagos the "first island chain of defence” stretching in an arc from the South China Seas to Russia’s Kurils. For Japan the most vulnerable point is the Senkaku, to which Beijing has laid claims with surrounding isles, in particular Ishikagi 90 nautical miles away seen as the obvious targets.

Hundreds of fishing boats from China, escorted by coastguard ships, or, at times, warships have been in the seas leading, at times, driving back Japanese fishermen leading to clashes with Japanese coast guards. There has been a recent spate of incursions into airspace by Chinese warplanes and the appearance for the first time, a few weeks ago, of a nuclear attack submarine in these waters.

The Japanese government are now finalising the deployment of missiles batteries, anti-aircraft and anti-ship, radar installations and around 600 troops to Ishigaki.

Final details are likely to emerge next month. The Independent understands the surface to air missiles are likely include American made MIM-104 Patriots capable of taking down Chinese ballistic missiles with enemy vessels being targeted by SSM-1s which carry up to 500lbs of high-explosives and have range of over a hundred miles. There are future plans for a joint missile system involving Japan and Western Europe to be installed in a project involving the British, French and Italian MBDA and Mitsubishi Electrics.

The issue is of China’s supposed attempt at ocean hegemony has led to international reaction.

The US Defence Secretary General James Mattis stressed during a visit to Tokyo that the Washington is fully committed to backing Japan over the Senkakus. On a broader basis, the US has been sending warships through the China Seas to underline the right to freedom of navigation. The British Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has announced that HMS Sutherland, an anti-submarine ship, will be sailing through the South China Seas. The navies of America, India, Japan and Australia, will be holding naval manoeuvres.

The tiny Senkakus were used in the past by a small Japanese community scratching a living out of bonito fishing and collecting albatross feathers. But they were then abandoned had been lying unpopulated for 78 years with basically scientific and geographical exploration groups the only visitors.


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Related video: Shinzo Abe says Japan will work with South Korea and US on pressuring North to stop nuclear tests
That these five islets and three barren rocks, with a total area of just seven kilometres, has become a potential flashpoint for a conflict between two modern industrialised states may be reminiscent of the Jorge Luis Borges’s view that Britain and Argentina going to war over the Falklands was “like two bald men fighting over a comb”.

In fact, there was little interest in the islands, apart from its fishing grounds, until an international survey in 1969 concluded large undersea deposits of oil and natural gas. The following year both China - which calls the islands Diaoyu - and Taiwan began their claims of ownership.

The steady growth of Chinese presence in the seas, say the Japanese, has damaged the country’s fishing industry. Many of Beijing’s coast guard vessels are rebranded warships and some of the crews of Chinese fishing boats, it is claimed, are not fishermen at all, but peoples’ militia in disguise out to provoke. The confrontation means that Ishigaki fishermen like Yukihidi Higa can no longer catch the red snappers and groupers they used to off the Senkakus.

“Of course it has affected my earnings, I can no longer go there because of the Chinese and their big ships” he stated. “ But they are not just taking the fish, most of the coral from the sea has been stripped over the years, this is not good for marine life.”

The missile deployment comes at a time of great controversy in Japan as premier Shinzo Abe seeks to revise Japan’s post-Second World War pacifist constitution mandated, he holds, by a strong election victory. Last month, his cabinet approved an increase of 1.3 per cent in the annual military budget raising it to a record $ 45.8 billion for the year.

The military deployment is also going to be a key factor in Ishigaki’s municipal election next month. “This is certainly going to be part of my campaign. It is of course a very important topic and it needs to be discussed fully and the city will have to agree on providing the land ” said Yoshitaka Nakayama, the mayor.

“I am in favour of the deployment by our Self Defence Forces (SDF). We have seen the Chinese behave very aggressively, they are coming into our territorial waters, our fishermen have been prevented from fishing, our coastguards are having lots of problems, we have seen their planes fly into our airspace. Putting the missile systems here will act as a warning, it may stop Chinese aggression and a conflict in the future.”

The military was a key issue in the election in Nago, the capital of the Okinawa prefecture, last week in the defeat of the incumbent Mayor Susumu Inamine, by Taketoyo Toguchi, a candidate backed by Mr Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

The Mayor had been an opponent of a US Marines base remaining in Okinawa. Mr Toguchi wanted them to stay and backed a plan by Washington and Tokyo to relocate it from a central urban area to one less populated.

For Yoshiyuki Toita, the secretary general of the Yaeyama Defence Association the result showed “that attitudes are changing: people are beginning to see the dangers posed by China, which is following an expansionist policy. If the Japanese government and the SDF do nothing it will send the wrong message and the Chinese will feel even bolder.”

The defence associations across Japan are private groups which claim to be independent of government. Mr Toita, however, is a member of Mayor Nakayama’s campaign and will be spreading his message in support of the military deployment." This is about security. We have achieved good things here in Ishigaki and we must protect this community and Japan.”

Many are apprehensive, however, that the achievements may be put at risk by militarisation. Subtropical Ishigaki, with its mountains and mangrove forests, beaches and birdlife, has, somewhat surprisingly for a place not widely known, topped TripAdvisor’s “Destinations on the Rise” in the Travellers’ Choice awards.

“We have definitely seen a steady rise in tourism and this growth has taken place despite this place being so remote. The new airport has been a great plus factor” said Hiro Uehara, the owner of a bar and restaurant.

“We are getting Japanese, Australians and people from the West now. But would the foreigners want to come if this place turns into a place with missiles and soldiers and so a target for the Chinese government if there is trouble? We are also getting lots of Chinese tourists, would they come in the future? What about the safety of our children? No, there are too many military bases in Okinawa. We don’t want another one.”

Around a dozen coast guard ships are the current line of defence. Captain Kenichi Kikuchi, in command of the Taketomi, wanted to stress that they do their utmost to avoid confrontations. “We are careful , we are careful because we do not want to escalate matters and also have to mind that the Chinese Navy ships as well their coastguard vessels tend to be large” he said. “ But we also do our duty and deal with problems when they arise and make sure we are not outnumbered by the Chinese.”

It is not all confrontation; there is also cooperation, he pointed out, describing how the coast guard helped rescued six Chinese fishermen two years ago after their boat had capsized following a collision with a Greek ship. What will happen when the missiles and troops are deployed? “That is a decision for the Japanese government and the Self Defence Forces. They will decide what is right. But it could become very interesting.

Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Posted: 14 Feb 2018 12:27
by ashish raval
SSridhar wrote:Tremendous set of pictures on Chinese construction & militarization activities in ICS. Remarkable & clear pictures.

Beijing's 'island fortresses': China's aggressive militarization of diusputed South China Sea is revealed in new photos showing the communist nation's 'unrestrained' show of power
Beijing's militarisation of the South China Sea has been revealed in new aerial photos obtained by a newspaper in the Philippines.

In what the news organisation described as an 'unrestrained' show of power China has apparently transformed seven reefs in the Spratly islands into military island fortresses featuring runways and observation towers.

The dramatic military build-up is shown in pictures taken from a height of 1,500m (4,920 feet) in the last six months of 2017, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

One of the fortresses is situated on Panganiban, a reef which a United Nations-backed court has previously ruled belongs to the Philippines, it is reported.
It must be interesting to simulate the scenario of generating a tsunami by nuke explosion and see it's effect on such coral reef islands. Good research question. Conversely the question can be what is the size of underwater earthquake that can lead to generating a tsunami to destroy a island built on a reef worldwide.