Tango01  | 07 Apr 2017 8:55 p.m. PST |
… Chinese Held Island In The South China Sea. "A Chinese fighter plane has been spotted on a Chinese-held island in the South China Sea, the first such sighting in a year and the first since U.S. President Trump took office, a U.S. think tank reported on Thursday. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), part of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the J-11 fighter was visible in a satellite image taken on March 29 of Woody Island in the Paracel island chain. News of the sighting came as Trump was in Florida for meetings with China's President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday at which he is expected to air U.S. concerns about China's pursuit of territory and militarization of outposts in the South China Sea. "This isn't a first, but it's the first time in a year," AMTI director Greg Poling said of the jet sighting…"
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| emckinney | 07 Apr 2017 10:00 p.m. PST |
Man, those island bases are vulnerable … Just no space to hide anything, runways easy to crater, storms washing right over them … ick. |
| Cacique Caribe | 08 Apr 2017 2:09 a.m. PST |
I think it's hilarious how everyone knew these islands were being built by China years ago, and then how US media acted like the previous administration was taken completely by surprise … as if the islands suddenly sprang up out of the sea. Of course the sudden awareness came too late to stop the completion of those Island bases. Dan |
| Tango01 | 08 Apr 2017 9:28 a.m. PST |
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| Waco Joe | 08 Apr 2017 9:36 a.m. PST |
I wonder what is the largest torpedo available and what it would do to the underwater structure of those islands?  |
 piper909 | 08 Apr 2017 8:48 p.m. PST |
I'm kinda with emckinney -- these tiny outposts look awfully hard to defend, even with modern defenses (when they're in place). Such a compact target, with no underground shelter, no place to hide…. There must be some strategic practicality to these, but I'm not sure what they would be, not against a modern foe like the US. Might scare pirates and the Filipinos, but who else? Is there a senior Chinese military official on TMP who might enlighten us? |
| Tango01 | 08 Apr 2017 10:02 p.m. PST |
Maybe they are not thinking for defense… only for attack … (smile)
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| Waco Joe | 09 Apr 2017 8:38 a.m. PST |
It all has to do with extending their territorial waters zone and claiming sole rights to the fishing and mineral rights in those areas. As well as limiting other country's military and intelligence movements. |
| 15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 09 Apr 2017 9:51 a.m. PST |
The fact that these artificial island bases are vulnerable in the event of war is besides the point. These islands' values are more geopolitical than military, allowing China to extend its reach in the SCS relatively cheaply and risk-free. Building the islands in and of itself isn't a causus belli for war unless China actually does something to impede freedom of navigation and trade. Having the capability to do that by militarizing these islands isn't the same thing as the action itself. |
| Lion in the Stars | 09 Apr 2017 9:58 p.m. PST |
Building the islands in and of itself isn't a causus belli for war unless China actually does something to impede freedom of navigation and trade. Having the capability to do that by militarizing these islands isn't the same thing as the action itself. Attempting to enforce the South China Sea as being Chinese Territorial Waters would be causus belli, however. And these islands are apparently being built for the sole purpose of doing so. I find it deeply ironic that China is destroying the fisheries around those islands by pouring concrete over the coral. |
