South China Sea Forum

[ahojunk]

Woody Island increased its size by 40%

Aerial photos show the size of Woody (Yongxing) Island has increased by 40% since last year, through land reclamation.

Rocky island, located north of the island, is now merged with Woody island. The airstrip length has increased from 2.7 km to 3.0 km.
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[LittleFish]

Vietnamese people don't forget our soldiers who were fallen ỉn Bãi đá Gạc Ma (South Johnson reefs), chinese PLA attacked and stolen in 1988.

Proposal Memory architect for our heros.

...

Something worth your memorizing will happen constantly in the future.
We're waiting for you revenge.

 

[cirr]

interesting pic, this ship is going down.

Better？You guys are sailing into a strong headwind。

 

[EastSea]

Something worth your memorizing will happen constantly in the future.
We're waiting for you revenge.
View attachment 180240 View attachment 180241

This is true face of China's aggressors in South Johnson reets of Vietnam. Chinese attacked on Vietnamese and stolen reefs of Vietnam.

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[William Hung]

Better？You guys are sailing into a strong headwind。

View attachment 180251

LOL at CCP fanboys cheering for this junk. It is just a waste of tax money when the CCP has already given up the 9-dash lines when they ratified UNCLOS back in 1995.

When the Arbitral Tribunal declares that the 9-dash line has no merits under UNCLOS, you can give up your dream of taking all the water within the 9-dash lines. Good luck taking more reefs when the tribunal declares them belonging to other countries EEZ under UNCLOS law.

So at best, China can only possess 7 reefs while the other parties possess over 30.

LOL at the 50cents cheering on the CCP when they have already signed off the 9-dash lines back in 1995.

 

[LittleFish]

This is true face of China's aggressors in South Johnson reets of Vietnam. Chinese attacked on Vietnamese and stolen reefs of Vietnam.

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We're just taking our land back. You take us as aggressors while we take you as shameless thieves. We've been feed up with VN and we won't tolerate it more. What we are in you eyes is not important for us and as well what you are in our eyes is nothing valuable for you. Just shout it out as your wish if it can make you feel better.

LOL at CCP fanboys cheering for this junk. It is just a waste of tax money when the CCP has already given up the 9-dash lines when they ratified UNCLOS back in 1995.

When the Arbitral Tribunal declares that the 9-dash line has no merits under UNCLOS, you can give up your dream of taking all the water within the 9-dash lines. Good luck taking more reefs when the tribunal declares them belonging to other countries EEZ under UNCLOS law.

So at best, China can only possess 7 reefs while the other parties possess over 30.

LOL at the 50cents cheering on the CCP when they have already signed off the 9-dash lines back in 1995.

Dating back to early 1970s we were even not in control of Xisha(paracel islands), let alone Nansha(spratly islands) for our navy was weak then, but even with the weak navy we still managed to slap the South VN's navy, let alone in 1988.

We have been taking actions to take our lands back. If you compare the current situation with former situation then you can make it clear. Vietnam and Phillipines are just playing with fire, let's just wait&see what the SCS map will be after 10 years, and I believe those VN losers will shout more miserably. We'll be glad to hear them calling us as "AGGRESSORS".

 

[EastSea]

We're just taking our land back. You take us as aggressors while we take you as shameless thieves. We've been feed up with VN and we won't tolerate it more. What we are in you eyes is not important for us and as well what you are in our eyes is nothing valuable for you. Just shout it out as your wish if it can make you feel better.


Dating back to early 1970s we were even not in control of Xisha(paracel islands), let alone Nansha(spratly islands) for our navy was weak then, but even with the weak navy we still managed to slap the South VN's navy, let alone in 1988.

We have been taking actions to take our lands back. If you compare the current situation with former situation then you can make it clear. Vietnam and Phillipines are just playing with fire, let's just wait&see what the SCS map will be after 10 years, and I believe those VN losers will shout more miserably. We'll be glad to hear them calling us as "AGGRESSORS".

paracels and spratly islands belong to Vietnam from long time ago. Chinese are aggressors, you admited it as shamelessly.

Chinese aggressors get lost from Island of Vietnam.

 

[ahojunk]

Maritime observation network

China will set up an offshore observation network including satellite and radar stations to strengthen the country’s maritime power, protect maritime assets and realize the resource potential in its marine areas.

This network will cover coastal waters and high seas. Undersea observation and tsunami warning stations will also be built.

China's State Oceanic Administration called this network “fundamental” to protecting China’s maritime interests. It is to be completed by 2020. No cost was mentioned.

 

[ahojunk]

New platform workboat to serve for South China Sea drilling
Xinhua Jan 09,2015

WUHAN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's largest offshore platform workboat was delivered on Thursday.

Wuchuan Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. produced the vessel, which has a gross tonnage of 5,300 tonnes, for Shanghai Salvage Co. at a cost of nearly 500 million yuan (83 million U.S. dollars).

The workboat, which measures 89.2 meters in length and 22 meters in molded breadth, has a drag force of 296 tonnes, which makes it able to tow floating drilling platforms that weigh over several thousand tonnes.

Christened as HUAHU (or China Tiger), the workboat will serve offshore tugging and freight transportation services and assist offshore oilfield drilling operations in the South China Sea.

Yang Zhigang, board chairman of Wuchuan shipbuilding, said HUAHU boasts an advanced remote-control underwater robot, which can submerge to depths of 3,000 meters, and it can operate in high winds and typhoons.

The company's independently-developed workboat has broken up the market monopoly held by European shipbuilders, said Yang, adding that the company had received 10 overseas orders for the vessel.

 

[ahojunk]

China, US holding joint drill in South China
Updated: 2015-01-13 12:02
By Chen Weihua in Washington (China Daily USA)

China and the United States started a joint drill on Monday on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) to further improve military-to-military ties, long regarded as the least developed part of the overall bilateral relationship.

The drill between the two militaries and a symposium will be held from Jan 12-19 in Guangzhou of Guangdong province, and Haikou of Hainan province, according to China's Ministry of National Defense.

About 150 engineering and medical service personnel from the two nations will participate in the drill and talk, the ministry announced on Sunday.

Dave Eastburn, spokesman for the US Pacific Command, told China Daily on Monday that 30 US Army soldiers, four Marines, and four Coastguardsmen are joining 50 soldiers from China in a Disaster Management Exchange (DME). The 2015 DME, hosted by China's People's Liberation Army, includes three parts of an expert academic discussion, the establishment of a HA/DR coordination center and a practical field exchange.

"This long-established exchange underscores the commitment of both the US and the PRC to a comprehensive and strong military-to-military relationship in order to address security cooperation and HA/DR challenges across the region," Eastburn said.

While a joint military drill is nothing new, the fact that this drill is held in two cities facing the South China Sea has been seen as a move to help ease the tension over maritime territorial disputes, in particular between China and the Philippines and Vietnam.

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei rebuffed a Philippine accusation that China is building facilities in what the Philippines regarded as "disputed" Nansha Islands in South China Sea. "China asserts indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and the affiliate waters. China's action on the Nansha Islands is entirely within China's sovereignty," Hong told a daily briefing in Beijing.

The US is concerned that it could be drawn into unintended military conflicts between China and the Philippines, its treaty ally.

The South China Sea has been an area of tension between China and the US because China has long opposed the frequent close-in US military surveillance along the Chinese coast there.

In April 2000, a US EP-3 spy plane clashed with a PLA fighter jet near Hainan Island, causing the death of Chinese pilot and the detention of 24 US crew after making an emergency landing in Hainan.

Last August, a US Navy P-8 surveillance plane and a Chinese J-11 fighter got close near Hainan Island, and in December 2013, the US Navy guided missile cruiser Cowpens and a Chinese fleet exercising in the South China Sea avoided a near collision.

Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said it is helpful for the two militaries to meet in the South China Sea area, so forces can humanize their views of each other.

But he pointed out that it is more likely the drill is occurring there because the weather is reliably compliant compared to points further north.

"These exercises are all about instilling a degree of trust. For the US side, moreover, HA/DR is acceptable to Congress, when other forms of exercise might imply too much trust," Paal said. "At this stage of the US-China military rapprochement, it seems about right and welcome."

"It is welcome that the US and China are pursuing more military exercise. Perhaps China's agreement to conduct this drill in the South China Sea signals that Beijing sees the US as having a legitimate role to play in those waters. If so, it would be a positive message," said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The joint drill came two months after President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama concluded more than 20 agreements in Beijing from climate change to military confidence building, injecting renewed optimism in a relationship that has been marred by disputes in cyber security and tensions in South and East China seas.

On the military front, the two leaders signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on rules of behavior for safety of air and maritime encounters, and an MOU on notification of military activities and confidence building measures mechanism.

David Shambaugh, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said that 2013-2014 witnessed the broadest and deepest set of "mil-mil" exchanges in 25 years.

"This will require, on the American side, revision or retraction of the 2000 Defense Authorization Act - which places a range of restrictions on what the Pentagon can do and not do in its exchanges with the People's Liberation Army," he wrote on the China-US Focus website. "The US and Chinese militaries are at the heart of strategic interactions between the two nations, and all efforts must thus be made to deepen the interactions and communications between the two military establishments."

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com

 

[Keel]

The metamorphosis of:

中国 永暑岛Yongshu Island, China

 

[dichoi]

Vietnam’s authorised agencies are tasked with firmly safeguarding the country’s sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in the East Sea, Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang told reporters at a regular press conference in Hanoi on January 8.

She was responding to the reporters’ question regarding China’s drilling rig Haiyang Shiyou-981’s movement in international waters into the East Sea.

Hang said as a party to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), Vietnam has always fully implemented all of its rights and obligations in line with international law, contributing to peace, stability, security, freedom and safety of navigation in the East Sea.

The country pursues the consistent policy of solving East Sea issues by peaceful measures on the basis of internationally-recognised principles, especially the 1982 UNCLOS and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in East Sea (DOC).

She added Vietnam determinedly opposes acts that violate its sovereignty, sovereign right and jurisdiction in the waters.

China’s rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 was illegally positioned in Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone in early May, 2014 and then move out of Vietnam’s waters on July 16, 2014.

VNA

 

[cirr]

5000-ton plus CCG 1501 launched at WCS on 16.01.2015

Also launched a while back at the same shipyard was CCG 3501 of the same class。

 

[cirr]

CCG 2302、2303、2304、3301、3305 etc

all being outfitted at at GSI

 

[biendong]

Swiss watch manufacturer offers special version of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa-Truong Sa
VietNamNet Bridge - Candino (Switzerland) has produced 1,888 special-edition watches (388 units for women, 1,500 for men) with the message "Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands) & Truong Sa (Spratly Islands) belong to Vietnam".

This is the idea of Bui Tan Minh, a 35-year-old Vietnamese businessman.

Minh is director of the Hai Minh import export company, which distributes luxury watches in Vietnam.

Minh said it took a lot of time to convince the Swiss partner to launch this special edition.

The special edition watches arrived in Vietnam in January 2015, two years since the idea flashed.

Minh explained: "We asked the Swiss partner to manufacture 1,888 watches because 1888 was the year the Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks were completed. They have been recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage documentary and they are also the priceless heritage of the people of Vietnam. This official history faithfully recorded the activities of the Nguyen Dynasty on Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos (Paracel and Spratly Islands). It is important evidence for Vietnam’s indisputable sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa."

Previously, Hai Minh cooperated with Candino to produce 1,000 special-edition watches for the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi and the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Switzerland (2011).