Politics South China Sea Thread

[morris]

A Chinese Coast Guard ship in Natuna waters is seen on a monitor displaying footage from a surveillance aircraft of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU). (Antara/M Risyal Hidayat)

Indonesian navy vessels sail across Natuna waters off Riau Islands province. (Antara/-)

 

[BravoZulu]

U.S. Pacific Fleet recently deployed the littoral combat ship USS Montgomery to the worksite of the drillship West Capella in the South China Sea. West Capella is drilling a well for Malaysian oil and gas major Petronas in waters contested by Vietnam and Beijing, and her activity in the area has attracted attention - including an uneasy three-way (or four-way) military presence.

“We are committed to a rules-based order in the South China Sea and we will continue to champion freedom of the seas and the rule of law,” said Adm. John Aquilino, the commander of Pacific Fleet. “The Chinese Communist Party must end its pattern of bullying Southeast Asians out of offshore oil, gas, and fisheries. Millions of people in the region depend on those resources for their livelihood.”

It is not the first time that the U.S. Navy has conducted a freedom of navigation operation adjacent to West Capella. In mid-April, the USS America, USS Bunker Hill and USS Barry transited past the rig, along with the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Parramatta.

Vietnam contests Malaysia's claim to the site, and Vietnamese forces and civilian auxiliaries have maintained a persistent presence during West Capella's operations, according to defense analysts at AMTI. Chinese forces in the form of China Coast Guard cutters and the Chinese seismic survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 8 have been frequent visitors as well. A rotating group of Chinese fishing vessels - likely members of China's extensive maritime militia - have been on scene for months, according to AMTI.

China has laid claim to the vast majority of the South China Sea, including waters well beyond its UNCLOS territorial sea boundaries. Despite international pressure, it has reclaimed and militarized multiple land features in the Spratly and Paracel island chains, and it has consistently pressured neighboring states not to develop resources within their own internationally-recognized waters. Its new island bases in the Spratly archipelago have provided it with a logistics platform to sustain naval presence operations in the region.

American forces have not confronted Chinese assets directly in the South China Sea, but the U.S. Navy conducts regular demonstrations of the right to navigate through Chinese-claimed waters without interference. According to Aquilino, American forces will "stand with regional friends and partners to resist coercion and oppose unlawful claims to international waters and resources."

The USS Montgomery's transit is also a sign of the Navy's new willingness to deploy the two variants of the Littoral Combat Ship class on high-profile missions. Both LCS series were temporarily sidelined in 2016 due to significant operational difficulties, and they have only recently resumed their deployments. Both LCS variants will be replaced by the new FFG(X) frigate in future serial production.

USS Montgomery transits past the Seadrill-owned drillship West Capella, May 7 (USN)
https://www.maritime-executive.com/...ys-lcs-to-contested-south-china-sea-well-site

 

[BravoZulu]

Vietnam Rejects China’s South China Sea Fishing Ban
Vietnam rejects China’s “unilateral decision” to ban fishing in the South China Sea from May 1 to August 16, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement posted on the government’s website.

"Vietnam has sovereignty over its waters as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea", Hang said. “Vietnam asks China not to further complicate the situation in the South China Sea,” she said.

The Vietnam Fisheries Society earlier this week asked the government to take “strong action” against China’s fishing ban.

Fishing trawlers sit anchored at Tan Quang harbor in Quang Nam province, Vietnam, on Wednesday, June 26, 2019. Fishermen are on the front lines of Asia’s most complex territorial dispute, which involves six claimants and outside powers like the U.S. with an interest in protecting a waterway that carries more than $3 trillion in trade each year.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...0-99s-south-china-sea-fishing-ban/ar-BB13LVYl

 

[Chazman]

It will be interesting to see just how long the PLA Navy can deploy both carriers simultaneously.

Reports: China to deploy 2 aircraft carriers after 'brink of Cold War' with US warning

Two Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) aircraft carriers are preparing to conduct a set of provocative war games in the contested South China

americanmilitarynews.com

 

[BravoZulu]

It will be interesting to see just how long the PLA Navy can deploy both carriers simultaneously.

Reports: China to deploy 2 aircraft carriers after 'brink of Cold War' with US warning

Two Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) aircraft carriers are preparing to conduct a set of provocative war games in the contested South China

americanmilitarynews.com

"Shandong" CV-17 has apparently left port on sea trials, we'll wait to see if she shows up in the SCS

 

[berkut76]

Attack on Taiwan an option to stop independence, top Chinese general says

China will attack Taiwan if there is no other way of stopping it from becoming independent, one of the country's most senior generals said on Friday, a rhetorical escalation between China and the democratically ruled island Beijing claims as its own.

Speaking at Beijing's Great Hall of the People on the 15th anniversary of the Anti-Secession Law, Li Zuocheng, chief of the Joint Staff Department and member of the Central Military Commission, left the door open to using force.

The 2005 law gives the country the legal basis for military action against Taiwan if it secedes or seems about to.

"If the possibility for peaceful reunification is lost, the people's armed forces will, with the whole nation, including the people of Taiwan, take all necessary steps to resolutely smash any separatist plots or actions," Li said.

"We do not promise to abandon the use of force, and reserve the option to take all necessary measures, to stabilize and control the situation in the Taiwan Strait," he added.

Li is one of China's few senior officers with combat experience, having taken part in China's ill-fated invasion of Vietnam in 1979.

Taiwan is China's most sensitive territorial issue. Beijing says it is one of China's provinces and an inalienable part of "one China."

 

[BravoZulu]

Attack on Taiwan an option to stop independence, top Chinese general says

China will attack Taiwan if there is no other way of stopping it from becoming independent, one of the country's most senior generals said on Friday, a rhetorical escalation between China and the democratically ruled island Beijing claims as its own.

Speaking at Beijing's Great Hall of the People on the 15th anniversary of the Anti-Secession Law, Li Zuocheng, chief of the Joint Staff Department and member of the Central Military Commission, left the door open to using force.

The 2005 law gives the country the legal basis for military action against Taiwan if it secedes or seems about to.

"If the possibility for peaceful reunification is lost, the people's armed forces will, with the whole nation, including the people of Taiwan, take all necessary steps to resolutely smash any separatist plots or actions," Li said.

"We do not promise to abandon the use of force, and reserve the option to take all necessary measures, to stabilize and control the situation in the Taiwan Strait," he added.

Li is one of China's few senior officers with combat experience, having taken part in China's ill-fated invasion of Vietnam in 1979.

Taiwan is China's most sensitive territorial issue. Beijing says it is one of China's provinces and an inalienable part of "one China."

"Stop independence" "secede"? Someone needs to bang it into their thick heads that the Republic of China IS a recognised independent country. Honestly there are days when the sabre rattling and bullying from PRC just does my head in

 

[BravoZulu]

Automated surveillance platforms being established in the SCS to assert the idea that these "vessels" somehow demonstrate Chinese sovereignty over the sea. The same applies to their artificial islands.

 

[BravoZulu]

Good Wind ears: China’s Underwater Great Wall

A recent video adds to the information we have of China's ambitious submarine monitoring system in the South China Sea. The system will consist of multiple sensors deployed at depths of up to 2,000 meters below sea level. The network is termed 'Underwater Great Wall' and 'Underwater Monitoring System' in Chinese media, as well as 'Good wind ears' (Omniscient, all-knowing) and has a program cost of 2bn Yuan (313m US Dollars).

It is reported that an initial test system, built under the auspices of civilian scientific research by the National Ocean Acoustics Research Base, the Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences at Lingshui County, Hainan, was deployed in Challenger Deep at the southern end of the Marianas Trench (the deepest known point on earth). Another system was deployed near Yap in Micronesia. These systems are publicly declared and remain relevant for submarine monitoring.

In 2013 the “Subsea Observing and Demonstration System” was laid in 20m depth of water near Sanya. It consists of a base station liked by a 2km long optical cable to a connection box with 3 sets of observation equipment, and 1 hydrophone. There is a secondary connection box to test an alternative technology. The gateway node is reportedly composed of three observing nodes. The shore base station provides 10kv high-voltage direct current power.

It is not clear if the new footage is of one of the above projects or the main South China system network discussed in the article.

The system relies on miles of fiber-optic cable to connect the sensors. This image may show a cable mounted sonar array similar to towed arrays on submarines and warships. The power network for the system, whether it uses onshore power or local battery power is unclear:

Close-ups of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) manipulator, providing useful insights into the ships laying the system and technology details:

The film footage was accompanied by fresh computer-generated images of the system showing high levels of detail:

The South China Sea is already home to China’s growing fleet of Type-094 JIN Class SSBNs and Type-093 SHANG Class SSNs which are based at Yulin Naval Base on the southern tip of Hainan Island. Analysis suggests that the SSBNs may not maintain continuous at-sea deterrence (CASD) at the present time.

http://www.hisutton.com/Cn_Underwater_Great_Wall.html

 

[morris]

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[morris]

^^^

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[Junglejim]

I dont think Taiwan is that dumb.

 

[Flagg]

Automated surveillance platforms being established in the SCS to assert the idea that these "vessels" somehow demonstrate Chinese sovereignty over the sea. The same applies to their artificial islands.

This seems like a cross between SOSUS and Texas Towers utilising better, faster, smaller, cheaper tech.

This could be interesting and potentially quite effective in peacetime.

 

[TheKiwi]

It's one "fishing net accident" away from being transported for analysis in the US. Seems like a pretty dumb idea to me.

 

[Flagg]

It's one "fishing net accident" away from being transported for analysis in the US. Seems like a pretty dumb idea to me.

I think it would be immediately and comprehensively obliterated in wartime, but short of war it could be a relatively cheap and effective way for China to lay claim to, or establish decisive order, within the near China littoral.

X number of Chinese Texas Towers

Y number of persistent autonomous sensors

Z number of persistent high altitude drones

$1 trillion with a capital T to/from China passes thru the South China Sea every few months.

It is part of the existential circulatory system of China.

In 10 years time the South China Sea could become untenable for the US Navy to conduct persistent operations under warlike conditions.

Interdicting and disrupting Chinese maritime trade outside of the South China Sea? Absolutely.

But inside is going to get tough.

 

[TheKiwi]

Maybe. But they are extraordinarily vulnerable to mass sabotage due to "bad weather" and other such incidents. I'm sort of reminded of the saga of Britain's GATSO speed camera camera system and just how many of them "accidentally" caught fire after being draped with an old tire filled with diesel. Repeatedly. At the same locations.

 

[Flagg]

Maybe. But they are extraordinarily vulnerable to mass sabotage due to "bad weather" and other such incidents. I'm sort of reminded of the saga of Britain's GATSO speed camera camera system and just how many of them "accidentally" caught fire after being draped with an old tire filled with diesel. Repeatedly. At the same locations.

But much harder to successfully exfil if the PLAN are authorised to expend rounds on pirates and hooligans.

It would be good practice for developing a prompt regional strike capability.

 

[Chazman]

Maybe. But they are extraordinarily vulnerable to mass sabotage due to "bad weather" and other such incidents. I'm sort of reminded of the saga of Britain's GATSO speed camera camera system and just how many of them "accidentally" caught fire after being draped with an old tire filled with diesel. Repeatedly. At the same locations.

I wouldn't be surprised if a few just go "missing".

 

[TheKiwi]

They're going to need quite a few of them for such purposes. Far to many to defend full time. And there is plenty of incentive for all their neighbors to accidentally ram/sink/steal/set fire to them. It looks like a resource sink from here - great way to waste China's money and time at relatively little risk.

 

[Chazman]

They're going to need quite a few of them for such purposes. Far to many to defend full time. And there is plenty of incentive for all their neighbors to accidentally ram/sink/steal/set fire to them. It looks like a resource sink from here - great way to waste China's money and time at relatively little risk.

Yes indeed.I hope they deploy thousands.