The South China Sea's Gathering Storm
An NK pivot to the west while simultaneously running a nuclear program is a non starter even now, so probably not a concern to China.
China is, in the words of the first Kim, 'as close as lips to teeth' to NK, they provide them with food, weapons and industrial support. So China is and was critical to the NK nuclear effort.
If China tried to stop it, they clearly did not try very hard.
Still seems a very shortsighted policy imho.
In The Times.
US sends stealth bombers to counter Chinese threat
US sends stealth bombers to counter Chinese threat
One has to wonder what for. Three aircraft are not much of a threat, unless nuclear armed, so no one in China will be impressed.
An NK pivot to the west while simultaneously running a nuclear program is a non starter even now, so probably not a concern to China.
China is, in the words of the first Kim, 'as close as lips to teeth' to NK, they provide them with food, weapons and industrial support. So China is and was critical to the NK nuclear effort.
If China tried to stop it, they clearly did not try very hard.
Still seems a very shortsighted policy imho.
China is, in the words of the first Kim, 'as close as lips to teeth' to NK, they provide them with food, weapons and industrial support. So China is and was critical to the NK nuclear effort.
If China tried to stop it, they clearly did not try very hard.
Still seems a very shortsighted policy imho.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-k...lear-standoff/
No, actually it’s not. The Norks are a pragmatic lot in many aspects, chief among them, their security. If the fat wun or his predecessors believed China would physically stop them, there would have been immediate olive branches in the mail to the US. You forget, NK has threatened China as well as the US.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-k...lear-standoff/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-k...lear-standoff/
So how could NK pivot to the west if China had blocked their nuclear effort, given the west has the same blocking posture?
I don't doubt that China tried to restrain the NK nuclear effort, but obviously they did not try very hard.
It will be hard for them now to prevent others from doing likewise, particularly as the US security blanket continues to fray.
Crucially, it's not just the world in Asia that has changed. Many posters use the phrase "the West" when "the West" is no longer the unified force it was. The unstable, unpredictable, and perhaps unwitting, Trumpian USA has weakened (greatly weakened, I would argue) and fractured the unified "West" that kept threats (perceived and real) at bay for 70 odd years.
I suggest we are in a more unstable world now than at any time since October 1962.
grizz
I suggest we are in a more unstable world now than at any time since October 1962.
grizz
Crucially, it's not just the world in Asia that has changed. Many posters use the phrase "the West" when "the West" is no longer the unified force it was. The unstable, unpredictable, and perhaps unwitting, Trumpian USA has weakened (greatly weakened, I would argue) and fractured the unified "West" that kept threats (perceived and real) at bay for 70 odd years.
I suggest we are in a more unstable world now than at any time since October 1962.
grizz
I suggest we are in a more unstable world now than at any time since October 1962.
grizz
"Perhaps when Singapore gets the bomb there will be a recognition that the world in Asia has changed"
sure as hell will alter shopping in Orchard Road when they test their first one at home
sure as hell will alter shopping in Orchard Road when they test their first one at home
More on S Korea's carrier plan - article in The Times today.
Seoul steps up arms race with first aircraft carrier
From the article:-
Seoul steps up arms race with first aircraft carrier
From the article:-
South Korea is planning to join an exclusive club of about a dozen countries that possess aircraft carriers.
The proposed warship, designed to carry up to 20 of America’s jump-jet F-35BLightning II joint strike fighters, will project South Korea into a higher league of maritime powers, and add another carrier to a region already engaged in a naval arms race.
Construction of the 652ft ship will begin next year and it is due to be launched in the late 2020s. The decision follows the breakdown of what initially looked like encouraging diplomatic progress between North Korea and the US on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
After two summits between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in Singapore in 2018 and Hanoi in 2019, hopes of a breakthrough in denuclearising the Korean peninsula were dashed. After an 18-month self-imposed freeze while the talks were going on, Pyongyang resumed short-range ballistic missile tests in May last year.
The new vessel will be about a third the size of the US Navy’s 11 nuclear-powered supercarriers, but unlike several nations that have carriers with flight decks only capable of launching helicopters, the South Korean warship will be a dedicated fixed-wing aircraft platform. It has been called LPX-II class and will be a 40,000-ton ship.
The proposed warship, designed to carry up to 20 of America’s jump-jet F-35BLightning II joint strike fighters, will project South Korea into a higher league of maritime powers, and add another carrier to a region already engaged in a naval arms race.
Construction of the 652ft ship will begin next year and it is due to be launched in the late 2020s. The decision follows the breakdown of what initially looked like encouraging diplomatic progress between North Korea and the US on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
After two summits between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in Singapore in 2018 and Hanoi in 2019, hopes of a breakthrough in denuclearising the Korean peninsula were dashed. After an 18-month self-imposed freeze while the talks were going on, Pyongyang resumed short-range ballistic missile tests in May last year.
The new vessel will be about a third the size of the US Navy’s 11 nuclear-powered supercarriers, but unlike several nations that have carriers with flight decks only capable of launching helicopters, the South Korean warship will be a dedicated fixed-wing aircraft platform. It has been called LPX-II class and will be a 40,000-ton ship.
https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/why-...ratly-islands/
Why Doesn’t China Deploy Fighter Jets to the Spratly Islands?
Why Doesn’t China Deploy Fighter Jets to the Spratly Islands?
https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/why-...ratly-islands/
Why Doesn’t China Deploy Fighter Jets to the Spratly Islands?
Why Doesn’t China Deploy Fighter Jets to the Spratly Islands?
While I appreciate the Chinese penchant for cutting corners, I'm also aware that they built these bases at considerable expense and that the construction resources are still in the area and remain active.
So I'd think if there were real structural problems, they would be getting addressed right now. After all, what is the point of provoking the surrounding states unless one is set on a policy?
Hmmmm. Wonder who owns the newspaper. There may be a bit of truth, but the Chinese books Ive read repetitively state that their military is for internal and regional use to bring harmony. I think they intentionally downplay their ambitions.
I'm concerned that the US may have the military might but not the will. I'm sure the talking heads will try to look smart and say something about a land war in Asia.
I'm concerned that the US may have the military might but not the will. I'm sure the talking heads will try to look smart and say something about a land war in Asia.
I cannot imagine how one would go about stabilizing what is little more than a sandbank. Rising sea levels and tropical storms will very quickly degrade any large, heavy, structures to a point where they are unusable.
Here in France (and Monaco), extensive work is being done to build on what was open sea. It is not being done by making sand Islands. Solid rock boulders are being used on which to anchor very heavy concrete caissons until the new land is high enough to think about building. Not knowing the criteria for allowing for settling of the base and caissons I expect it is more than adequate. Nice airport and Monaco's high-rise condo's seem to be quite stable on what has been created.. I doubt the Chinese would come close to having anything with similar characteristics.
This just might be "window-dressing" by the Chinese to reinforce their claim to the 9-dash line and was never expected to be used operationally.
IG
Here in France (and Monaco), extensive work is being done to build on what was open sea. It is not being done by making sand Islands. Solid rock boulders are being used on which to anchor very heavy concrete caissons until the new land is high enough to think about building. Not knowing the criteria for allowing for settling of the base and caissons I expect it is more than adequate. Nice airport and Monaco's high-rise condo's seem to be quite stable on what has been created.. I doubt the Chinese would come close to having anything with similar characteristics.
This just might be "window-dressing" by the Chinese to reinforce their claim to the 9-dash line and was never expected to be used operationally.
IG
All the land reclamation I have seen in China has had a minimum of seven years to stabilise it before construction. Then, reclaimed or virgin land, piles are driven down twenty metres to support a thirty floor apartment block.
Standing at one end of the old Belize runway, near a swampy river, one could see the bow wave along the tarmac when a VC 10 or suchlike landed.
Standing at one end of the old Belize runway, near a swampy river, one could see the bow wave along the tarmac when a VC 10 or suchlike landed.
Just don't buy a property offshore Dubai ..............................
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