U.S. Warns That China's Expulsion of Navy Near Disputed Islands Is a 'Serious Threat' to Sea Travel

https://www.newsweek.com/ ^ | 5/28/20 | BY TOM O'CONNOR ON

[Zhang Fei]

[Those ‘islands’ would be a smoking wreck after the first salvo of Tomahawks.]

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I expect these islands to become bigger. Much bigger. Maybe dozens of square miles. That’s when they become useful. Problem is expense. Of course, a guy like Xi could divert huge amounts of money towards this project. It cost Singapore a few billion dollars to add ~50 sq miles. No telling what the costs are by the Paracels, but if it’s double digit billions, Xi should have have no problem finding the money. Of course, that’s a long-term project, and not applicable for if he initiates hostilities in the near term.

http://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblioasia/2017/04/04/land-from-sand-singapores-reclamation-story/

[Tallguy]

*** And risked the lives of an entire crew, in *peacetime*? In wartime, maybe, given the sensitivity of the codes. ***

An argument could be made that the pilot of the EP-3 wouldn’t have known whether there was a war, declared or not, at the moment he got rammed by that incompetent hotdog pilot.

I would concede the point that any sea ditching in a P-3 is inherently risky — particularly without flaps. You’d hit the water at an awfully high airspeed.

[Tallguy]

That aircraft was going down, and quickly. She had prop damage and the engines were literally shaking off the mounts as a result. She wouldn’t have made a ‘friendly’ airbase.

[Zhang Fei]

[An argument could be made that the pilot of the EP-3 wouldn’t have known whether there was a war, declared or not, at the moment he got rammed by that incompetent hotdog pilot.]

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In wartime, he’d have seen missile trails. The Chinese pilot’s plane would have shown up as a speck on a radar screen, not within shouting distance. This was obvious hotdogging.

[353FMG]

I wish some ex-Navy FReeper would jump in and give his opinion.

[353FMG]

These countries all expect the US to side with them.

[PGR88]

Except Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Are they conducting freedom of navigation missions through the Spratleys?

[stuckincali]

waiting for the Filipino Navy to step up. OK where are the sarcasm marks?

Serious question: do the Vietnamese and Filipinos have navies?

[servantboy777]

>>Are they conducting freedom of navigation missions through the Spratleys?<<

Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines have had direct confrontations with the Chinese navy in defense of their territorial waters.

[Phil DiBasquette]

You hope, gong fei

[fidelis]

"The news media is not posted for information they dont provide anything; we are just using it as point of conversation."

That may be true for some, but a lot of posters on this thread are taking the report's words at face value. Thus my comment.

[TBP]

If we’re there, our allies will back us up, I think.

[RomanSoldier19]

No worries, we see daily masses can be mobilized as they have always been.