South China Sea and China (2011-2017)

[davidbfpo]

Cam Ranh Bay: Vietnam's ace in the hole against China:http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/2015...-against-China

AdamG,

Given the reported closeness between China and Russia of late, often with a stress on commerce and trade, does Vietnam really have a claim upon Russian support? Yes, Russia is in the process of selling Kilo class SSK to Vietnam and offers harbour facilities @ cam Ranh Bay. Then's there a strong element of solidarity between China and Russia politically over so many international issues, often in conflict with the USA.

[AdamG]

HAIPHONG, Vietnam (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Sunday he will urge Vietnamese officials to give up their reclamation projects in the South China Sea, making a direct plea after earlier calling for all countries in the Asia-Pacific region to halt the construction of artificial islands.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-defense-sec...-politics.html

HAI PHONG, VIETNAM — The US will provide $18 million to Vietnam to help procure coast guard patrol vessels, a first step in what Secretary of Defense Ash Carter hopes is a growing military relationship between those two countries.

Carter's comments came shortly after he became the first US Secretary of Defense to board a Vietnamese military vessel, a Coast Guard ship in the port of Hai Phong.

The ships in question are from Louisiana-based Metal Shark, which provides a number of patrol boats to the US Coast Guard.

http://www.defensenews.com/story/def...sels/28290871/


http://www.metalsharkboats.com/

[AdamG]

AdamG,

Given the reported closeness between China and Russia of late, often with a stress on commerce and trade, does Vietnam really have a claim upon Russian support? Yes, Russia is in the process of selling Kilo class SSK to Vietnam and offers harbour facilities @ cam Ranh Bay. Then's there a strong element of solidarity between China and Russia politically over so many international issues, often in conflict with the USA.

Remember the last scene in the Spaghetti Western "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly"?

The Vietnamese are trying to play off the Cam Ranh Bay plum between Moscow and Washington for the most benefits. The only problem playing aginst Putin is that you might wind up with a Naval Infantry Brigade in your front yard one morning, and a Spetsnaz Battalion in your back yard.

On March 11, veteran Reuters correspondent David Brunnstrom published an exclusive report that Russian Tu-95MS Bear nuclear-capable strategic bombers, conducting assertive reconnaissance patrols in the airspace near U.S. military bases in Guam, had been refueled by Russian Il-78 tanker aircraft staging out of the military airfield at Cam Ranh Bay on Vietnam’s central coast.

U.S. officials noted that Russian bomber flights near Guam were part of a global pattern of renewed assertiveness approved by President Vladimir Putin against the U.S. and NATO allies in response to raising tensions over Russian annexation of Crimea, destabilizing activities in Ukraine, and Western punitive sanctions.

It was also reported that the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi had raised official concerns with Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to an anonymous State Department official, “We have urged Vietnamese officials to ensure that Russia is not able to use its access to Cam Ranh Bay to conduct activities that could raise tensions in the region.”

http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/vietn...sia-crossfire/

The United States embassy in Hanoi has asked the Vietnamese government to stop permitting Russia to use a military base to refuel its airplanes. The U.S. says Russia has performed what it calls “provocative flights” around the U.S. territory in the Pacific. Officials have not received an answer from the Vietnamese government.

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/c...y/2677999.html

[AdamG]

While we're on the subject of Vietnam playing Washington against Moscow in the Christmas Gift department.

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam took delivery of two new missile boats on Tuesday made locally and modeled on Russian vessels, the latest move by its military to strengthen maritime defenses as tensions simmer over sovereignty in the South China Sea.

The two Tarantul-class corvettes, known as Molniyas, are equipped with 16 missiles and automatic weapons and are among six ordered by the navy, two of which were delivered last year. The missiles have a range of 130 kilometers.

http://news.yahoo.com/vietnam-receiv...165704909.html

[davidbfpo]

Via Reuters:

A Japanese military patrol plane circled over disputed parts of the South China Sea on Tuesday at the start of an exercise with the Philippine military that has irked China.According to Japanese and Philippine officials, the Japanese P3-C Orion surveillance plane, with three Filipino guest crew members, flew at 5,000 feet (1,524 m) above the edge of Reed Bank, an energy-rich area that is claimed by both China and the Philippines. It was accompanied by a smaller Philippine patrol aircraft.

More on this maritime SAR exercise:http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...P30H120150623?

[davidbfpo]

Missing from discussions at last week's US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) was Taiwan's significance in China's land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea, said defense analysts.Held annually since 2009, the S&ED is a high-level government meeting set alternatively in each other's capital.

With the recent reporting on PRC building up some islands in The Spratley's we missed what Taiwan (RoC) was doing:

current expansion projects on Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island (Itu Abu), which include lengthening the runway to accommodate larger aircraft (currently only C-130s can resupply the island), and the construction of a dock capable of handling 3,000-ton vessels, ostensibly for Taiwan's new coast guard cutters.

Link:http://www.defensenews.com/story/def...-pla/29260999/

[Firn]

I'm sure that today more Chinese eyes will be one the stock exchanges then on some small islands. There was much talk about the possibly superior ability (compared to decadent western democracies) of the pseudo-commy dictatorship to manage it's economy. So will the Chinese leadership show economic sense and, hm , leadership?



The markest around the world have not exactly become calmer after the confusing Chinese devaluation which Krugman compared almost two weeks ago with a first bite into a cherry.

Are you staring to have the feeling that when it comes to economic policy Xi-who-must-be-obeyed has no idea what he’s doing? [Quite a bit more seem to share that feeling now]

....

This is what Charlie Kindleberger used to call “taking the first bite of the cherry”. (Nobody takes just one bite out of a cherry.) China has now demonstrated that its currency peg is no longer solid; but it has come nowhere near to devaluing enough to create expectations of future appreciation. This is a recipe for convincing investors that the future direction of the currency is down — which means that capital flight will accelerate (and apparently already has.)

[AdamG]

“The South China Sea, as the name indicated, is a sea area. It belongs to China,” said Vice Adm. Yuan Yubai, who commands the North Sea Fleet for the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

http://www.defenseone.com/threats/20...-china/120989/