Chinese shenanigans

[yanpa]

China's new aircraft carrier

chinese-aircraft-carrier.jpg

Video here.

[Coligny]

Lots of idiots with more money than brain...

A bit like the UAE except with an inferiority complexe transcended into warmongering...

Guess not everyone can be happy and fulfilled by drifting lexus on sandy roads...

[matsuki]

Guess not everyone can be happy and fulfilled by drifting lexus on sandy roads...

Durka drift is a timeless tradition, horse drifting on the other hand....

[Coligny]

I see your drunk Russian and raise you fake towelheads...

[Mike Oxlong]

Pacific Militaries Rising
While the growing weapons capabilities of Asian nations make the
threat of war more serious, they may also encourage diplomacy.

The Royal Australian Navy this week commissioned its newest and largest warship, joining Japan and China in the aircraft-carrier club. It’s a reminder that Asia is set to see increasingly capable navies and air forces operating in its regional waters and skies. While this development raises the potential for international conflict, it might also serve as a balancing mechanism to preserve stability. Now is the time for the region’s politics to catch up to its military development.

Much attention has been paid to China’s single ex-Soviet carrier, the Liaoning, even though it will years before the ship is fully operational. A 300-meter ship displacing more than 50,000 tons, it recently conducted its first flight landings. But it has also suffered countless refitting delays and accidents during sea trials. Nonetheless, the Liaoning has become one of the most visible symbols of Chinese power. It represents a true power-projection capability through congested and contested waters. One day it will allow Beijing to cover vital oceanic passageways like the Strait of Malacca or disputed island groups like the Senkakus, with a standoff capability unmatched by any other regional military. Only the U.S. has the ability to range farther and with more power.

Japan began upending this dynamic when it introduced the Izumo last year. Officially tasked with carrying helicopters, it displaces less than half the weight of the Liaoning. Yet the worst-kept secret in Asia right now is that the two planned Izumo-class carriers could be quickly converted to carry vertical takeoff and landing F-35s. This means that the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force could also develop a power-projection capability to be deployed around the Senkakus. U.S. Marine F-35s might also use the ships in a crisis.

Australia’s new carrier, the HMAS Canberra, is also officially a helicopter carrier, and Australian officials have said it will be used for humanitarian emergencies along with potential combat situations. Since Australia is co-developing the F-35, however, it’s possible the new carrier could be retrofitted to carry the stealth fighters. Given the deepening defense ties between Japan and Australia, and also trilaterally with the U.S., the possibility of more integrated air-sea operations using the world’s most advanced planes and ships is on the horizon.

All of this is driven by China’s rapid modernization of its military forces. Beijing plans at least three—likely more—aircraft carriers designed to carry new fighters based on the Su-33. They could also carry a variant of the stealthy J-31 currently under development. Based on recent comments from U.S. military observers, China’s next-generation fighters can already equal the capabilities of U.S. F-15s and F-18s. Put these Chinese fighters at sea, and one day U.S. ships and pilots will have a more difficult security challenge than they have had in many decades.

Parity between the Chinese and U.S. military is years away, but U.S. allies in the region will be dealing with Chinese superiority much sooner. Thus the moves by Japan to upgrade its capabilities and its decision to purchase the Global Hawk drone and V-22 Ospreys, as well as advanced early-warning radar planes. Similarly, Australia recently agreed to co-develop advanced submarine technology with Japan. Vietnam is purchasing new submarines from Russia, while Indonesia is working with South Korea to build its own. Tokyo is providing patrol ships to Hanoi and Manila.

All of this may give China pause as it considers how far to push its territorial claims in the East and South China Seas. It may feel little threat today from the region’s militaries, but that calculus will change as more-advanced weapons systems proliferate throughout Asia. Given the tensions over the disputed Spratly and Senkaku islands, the growth of modernized militaries in the region could lead to more direct confrontations and games of chicken. That would be a recipe for potential disaster.

A more optimistic reading, however, is that improving their defensive capabilities will allow Asian nations to feel a bit more confident in deflecting Chinese ambitions. Similarly, it is hoped that Beijing will see this as a potential for increased costs to its revisionism and decide to change course.

That may allow diplomacy and politics an opportunity to play their proper role. Negotiations over disputed territories will seem a reasonable choice if the alternative is risky confrontation. Instead of further destabilizing a nervous region, an arms buildup could push governments to address disputes that are currently left to fester.

Diplomacy in Asia today is woefully underpowered. Yet as the conditions on the waters and in the skies change, rationality may well gain traction. From codes of conduct to meaningful discussions over disputed territories, the arts of peace may flourish thanks to the shadow of war.

Via WSJ

[J.A.F.O]

[Coligny]

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2 ... s-sea.html

List of smart things to do during a territorial dispute:

(...)

List of not so smart things to do during a territorial dispute:

#1 Calling the other guy's buildup " sandcastle"

“As China seeks to make sovereign land out of sandcastles and redraw maritime boundaries, it is eroding regional trust and undermining investor confidence,”

Great move to piss of the Murkainz' and the Russians (by way of Viet Nam anthe ties with gazprom) at the same time.

Bay of pigzors 2.0 electric boogaloo...
Or
Cuba crisis missile defender 2.0... Electric... Boogaloo...

Add a giant sharktopus and you got several season worth of scifi channel material on hand...

[matsuki]

Asked about Blinken's remarks, China's Foreign Ministry demanded on Thursday that the United States not take sides on South China Sea claims and said his comments damaged trust in the region. “The U.S. assumptions are groundless,” ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing.

China vs. the rest of Asia part 4309843905849038904834902384092348

[Russell]

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/21/china-us-sea.html

List of smart things to do during a territorial dispute:

(...)

List of not so smart things to do during a territorial dispute:

#1 Calling the other guy's buildup " sandcastle"

“As China seeks to make sovereign land out of sandcastles and redraw maritime boundaries, it is eroding regional trust and undermining investor confidence,”

Great move to piss of the Murkainz' and the Russians (by way of Viet Nam anthe ties with gazprom) at the same time.

Bay of pigzors 2.0 electric boogaloo...
Or
Cuba crisis missile defender 2.0... Electric... Boogaloo...

Add a giant sharktopus and you got several season worth of scifi channel material on hand...

I wonder whether those artificial islands made in the middle of the sea are not subject to erosion. That must be a pretty expensive land extension, methinks...

[Coligny]

wwwwwwooooooooossssssssshhhhhhhh

compared to the value of the mine-able ressources it's chimp change... (land means claim to exclusive littoral zone ressources)

[Russell]

wwwwwwooooooooossssssssshhhhhhhh

compared to the value of the mine-able ressources it's chimp change... (land means claim to exclusive littoral zone ressources)

Under international law the construction of artificial islands do not give any support to territorial claims. But yes, what you say is what those Chinese obviously hope.

[Coligny]

wwwwwwooooooooossssssssshhhhhhhh

compared to the value of the mine-able ressources it's chimp change... (land means claim to exclusive littoral zone ressources)

Under international law the construction of artificial islands do not give any support to territorial claims. But yes, what you say is what those Chinese obviously hope PRETEND.

When you are at the point where you tell US recon planes to turn around you are already beyond the concept of "hope"

Quite bad huh ... Got some silly aftertaste of summer 1990'in the desert...

[J.A.F.O]

My gold broker back stateside was asking me if I heard anything serious about China monetizing their currency with precious metals.

[Coligny]

Longer, bigger, uncut...

[Samurai_Jerk]

My gold broker back stateside was asking me if I heard anything serious about China monetizing their currency with precious metals.

Time for a new broker?

[matsuki]

Longer, bigger, uncut...

Can't help but think these things are not stable and have to be fucking up everything around them. (Corrals, fish, etc.)

[Russell]

US preparing to face down China in the South China Sea

American flags fly fore and aft on the US missile cruiser Shiloh as it docks at a pier across a narrow waterway from decrepit, decaying buildings of an abandoned US naval base at Subic Bay. The dock was once a bulwark of American power in the South China Sea after US forces seized the base from the Spanish in 1899.

At the end of a long walkway from the pier to shore, eager shopkeepers again sell souvenirs and taxi drivers lie in wait for sailors primed for a night of carousing in the bars of Olongapo, the base town in the Philippines. Now, nearly a quarter of a century after the US Navy had to give up its Subic Bay base and the Clark Air Base across the Zambales mountains to the east, Americans are once again ready to defend the Philippines, and the region.

The Philippines Senate, which had voted in 1991 against renewing the lease on US bases, has dropped its objection to the American return to waters threatened by China’s new insistence on its right to rule almost all the South China Sea – including the Spratly Islands claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

The increasingly acrimonious relations between Beijing and Washington over the vast area of ocean indicate a rising role for the US – in defence of not only the Philippines’ stake in the waters but also of Vietnam, where 40 years ago the US was ousted in a war for which Subic Bay provided strategic support. On Monday, fresh from proclaiming the right of US ships and planes to move unmolested in waters and airspace claimed by China, the US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter was in Hanoi, listening to a Vietnamese band play “The Star Spangled Banner” and declaring: “We’re both committed to deepening our defence relationship.”

That rhetorical flourish came as a rebuff to China’s second-highest military officer, Admiral Sun Jiunguo, deputy chief of the People’s Liberation Army’s general staff. The previous day, he told regional defence ministers in Singapore that a controversial drive to reclaim land from the shallow waters around Chinese-held islands in the Spratlys was “justified, legitimate and reasonable” and “well within the scope of China’s sovereignty”.

The US and other nations say that China aims to build airstrips and station aircraft on the islands, vastly increasing Beijing’s military reach.

Mr Carter had told the same gathering that “the pace and scope of land reclamation in the South China Sea” sharply raised “the risk of miscalculation or conflict” between China and others who also claim the same islands, reefs and atolls. China, he said, had to bring its project to “an immediate and lasting halt”. He did not say it, but those others include the US, whose planes have been challenged by Chinese aircraft when flying in contested airspace.

Although open warfare does not seem imminent, the prospect of the US returning in force to Subic Bay, once America’s largest overseas naval base, has increased tensions. The Shiloh, one of the most advanced US cruisers, armed with guided missiles and cannon, is expected to ply the South China Sea after taking on fuel and supplies. Other vessels, including at least one destroyer, are likely to join it in a mini-flotilla, posing an immediate challenge as China builds airstrips and other facilities on 2,000 acres of land reclaimed in the past 18 months.

[...]

The arrangement under which the Shiloh is docked is controversial, with left-wingers seeing it as a first step to renewing the bases agreement. But protests have receded as President Benigno Aquino III has hit out at Chinese encroachment. Former naval offices near the dock are in disrepair, but there is talk of rebuilding them as a possible successor to the base. US officials talked only of strengthening “people-to-people ties through community outreach”. But as China flexes its muscles, the enclave once famed among US sailors, Marines and soldiers on leave from Vietnam as a wild base town may be about to regain its key strategic importance.


Disputed territory: who claims what

* Beijing says its right to the area goes back centuries to when the Paracel and Spratly island chains were regarded as integral parts of the Chinese nation.

* Vietnam says China never claimed sovereignty before the 1940s. It says it has actively ruled the islands since the 17th century.

* The Philippines invokes its proximity to the Spratly Islands in its claim.

* Malaysia and Brunei lay claim to land in the South China Sea. Brunei claims some of the disputed Spratly Islands, as does Malaysia.

More

[Coligny]

Subic bay... FUCK YEAH !!! Raaaahhh being young again...

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[Samurai_Jerk]

US preparing to face down China in the South China Sea

American flags fly fore and aft on the US missile cruiser Shiloh as it docks at a pier across a narrow waterway from decrepit, decaying buildings of an abandoned US naval base at Subic Bay. The dock was once a bulwark of American power in the South China Sea after US forces seized the base from the Spanish in 1899.

At the end of a long walkway from the pier to shore, eager shopkeepers again sell souvenirs and taxi drivers lie in wait for sailors primed for a night of carousing in the bars of Olongapo, the base town in the Philippines. Now, nearly a quarter of a century after the US Navy had to give up its Subic Bay base and the Clark Air Base across the Zambales mountains to the east, Americans are once again ready to defend the Philippines, and the region.

The Philippines Senate, which had voted in 1991 against renewing the lease on US bases, has dropped its objection to the American return to waters threatened by China’s new insistence on its right to rule almost all the South China Sea – including the Spratly Islands claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

The increasingly acrimonious relations between Beijing and Washington over the vast area of ocean indicate a rising role for the US – in defence of not only the Philippines’ stake in the waters but also of Vietnam, where 40 years ago the US was ousted in a war for which Subic Bay provided strategic support. On Monday, fresh from proclaiming the right of US ships and planes to move unmolested in waters and airspace claimed by China, the US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter was in Hanoi, listening to a Vietnamese band play “The Star Spangled Banner” and declaring: “We’re both committed to deepening our defence relationship.”

That rhetorical flourish came as a rebuff to China’s second-highest military officer, Admiral Sun Jiunguo, deputy chief of the People’s Liberation Army’s general staff. The previous day, he told regional defence ministers in Singapore that a controversial drive to reclaim land from the shallow waters around Chinese-held islands in the Spratlys was “justified, legitimate and reasonable” and “well within the scope of China’s sovereignty”.

The US and other nations say that China aims to build airstrips and station aircraft on the islands, vastly increasing Beijing’s military reach.

Mr Carter had told the same gathering that “the pace and scope of land reclamation in the South China Sea” sharply raised “the risk of miscalculation or conflict” between China and others who also claim the same islands, reefs and atolls. China, he said, had to bring its project to “an immediate and lasting halt”. He did not say it, but those others include the US, whose planes have been challenged by Chinese aircraft when flying in contested airspace.

Although open warfare does not seem imminent, the prospect of the US returning in force to Subic Bay, once America’s largest overseas naval base, has increased tensions. The Shiloh, one of the most advanced US cruisers, armed with guided missiles and cannon, is expected to ply the South China Sea after taking on fuel and supplies. Other vessels, including at least one destroyer, are likely to join it in a mini-flotilla, posing an immediate challenge as China builds airstrips and other facilities on 2,000 acres of land reclaimed in the past 18 months.

[...]

The arrangement under which the Shiloh is docked is controversial, with left-wingers seeing it as a first step to renewing the bases agreement. But protests have receded as President Benigno Aquino III has hit out at Chinese encroachment. Former naval offices near the dock are in disrepair, but there is talk of rebuilding them as a possible successor to the base. US officials talked only of strengthening “people-to-people ties through community outreach”. But as China flexes its muscles, the enclave once famed among US sailors, Marines and soldiers on leave from Vietnam as a wild base town may be about to regain its key strategic importance.


Disputed territory: who claims what

* Beijing says its right to the area goes back centuries to when the Paracel and Spratly island chains were regarded as integral parts of the Chinese nation.

* Vietnam says China never claimed sovereignty before the 1940s. It says it has actively ruled the islands since the 17th century.

* The Philippines invokes its proximity to the Spratly Islands in its claim.

* Malaysia and Brunei lay claim to land in the South China Sea. Brunei claims some of the disputed Spratly Islands, as does Malaysia.

More

Given our proximity to a potential armed conflict, you might want to stock up on more than popcorn. This beating of the drums of war is worrying.

[matsuki]

Given our proximity to a potential armed conflict, you might want to stock up on more than popcorn. This beating of the drums of war is worrying.

Very true...but since China seems to be on it's own version of manifest destiny, based on my ancestors experience, it's better to stop the encroachment sooner than later.

[Coligny]

Just strike China with economic sanctions... Then they are fucked...
Land grab, they can do with weapons...
Forcing people to buy their plastic junk... More difficult...
Will take a bit of time to remember how to make shit by ourselves though...

Japan is a bit far, maybe a resupply base. So more trade in from the US and airspace clogged by the startegic airlift command whatever their name is today.

If the chinese are a bit smart they will avoid pissing off too much people over the same landgrab at the same time. Philippines and the other islanders are small fry. Vietnam is a bit the king of not letting it go mixed with deep hateress for the chinese. Japan is maybe too far for direct contact
What would Pooty Pot do... They are a bit disliked these day... Weirdly... Sincthensame time that the US and Canada oil production went through the roof making Russian oil unneeded. But Chinese claims makes the Vietnam-gazprom offshore exploration deals really awkward...

[legion]

Jah see, Jah know

[Taro Toporific]

US preparing to face down China in the South China Sea
...[China's] controversial drive to reclaim land from the shallow waters around Chinese-held islands in the Spratlys was “justified, legitimate and reasonable” and “well within the scope of China’s sovereignty”...
Disputed territory: who claims what
* Beijing says its right to the area goes back centuries to when the Paracel and Spratly island chains were regarded as integral parts of the Chinese nation.
* Vietnam says China never claimed sovereignty before the 1940s. It says it has actively ruled the islands since the 17th century.
* The Philippines invokes its proximity to the Spratly Islands in its claim.
* Malaysia and Brunei lay claim to land in the South China Sea. Brunei claims some of the disputed Spratly Islands, as does Malaysia.

China breaks out the babe defense of the Spratly Islands.

Livin' it up on China's new island on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys.
Sldeshow
http://slide.mil.news.sina.com.cn/h/sli ... 5.html#p=1

Spratlys-babes.jpg

[Coligny]

Dib'

[Samurai_Jerk]

I'd like to say I'm shocked but this sounds like business as usual in China.

Allen Iverson trip to China ruined by Chinese agents

Iverson would go on to attend promotional events in Harbin, as well as coaching the American team, ‘Team Iverson’, to a victory over the CBA’s Liaoning Leopards junior team. Everything seemed to be going well; then, unfortunately, the trip took a turn for the worse.

The next morning, in Harbin, Abdur-Rahim made his way down to the hotel lobby after a sleepless night to find Chinese agent Li Dong arguing with a local Harbin promoter. With Iverson and the rest of the crew waiting in the lobby, Abdur-Rahim approaches Li Dong to tell him they are ready to go to the airport. Their flight to Xi’An, the next city which Iverson is scheduled to visit, was waiting. But to Abdur-Rahim’s surprise, there was a problem, the first of many problems to arise on this trip.

“I told Li Dong we were ready head back to the airport, but there was something going on with the local promoter. He wanted Iverson to do some kind of video. At the time I was confused. But the local promoter said we couldn’t leave Harbin until Iverson made a video apologizing to the fans of Harbin. Apologize for what?”

Prior to Iverson’s arrival, Li Dong made a side deal with the local promoter of Harbin stating Iverson to play in the game. So the local promoter had no problems selling tickets to local fans advertising the former NBA MVP to play in an exhibition game. Li Dong knew the contract with Iverson is a coaching only contract. But coaching might not sell tickets, and in the end, coaching might not get Li Dong the money he wants. So what Li Dong thought he could do, is lie to the local promoters, and have the local promoters lie to the fans, and finally try and use some convincing skills to make Iverson play. But Iverson wasn’t budging. He is in no shape to be playing. So when Iverson refused Li Dong’s constant effort to make him play, Li Dong was in trouble. According to sources familiar with the situation, Li Dong approached some of the American players from ‘Team Iverson’ after the game and demanded them to tell the Chinese media that Iverson didn’t play due to a leg injury.

So back to the hotel, the next morning, after the game. Iverson and his crew are being held hostage at the hotel lobby. The local promoter is telling all the taxis not to take Iverson anywhere. The local promoter needs to save himself because he, due in large part to Li Dong’s blatant lie about Iverson playing, misled the public into buying tickets for an event that didn’t really happen the way it was advertised.

And the story just gets better and better.

[matsuki]

Yep, SOP in shinyoudekinai China...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Am I the only one that suddenly has a hankering for okayu?

okayu.jpg

Bikini-clad staff serve up restaurant success story

How exactly do you make porridge sexy? [...] The staff of 20 women and 10 men boosted sales so much that they have been rushed off their feet to keep up with demand for bowls of gruel from both male and female customers.

On second thought ....

okayu2.jpg

[matsuki]

Just another take on the Viet coffee/tea houses?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Just another take on the Viet coffee/tea houses?

Aren't those a California thing?

Anyway, back on topic ...

Decades-old frozen meat seized in China food scandal

Almost half a billion dollars worth of smuggled frozen meat -- some of it rotting and more than 40 years old -- has been seized in China, reports said Wednesday.

More than 100,000 tonnes of chicken wings, beef and pork worth up to three billion yuan ($483 million) were seized in the nationwide crackdown, the state-run China Daily newspaper said.

"It was smelly, and I nearly threw up when I opened the door," said an official from Hunan province, where 800 tonnes were seized.

Two gangs from the central province were among 14 busted across the country in the operation which concluded earlier this month.

[matsuki]

Just another take on the Viet coffee/tea houses?

Aren't those a California thing?

Totally could be...they didn't have em in Vietnam? (or is that the other way around...brothels that just happen to serve coffee/tea?)

Anyway, back on topic ...

Decades-old frozen meat seized in China food scandal

Almost half a billion dollars worth of smuggled frozen meat -- some of it rotting and more than 40 years old -- has been seized in China, reports said Wednesday.

More than 100,000 tonnes of chicken wings, beef and pork worth up to three billion yuan ($483 million) were seized in the nationwide crackdown, the state-run China Daily newspaper said.

"It was smelly, and I nearly threw up when I opened the door," said an official from Hunan province, where 800 tonnes were seized.

Two gangs from the central province were among 14 busted across the country in the operation which concluded earlier this month.

Even deep fried....wtf did they plan to do with it?