country:spratly islands

Photos Show Confrontation Between USS Decatur and a Chinese Navy Warship in South China Sea – gCaptain
▻https://gcaptain.com/photos-show-confrontation-between-uss-decatur-and-chinese-navy-warship-in-

https://3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/USS-Decatur-incident-768x456.jpg

gCaptain has just obtained photos showing a confrontation involving the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Decatur and a Chinese Navy warship in the disputed South China Sea over the weekend. 

The U.S. Navy confirmed the incident on Tuesday, accusing China’s navy of conducting an “unsafe and unprofessional maneuver” that nearly led to a collision as the U.S. destroyer was underway “in the vicinity” of Gaven Reef in the #Spratly Islands on Sunday, September 30.

According to a Navy spokesman, during the incident, the Chinese warship “approached within 45 yards of Decatur’s bow, after which Decatur maneuvered to prevent a collision.”

As was reported over the weekend, the USS Decatur on Sunday conducted the U.S. Navy’s latest #freedom_of_navigation operation in the South China Sea, coming within 12 nautical miles of the Gaven and Johnson Reefs claimed by China.

China issued a statement Tuesday accusing the U.S. of violating its “indisputable sovereignty” over the #South_China_Sea islands. “We strongly urge the U.S. side to immediately correct its mistake and stop such provocative actions to avoid undermining China-U.S. relations and regional peace and stability,” a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday in a statement.

#Spratleys #mer_de_Chine_Méridionale

China installs cruise missiles on South China Sea outposts: CNBC | Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-china-missiles/china-installs-cruise-missiles-on-south-china-sea-outposts-cnbc-report-idUS

https://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20180503&t=2&i=1258002327&w=1200&r=LYNXMPEE420EL#.jpg

China has installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three of its outposts in the South China Sea, U.S. news network CNBC reported on Wednesday, citing sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence reports.

The installations, if confirmed, would mark the first Chinese missile deployments in the Spratly Islands, where several Asian countries including Vietnam and Taiwan have rival claims.

China has made no mention of any missile deployments but says its military facilities in the #Spratlys are purely defensive, and that it can do what it likes on its own territory.
[…]
CNBC quoted unnamed sources as saying that according to U.S. intelligence assessments, the missiles were moved to Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef and Mischief Reef within the past 30 days.

#mer_de_Chine_méridionale
#Spratleys

Exclusive: U.S. Warship Sails Near Disputed South China Sea Island, Officials Say - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/03/23/world/asia/23reuters-usa-china-southchinasea.html

https://news.usni.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/180314-N-ZL062-0055.jpg

A U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a “#freedom_of_navigation ” operation on Friday, coming within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built by China in the South China Sea, U.S. officials told Reuters.

The operation, which infuriated Beijing, was the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as China’s efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the destroyer _Mustin traveled close to #Mischief_Reef in the #Spratly Islands and carried out maneuvering operations. China has territorial disputes with its neighbors over the area.

#Mer_de_Chine_Méridionale
#Spratleys
#FoN

China urges halt to oil drilling in disputed South China Sea
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-china-vietnam-idUSKBN1AA13I

https://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20170725&t=2&i=1194321312&r=LYNXMPED6O0RS&w=1280#.jpg

China’s Foreign Ministry has urged a halt to oil drilling in a disputed part of the South China Sea, where Spanish oil company Repsol had been operating in cooperation with Vietnam.

Drilling began in mid-June in Vietnam’s Block 136/3, which is licensed to Vietnam’s state oil firm, Spain’s Repsol and Mubadala Development Co of the United Arab Emirates.

The block lies inside the U-shaped ’#nine-dash_line ’ that marks the vast area that China claims in the sea and overlaps what it says are its own oil concessions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China had indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha islands, and jurisdiction over the relevant waters and seabed.

Vietnam Responds with Spratly Air Upgrades | Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
▻https://amti.csis.org/vietnam-responds

https://i1.wp.com/amti.csis.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Spratly-Old-F-1.11.14.jpg https://i0.wp.com/amti.csis.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Spratly-Jan-F-1.3.16.jpg

Vietnam is responding to China’s construction of military facilities in the Spratly Islands by modestly expanding its own capabilities in the disputed chain. New imagery shows that Hanoi is significantly upgrading its sole runway in the South China Sea—at Spratly Island—and constructing new hangars at that feature. This is a familiar pattern for Hanoi. Even amid reduced diplomatic tensions, Vietnam continues to modernize its military and seek closer security ties with Japan, the United States, and India in preparation for future Chinese assertiveness in disputed waters. Reuters recently reported that Vietnam had deployed surface to air missile platforms to the Spratlys. Hanoi has not confirmed those reports, but such countermeasures should not be surprising in light of the significant air power that China will soon project over the Spratlys.

#Spratleys #Mer_de_Chine_méridionale

What China Has Been Building in the South China Sea - The New York Times

▻http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/30/world/asia/what-china-has-been-building-in-the-south-china-sea.html?_r=1

Pas mal les chinois.

What China Has Been Building
in the South China Sea

By DEREK WATKINS
UPDATED October 27, 2015

China has been rapidly piling sand onto reefs in the South China Sea, creating seven new islets in the region. It is straining geopolitical tensions that were already taut.

The speed and scale of China’s island-building spree have alarmed other countries with interests in the region. China announced in June that the creation of islands — moving sediment from the seafloor to a reef — would soon be completed. Since then, China has focused its efforts on construction. So far it has constructed port facilities, military buildings and an airstrip on the islands, with recent imagery showing evidence of two more airstrips under construction. The installations bolster China’s foothold in the Spratly Islands, a disputed scattering of reefs and islands in the South China Sea more than 500 miles from the Chinese mainland.

#mer_de_chine_méridionale #chine #frontières

Photos suggest China built reinforced hangars on disputed islands: CSIS | Reuters
▻http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-china-images-idUKKCN10K08P

▻http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20160809&t=2&i=1148970661&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=644&pl=429&sq=&r=LY
Construction are seen on Subi Reef in the Spratly islands, in the disputed South China Sea in this July 24, 2016 satellite image released by the Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to Reuters on August 9, 2016.
CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe/Handout via REUTERS

Satellite photographs taken in late July show China appears to have built reinforced aircraft hangars on its holdings in disputed South China Sea islands, a Washington-based research group said.

The hangars on Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs in the Spratly islands have room for any fighter jet in the Chinese air force, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report on the photographs.

Fiery Cross

https://i0.wp.com/gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2016-08-09T165527Z_1143250266_S1BETUMDATAB_RTRMADP_3_SOUTHCHINASEA-CHINA-IMAGES.jpg

Subi Reef
(note que l’alignement (impressionnant !) d’avions est parfaitement fictif, c’est juste pour faire joli…)

https://i0.wp.com/gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2016-08-09T163756Z_2100240560_S1BETUMBMIAA_RTRMADP_3_SOUTHCHINASEA-CHINA-IMAGES.jpg

Mischief Reef
(idem pour les avions fictifs)

https://i1.wp.com/gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2016-08-09T162345Z_1765763692_S1BETUMAFPAA_RTRMADP_3_SOUTHCHINASEA-CHINA-IMAGES.jpg

#Mer_de_Chine_méridionale

China media again touts plans to float nuclear reactors in disputed South China Sea | Reuters
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-ruling-china-nuclear-idUSKCN0ZV0UH

China aims to launch a series of offshore nuclear power platforms to promote development in the South China Sea, state media said again on Friday, days after an international court ruled Beijing had no historic claims to most of the waters.
[…]
“China’s first floating nuclear reactor will be assembled by the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation’s (CSIC) subsidiary, Bohai Heavy Industry, and the company will build 20 such reactors in the future,” the newspaper said.

“The marine nuclear power platform will provide energy and freshwater to the Nansha Islands,” it said, referring to the disputed Spratly Islands.

The newspaper was citing a social media post by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which has since been deleted.

China’s Island Radar Bigger Threat Than Missiles, CSIS Says - gCaptain
▻https://gcaptain.com/chinas-island-radar-bigger-threat-than-missiles-csis-says

China may be building a high-frequency radar installation in the disputed South China Sea, posing a bigger threat to the balance of power in one of the world’s busiest waterways than previously detected surface-to-air missiles, according to a report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

Construction of radar facilities at Cuarteron Reef, the southern-most of the features China claims in the Spratly Islands, appears to be nearly complete, Gregory Poling of CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative wrote. China sparked new questions about its intentions in the South China Sea after surface-to-air missiles were detected earlier this month on Woody Island, part of the #Paracel Islands northwest of the #Spratlys.

“This month’s deployment of HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the Paracels, while notable, does not alter the military balance in the South China Sea,” said Poling. “New radar facilities being developed in the Spratlys, on the other hand, could significantly change the operational landscape.”
[…]
#Shooting_Drones
Admiral Scott Swift, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said last week the latest deployment of HQ-9 missiles was the third time that China had put them on the island, according to a report on U.S. Internet site Military.com. The missiles also have been used in exercises, notably to shoot down a drone, he said.

“There is no difference between China’s deployment of necessary national defense facilities on its own territory and the defense installation by the U.S. in Hawaii,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday. China contends that the islands it occupies “have been part of China since ancient times.”

#Spratleys

US intervenes in South China Sea dispute - World Socialist Web Site

▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/11/26/scse-n26.html

US intervenes in South China Sea dispute
By Peter Symonds
26 November 2014

In a direct intrusion into territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the US has called on China to halt construction activity on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. The comments, which Beijing has already rejected, will only exacerbate the already sharp tensions between China and its neighbours.

http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/local/cache-vignettes/L540xH782/chine_merGF-917c6.png

US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told the media on Monday that “large-scale construction or major steps to militarise or expand law enforcement operations at outposts would complicate or escalate the situation.” He called on China and other countries in the region to “avoid certain actions” during negotiations over disputes.

#mer_de_chine #asie #chine etc...