Posted on 11/27/2013 10:43:46 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Reuters) - In late October, flotillas of Chinese warships and submarines sliced through passages in the Japanese archipelago and out into the western Pacific for 15 days of war games.
The drills, pitting a "red force" against a "blue force," were the first in this area, combining ships from China's main south, east and north fleets, according to the Chinese military. Land-based bombers and surveillance aircraft also flew missions past Japan to support the navy units.
In official commentaries, senior People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers boasted their navy had "dismembered" the so-called first island chain - the arc of islands enclosing China's coastal waters, stretching from the Kuril Islands southward through the Japanese archipelago, Taiwan, the Northern Philippines and down to Borneo.
Named Manoeuvre 5, these were no ordinary exercises. They were the latest in a series of increasingly complex and powerful thrusts through the first island chain into the Pacific. For the first time in centuries, China is building a navy that can break out of its confined coastal waters to protect distant sea lanes and counter regional rivals.
Beijing's military strategists argue this naval punch is vital if China is to avoid being bottled up behind a barrier of U.S. allies, vulnerable to a repeat of the humiliation suffered at the hands of seafaring Europeans and Japanese through the colonial period. "It tells Japan and the United States that they are not able to contain China within the first island chain," says Shen Dingli, a security expert and professor at Shanghai's Fudan University. "So don't bet on their chances to do so at a time of crisis."
In the process, the rapidly expanding PLA navy (PLAN) is driving a seismic shift in Asia's military balance. China, traditionally an inwardly focused
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
China can devote its GDP to keeping pace.
(No MSG)...............
While the chickenhawk neo-cons keep pecking that our greatest enemy is Iran while China amasses greater power.
The upside of the new Chinese navy is that it saves the US and Japan on having to buy practice targets.
Already happening. India will have three carriers (first being exGoshkov, the other two locally built) by 2025 and Japan will probably have at least four F-35B capable “helicopter destroyers”. The South Koreans and Aussies will have two similar ships each as well.
This war game strikes me as a classic choke point breakout exercise. I’m guessing it was VERY closely monitored by us, the Taiwanese, Japanese and South Koreans. Telling us a heck of a lot more about ChiCom strategy and tactics than they probably wanted us to know. Remember that the USN used a couple war games (Fleet Problems) in the 20s and 30s to show the possibilities of a Sunday dawn attack on ... Pearl Harbor. Something that a Japanese naval officer named Isoruku Yamamoto (amongst others) studied at great length.
They demonstrated they can break out, now all they need is to figure out how to break back in. They have no tenable offshore base.
+1
And what’s the purpose of their breakout? To control the sea lanes, or to deny control to others. Denial being much easier to achieve than control.
The Pacific sea lanes are crucial from a economic standpoint, but no so much from a military one. This isn’t the 1970s or 80s when a successful Soviet breakout from the GIUK Gap would endanger our ability to do a REFORGER in the event of a general war.
These days the ChiComs need those sea lanes open much, if not more, than we do.
Yep. Iran has no capability seriously harm the US. China DOES.
Bears repeating, in bold font. What are they going to do far from home, when blocked by allied forces in the Pacific? China is a long way from being a major naval threat.
Those props make that a death trap.
Not to mention Vietnam U-boats alone are able to contain Chicom Navy at this point.
Those two jets on the rear, sorry I’m army, are they balsa wood or what.
From what I’ve read, their jets haven’t made carrier landings yet.
Is that how Harbor Freight is spelled in Chinese?
My mistake in post 18. I was thinking of the newest Chinese J31 I think, that hasn’t had successful carrier landings yet.
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