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

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 29 Aug 2020 10:20

Sri, the argument is not against the point that you have raised.

The argument is that the PRC actions won't really matter if India grows and develops a strong and capable Navy.

If Indian Navy develops the way the PRC Navy has over the last 15 years and the USN doesn't go the red fleet way quite overnight. The ability of the PRC to leverage the infrastructure for military ends will be quite limited.

But all this presupposes that Indian economy continue to grow strongly.

If the Indian economy stagnates for the next 5 to 10 years. Then the power differential makes the military potential of the base meaningless.

Now, if SL totally becomes subservient to PRC ( a notion I totally reject) then SL will need to develop a strong military potential in order to contribute meaningfully to any PRC cause against India. I am not thinking TSP. I think like the military potential at the level of Turkey or South Korea.

In the absence of SL developing such capacity any base is meaningless.

Kati · Post by **Kati** » 29 Aug 2020 12:16

Kra canal, even if it comes to fruition, can't be controlled by PRC.
Unkil will veto that, and know that Thailand is too dependent on unkil.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 29 Aug 2020 12:46

Kra canal.itself is harmless unless it leads to.a Chinese basing facility which will only happen if Thailand is compromised.

Further, it's opening into Andaman sea will.provide a much narrower target zone then the much wider Malacca opening into Andaman.

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 29 Aug 2020 12:53

X - Post

From Twitter // Baba Banaras

Dr. APR @drapr007
Situation along LAC is more dangerous than 1962. Military and politics both know it very well. The tension is not only in eastern Laddakh but there is tension on the entire border with China after the Indian Army in Sikkim has done the same what PLA has done in Eastern Ladakh.

12:19 PM · Aug 29, 2020·Twitter for Android

https://twitter.com/drapr007/status/1299600129293389824

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 29 Aug 2020 13:58

https://twitter.com/peter_dutton/status ... 2000987136

Peter Dutton @peter_dutton

Philippines Welcomes US Presence to Maintain Order in South China Sea “Yes, we need the U.S. presence in Asia,” Locsin said. “ ... we need them because our whole defense posture depends on the Mutual Defense Treaty.”

Are we clear? Crystal.

Current GOI too thought they could work with China and learnt it the hard way.

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 29 Aug 2020 20:27

First evidence of PLA casualty in Galwan Valley, picture of Chinese soldier's grave goes viral

The tombstone was erected on August 5, 2020
The picture is going viral on Chinese social media platform Weibo
China has not made any official statement about the casualties in Galwan

Please go to the link for details

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 29 Aug 2020 21:44

Me think Chinese are creating a solid proof of their presence in the area. It will be used in future talks as a proof of their presence.

m_saini · Post by **m_saini** » 29 Aug 2020 23:09

I don't think anyone would accept tombs of soldiers killed in battle as proof of presence. After all those RM trips to Russia, they probably allowed this image to go viral to placate the growing war cries in both China and india.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 29 Aug 2020 23:37

Lots of Indian soldier war graves in China from the Boxer Rebellion era. It should be enough to claim large sections of Hong Kong, central Shanghai and the Forbidden City as parts of the Republic of India.

yensoy · Post by **yensoy** » 29 Aug 2020 23:56

Besides, wouldn't the soldier's remains be airlifted to his hometown for burial? This could be a memorial but not a tomb.

Kati · Post by **Kati** » 30 Aug 2020 09:14

Some "Mr. C" has come forward to put up the $750,000 bond for the alleged spy. See the level of Panda's network in California.

Sacramento judge offers Chinese researcher ‘huge break,’ allows her release from jail

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article245333300.html

nam · Post by **nam** » 30 Aug 2020 13:28

The soldier is from Fujian. Right on the East coast. As Han as it gets. At 19-20, must be a fresh recruit just out of training.

In normal times, I would expect him to be deployed against Taiwan. He is all the way at LAC. Looks like PLA really did not expect any combat and send in in-experienced guys. Young ones, due to the extreme heights.

idan · Post by **idan** » 30 Aug 2020 15:40

Tibet will be free soon from the Han occupation!

Chinese leader tells senior Communist Party officials that Beijing must plant 'seeds of loving China' among Tibetans

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/ ... 15848.html

chola · Post by **chola** » 30 Aug 2020 15:54

nam wrote:The soldier is from Fujian. Right on the East coast. As Han as it gets. At 19-20, must be a fresh recruit just out of training.

In normal times, I would expect him to be deployed against Taiwan. He is all the way at LAC. Looks like PLA really did not expect any combat and send in in-experienced guys. Young ones, due to the extreme heights.

Their troop numbers in Tibet for years reflected their thought that there would be no fighting along the LAC. Galwan being the first fatalities in literally decades. But that has all changed now. It will be another LOC.

As pointed out before, if we wanted the kinetic option we should have taken it right after 16 Bihar was martyred. The best time strategically was at Doklam when they had only two brigades in all of the TAR.

Now with them built up with divisions we'll have to be ready for a long haul of infrastructure building and armed face-off. I don't see the chinis attacking because it is not to their advantage. There is a reason they haven't fought in 40 years -- they know they are not good at it. What they are good at is production and infrastructure and that is what they will do. Unless we attack, I see no war. They won't suddenly change and be all gung ho for combat.

They will criss-cross the LAC with roads and edifices and pour in a sea of drones, self-propelled artillery, light tanks and AFVs to deter kinetics while they build permanent presence in places that neither side had permanent presence before. We have to match up the best we could before it becomes another SCS.

Remember, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. have shorter communications to the disputed areas of the SCS. They just couldn't keep up with the ships, aircraft and artificial islands the chinis are flooding those places with. It will be the same game here in the mountains.

g.sarkar · Post by **g.sarkar** » 30 Aug 2020 16:20

https://scroll.in/latest/971754/china-m ... xi-jinping
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
China must build ‘impregnable fortress’ in Tibet to maintain stability, says President Xi Jinping
The Chinese president added that efforts must be made to build a ‘united, prosperous, culturally advanced and modern socialist’ Tibet.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday said that the country must build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain peace and stability in Tibet and encourage the people to fight against separatism, South China Morning Post reported. He also called for an “ironclad shield” to ensure stability in the region.
Xi made the remarks at the Communist Party’s Central Symposium on Tibet Work. The symposium is China’s most significant forum to discuss Tibet. The Chinese president directed leaders at the meeting to “solidify border defences and ensure frontier security” in Tibet, which shares a border with India.
The Chinese president called on his party’s leaders to ensure national security and enduring peace and stability in Tibet to “improve people’s lives, maintain a good environment, solidify border defense and ensure frontier security”, according to Xinhua. He added that efforts must be made to build a “united, prosperous, culturally advanced and modern socialist” Tibet.
The Chinese president also called for “planting the seeds of loving China in the depths of the hearts of every youth” through ideological and political education. Xi also emphasised that schools should incorporate patriotism in their curriculum.
.....
Gautam

SriKumar · Post by **SriKumar** » 30 Aug 2020 20:03

chola wrote:They will criss-cross the LAC with roads and edifices and pour in a sea of drones, self-propelled artillery, light tanks and AFVs to deter kinetics while they build permanent presence in places that neither side had permanent presence before. We have to match up the best we could before it becomes another SCS.

Remember, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. have shorter communications to the disputed areas of the SCS. They just couldn't keep up with the ships, aircraft and artificial islands the chinis are flooding those places with. It will be the same game here in the mountains.

Precisely the reason why Kra canal is a problem. They cannot build islands in Bay of Bengal but short of that, they can do everything else including sending large number of military ships (even if they are of low quality/low capability) or build ports with some docking rights.

General comment:
Things dont have to be 100% or even 80% efficient to be useful, whether it is the canal width, depth, size of opening, or the facilities/rights in a port. They can be only 30% efficient/30% capable, and as long as it is a NEW capability that DID NOT EXIST BEFORE e.g. a new location to refuel or re-stock, a new source of intelligence (subs and ships snooping), a new shorter path to scene of conflict, a few more destroyers, battleships, an extra brigade of soldiers..... whatever, it constitues a military advantage that did not exist earlier. ANd unfortunately, it needs to be matched by India with resources that do not currently exist. Chinese are not looking for efficiency right now- lower efficiency will indeed drain their system but nless their system collapses totally, it makes NO difference to Indian military posture to be appied. Indian generals and Admirals have to match it. They need to assess threat and put in hardware, soldiers/sailors, bases to counter it. DEfinitely do-able but very expensive. I am following the saga of the 42 squadrons needed and how to get there, and how many more Arihant/Aridamans are needed and how expensive are they etc. etc. These issues will magnify 2X to cover the Bay of Bengal with fighters, surface navy and submarines (And submarine detecting choppers etc).

One thing that has become clear from the LAC situation is that China is free to deploy all its military resources in no-man's land (or international waters) as much as it wants. It is likely it will be the same in regards to Chinese ships in Bay of Bengal (Kra canal or Malacca). If Kra happens, many more ships will show up, and in a military conflict, quantity does matter. A narrower canal simply means it will take longer to bring in the same number of ships in preparation for the start of war (during peacetime), that's all.

My last on Kra: India's best hope is to get involved in Thai politics (similar to Sri Lanka) and take it from there. If that does not work, start buildin an MIC, start the process of allocating about 50 to 100 billion over the next 2 decades (and add 5% to the GST). Subs and planes arent cheap to buy or maintain.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 31 Aug 2020 05:03

g.sarkar wrote:https://scroll.in/latest/971754/china-m ... xi-jinping
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
China must build ‘impregnable fortress’ in Tibet to maintain stability, says President Xi Jinping
The Chinese president added that efforts must be made to build a ‘united, prosperous, culturally advanced and modern socialist’ Tibet.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday said that the country must build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain peace and stability in Tibet and encourage the people to fight against separatism, South China Morning Post reported. He also called for an “ironclad shield” to ensure stability in the region.
Xi made the remarks at the Communist Party’s Central Symposium on Tibet Work. The symposium is China’s most significant forum to discuss Tibet. The Chinese president directed leaders at the meeting to “solidify border defences and ensure frontier security” in Tibet, which shares a border with India.
The Chinese president called on his party’s leaders to ensure national security and enduring peace and stability in Tibet to “improve people’s lives, maintain a good environment, solidify border defense and ensure frontier security”, according to Xinhua. He added that efforts must be made to build a “united, prosperous, culturally advanced and modern socialist” Tibet.
The Chinese president also called for “planting the seeds of loving China in the depths of the hearts of every youth” through ideological and political education. Xi also emphasised that schools should incorporate patriotism in their curriculum.
.....
Gautam

jnu, amu, jadavpur et al will also be “planted with the seeds of loving china in the depths of the hearts of every youth”

the congis already have an MOU with the hans, the commies, naxals and the champagne communistas alreadt swear fealty to the chairman

dinesh_kimar · Post by **dinesh_kimar** » 31 Aug 2020 23:56

Hee hee, good catch Saar.

They have certainly planted the seeds of love in the Congress Party's Youth Icon!

The "mutually beneficial" MOU contents could have been made public by application of a PIL, but Pandemic, Prashant Bushan and Pranab proved a distraction.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 01 Sep 2020 07:46

Yaaas,"impregnable fortr..arse" my foot! It indicates that XI is feeling mighty insecure aboot Tibet! He's being challenged by the mighty USN in the Indo- China Sea ,who care a fig for his flying chopsticks,and in Ladakh the IA is also calling his bluff.
If the PRC grip on the Tibetans was so secure he wouldn't need his fortr..arse! This indicates a window of opportunity for India to arm the Tibetan diaspora and do another '71 Mukhti Bahihi style op to assist the liberation of Tibet.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Sep 2020 07:52

Those "flying chopsticks" as Philip sir eloquently put it

- were they a message for us and not the USN as has been reported? Only a few days ago did we release information that our warship has been patrolling in the ICS for a while now. There must have been some reason to disclose that at this juncture.

SRajesh · Post by **SRajesh** » 01 Sep 2020 11:55

Philip wrote:Yaaas,"impregnable fortr..arse" my foot! It indicates that XI is feeling mighty insecure aboot Tibet! He's being challenged by the mighty USN in the Indo- China Sea ,who care a fig for his flying chopsticks,and in Ladakh the IA is also calling his bluff.
If the PRC grip on the Tibetans was so secure he wouldn't need his fortr..arse! This indicates a window of opportunity for India to arm the Tibetan diaspora and do another '71 Mukhti Bahihi style op to assist the liberation of Tibet.

Philipji
My biggest grouse with Atalji stint was 'One China' crap that we agreed to.
Two things here : Either there were Chini Moles in the advisory capacity egging him to do so (Not sure where Ex-NSA BM and That yob SKulkarni fit in this) or Atalji gambled and lost!!
Either way can we go back on that to arm the Tibetans!!
Also there was a bill introduced in US on Tibet any outcome of that and should we/could we trust Unkil on this matter??
Taking Dragon on on our own without support would be difficult I think!!
What if DL is nudged to look for a successor even flying a balloon up saying that the reincarnate would be 'born outside Tibet' That would set the dragon spewing 'hot wind' or would this strategy be playing into chini hand
Or the other thing is how plausible is it to take Sakshgam valley and say that the treaty between Pak and Chin is illegal and land belongs to J&K!

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 01 Sep 2020 12:20

There is a certain type of bead made by office of Dalai-Lama. These beads worth more than Gold.Tibetian youth from India cross to occupied land to trade these beads. Border is very porus. People in occupied tibet are supressed by using brutal force. Anything can be done. Tibetians have their own coded language they use on phone. They have their own chat sites. They are quite untill Dalai Lama is alive. After that AHIMSA and all that will be a thing of past. Salam. Meanwhile I am dug in Pindi.

chola · Post by **chola** » 01 Sep 2020 13:39

Philip wrote:Yaaas,"impregnable fortr..arse" my foot! It indicates that XI is feeling mighty insecure aboot Tibet! He's being challenged by the mighty USN in the Indo- China Sea ,who care a fig for his flying chopsticks,and in Ladakh the IA is also calling his bluff.
If the PRC grip on the Tibetans was so secure he wouldn't need his fortr..arse! This indicates a window of opportunity for India to arm the Tibetan diaspora and do another '71 Mukhti Bahihi style op to assist the liberation of Tibet.

It is not secure and they are proposing Han-ification of Tibet to settle the issue once and for all. I think we've been arming and assisting the Tibetans since the 1950s (along with the CIA at times.)

The chinis are at the point where they are going for that last round of cultural genocide through assimilation like they are doing in Xinjiang.

yensoy · Post by **yensoy** » 01 Sep 2020 14:11

Except that both in Xinjiang and more so in Tibet the climate is so bloody harsh that Hans do not want to stay on beyond one generation and even those spending their working years want to repatriate to the peace and quiet of their home towns back east. Only the locals have what it takes to survive the tough winters; besides they have a cultural context and connect to the land for millennia with their festivals in line with the seasons.

chola · Post by **chola** » 01 Sep 2020 14:21

^^^ They are incorporating the Tibetan genes into their own:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as ... story.html

They do the same in Xinjiang and Mongolia. They are the Borg.

This is not new under the chicoms. Historically, this was how the chinis conquered all of southern China which was subtropical and rice-eating and the environment harsh to the wheat-eating Hans of the Central Plain (the cradle of Han civilization.)

In modern day southern Han, only the male-inherited DNA comes from Han. The maternal side is native. I'll look up the article.

Added:
http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/han-chinese.html

The Han people did not originally live as far south as Guangdong or as far southwest as Sichuan, nor in the far northern areas of today's China. What happened was that in later times, many Han men moved southward and northward into lands of other cultures and intermarried with their women, including those from the so-called Yue peoples of the south and the Dian peoples of the southwest, and China politically grew to encompass those new lands. The Han culture became dominant in southern China after this expansion and the descendants of Han-Yue intermarriages came to regard themselves as Han. Although the Han are a coherent ethnicity on the paternal side, carrying a core group of Y-chromosomal haplogroups across the geographic span of the ethnicity, there are some genetic differences between the Northern Han and Southern Han that persist to the present day, because Southern Han are somewhat shifted towards southeastern Asians and carry some different mtDNA haplogroups.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 01 Sep 2020 22:14

Another Blow To Made-In-China Products: India Bans Toy Imports If They Fail Compulsory BIS Quality Norms

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/another-b ... lity-norms

The imported toy business in India, largely dominated by the Chinese toy market had suffered a setback earlier this year when the import duty rose to 60 per cent.

With PM Narendra Modi's focused call on Aatmanirbhar Bharat and the pitch for promoting India-made children's toys, a new move is set to throttle the Chinese toy industry in India.

The share of Chinese toys in the Indian toy market is said to be 75 per cent.

New concerns for the industry have propped up with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) introducing new norms for the import of toys, "those imported for use by children below 14 years", among mandatory norms on quality for various imported goods.

Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said last month that imported toys will be allowed to "enter India only after complying with the mandatory quality norms from September 1 onwards."

He added: "The mandatory quality control standard (QCS) for toys will be implemented from September 1 onwards. BIS staff will be deployed at major ports to take the sample and test the product for quality."

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 01 Sep 2020 22:18

A Godless PRC,devoid of any spiritualism,intent only on worldly possessions and coveting their neighbour's cattle,goats,sheep,wife,land stand an icicle's chance in hell in attempting to win over the intensely spiritual Tibetans,who have over 2500 years of Buddhism in their DNA. The Han is the Asian equivalent of the Hun,funny how it sounds almost similar,a rapacious monster out for plunder. It is hilarious hearing the shrill calls from the yellow peril to get the Tibetans to love them,whilst at the same time the Chin fuhrer rants about turning Tibet into an impregnable fortr..arse!
I would imagine that in past times our covert ops in Tibet would've remained intel gathering,but now that the gloves are off and the Chin fuhrer has shown his claws and fangs,we should embark upon a massive arming of the TIbetan diaspora and train them into the dark arts of sabotage in order to destroy the road/rail link from the PRC heartland to Tibet. In addition,to cut the main highway running from Ladakh to Lhasa including severing the Karakorum highway,the umbilical cord feeding Pak. If Zia could with US help in arms shipments,help the Afghans get the Soviets to withdraw from Afg., surely we could do even better and bleed the PRC grievously in such manner as described above,making it untenable for them to subdue the country and its people.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 01 Sep 2020 22:30

GoI still hoping/trying to wake up.

Gaana, Hungama, MX Player: The growing influence of Chinese companies through investments in India’s entertainment sector and elsewhere
https://www.opindia.com/2020/09/gaana-h ... nvestment/
Tensions between India and China are simmering at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh after clashes at Galwan Valley and more recently, on the intervening night between the 29th and 30th of August. Ever since the conflict began, the Indian Government has taken stern action against Chinese businesses operating in India. Towards that end, numerous Chinese apps were banned.

However, the wings of Chinese firms run deep in India and there are numerous sectors in which such firms have made significant investment in order to increase the influence of the Chinese government. Investments have been made in sectors such as entertainment and news aggregator apps. In this report, we shall look into some of the investments that have been made by China in relevant sectors.

chola · Post by **chola** » 01 Sep 2020 22:59

We are on a diverging path from the chinis not only with the decoupling but the directions of our economies.

Maybe Karma will catch up with them in the next life but this is what we need to live with and plan against especially after the numbers which came out yesterday from the NSO:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-eco ... 1598280917

China’s Economy Is Bouncing Back—And Gaining Ground on the U.S.
Success in containing Covid-19 is bringing life back to normal and helping close the economic gap with a rival

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/busi ... 97151.html

China’s economic recovery gathers pace, leaving the US and Europe trailing
Recovery from a slump in first quarter of 2020 boosted by government investment while reopening of some trading partners helped to support exports

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chin ... -9skcdjncm

Chinese manufacturing enjoys fastest growth since 2011

https://www.ft.com/content/db9ce8f1-ab9 ... efe8d629a1

Domestic demand drives China's post-pandemic recovery

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 02 Sep 2020 00:14

Interesting the tone of news from our end. One of the authors is Tibetan:
Tibet, a resource and a solution

To begin with, Tibet must get Observer status, like Palestine, at the UN. India, being the country culturally closest to Tibet and having given refuge to Tibetans, can take up the cause of Tibet. This will change the dynamics within Asia and the world. Other countries will be slowly compelled to come out in support of Tibet, just as had happened with South Africa during Apartheid. That the Tibetans are thoroughly committed to the philosophy of non-violence and compassion will easily get them world support. India has supported Tibet tacitly so far, the need is to come out in the open and show the way.

The first step every Indian must take is to start calling the “China border” as the Tibet border. After all, we have formed the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to safeguard our Himalayan borders with Tibet. India must recognise the Tibetan Government-in-Exile and His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the leader of all Tibet. Being the most important symbol of peace and a leader of a nonviolent movement, India must recognise this 85-year-old with the Bharat Ratna.

Stuff like this in the press must be causing the Chinese embassy to run around like mice right now.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 02 Sep 2020 01:24

Google, Facebook undersea web cable will no longer connect US and Hong Kong
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.techra ... -hong-kong
Google and Facebook have abandoned their plans to activate an undersea web cable between the US and Hong Kong following warnings from US security agencies that it could pose a risk to national security.

As reported by The Register, the consortium building the Pacific Light Cable Network has now submitted a revised proposal to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which includes landing points in Taiwan and the Philippines but leaves out Hong Kong.

First announced in 2016, the Pacific Light Cable Network is a partnership between Google, Facebook and other companies with the aim of boosting internet speeds and capacity between North America and Asia by developing a 13,900km undersea cable. Both US tech giants have helped fund the project alongside a Hong Kong-based company called Pacific Light Data Communications (PLDC) that was originally supposed to own four of the project's six fiber-optic pairs.

While PLDC was owned by Chinese steel and real estate magnate Wei Junkang when the project was first announced, the company was sold to a private broadband provider called Dr Peng Telecom & Media Group in December of 2017. US security agencies then began to have concerns about the Pacific Light Cable Network as Dr Peng works closely with China's Huawei and has worked on a number of state projects including a surveillance network used by Beijing police.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 02 Sep 2020 02:29

China just mandated Chinese language instruction in all subjects except Mongolian in Inner Mongolia. Leading to large scale protesta by people & students there. More attempts to sinicise the Mongolians, just like they're doing to Tibetans & Uighurs & the Hui n others.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... s-language

Not the first time such protesta have broken out. In 2011 there were protests when Hu Chunhua (current Vice Premier) was the boss there.

DavidD · Post by **DavidD** » 02 Sep 2020 05:00

Lol funny the former Mongolian president chimed in. He realizes that Mongolia uses Cyrillic, and only in Inner Mongolia can you find actual Mongolian characters, right?

Shanmukh · Post by **Shanmukh** » 02 Sep 2020 06:59

DavidD wrote:Lol funny the former Mongolian president chimed in. He realizes that Mongolia uses Cyrillic, and only in Inner Mongolia can you find actual Mongolian characters, right?

That is not exactly true. Cyrillic was imposed in Mongolia in 1946, at the height of the USSR powers. After the collapse of the USSR, the traditional Mongol script has been gaining popularity. Even during the heydays of the USSR, the traditional Buddhist schools and monasteries still used the traditional Mongol script, which runs from top to bottom. And in March this year, the Mongolian state made a decision to teach traditional Mongol script, with an aim to bringing back the Mongol script in all official documents, alongside the Cyrillic script from 2025.

g.sarkar · Post by **g.sarkar** » 02 Sep 2020 08:41

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/sp ... a-bombers/
A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT
Pentagon’s latest salvo against China’s growing might: Cold War bombers
America is combining its decades-old bombers with cutting-edge weapons to counter Beijing’s advantage in the waterways off the Chinese coast. The U.S. wants to send a message that Chinese ships and land targets can be threatened at any time.
By DAVID LAGUE in HONG KONG Filed Sept. 1, 2020
On July 21, two U.S Air Force B-1B bombers took off from Guam and headed west over the Pacific Ocean to the hotly contested South China Sea. The sleek jets made a low-level pass over the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its escorting fleet, which was exercising nearby in the Philippines Sea, according to images released by the U.S. military.
The operation was part of the Trump administration’s intensifying challenge to China’s ruling Communist Party and its sweeping territorial claims over one of the world’s most important strategic waterways. While senior Trump officials launch diplomatic and rhetorical broadsides at Beijing, the U.S. Defense Department is turning to the firepower of its heavily armed, long-range bombers as it seeks to counter Beijing's bid to control the seas off the Chinese coast.
Since late January, American B-1B and B-52 bombers, usually operating in pairs, have flown about 20 missions over key waterways, including the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan, according to accounts of these flights from U.S. Air Force statements and official social media posts. These missions, military analysts say, are designed to send a crystal-clear signal: The United States can threaten China’s fleet and Chinese land targets at any time, from distant bases, without having to move America’s aircraft carriers and other expensive surface warships within range of Beijing's massive arsenal of missiles.
In this response to the growing power of China’s military, the Pentagon has combined some of its oldest weapons with some of its newest: Cold War-era bombers and cutting-edge, stealthy missiles. The supersonic B1-B first entered service in 1986; the newest plane in the B-52 fleet was built during the Kennedy administration. But these workhorses can carry a huge payload of precision weapons. A B-1B can carry 24 of the U.S. military’s stealthy new Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles, which entered service in 2018 and can strike targets at ranges of up to 600 kilometers, according to U.S. and other Western officials.
“A single B-1 can deliver the same ordnance payload as an entire carrier battle group in a day,” said David Deptula, dean of the Washington-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General. And, in a crisis, he added, bombers can be rapidly deployed.
“Depending on where they are, ships can take weeks to get in place,” said Deptula. “But by using bombers, they can respond in a matter of hours,” he adds, noting that the U.S. object is to deter war. “Nobody wants to engage in conflict with China.”
......
Gautam

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 02 Sep 2020 13:30

Reliability of Chinese Data is questenable , just like their products. Factories were closed and international trade halted but they managed to grow. I call it Harbin staticstics.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 02 Sep 2020 14:34

Zuzana Čaputová @ZuzanaCaputova
#Slovakia stands by the Czech Republic. #EU-#China relations are based on dialogue and mutual respect. Threats directed at one of the EU members and its representatives contradict the very essence of our partnership and as such are unacceptable.

The Chinese foreign minister got into a hissy fit and threatened the Czech republic of consequences because they visited Taiwan. The Czechs just said f u in return. Now this from the Slovak President.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 02 Sep 2020 14:51

Slovakian FM is good friends with EAM Jaishankar

g.sarkar · Post by **g.sarkar** » 02 Sep 2020 17:10

https://www.rediff.com/news/interview/t ... 200901.htm
'The Indian Army is fully prepared'
By ARCHANA MASIH, September 01, 2020 10:16 IST
'The use of military power to settle disputes is not always preferred and is the last preferred option, but it certainly remains an option.'
"The Army is not only capable, but has the capacity to defend its entire territory. Our troops are very hardy, well-trained and completely acclimatised for high-altitude warfare in winters,", Lieutenant General P J S Pannu (retd) -- who served as General Officer Commanding of the Leh-based XIV Corps -- explains to Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
China has once again carried out provocative military action in the Pangong Tso lake area. Do you feel the PLA is going to continue transgressions along the Line of Actual Control?
The PLA has taken initiative to break the status quo to their favour. The Indian and Chinese military commanders have met several times to achieve status quo ante to return to the pre-April positions.
In certain areas such as Galwan, some readjustment has happened to separate the positions of the two militaries, but the Chinese have not gone back in Pangong Tso, Ghagra, Hot Spring and are quite close to Depsang.
All these incidents have happened north of Pangong Tso.
Yesterday's incursion took place in a new area - which is south of Pangong Tso. The earlier activities took place in the north and fall under a different command of the China division. To my understanding there are two Chinese commanders in that area -- in-charge of the north and south respectively.
The border post meetings between India and China take place in Chushul which is in our area and Maldo which is theirs. The two posts are very close to each other.
This is not an area where any active hostilities or proximity was reported.
In South Pangong Tso, the Chinese troops are located on one side of the heights and Indian troops are on heights on the other side. There is a bowl in between the two locations next to the lake.
While I do not exactly know where the incursion has happened, but the Chinese have tried to intrude into the bowl even earlier many times and have been stopped by the Indian Army. We have had face offs in that area resulting in pushing-pulling etc.
I think in the north of Pangong Tso, the troops have almost achieved eyeball-to-eyeball or shoulder-to-shoulder deployments. Therefore, there is very little chance of manoeuvre to open any fresh areas in the north of Pangong Tso.
Maybe the Indian Army has also undertaken certain activities to readjust their positions in a manner where they have an advantage over the Chinese which made the Chinese feel the need to open up a new area.
To do this the Chinese will look for a place where Indian troops are not physically present like the bowl which is next to the water dominated by heights from both sides.
If the Chinese have come in that side, they can't remain there because Indian troops positioned on the dominating heights will quickly react as is being reported and would have stabilised the ground situation.
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Gautam

g.sarkar · Post by **g.sarkar** » 02 Sep 2020 18:43

https://www.sify.com/news/india-bans-ch ... jidcg.html
India bans China's PUBG, 117 mobile apps
Wed, Sep 2nd, 2020
New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Technology has banned PUBG, along with 118 other mobile applications. PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik, PUBG MOBILE LITE, WeChat Work & WeChat reading are among the 118 banned mobile apps.
With 180 million downloads, PUBG accounts for 24% of total game downloads worldwide and has generated close to $28 million since July 2019 through in-app purchases.
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Gautam