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| The Kalayaan, Panatag & other disputed islands; Future conflict zones? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 2 2005, 08:00 PM (156,017 Views) | |
| Samir_Duran | Aug 16 2011, 09:22 AM Post #1071 |
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THE GHOST
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Construct LIGHTHOUSES on these islands. Much better than just planting markers. Much even better because this building is considered by many nations as a CIVILIAN BUILDING. |
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| ni84 | Aug 17 2011, 11:16 AM Post #1072 |
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Best Defense is a Strong Offense, so is to deter from any aggression. |
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We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire...Give us the tools and we will finish the job. Sir Winston Churchill, BBC radio broadcast, 1941 We'll settle this the old navy way: first guy to die, loses. President Thomas 'Tug' Benson, Hot Shots! Part Deux ![]() Raketnye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii 15,000 nukes and enough for another 40,000 | |
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| migzky19 | Aug 17 2011, 12:06 PM Post #1073 |
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Big boat, little punch in South China Sea By Phil Radford SYDNEY - The Chinese aircraft carrier that began sea trials last week is by far the largest warship of any country in Asia and in certain realms could give China game-changing capabilities. However, the carrier cannot help China assert sovereignty over the South China Sea - its biggest maritime headache - and the ship could prove to be more of a diplomatic liability than a military asset. At 300 meters long and displacing over 60,000 tons, the carrier is by far the largest warship of any navy in Asia. No other country in the region can operate fighter aircraft from a warship except Thailand, whose Chakri Narubet is less than a fifth the size. Once fully operational, the Chinese carrier should be able to sustain up to 40 Sukhoi 33-derived J-15 naval air-superiority fighters and up to 20 rotary aircraft, including Ka-28 anti-submarine helicopters. On the surface, this capability would seem to decisively shift the balance of power in the South China Sea, where China has territorial disputes with Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Currently, China claims its territorial waters skirt the Philippines' coast as far south as Brunei, on Borneo island, before looping north and hugging the Vietnamese coast back to southern China. This 80-year-old claim neatly encompasses the Spratly and Paracel island reefs, assumed to be rich in hydrocarbon resources by surrounding countries that have erected research installations on them. With an operational carrier based at China's expanded naval facility at Sanya on Hainan Island, China could conceivably maintain local air superiority over any point in the disputed South China Sea - a precondition for decisive military or diplomatic efforts to enforce its maritime claim and force the withdrawal of rival commercial operations and installations from the islands. This capability would also help China reduce other countries' enthusiasm for the frequent maritime spats that occur in these contested waters and the nationalist outpourings that follow. In the latest incident in mid-June, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman accused Vietnamese exploration vessels of conducting unlawful oil and gas surveys off the Spratly archipelago, harassing Chinese fishing vessels and "gravely violating China's sovereignty and maritime rights". Despite Chinese defense officials claims that the new carrier is intended for scientific research and training, the ship clearly fulfills a strategic function. The official Xinhua news agency published a commentary shortly before the ship departed saying, "Building a strong navy that is commensurate with China's rising status is a necessary step, and an inevitable choice for the country to safeguard its increasingly globalized national interests." However, even if it becomes operational, the carrier and its air groups will be hugely vulnerable and China is unlikely to risk using it in any confrontation with rivals in the South China Sea. Without catapults or arrester wires, the carrier will not be able to operate any airborne early-warning aircraft needed to provide comprehensive radar coverage for fleets. This means the carrier will have limited area awareness, unable to see or respond to threats beyond the horizon of ship-based radar. Logistical constraints will also limit the time the carrier can spend at sea: the People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) possesses only five seaworthy replenishment ships, none of them over 22,000 tons. The biggest liability, however, will be inadequate protection. China has two Type 52C destroyers with active phased array radar that enables them to track multiple incoming missiles and aircraft - with four more under construction. But integrating that radar with China's domestically developed HHQ-9 anti-air missiles so they can shoot down supersonic sea-skimming missiles will prove exceptionally challenging. Nor can the carrier rely on sub-surface protection. Without very-low frequency radio communication systems, China's long range patrol submarines would struggle to operate tactically in defense of a carrier group. Defensive postures But even without these deficiencies, China's southern neighbors will likely ensure that the South China Sea becomes too dangerous for China to risk sending its prized carrier into contested waters. In the first week of June, an article in Vietnam's state newspaper, Nhan Dan, carried pictures of the world's fastest anti-ship missile, the Indo-Russian BrahMos, in a clear statement of procurement intentions and its navy's readiness to respond to incidents of Chinese aggression within waters it claims as its exclusive economic zone. With a speed of Mach 2.8, the missile is four times as fast as a US-made Tomahawk missile and would present a lethal threat to any vessel within its 300-kilometer range. (Even with exceptional anti-missile capabilities, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) navies would keep well out of range of this threat.) BrahMos procurement requires joint Indian and Russian approval, and Vietnam is rapidly improving its relations with both nations. During a high profile defense cooperation visit to New Delhi by Vietnam's navy chief at the end of June, the Vietnamese government gave permission for Indian navy ships to drop anchor at Nha Trang, which has been off-limits to foreign navies since 2003. The offer followed an announcement on June 6 by Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh that part of the strategic Cam Ranh Bay would be made available for technical and logistical support of foreign military ships. To ensure that China properly understood the significance of that offer, the announcement was followed-up on August 14 with an unprecedented visit by senior Vietnamese government officials to the American carrier, USS George Washington, as it traversed the South China Sea. On July 2, Vietnam also took a decisive step forward in its long-heralded defense procurement deal with Russia. According to the Russian VNA newswire, Oleg Azizov, representative of the Russian state defense export company Rosoboronexport, confirmed Vietnam has signed a contract to buy six Kilo-636 MV diesel electric submarines for delivery in 2014. The 2,300 ton boats are optimized for shallow water operations and are exceptionally quiet running. Without leaving port, these submarines would provide a powerful deterrent to China against sending the carrier far into the South China Sea in a possible confrontation situation. Malaysia already has good submarine capabilities, with two recently commissioned French-designed Scorpene class boats. Both Indonesia and the Philippines could also quickly develop powerful deterrent capabilities, and at relatively little cost by deploying anti-ship missiles to key outposts. Indonesia has already held discussions with India to acquire the BrahMos missile. The Philippines could either purchase US missiles off-the-shelf, or negotiate purchase of Taiwan's new ram-jet Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile, unveiled with exquisite timing last week at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition against a mural backdrop of a burning carrier. The fact that the South China Sea will be an exceptionally dangerous environment for the carrier will present the Chinese government with an acute dilemma. The carrier is hugely popular in China, where it has been touted as a symbol of the country's ascent to great-power status. Ardent online fans have already christened the vessel Shi-Lang, after the 17th century Taiwan-conquering admiral. And the government has invested vast political and financial capital in the project, both in terms of the propaganda value of the images and the cost of naval fighters and training establishments. But the one nautical environment where Chinese opinion is most anxious for an assertion of naval authority - the South China Sea - is the one place that Chinese admirals will almost certainly never risk launching the carrier. With this knowledge, the countries on the South China Sea's littoral have every reason to welcome the carrier program. Indeed it may even strengthen their claims, knowing that they can taunt China to send it out. In any looming confrontation, the Chinese leadership will suddenly need to explain why its totemic flagship is useless for asserting power in the country's own self-claimed territorial waters or risk seeing it reduced, almost immediately, to a flaming wreck. Phil Radford is a freelance writer and specialist on naval strategy based in Sydney. (Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MH17Ad02.html |
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| migzky19 | Aug 17 2011, 12:19 PM Post #1074 |
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Oil-deals backdrop to Aquino-Hu summit By Al Labita MANILA - Oil exploration and future production contracts in the west Philippine sea, the maritime area Manila claims in the contested South China Sea, will be a hot issue when President Benigno Aquino makes his first official visit to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing this month. Aquino, who has locked horns with Beijing over recent incidents between Philippine and Chinese vessels around the contested Spratly Islands chain, was formally invited by Hu and will be accompanied by senior foreign affairs and defense officials, underscoring the importance Manila has placed on the trip. "For me, it is important to talk to everyone, especially the other side," Aquino told a press forum last week, referring to China. "Maybe we can reach an agreement. After all, we cannot just ignore this matter when people's lives may be at stake." Unlike Aquino, Hu has remained reticent on the highly sensitive Spratlys issue, leaving China's talking to senior diplomats, politburo officials and mouthpiece media. The Aquino-Hu meeting comes amid Manila's plans to auction off as many as 15 oil exploration contracts worth US$7.5 billion, a move that has drawn Beijing's protests. "There could well be a high price to pay for any misjudgment on the South China Sea issue by countries like the Philippines," a strongly-worded China Daily editorial said this month. The oil exploration deals Manila will shortly tender cover 10.3 million hectares in shallow and deep waters within the basins of Northwest Palawan, East Palawan, Sulu Sea, Mindoro-Cuyo, Cagayan, Central Luzon and Cotabato provinces. Their reserves are estimated at 5 billion barrels of oil and 38 trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to meet at least 30% of the Philippines' energy needs, officials have said. The contracts, to be awarded soon, have drawn interests of prospecting oil firms from United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, United States and other countries. Two state-linked Chinese oil entities - China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and China Union Global Holdings Ltd - have also joined the bidding, says Manila's Department of Energy. Both are firming up joint-venture talks with the state-run Philippine National Oil Co Exploration Corp, particularly in areas off the coast of oil-rich Palawan province, west of Manila. "In terms of their financial, legal and technical qualifications, we don't see any problems," says energy undersecretary Jose Layug. CNOOC and China Union Global Holdings, along with other foreign oil exploration firms, filed their applications for the exploration blocks even before the current tensions over the Spratlys flared up, he adds. The high stakes bilateral meeting comes amid Washington's appeals for a negotiated peaceful settlement of the simmering maritime dispute which pits China versus four different Southeast Asian claimants, as well as Taiwan. Though not a claimant, the US has said it views freedom of navigation and trade flows in the South China Sea as a part of its national interest. The Aquino-Hu dialogue will coincide with the annual meeting of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty Board meeting in Hawaii. Top US and Philippine defense officials are expected to tackle geopolitical issues, including the Spratlys dispute and China's growing military posture in the South China Sea. Last week China put its first aircraft carrier on sea trial, raising concerns among its Asian neighbors about its naval ambitions. In that context, Aquino's trip to China may be viewed by some as kowtowing to Beijing's insistence that disputes with other claimants be handled on a bilateral rather than multilateral basis, as suggested by Washington and taken up by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Critics view China's insistence on bilateral talks as a "divide and conquer" strategy. Should Aquino and Hu fail to reach an accord during their talks, Manila has indicated it would seek the arbitration of the United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The UN set up the tribunal to resolve disputes over the interpretation of the 1994 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Philippines and China are both among the convention's signatories. "The Philippines is prepared to defend its position in accordance with international law consistent with UNCLOS," Philippine foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario said. China's territorial claim over South China Sea, on the other hand, is based on its "nine-dash line" map which forms a ring around the entire sea area. If left unchallenged, del Rosario has warned, China's claim could threaten the freedom of navigation and unimpeded trade and commerce of other nations. Aquino is also expected to raise during his Beijing visit the reported Chinese intrusions into the Philippine-claimed part of the South China Sea. Citing satellite photos provided by the US as part of their defense cooperation ties, Manila claims to have recorded at least seven incidents involving Philippine and Chinese ships and aircraft since February. The incidents, which triggered the diplomatic spat, have ranged from Chinese naval personnel shooting on Filipino fishermen to Chinese harassment of an oil exploration vessel owned by British firm Forum Energy Plc. Forum, which has cried foul over China's scare tactics, has been exploring for oil in the Spratly's Reed Bank, 80 nautical miles off Palawan province. Reed is within the Philippines' 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone as provided for under UNCLOS, and it is 575 nautical miles from China's nearest territory, the island of Hainan. Based on Forum's surveys, Reed has the potential to yield 96 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 440 million barrels of oil. The figures are greater than the natural gas reserves of the $130 billion Malampaya project in Palawan province that is being developed by oil multinational Shell under a contract with the Philippine government. In another incident, a Philippine military aircraft, while patrolling the west Philippine sea, was buzzed over by a foreign plane believed by Manila to be from China. China has also built structures in the Philippine-claimed Iroguois Reef-Amy Douglas Bank near Palawan, which Philippine navy frogmen have dismantled. While the Philippines clearly does not want full-blown hostilities to break out over the Spratlys, Aquino says his government will do whatever it takes to protect its territory "at all costs and by all means", implying some US military support. "What is ours is ours and what is disputed can be shared," he said. Al Labita is a Manila-based journalist. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MH17Ae01.html |
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| migzky19 | Aug 17 2011, 12:39 PM Post #1075 |
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Posted on August 16, 2011 10:36:31 PM High court upholds legality of law defining boundaries THE SUPREME COURT has upheld the constitutionality of a law which defines the Philippine territory despite opposition from experts who claim that it weakens claim on disputed islands west of the country. In its weekly en banc session yesterday, the high court, voting unanimously, upheld the legality of Republic Act (RA) 9522 or the Archipelagic Baselines Law, which was enacted in 2009. Details of the decision were not immediately available. RA 9522, which delineated the Philippine territory, amended RA 3046 to comply with treaty obligations under the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). RA 3046, enacted in 1961, defined the baselines of the territorial sea of the Philippines. Apart from declaring the Philippines as an archipelagic state, the law also declared the Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal as "regimes of islands" under the UNCLOS, defined as islands which are naturally formed areas of land, surrounded by water, which are above water at high tide. A group of professors and students from the University of the Philippines, led by international law expert Merlin M. Magallona, questioned the law before the Supreme Court, saying that the declaration weakens the claim of the country to the two disputed territories. They noted that declaring the Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal as a "regime of islands" was an admission that the resource-rich areas do not form part of the Philippine territory despite their proximity to the western province of Palawan. They said the law violates the constitutional duty to protect the exclusive marine wealth and offshore fishing grounds of local fishermen. The area is under dispute with China and other claimants to the Spratly Islands, which group Kalayaan and Scarborough, namely, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei Darrusalam. Tensions have risen in recent months over allegations that Chinese vessels have harassed Philippine fishing boats. The government has called for an international body such as the United Nations to resolve the conflict, but Beijing has maintained that all discussions should be on a bilateral basis. President Benigno S. C. Aquino III, who is scheduled to visit China by the end of the month, said he will raise the issue with his Chinese counterparts. The issue has even solicited concerns from the United States which has noted the need to maintain free access in the area. The old law (RA 3046) delineated the Philippine baselines according to the territory ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on Dec. 10, 1898. -- NRM http://www.bworld.com.ph/content.php?secti...daries&id=36654 |
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| spearhead | Aug 18 2011, 07:58 AM Post #1076 |
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DoctorNO, Your Neutral Observer.
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WOW:
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"Men of War must learn the art of numbers or he will not know how to array his troops." - Plato![]() ![]() | |
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| lyzel_khan26 | Aug 18 2011, 08:44 AM Post #1077 |
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"unfabulous..."
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. .what is new issue in spratly Island? |
| " A woman with a voice by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. It's complicated by the fact that in most nations women receive substantially less education than man." by: Melinda Gates | |
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| Samir_Duran | Aug 18 2011, 04:09 PM Post #1078 |
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THE GHOST
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As I said: Don't worry, be happy!
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| AVBsupersonic | Aug 18 2011, 04:54 PM Post #1079 |
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Now, that's Talkin! Hope they'll do that walkin soon... :thumb: |
| "Some are just lucky that they're not under oath and are not classified!"- Blue badge | |
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| Tsukiyomi | Aug 18 2011, 10:37 PM Post #1080 |
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If you add an anti-ship capability to these island outposts you will need to ensure an anti-air capability as well. They will use their Su-30's/H-6 aircraft to take out those anti-ship platforms if you don't guard against their air assets. They have already proven a willingness and capability to do so. In lieu of the developing Su-33 fleet, I wonder how much longer before they announce a bomber buy. Tu-95, Tu22 or Su-34? Some are expecting a mix between a Tu-22 and Su34 and a indigenous program replicating the usaf B2. |
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8:31 AM Jul 11