China

The carrier Carl Vinson, destroyer Gridley , cruiser Bunker Hill, and Malaysian frigate KD Lekir steaming through the South China Sea in May. (Credit: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Philip Wagner)

PACOM boss: China’s South China Sea claims ‘preposterous’

By David Larter on May 28, 2015 China, Uncategorized

Incoming U.S. Pacific Command head Adm. Harry Harris slammed China’s claims in the South China Sea as “outrageous” and “preposterous” in a recent TIME Magazine interview. China has established a pattern of deliberately provocative actions in recent months and has been unclear about its claims to vast swathes of the South China Sea, Harris said, accusing China of destabilizing the region. “I have been critical of China for a pattern of provocative actions that they’ve begun in the recent past. Like unilaterally declaring an air-defense identification zone over the East China Sea, parking a mobile oil platform off the Vietnam…

Report: China begins building 2nd carrier (1st from scratch)

By Kevin Lilley on January 22, 2014 Carriers, China, Navy

While the U.S. Navy awaits the delivery of the first-in-class aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford in 2016, the Chinese navy appears to have its own flattop-construction milestone on the horizon. According to media reports, China’s second carrier is under construction and slated for delivery in 2018. It’ll join the Liaoning, which debuted in 2012. It’s not exactly an armada, but every carrier fleet has to start somewhere. The Chinese carrier fleet, for example, started in the Ukraine. In 1998, a Hong Kong travel agency reportedly bought the unfinished, Cold War-era carrier Varyag from that former Soviet state, claiming it planned…

China’s coast guard just like ours?

By Toni Rico on July 25, 2013 China, Coast Guard, Maritime operations, Navy, Navy Times

The Chinese coast guard is in the news for straying near islands that are part of a territorial dispute between China and Japan, but if you have never seen the Chinese ships, you might have done a double-take. The Chinese consolidated several of their maritime agencies and debuted their new coast guard Monday. If their ships look familiar, it’s probably because the Chinese have modeled their coast guard after the U.S. In a June interview, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Bob Papp told the Navy Times that the Chinese were taking cues for their coast guard from his service. “Most…

Living la dolce vita on a former Soviet carrier

By Bill McMichael on January 16, 2012 Carriers, China, Historical, Photos, Soviet Union

There’s something utterly incongruous about the setup, but a Chinese company is opening a luxury hotel on board a retired Kiev-class Soviet aircraft carrier. That’s right. One of these: Has bedrooms like these: And lounges like these: Crazy, no? The country that starved or killed millions in the name of communist purity and military dominance collapses, sells a carrier (in 1996) to a company in China (a former enemy) that, in 2004, turns the carrier into a tourist attraction — a military theme park that features a hotel aimed at a “high-end clientele.” This is begging for a Hollywood script.…

"Know Your AOR" edition: Spratlys

By Gidget Fuentes on July 22, 2011 China, Diplomacy, Geography, Navy, The Pacific, The Philippines

You may have caught it in passing on a news ticker or blog, but have no clue what or where on Earth are the Spratly islands. But you hear they are contested islands some defense experts think potentially could spark the start of a regional war. The archipelago is comprised of small atolls, reefs, islets and outcroppings in the South China Sea, west of the Philippines and spread across a large area but claimed by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia. The islands, which range in size from small to tiny, are in a prime fishing region and sit…

A not-quite arms race, cont.

By David Larter on January 11, 2011 Aviation, China, Navy

Navy Times sister publication Defense News is reporting that the Chinese have tested their new J-20 stealth fighter, coinciding with Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ visit with the Chinese president. The New York Times reported that the test took place just hours before the visit and that Gates asked President Hu Jintao about the timing. Hu said the test had nothing to do with Gates. The Times article infers there may be some disconnect between the Chinese government and the test, implying that perhaps Hu had not authorized the test. Mr. Gates said he directly asked Mr. Hu why it was…

A not-quite arms race with China

By David Larter on January 10, 2011 Aviation, China, Navy, Video

Apparently China’s super death ray carrier-sinking missile is still on Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ radar as he travels to China this week. Gates told The Telegraph that he had been concerned about the development of anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles since he took the job in 2006, and remained so. The trip was designed to ease tensions between the two powers, but so far it seems to have highlighted the jitters China’s recent military advancements have given the U.S. The AP reports: China has made strides in building a new stealth fighter jet, and Washington is also concerned about a…

Message not received

By David Larter on November 23, 2010 Carriers, China, Navy, North Korea, The Pacific, Washington

Remember all those exercises South Korea held with the U.S. a few months ago to send a message to its pugnacious northern neighbor? You know, the ones that had the carrier George Washington steaming with the South Korean navy? The exercises that drove U.S.-Chinese relations to a low-point earlier this year? Well Kim Jong-Il didn’t pick up the phone, apparently. This morning, the news broke that North Korea opened a barrage of artillery fire on South Korean troops, killing at least two people. The question must be asked: How do the U.S. and South Korea abide this? The U.S. pulled…

Time to start learning Chinese?

By David Larter on October 29, 2010 Carriers, China, Foreign navies

Chinese Navy soldiers attend a ceremony to see off the missile destroyer Shenzhen on a dock of Zhanjiang, southeast China, in 2007. // AP Photo via Xinhua’s Zha Chunming The inevitable march towards doomsday continues for U.S. dominance of the high seas, according to a growing chorus of critics who say China’s aggressive stance on territorial claims in Asia threatens to file down the teeth of the Global Force for Good. It’s rather a trendy opinion to hold these days, especially with all the clamor over China’s George Washington-neutralizing mega power missile. Add Christian Science Monitor columnist Jim Bencivenga to…

Oh yeah, he just went there

By David Larter on October 20, 2010 China, Foreign navies, Navy, The Pacific

In contemporary rhetoric, one popular way to demonize political adversaries is to compare them to Hitler. That’s just what conservative former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did at a speech at the Hudson Institute think tank on Capitol Hill last Friday. Relations between China and Japan have been rather tense of late, and the war of words seems to be heating up. Abe likened China’s naval expansion to Hitler’s idea of “lebensraum” or “living space.” It was Hitler’s belief that Germany needed and, by their superior nature, deserved space in which to grow and settle. According to Abe’s remarks: Since…

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