"Chinese cut cable… again" Topic

I've heard sharks really enjoy Chinese food. 🤔

Subject: Taiwan investigating suspected gray zone action by China after undersea cable cut


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Yes, there is an investigation underway by the Taiwanese Government at this time.
Link to NHK news from Tokyo link

It is coming, sooner than I hoped.

The Chinese are constantly confronting everyone in the region, on sea and in the air, just short of war. Serious pests…they may go too far someday, intentionally or by accident.

Our own media are not helping things. By sensationalising the PRC's aggravation tactics they're providing the PRC with free, priceless propaganda. The three PLA-N ships holding live fire exercises off Tasmania are getting all sorts of hysterical coverage and commentary, with the ADF being blamed for letting it happen. How would the ADF stop it- start a war by sinking the ships (in international waters)?

It would have been better if the media and point-scoring pollies ignored them and didn't give them so much notice. After all, that's the aim of exercise- intimidate and cause worry (hopefully even panic- and some media types seem close to that) in Oz and NZ.

All the collective media and pollies seem to have the same combined IQ as three house bricks.

To quote a song…

"They love dirty laundry"

It is the job of the media to inform us not to ignore important international events. Censorship, by government or self censorship by the media does not serve democracy.
New Zealand has a minuscule navy and exercises like this one show the while Communist China can project power into the South Pacific, New Zealand can't protect itself with the resources they have. Showing this capability should be reported and be a spur to those nations in the South Pacific to build up their defenses.
Mike

Censorship, by government or self censorship by the media does not serve democracy.

Neither does incorrect or ignorant reporting and sensationalising what's little more than a farcical display of supposed naval might, one designed to impress the people of the PRC more than proving anything about NZ.

Why do you have a hate on NZ, Mike? It's not as if the All Blacks are giving your Rugby team three hidings every year, as they do with us.

As if New Zealand would EVER be able to match the resources of China. They need (reliable) allies.

+1 Bunkermeister

As for projecting power, the propulsion systems, range, and endurance of China's new navy are not the equivalent of the USN. Their reach into international waters around the world is limited, as is their large scale operational experience.

The NZ navy is very small, but regularly deploys with western forces and has shown up for major engagements since WW2, including in the Middle East.

I've always been a proponent of overestimating your opponents potential technological capabilities. As long as that does not stop you from operations (like the Union army in the East in the Valley and under McClellan. But that was really numbers issues on their part, not really tech.). You can probably never be over prepared technically, but you can be underprepared.

One country that needs to move with military spending and is directly threatened by China, is India.

Well said 35thOVI.

They keep doing things and denying it, while everyone knows they are lying.

They are just waiting for it to ramp up one of these days so they can then "be the victim", and justify pulling the trigger on Taiwan.

They are just waiting for it to ramp up one of these days so they can then "be the victim", and justify pulling the trigger on Taiwan.

+1 Murphy. Not just Taiwan, either. The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and probably others.

What the media and some pollies (who should know better) don't realise is that the PRC can learn a lot by us being "proactive"- eg what do they learn if the government announces when a live-fire "exercise" is going to start- before the PRC tells anybody that the ships will be live firing?

Meanwhile, without much fuss, the Finnish authorities lifted the arrest of the Eagle S tanker with Russian oil products and allowed it to go to sea. The whole story about Russian sabotage, as usual, was a regular newspaper hoax:

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And how loudly and pompously it all began:

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I never underestimate China's intentions. They are a growing power and require constant vigilance to track their capabilities.

Some factors are clear. Nuclear power is key to endurance, for example..advantage USN. Other factors are not clear…How many new amphibious support vessels are under construction in China? How does this impact transport capacity to Taiwan? The plan to use some commercial vessels to move their land forces is obviously not permanent. Satellite photos of the new amphibious ships help to judge where they are in those capabilities. They are great at showing off new ships and aircraft. How good are they? Vigilance is critical.

Members of the US Congress doing business deals to build ships the USN does not want, like the LCS program, stems from greed, not preparedness. Vigilance also critical.