China launches naval war games

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China’s navy will on Tuesday begin annual military exercises off its east coast, state media reported, amid tensions over maritime territorial disputes with its neighbours.


“According to our annual plan for exercises, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s navy will in the coming days hold exercise activities in the waters near the Zhoushan islands,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.


The ministry provided no other details on the war games.


But the China Daily said the live fire naval exercises would start on Tuesday and last for six days.
The Zhoushan islands lie in the East China Sea not far from the coastal city of Shanghai. The China Daily said the exercises would not be held in any waters also claimed by another country.


Last week, the ministry announced a ban on shipping and fishing vessels entering the designated exercise area, the paper said.


The exercises come after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Saturday that Japan was considering buying a chain of islands at the centre of its bitter territorial dispute with China and Taiwan.


Those islands in the East China Sea are called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, and are further to the east than the area where the imminent naval exercises are being planned.


China reacted angrily to Noda’s remarks, as both governments reiterated their claims over the islands.


China is locked in similarly tense disputes with Vietnam and the Philippines in the neighbouring South China Sea.
Vietnam and the Philippines have accused China of increasingly aggressive behaviour in the area.
China claims essentially all of the South China Sea, home to vital shipping lanes and believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits. Taiwan and Brunei and Malaysia also have claims in the waters.

 

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Chinese boffins build nuclear-powered deep-sea station

Underwater mining plans a step closer

By Phil Muncaster • Get more from this author

Posted in Science, 9th July 2012 07:45 GMT

Not content with ambitious plans to dominate space exploration over the coming decades, China is also looking to master the ocean with the development of a deep-sea station which could be its first step towards large-scale underwater mining.

Plans for the nuclear powered mobile deep-sea station were unveiled earlier this year by China Ship Scientific Research Centre – the state-owned venture whose Jiaolong manned submersible recently reached depths of 7,000 metres – according to South China Morning Post.

The craft would have dimensions of 60.2m x 15.8m x 9.7m, weigh about 2,600 tonnes, and have enough room for 33 crew members.

It would have propellers to move submarine-like underwater and several ports to allow smaller craft to dock with it, the report said.

On that note, a smaller prototype which could carry 12 crew on an 18-day expedition is currently in production, with an expected delivery date of 2015.

While China’s plans in space appear to revolve heavily around military strategy, its deep sea efforts have more to do with the country finding an answer to its current energy problems.

Drilling for oil and mining copper and other natural resources both appear to be high on the list of China’s deep-sea priorities, although technological limitations may hold back advances in the project for some time, the report claims.

When China wants something it usually succeeds in the end, however, so it would not be out of the question to see the launch of a full-sized deep-sea station by 2030, according to SCMP.

As with most elements of Chinese technology innovation, the PLA is never too far away – this deep-sea project is apparently funded by 863 Program, a hi-tech state scheme with close ties to the military.

Chinese boffins build nuclear-powered deep-sea station ? The Register