Posted on 05/15/2005 6:51:30 AM PDT by Srirangan
14 May 2005: Deepening its “strings of pearls” strategy of acquiring bases and cultivating ties from the Middle East to Southern China, China is now planning a submarine facility on one of the Indonesian islands close to the Malacca Straits, and Australia has protested this.
Diplomatic sources said that China ostensibly wants to protect the sealanes of communication in the Indian Ocean, especially the transit of oil tankers from the Persian Gulf, but it is also seen as a measure to preempt a US blockade of China’s energy sources in the event of a war with Taiwan.
In January, The Washington Times published an internal report for US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld in which the “strings of pearl” strategy was posited, and the key under-construction Chinese bases that were identified were Gwadar in Pakistan, and facilities in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and the South China Sea generally, but Indonesia is a new addition.
The Pentagon report said, “China is building strategic relationships along the sealanes from the Middle East to the South China Sea in ways that suggest defensive and offensive positioning to protect China’s energy interests, but also to serve broad security objectives.”
New Chinese submarine base in Indonesia (Complete Article)
...but also to serve broad security objectives...
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Broad security interests? You mean easy access to parts of the world they would like to dominate...they have been working on this angle for some time, working to get access to these shipping lanes. Is China fooling anyone?
Yes. A lot of people. Even here on this forum.
Sorry, after the whole "India Daily" fiasco I'm fairly dubious of Indian sources I've never heard of before.
There's a long history of Indonesian/Chinese hatred, exemplified by the repeated massacres and of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, at times the deaths numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
The Chinese will learn the Indonesian word for kickback fairly quickly.
Point is the article provides no sources and a good deal of it makes no sense (the part about GPS, etc.)
I have no idea if the site posted is the next "India Daily" or not but I'm awfully suspicious.
But most of FR seems to follow a "If it's on the Internet, from a source I've never heard of, and I want it to be true, it must be true" level of skepticism.
You are probably right. But, having done business in Indonesia, I can attest to the fact that it takes a 100 percent grease job to bring anything ashore.
India Daily was a conspiracy website. Cursed be the one's who read that =P
Does anyone have any onfo on the Chinese "base" off of Florida in International weaters? I believe it is near teh Bahamas. Thats was really scares me...
As suggested, there are two ways to look at this and both are true. The shipping lanes in the region are vulnerable to terrorism, and the only security for them is provided by the USA, even though the USA gets very little if any oil through this route. Most of it goes to Japan, China, and other Aisian interests.
If the world was a better place, we would welcome China bearing some of the burdon for protecting the shipping lanes.
On the other hand, it is also a stratigic route. We would be inconvieniced if something were to happen, but China would loose out worse, because a few ships sunk in the right places can close them off completely. We still have a better advantange.
They are also part of the UN force in Haiti. We should bring back the PErshin missiles and point them at China's bases there and in Latin America.
Hmmmm. Hillary!™ in '08, four years of further cliton evisceration the hated military, then even if she doesn't get re-elected in '12 (and she will - paper trail free electronic voting will guarantee that) the sitting president won't be able to do anything about it.
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