They are free to burn the gas and wear themselves out with their ADIZ. Might be good training for their pilots.

Given the number of times I got intercepted by our own USAF (1) and how many times helicopters on our wing got intercepted by our own USAF (dozens) while doing standard ship board ops training while in the ADIZ (the usual question was "was your parrot working properly in all modes?") I wish them well and hope they fly intercepts on all Com Air over the south china sea. Good fun. Something for the pilots to do. Also, it will offer something for the bored passengers to gawk at if their iPads run out of batteries:
"Look, Mummy, a Chinese Fighter jet!"
"Get a picture with your phone, dear, so that we can show Daddy."

HH:-
Well, I guess it all depends on what you call atrocities. The main "atrocity" levelled at the UK, and in particular the RAF, is of course Dresden. Why one bombing of one city should be picked out from all the other bombings of all the other cities mystifies me, so let's call all the bombings of all the cities "atrocities". Indeed, let's agree that all war is an atrocity. In which case I would still contend that an army on the rampage; murdering, torturing and raping civilians and POW's alike, needs a special term for its conduct. So let's instead call that an atrocity, and the bombing of cities war.

What RR's point is he must say. My point is that the Japanese Emperor, his Government, nor his people have ever disowned the barbarities carried out by the Imperial Japanese Army in the 1930s and 40s. That contrasts sharply with the atonement of Germany, and makes me fearful of a revitalised Japan that elevates its "self defence" up by several notches.

None of the above implies any less worry about the threat from China, indeed it simply adds to it...

Well this is certainly going to add to their capabilities in the region......



Seaplane Could Advance Chinese SCS Claims

Yes, China does worry me a bit.
As had been mentioned before, its strategic tentacles have been slowly unravelling and grasping.

Just one small example would be the acquisition of key infrastructure assets within Australia.
A little while back, it was granted a 99-year lease on the port of Darwin.
But that's OK - because the Australian and US Navies will still be allowed to use the Port facilities.

Further, they now have control of the Port of Newcastle, NSW and are closing a deal on the Port of Melbourne.
Hello?
Do we have people asleep at the wheel - or is something going on that I really shouldn't worry my pretty little head about?

Asleep at the wheel. Our sell out began in the late 80's / early 90's when the restrictions on Chicom access to our universities were relaxed. "The money was too good" and the notable illustration of Chinese money men with Bill Clinton in the White House is a trend that has not changed.

Stanwell - unless you believe that the PLA are going to hide several divisions of infantry inside a quayside go-down in Darwin, Newcastle etc etc does it matter who OWNS the port?

The Australian police can occupy them given 10 minutes notice...

In fact you are using THEIR money to upgrade YOUR ports - which is better than them spending their cash on more missiles etc

Photos suggest China built reinforced hangars on disputed islands: CSIS

East China Sea: Japan Spots Chinese Radar on Gas Exploration Platform

Vietnam moves new rocket launchers into disputed S.China Sea

China on ‘combat patrols’ near disputed islands

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HS.28...=0&w=231&h=179

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HS.14...=0&w=254&h=179

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HS.14...=0&w=229&h=168

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HS.28...=0&w=297&h=168

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=HS.79...=0&w=301&h=170

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=HS.79...=0&w=301&h=170

None of us should worry.
Because the greatest goddam nation on the face of this earth could nuke them to a pane of glass and finish them off with windex in a second if it wanted to.
Why don't I feel secure...:ooh:

Eleven gas production platforms built in two years and people wonder what China is claiming the sea bed for.

http://www.mofa.go.jp/files/00009943...ampaign=buffer

Where did this rant come from? Where do you get the idea that US policy toward China is to nuke them over a local dispute? Have you been reading leftist propaganda again?

Not the uks problem.. Let the new big boys slug it out in ww3 on the other side of the planet. Post suez it's not our problem any more.. We can make a mint selling new carriers to India etc. Then Join in once we know who is going to win....

I was being ironic Lone... I'm actually a great fan of your country.
My point was that despite it's overwhelming military superiority, the US is effectively powerless in the face of salami slicing by the Chinese.
And - just to clarify - I wouldn't classify myself as left by any means.

@tartare
Sorry, I missed the irony/sarcasm. The text medium doesn't always get tone across.

Military is but one of many tools used by those in the seats of power. To say the US is "powerless" is not correct, but two things arise from that observation:

1. The SCS is China's "backyard"
2. Having the wit to use other means of power or suasion is highly dependent upon the people in office at the time. Over the past 25 years, our "policy" in re the SCS has been subject to some interesting variations. All of a sudden, the rest of America has woken up to something I was concerned with, professionally, in the early 90's.

Nukes give a deterrent effect, not a carte blanche. Ya still have to do the hard work on the ground if you really want to change things.

Agree with you 100 per cent.
I think the really challenging issue for Uncle Sam is at what point does a hyper-power say "no - actually China, that's a slice too far..." and then how do you respond.
It's China's backyard - but just across the fence from the quarter acre, suburnt paradise that is Orstraylia....

Thank you, tartare.
A couple of us down here HAD noticed.

I think it's actually very worrying.
All it's going to take is some clown in a J-8 to buzz a RAAF Orion, or a P-8; get caught in a tip vortex and next thing you've got a mid-air and Hainan Island all over again.
Or Vietnam gets the sh1ts with some fishermen and squeezes off one of those new missiles.
An all out war might not be in China or the US's interest, but a very nasty little regional confrontation might just be a slightly bigger slice of the salami that Beijing may think it can get away with.

It's very much like a Chinese work contract. They keep chipping away at it until you walk out of the door and then they call you in and start again from the beginning.

Report: China May Cross Obama?s ?Red Line, Reclaim Scarborough Shoal Next Month

"......The People’s Republic of China may soon look to fundamentally alter the status-quo in the South China Sea by seizing the disputed Scarborough Shoal within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines – a move that Washington considers a "red line" with President Obama warning of "serious consequences" in March if China attempted to reclaim the land.

An article in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post raises the specter of the potential incursion quoting "a source familiar with the matter" detailing that Beijing would not look to reclaim the territory before hosting the G-20 next month, but could begin construction efforts on the land mass sometime between September and when Americans go to the polls in November.

The source suggests that Beijing may look to take advantage of the domestic distractions put on President Obama during the political season. "Obama will focus on domestic issues ahead of the election as he needs to pass down legacies before leaving office," said the source. "That might make him busy and he might not have the time to take care of regional security issues........."

The answer is to plonk a battalion of US marines on it right now and claim they're taking their R&R break - issue them with hawaian shirts etc etc

Why not call them scrap metal workmen?