Being in the region, my mind is full of THIS right now!!
Posted on 01/16/2008 12:53:42 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Tense battle-ready standoff in Taiwan Strait
(Hong Kong=Yonhap News) Chung Juho = U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk (and its battle group) had 28-hour battle-ready standoff with a Chinese submarine and a missile destroyer in Taiwan Strait last November, it has been revealed.
This was the first military standoff between U.S. and China since the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996.
According to Jan. 16 dispatch by China Times in Taiwan, on Nov. 23 last year, Kitty Hawk battle group was en route to Japan after China refused its port call in Hong Kong, entering Taiwan Strait instead of using its normal route. China immediately dispatched a Song-class submarine which happened to be in the neighborhood, and had it track the battle group.
China also sent a missile destroyer Shenzhen from its Southern Fleet which was readying itself in Hainan Island for the (upcoming) visit to Japan, joining the Kitty Hawk watch.
The battle group with the carrier and its eight escort ships were sailing northward at an even distance away (from China and Taiwan,) and the Chinese submarine and the destroyer were following and watching the battle group from the western side along the Chinese mainland.
Carrier Kitty Hawk was alerted by a P3-C anti-submarine plane from U.S. forces in Japan that a Chinese submarine and its destroyer were following them. The group stopped sailing and went into battle-ready mode, sending out warplanes to protect the fleet.
After tense 28-hour standoff, the battle group was able to return to Yokosuka base in Japan only in Nov. 24.
According to an U.S. military source, the Chinese submarine sneaked into Taiwan Strait from west after taking a detour around Taiwan's southern shore from east, in an effort to monitor Kitty Hawk battle group. S-2T anti-submarine plane from Taiwanese navy was conducting the regular patrol in the area, but was not able to detect the submarine.
Ping!
Standoff for now. With the Beijing Olympics around the corner, The Chicoms think they can posture arrogantly and we wont do a thing, BUT after the Olympics, let’s see them pull it off again.
A blind man deaf in one ear and with only 10% hearing in the other could tell where we’re headed with China. Perhaps we should find and vote for one next time around.
When is the collective leadership of the United States going to pull it’s head out and deal in and adult manor with China?
Knowing that now in retrospect, I would have gladly gone and left some, er, some US souvenirs in the form of rakugaki on board her.
Graffiti sprayed on the walls of ship’s bathroom will also do.:-)
a) number one, the only guy talking about this kind of crap who is running for President;
and
b) number two, actually knows what he is talking about--doesnt need to be scripted by handlers or crash-briefed by newly hired foreign policy assistants--and what to do about it.
Average Americans [not necessarily Freeper] overall are pretty asleep-at-the-switch re: Asia again if they are going to completely forget t Peoples' Republic of China and the coming war with the United States, right here in Asia, in favor of other topics such as Britney Spears and who won "American Idol".
Between watching Spears’ antics and nervously tracking their 401K value and mortgage rate, they got their mind full, I guess.:-)
Being in the region, my mind is full of THIS right now!!
Unification Ministry will be absorbed into Foreign Ministry.
And this is the kicker: Education Ministry will be absorbed by Ministry of Science and Technology. Much of Education Ministry's power will be shifted to local Education Boards. What is left afterward will be a fraction of what it was, which is to be taken over by Ministry of Science and Technology.
This is something I can agree with.
The problem is other stuffs Lee is cooking: Grand Canal Project; his corruption and total lack of scruples. He is a typical shady construction businessman at heart.
As long as Kim Jong il is pissed off about the new Lee Administration coming up in Seoul, it will be a positive in my book.
But they might just talk pissed off on the surface, and still cut all the nasty dark deals behind the surface like they did with Roh Mu Hyon.
What are “we” going to do?
FYI
I was there in the 96 deal ... if anyone cares.
The thing to watch is the legislative election in April. If his party gets a safe majority, he will show what he is really about. Right now, except things universally popular, he stays more or less neutral, including N. Korea policy. He talks in all directions when it comes to N. Korea.
Tying up our resources while we are at war, must be another Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, Klobachar, Democrat supporter.
Tense .. we made a FoN pass in the winter and came back to say hello when they decided to lob missiles over Taiwan the week before the elections.
I guess they forgot about this little incident:
"You apologize for your turboprop hitting our supersonic jet fighter! You Kowtow!"
By the way, I thought that EP-3 crew acted shamefully, and I was appalled they were given a heroes welcome.
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