`Strewth - Vanuatu!

[tartare]

Definitely military, but not strictly aviation - although no doubt the MPAs, bombers and fighters would soon be arriving in short order.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-eyes-vanuatu-military-base-in-plan-with-global-ramifications-20180409-p4z8j9.html

Our icy Foreign Minister - she of the `death stare' Julie Bishop was on the radio here this morning saying Canberra and Washington are all over it like a rash.
Personally I'm not so confident they are.

[Buster Hyman]

Maybe we should have created a “United States of Oceania” to prevent the allure of Chinese investment? Maybe we could have paid more attention to the needs of our South Pacific Neighbours?
I know that Samoa has a lovely new Parliament building, courtesy of China, in exchange for favourable voting at the UN…or so I was told. Military bases takes it to a whole new level though.

[Cazalet33]

So they provide the islanders with development aid and schools and hospitals and a Parliament building and other goodies? Pussies!

Here's how real men build a military outpost on a faraway island.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjNfXK6QpqY

[tartare]

Hey ho.
By the time it's built we'll just get a few of the boys to truck on up from Amberley and Townsville in their shiny new F-35s.
A JASSM or two will sort it all out... ;)
Maybe the Coral Sea is destined to become as sporty as the South China Sea.
I keep teasing young Tartare that he better watch his six for Lieutenant Wang...

[layman]

A new wharf for Vanautu? I wonder if it will be more usable than the Chinese built hospital on Samoa?

Story I heard it is that the lifts can accommodate a gurney (with patient) or hospital staff, but not both at the same time.

Sending someone up / down means arranging someone to meet them at the other end.

[Basil]

Prince Charles has just been there pressing the flesh so all sorted :ok:

It is, isn't it?? . . .

[glad rag]

And?

Not bad for a freebie.

[hunterboy]

Nothing is free from China....

[flyinkiwi]

China owns most of the South Pacific any way, they are just protecting their investment.

[tartare]

Much as the Chinese have a fascinating history, culture and country - I don't trust Xi Jinping for a second.
Despite all the denials - I reckon there's clearly a very long game being played here.
Talk to anyone in international law enforcement, or if you can, in intelligence and they'll tell you that the level of Chinese involvement in the Pacific is very surprising... not just in overt and covert diplomacy, but in trans-national crime as well.
Couple all of that with belt and road and the picture doesn't look good.
On the military front we'll wake up one day and discover incrementally that they have established one or two major South West or Mid Pacific bases - unless Canberra, Wellington and Washington really raise the bar engagement wise with South Pacific nations.
And once they've got that base or bases it won't just be peaceful engagement.
Returning China peacefully to its prior status in history as a great power?
Bollocks - eventually there'll be nothing peaceful about it.
Xi is a dictator and strongman - it'll be forcible power projection.

[flyinkiwi]

My comment was most definitely tongue in cheek. It's quite plain to see China has been gearing up for power projection for quite some time.

In order to control the Pacific they will need a blue water navy, something the PLAN currently is not. But give them 20 years and they will be more than capable.

[etudiant]

China is pouring 750 MM tons of steel annually, about 10x the US output.
That gives some indication of their potential.
Belt and Road is a clever scheme to sop up some of the surplus capacity and credit to widen China's sphere of influence. Thus far there has been no creative counter from either the US nor anyone else. So we should not bleat when China steps out, they are pursuing their national interests, much as the West has done historically.

[Fareastdriver]

If you read the Chinese press quite regularly you notice that there is a non-stop rotation of third world leaders making a pilgrimage to Beijing. You can be sure their country didn't pay for the first class air fares or the five star hotels.

Good old fashioned Chinese bargaining technique. I used to do the same thing, albeit at a far smaller scale, when I worked in China.

[jolihokistix]

In light of Japan's announcement of a millions tons of rare earths found in the ocean around their Pacific islands:
https://japantoday.com/category/tech/japan-team-maps-'semi-infinite'-rare-earth-reserves


... I can see another reason why China might wish to encroach upon any island in those seas by hook or by crook, ie by any means available.

[pax britanica]

Interesting to read about your part of the world

just returned froma holiday on the lovely and large Indian ocean island of Sri lanka.

Situated at the tip of India thousands and thousands of Ships from Asia-Suez/Gulf including innumerable tankers pass withing 50Km of its southern tip.

Sri Lanka has recently acquired two very lovely motorways
A huge sea port (on the Southern tip of the island)
A huge 'conference centre' in same area , and best of all,
A fully functioning international airport-same region which has no flights at all.

All paid for by guess who , and guess why

[Basil]

pax britanica, Yes, and there are those who say we should reduce our Foreign Aid budget.

[ORAC]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/australia-fears-china-s-military-might-on-pacific-isle-cdh36vl9z

Australia fears China’s military might on Pacific isle

China is in talks to build an airport, aircraft maintenance facilities and a shopping district on the strategically important island of Guadalcanal, extending its influence far into the Pacific. Guadalcanal is one of the impoverished Solomon Islands lying 2,000 miles northeast of Australia, and was a major Second World War battleground as the Allies fought to stop the Japanese advance across the Pacific......

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fe54bbf40-4d5b-11e8-820c-9146b8a57671.png?crop=480%2C480%2C0%2C0&resize=640

There is concern within the Australian government about Chinese-funded infrastructure in Pacific nations that Beijing could put to military use. The Australian government paid A$100 million (£55 million) this year to build an undersea internet cable connecting the Solomon Islands with Sydney to stop the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from building it.......

Jonathan Pryke, director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program in Sydney, which has tracked Chinese investment, said: “This certainly raised the eyebrows of some people. It’s a large piece of infrastructure that could have dual-use purposes... There’s been no signal from any side that is the intent, but intent can change.”.......

Concerns over China’s investment across the Pacific, especially in Vanuatu, the former French and British controlled territory south of the Solomons, will be prominent when Australian ministers meet President Macron in Sydney. France has substantial overseas territories in the Pacific...... The Australian defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne, acknowledged China’s increased activity and said that Australia wanted to work with France in the Pacific. This is thought to mean that Australia will press France to broaden its activities in the region. In 2016, Australia awarded a €32 billion deal for submarines to France. French interests in the Pacific are extensive, from New Caledonia in the west to French Polynesia in the east. It has more than 3,000 military personnel in the region......

It is understood that the Chinese deal in Guadalcanal is being handled by Anthony Veke, the island’s premier, and Bradley Tovosia, the minister of mines. Mr Veke said that it was at an “early stage”.

[tartare]

...Even bloody shopping malls too!
So they'll cater to the Officer's wives as well.
This cannot stand...

[Fareastdriver]

Having had the misfortune to operate out of Guadalcanal in 2005 they can have it.

[Bladdered]

...Even bloody shopping malls too!
So they'll cater to the Officer's wives as well.
This cannot stand...

Wow, so only officers wives go shopping.

[ORAC]

Ladies - Officers and their ladies, NCOs and the wives.......

[Fareastdriver]

IIRC when I was there the Solomon Islands was one of the few countries that recognised the Republic of China as the Chinese government. That would explain why the Chinese population there were almost all Taiwanese. The was big riot in Honiara when the Solomon Islanders blamed the Chinese for all their poverty and unemployment and destroyed most of their businesses.

With them went all the jobs and prospect of getting any.

I suppose now their government is looking out for the handouts and the inevitable mansions on the beach on the Gold Coast of Australia.

[tartare]

More pressure being applied.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/china-ramps-up-pressure-on-qantas-over-taiwan-20180501-p4zcmn.html

[ORAC]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/vanuatu-bows-to-chinese-rendition-of-its-citizens-hp5300gmm

Rendition row after China seizes six people from Vanuatu

China has exerted its jurisdiction over a small Pacific state, forcibly removing six suspects without recourse to local courts or legal process.

The five men and a woman, four of whom held citizenship in Vanuatu, were marched by police to a chartered jet that left Port Vila bound for Beijing on Friday. The group, of Chinese ethnicity, had not appeared before a local court and no charges were disclosed before the rendition. Extradition had not been formally requested.......

The rendition of the six has renewed concerns about growing Chinese influence in the region. Dan McGarry, editor of the Vanuatu Daily Post, wrote: “Under a veil of secrecy, China has convinced Vanuatu to enforce Chinese law within its own borders.” It said that the six were held for days without charge on the premises of a Chinese company which has large contracts with the Vanuatu government. They were not put before a local court and were photographed marching to the waiting aircraft with Chinese police holding one arm and police from Vanuatu holding the other.

Andrew Napuat, Vanuatu’s internal affairs minister, said that because the six detainees were not charged with any crime in their home country they would not appear before a local court. However, any person within the archipelago’s jurisdiction should have the right to confront their accuser, he said.

Tess Newton Cain, an expert in Pacific affairs at the University of Queensland, said that the development was particularly troubling because Vanuatu was unable to say what the six were accused of. “Due process and natural justice don’t appear to have been observed,” she told Radio New Zealand.

Mr Napuat acknowledged that the arrest warrants presented by Chinese police did not list the crimes they were accused of but denied that this amounted to Beijing applying its law overseas. The Chinese jet sent to collect the group was required because other airlines flying to Vanuatu had declined to accept them, he said, adding that the country had “learnt lessons”........