Chinese facility at Mischief Reef
Posted on 06/27/2009 1:41:24 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
The sixth meeting of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's (CPPCC) Standing Committee, the highest-level advisory body of the People's Republic of China, met ahead of the general plenary that is taking place in Beijing from June 22 to 27. During one of the committee's working group meetings on June 18, the former deputy chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and standing committee member of the CPPCC, General Zhang Li, recommended that China build an airport and seaport on Mischief Reef located in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The additional facilities, Zhang said, would enable China to conduct aircraft patrol of the area, support Chinese fishing vessels and demonstrate the country's sovereignty over the disputed islands (Ming Pao [Hong Kong], June 22). The call for building military installments on the disputed islets by General Zhang, a senior high-ranking military officer, may be signs of China's increased willingness to use force in resolving territorial disputes as tension between China and ASEAN-member states (i.e. Philippines, Vietnam) boil over the contested islets in the region.
Chinese facility at Mischief Reef
A Chinese media source reported that the PLA Navy, under the direct order of the Central Military Commission (CMC) under President Hu Jintao, recently conducted a large scale naval exercise in the South China Sea to demonstrate Chinese sovereignty over the islands. China officially imposed a fishing ban in the South China Sea on May 16 to reportedly prevent "over fishing," and sent eight patrol ships to monitor 128,000 square kilometers of the region (China Review News, June 19, Xinhua News Agency, June 9).
In recent months, tensions flared between China and Vietnam, which is one of the claimants contesting sovereignty over the islands, and Hanoi reportedly signed a $1.8 billion deal with Russia for six Kilo-class submarines in what analysts say appears to be the strongest response sent by Hanoi toward Beijing for what it increasingly sees as China's encroachment on the South China Sea islands (Ria Novosti, April 27). The submarines, which are designed for anti-sub and anti-ship warfare, could help protect Vietnamese claims in the South China Sea by denying access to its more than 2,000 miles of coastline. The submarine has a displacement of 2,300 tons, a maximum depth of 350 meters (1,200 feet), a range of 6,000 miles, and is equipped with six 533-mm torpedo tubes (Ria Novosti, April 27).
In his remarks at the committee meeting, Zhang described the situation in the South China Sea as "very grim," and recommended that the Chinese navy add vessels and boats that have a displacement of 3,000 tons or higher for the navy and naval police that operate in the disputed area (Ta Kung Pao [Hong Kong], June 18). According to Zhang, the PLAN only has eight operational naval vessels that are deployable to the region, and these vessels are usually executing other missions in different areas, thus their capability to respond to any contingency that develops in the South China Sea is very limited (Ta Kung Pao, June 18). If the airport and seaport are constructed, Zhang said that China will then be able to control the Spratlys and provide a platform for Chinese naval vessels to bypass the Straits of Malacca, which Chinese military strategists consider a strategic choke point for the country's national security.
The Spratly Islands are comprised of over 500 islets, while Vietnam occupies 29 of these islets; the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei occupy three or more islets each, and the General noted that China only controls four of these islets (Ta Kung Pao, June 18). Moreover, according to Zhang, China does not possess a single oil well in the area, but other countries have more than 1,000 wells that extract from 5,000 to 1 hundred million barrels of oil per year. In response, Zhang advised Beijing to increase its investment in naval surface ships, satellite surveillance, intelligence facilities and basing construction in the region, while expanding oil exploration and production in the South China Sea (China Review News, June 19).
I thought Barry Obama and Al Gore said that petroleum is a thing of the past? Why are Vietnam, China and the Philippines fighting over oil, then?
These countries feel there sovereignty and security are undermined by China and China feels the same.
Controlling the Spratly Islands is about exercising their muscle, making a stand.
Then again maybe China is ‘feeling its’ oats’.
if you browse the Spratley Is. on Google Earth you can see that these islands are far from Hainan and close to both Palawan P.I. and Vietnam .
Out in the middle . China should have no proximity claims here . Is it because they think anything that lies in the South CHINA Sea , theirs? What’s next , PRC claims Singapore ?
Or is it because they have boats ? What’s next , Hawaii ?
Lamers
They’re China. They have a bigger problem than what to do with an extra man at a dinner party.
See map #6 above.
China’s claim is the wekest of all by proximity.
But of course the strongest by guns.
The dragon is learning how to swim.
A lot of overlapping territorial lines there.
China may try to exploit this fact to act as a sort of land-grabber.
There are oil/gas fields near the Chinese island of Hainan.
UNCLOS determines that and as UNCLOS has been implemented, there has been a backlog of dispute resolution, plus the date of each nations claims are determined by when they signed the treaty, so resolution can't begin until all the overlapping claims are made.
You may recall China and Japan in a recent hot dispute over this same issue, but they reached an temporary resolution until UNCLOS can finally make the determination.
At the same time these various nations are in dispute over who it belongs to, there have been confrontations between China and US Navy vessels who are mapping the floor/shelf in that area because the US says it doesn't belong to any of them, it is international and under control of UNCLOS.
Same situation in the Arctic Ocean. Russia, Canada, and Denmark(Greenland) have overlapping claims on the Lomonosov Ridge and the US says it doesn't belong to any of them, it is international.
test
second test
Took them a while but it looks like China followed General Zhang Li’s recommendation...
...”The Pentagon disclosed in June (2019?) that China has fielded advanced anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles and electronic jamming equipment on the Spratly Islands, a group of reefs and islets located close to U.S. ally Philippines that China claims as its own territory. Military officials said the missiles threaten U.S. warships and aircraft that have stepped up freedom of navigation operations near the islands in a bid to counter Chinese claims to control over 90 percent of the South China Sea.
The missiles include YJ-12B anti-ship cruise missiles capable of targeting warships as far as 340 miles away, and HQ-9B long-range, surface-to-air missiles with ranges of up to 184 miles. They are stationed on Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, and Subi Reef in the Spratlys, effectively creating a buffer zone around the entire area. Electronic jammers were deployed on Fiery Cross and Mischief reefs...”
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