China’s Global Times newspaper said on Sunday that the Chinese military had commenced its annual spring drills in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific.
The exercises, which began about a day after a US destroyer engaged in a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) near an artificial island controlled by China, included aerial training in the Western Pacific and a combat naval patrol in the South China Sea.
The air force portion included H-6K bombers and Su-30 and Su-35 fighters, according to PLA Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke. The warships involved are believed to include the aircraft carrier Liaoning – though the Global Times didn’t mention the flattop or identify the ships in the maneuvers.
The PLA Air Force said on its Weibo account on Sunday that the drills were designed to enhance the troops’ combat-winning capabilities in the new era.
China Central Television quoted the PLA Navy as saying the drills were routine and did not target any country.
“The South China Sea and East China Sea will be primary battlegrounds. The PLA is committed to be battle-ready through simulated combat training,” Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Earlier reports of carrier
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said last week that it had followed a Chinese aircraft carrier group as it passed through the Taiwan Strait in a southwesterly direction – toward the disputed South China Sea in what was believed to be a drill.
The Chinese military drills kicked off about a day after the USS Mustin came within 12 nautical miles of Meiji (aka Mischief) Reef in the Nansha (aka Spratly) Islands in the South China Sea. China has termed the incident a political and military provocation.
"Freedom of navigation operation" should be in quotation marks. China depends on freedom of navigation in the SCS more than anyone else. And the US — at least as I have read on AT — has trained for blocking the Malacca Strait. The US has fleets thousands of miles from home, but China is the warmonger if it has a fleet off its own shores. What’s wrong with this picture?
The saying 一山不能容二虎 applies here.
We will ultimately need to deal with these foreign devils therefore we must continue to sharpen our fangs and our tooth’s; erect more Forts Sprately; more Forts Parcel; and, ensure it that our strategy "STRING of PEARLS" runs smoothly, remains intact, and remains impregnable.
There’s no escaping this "一山不能容二虎" fate we Chinese and these foreign devils are faced with. There will not be a one-on-direct shooting war between the Chinese and the foreign devils. The foreign devils are too smart to engage directly with a major military power. Instead, ‘face-seeking PROXY,’ India, will be the weapon of choice of these foreign devils to deal with us and this is why they are furnishing the Indians with canines designed for ripping, killing, and for mangling.
Indians are dumb and submissive subjects. They are easily subjugated to become willing sacrifices for the foreign devils therefore we Chinese must keep the Indians in a state if being checkmated 24/7 and, if they get fresh on us…
"We ensure it they pay Dearly for their stoopidity."
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The English master used to boost they just need to send a white district officer deep into south Asia continent, the Indian subjects will organize themselves into tax collectors, law enforcers to help him carting the loots back to England.
What is wrong? China agreed to abide by the rules when we sponsored them into the WTO and GATT. Now they don’t want to play nice! After 8 years of Obama, how do you like us now? Obama was a very weak president!. Now America has a real strong man as president. China, do you really want to tangle with the US Navy? You shouldn’t poke the bear! USA USA USA
Ne Pacific…..I think you have misunderstood "freedom of navigation" because you continued to say that "China depends on freedom of navigation in the SCS more than anyone else." You might have mean that China depends on innocent passage more than anyone else in the SCS." As far as I know, freedom of navigation does not mean peaceful transit through the sea. It means instead "non peaceful transit through the sea. Under the freedom of navigation, any enemy can send a ship to the SCS and loitering nearby to collect information, or practice target shooting, etc. How can China depend on such freedom of navigation more than anybody else?
My undersanding was derived from the international law UNCLOS, which provides 6 freedoms only in the High Seas. The first one is the freedom of navigation. That is, in the High Seas, you can transit non-peacefully and nobody is allowed to interfere with your non-peaceful manner. When China does not interfere US’s freedom of navigation in the SCS, China acknowledges that the SCS is part of the High Seas, not China’s territory.
You don’t seem to believe in the science which dictates that we humanoids are not alone and that the universe is teaming with life, alien life, earthlings, Klingons, Kawarkians, and, of course — Chinese….
😉
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Tit for tat for China, let’s see what will happen.
Try the simple things. Mammoth war machines may not necessarily win you wars. A few container ships circling near aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, frigates, etc are cause for concern. Remember recent accidents near Japan & Singapore involving destroyers of USN & humble mercantile container ships. In all cases, these war monsters are left limping to the nearest haven with fatal casualties.
Apt lesson learned & should be intelligently applied. Minimal cost, maximum return!
We all know the US Navy is the strongest in the world. What I cannot understand is this. The Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Conference (all 3 superpowers were present) spelled out clearly all lands stolen by Imperial Japan must be returned to its rightful owner. Rightful owner can be identified by reference to the unequal terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki 1895. Imperial Japan’s interests in some of the islands of the Liu Chiu Archipelago (renamed Ryuku) dated circa 1870s to 1880s prior to the 1st Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Before that, there was the maritime Kingdom of Liu Chiu that existed there with tributary ties to the earlier Ming Dynasty of China. The Liu Chiu archipelago, as I understand, was administered as part of the province of Taiwan by the last Qing Dynasty. So when the USA decided to relinquish its administration of those islands (which USA occupied at end of WW2), the USA government handed it directly into the hands of the present Japanese Government thereby creating perpetual enmity between Japan and China. Likewise, the Republic of China (Taiwan) (an ally of USA) also feels slighted and sidelined on this issue by the action of the US government. Could’nt the USA government handled this issue with the greatest tact, convene a consultative body of world history experts, world affairs and legal experts ? Also perhaps invite claimants to be present in that body so that no one party will fell slighted or sidelined.That is my historical knowledge of this Diaoyu Dao / Senkaku issue. Correct me if I am wrong.
what red line? the red is in china itself. the giant is all bluster. deep down it is a yellow dog.