Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[a_majoor]

More fallout from China's more aggressive attitudes. The success of Australia in getting highly competitive bids for the new submarines should be a lesson for Canada (and if these are AIP boats which could operate under the ice, then they would be ideal for Canadian use as well.).

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/12/japan-france-and-germany-offer-lower.html

Japan, France and Germany offer lower cost bids for Australia's 12 submarine order

Confidential bids lodged with the Australian government last month by Germany, France and Japan each offer a dramatically lower cost of building an eight-submarine fleet in Adelaide than was ­anticipated, in the range of A$10 billion-A$12 billion. It was previously expected that the project would cost about A$20 billion, based on a 12-boat fleet.

Even if the government decides to restore its original promise of building 12 submarines rather than eight, the bidders estimate the construction cost will reach only about A$15 billion, a little more than A$1 billion a boat, amounting to a potential $5 billion saving for taxpayers.

The lower cost estimates reflect the robust competition between the three international bidders to secure the submarine deal, which will be the most lucrative defence contract in the ­nation’s history.

The cheaper than expected estimates for building the new fleet may tempt the government to try to keep its original promise of building 12 submarines, rather than the revised figure of eight submarines with an option for four more that was in Tony Abbott’s draft defence white paper before he was deposed by Malcolm Turnbull in September.

The Australian government wants the largest and most sophisticated conventional submarine ever built, a 4000-plus tonne boat with a US combat system and the ability to fire cruise missiles and deploy special forces.

 

[PuckChaser]

We'd probably save a lot of money building the CSC and JSS overseas, and leave the fisheries and AOPS for our small and ill-equipped shipyards.

 

[a_majoor]

We'd probably save a lot of money building the CSC and JSS overseas, and leave the fisheries and AOPS for our small and ill-equipped shipyards.

Good point. On a further tangent, since submarines are the capital ship for the 21rst century, the idea of getting 12 modern subs on the Australian model would be a good response by the RCN to the changing situation in the Pacific (and if someone were really clever, going in with the Australians for a total build of 20+ submarines would provide some huge economies of scale for all parties).

 

[YZT580]

Unfortunately, from what I understand, an AIP boat is not suitable for sustained under ice ops. which is the operating condition for one third of the waters for which the RCN is responsible.

 

[CougarKing]

Gents,

Please note a similar thread on Australia mulling the purchase of Soryu class subs from Japan, with competing bids by the Germany's TKMS Endeavour project and France's DCNS Barracuda project.

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Anyways, on the aviation front, the low-rate-initial production/LRIP version of the J-20 stealth fighter has just been unveiled by the PLAAF:

Air Recognition

China reportedly rolled out first LRIP version of the Chengdu J-20 fighter aircraft

According to pictures released on Chinese specialized websites, the first low rate initial production (LRIP) version of the Chengdu J-20 5th-gen fighter aircraft, numbered 2101, made its first appearance at Chengdu State Aircraft Factory No.132 Aircraft Plant. It may now perform its maiden flight in the next few weeks, local sources said.
 
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[CougarKing]

A video has surfaced showing operations aboard China’s only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, complete with the head of the Chinese Navy’s making a visit and J-15 fighters landing and launching.

More importantly, this video at the link below shows how much Chinese aircraft carrier operations have evolved.

Foxtrot Alpha

 

[Edward Campbell]

I suppose it's an open secret, if it was ever a secret at all, but the Financial Times now repots that "China’s defence ministry confirmed on Thursday that it is building a second aircraft carrier as Beijing seeks to assert its claims over a number of contested islands and reefs in the South and East China seas ... Speaking at a briefing, ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said China had started to design and construct a 50,000-tonne vessel capable of hosting the People’s Liberation Army’s J-15 fighter."

 

[CougarKing]

Moving from naval aviation to stealth:

PopularScience

CHINESE STEALTH FIGHTER J-20 STARTS PRODUCTION
COMING SOON TO ASIAN AIRSPACE NEAR YOU
By Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer  Posted December 28, 2015

In a Christmas gift for Chinese fighter pilots, December 25th saw the unveiling of a new J-20 fighter in fresh yellow fuselage primer on the runway of the Chengdu Aviation Corporation (CAC) factory. More notable than its paint color, however, was the numbering of the plane: "2101." As opposed to "2018" or "2019" to follow the eighth flying prototype "2017," "2101" suggests the plane is the first of the low rate initial production (LRIP) airframes, which signify the move away from prototype production to building fighters for actual military use.

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[CougarKing]

The latest addition to China's "String of Pearls", despite that border dispute between China and Myanmar last June:

Diplomat

Chinese Company Wins Contract for Deep Sea Port in Myanmar

CITIC Group has won a contract to develop a port in Kyaukpyu on the Bay of Bengal.
shannon-tiezzi
By Shannon Tiezzi
January 01, 2016


China’s CITIC Group Corporation has won two contracts related to a special economic zone in western Myanmar, Reuters reports, including building a deep sea port on the Bay of Bengal. CITIC’s consortia (including China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd., China Merchants Holdings, TEDA Investment Holding, and Yunnan Construction Engineering Group) will lead projects to build the port as well as an industrial area at the Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State, which borders Bangladesh to the north and the Bay of Bengal to the west.

The contracts give yet another Chinese company a pivotal role in developing maritime infrastructure on the Indian Ocean, adding to China’s involvement in a number of regional ports (Chittagong in Bangladesh, Gwadar in Pakistan, and Colombo in Sri Lanka). Taken together, those ports are sometimes referred to as China’s “string of pearls” — a concept that assumes they will be of military as well as civilian use.

Kyaukpyu is of particular interest to China because overland links between Myanmar and southern China can reduce reliance on the potential chokepoint of the Strait of Malacca. By eliminating the need to travel via the Strait of Malacca, Kyaukpyu Port would save about 5,000 kilometers in sailing distance for shipments traveling to China from India and points beyond. The drive to diversify its shipping routes – and to increase economic clout in neighboring countries – is a major impetus behind the new “Belt and Road” initiative, which envisions infrastructure and trade networks linking China with every part of the Eurasian continent.

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[CougarKing]

Both countries sending messages to rivals India and Japan?

Diplomat

A First: China and Pakistan Conclude Naval Exercise in East China Sea

For the first time, the two “all weather” partners hold a naval exercise in the East China Sea.

By Ankit Panda
January 04, 2016

The Pakistani Navy and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) have concluded their first-ever exercise in the East China Sea. The exercise, which took place from December 31, 2015 to January 1, 2016, was part of a seven-day visit to Shanghai by a Pakistani naval taskforce consisting of a frigate and a supply ship. According to the Chinese defense ministry, the exercise included a joint drill focused on ship formation movement, search and rescue, and live-fire exercises striking aerial and sea targets. The exercise also included an anti-piracy component and, according to a CCTV report, an anti-submarine warfare component.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Defense, the Pakistani taskforce was headed by Commodore Bilal Abdul Nadir, who heads the 25th Destroyer Flotilla of the Pakistani Navy. The two ships that participated in the exercise included the PNS Shamsheer, the second of Pakistan’s four Zulfiquar-class frigates, and a 25-ton supply ship, the Nasr. On the PLAN’s part, at least two missile frigates participated in the exercises — most likely, two of the PLAN East Sea fleet’s four Jiangkai-II-class frigates. Nadir, in an interview with the Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper, described the exercises as “very significant,” noting that they would “enhance the interoperability and cohesion between the two navies.”

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[CougarKing]

Slowly, the party is taking oppressive control of Hong Kong despite the "One-country, two systems" agreement they had with the Brits before they left in 1997:

Shanghaiist

Hong Kong is not Hong Kong anymore,' student activist speaks to the world about missing HK bookseller

Looking to raise international attention about the current situation in Hong Kong, Agnes Chow Ting, prominent member of the Hong Kong student activist group Scholarism, is speaking out on the curious case of the missing local bookseller.

The five-minute video featuring Chow titled "An Urgent Cry from Hong Kong" was uploaded to her Facebook page on Saturday, it has gained more than 20,000 likes and 10,000 shares in two days.

In the video, Chow recounts the mysterious disappearance on Wednesday of HK bookseller Lee Bo, a major shareholder in the Causeway Bay Bookstore, which sells books critical of the leadership in Beijing. Lee is the fifth person associated with the bookstore to go missing.

Lee was last heard from by his wife who he called the night of his disappearance from Shenzhen, speaking in Mandarin instead of Cantonese, saying that he was assisting mainland police in an investigation.

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[CougarKing]

A picture of the 2nd carrier taking shape:

Sputnik News

 

[CougarKing]

More economic trouble for China:

Diplomat

China Suspends Stock Market Trading After 7 Percent Drop

A new “circuit-breaker” mechanism for China’s stock market kicked in on its first day in effect.
shannon-tiezzi
By Shannon Tiezzi
January 05, 2016

China halted trading on its stock markets on Monday, after a 7 percent drop in the CSI 300 index triggered the new “circuit-breaker” mechanism. The first trading day of 2016 was the worst start to a year for Chinese stock markets, according to Bloomberg.

The circuit-breaker mechanism was unveiled in September, after a nearly 40 percent stock market slump over the summer. The mechanism was designed to keep the market from moving too far in one direction on any given day. If the CSI 300 index, which reflects the performance of 300 stocks traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets, drops or rises 5 percent, the circuit-breaker kicks in to suspend trading for 15 minutes. If the index rises or falls by 7 percent in one day, trading is suspended. The mechanism took effect with the start of the new year, meaning it was brought into use on its first day in action.

On Monday,  the index dropped 5 percent and trading was suspended at 1:12 pm local time, according to Xinhua. As soon as trading resumed, the index slumped again, hitting the 7 percent mark and triggering the automatic suspension at 1:33 pm, around seven minutes after trading resumed. The rapid drop after trading was reinstated prompted some analysts (including Bob Pisani of CNBC) to suggest that the circuit breaker mechanism itself was part of the problem.

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Plus, some food for thought:

Diplomat

Why the EU Should Grant China Market Economy Status

Granting China market status is a political decision, not an economic one.
kerry_brown_q
By Kerry Brown
January 05, 2016


It has been over a decade since the European Union (EU) jettisoned its attempts to defy the United States and lift the arms embargo imposed against the Chinese after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. The painful diplomatic machinations around this on the European side ended a period in which, on the whole, the Chinese had maintained strong hopes towards Brussels. Such hopes are most visibly testified to now in the White Paper produced in 2003 by the State Council in Beijing serenading the importance of the Europeans as diplomatic, intellectual, and, of course, economic partners.

After 2004, when attempts to lift the embargo ended, the language about the EU emanating from Beijing became frostier. During the worst period, high level bilateral summits were cancelled over meetings between European leaders and the Dalai Lama. Chinese officials and scholars in Beijing would go puce with rage over what they declared was the unjustified sanctimonious tone they had to endure from EU delegations. This resulted in the second white paper in 2014, a far harsher, more hectoring document. Both sides had long since been disabused of their softer hopes towards each other.

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[CougarKing]

Freedoms being eroded in Hong Kong day by the day...

Shanghaiist

Hong Kong bookstores pulling banned books off shelves in light of missing publishers mystery


Singapore-based bookstore chain Page One seems to be taking the mysterious disappearance of Lee Bo and his colleagues pretty seriously, removing from its Hong Kong shops all material banned from the mainland.

According to SCMP, the removal project began last year, around the time the first executive of Causeway Bay Bookstore went missing. "We were told to take all politically sensitive books off the shelves in late November," reported a salesman from the Page One outlet in Tsim Sha Tsui. "The manager did not tell us the reason, but said Page One would no longer sell banned books ever again."

Other Page One employees in Hong Kong have corroborated the ceasing of sales, none able to account for the decision.

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Plus an update on the aforementioned case of the missing bookseller:

Shanghaiist

Missing Hong Kong bookseller revealed to be a British citizen


Another day, another development. It's now been revealed that the mysteriously missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo is also a British citizen, which would seem to only further complicate matters.

The information was confirmed yesterday by the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a spokesperson declared the following:

    We are deeply concerned by reports about the disappearance and detention of individuals associated with the Causeway Bay Books bookstore in Hong Kong. We can confirm that one of the individuals is a British Citizen and we have urgently requested the Hong Kong and mainland authorities' assistance in ascertaining this individual’s welfare and whereabouts. We stand ready to provide consular assistance.

    We encourage the Hong Kong SAR Government to honour its commitment to protecting the freedom of the press, and we hope the Chinese authorities will continue to make every effort to ensure that the environment in which the media and publishers operate in the Hong Kong SAR supports full and frank reporting.

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[CougarKing]

Straight out of a propaganda film...  :

Shanghaiist

Cute flight attendants used as latest weapon in battle for South China Sea territory

Images of flight attendants posing for pictures at one of the recently built airstrips that China has developed on disputed islands in the South China Sea have recently gone viral, with netizens sarcastically praising the country's growing strength in the region.

According to NetEase, China allowed two civil airlines to land on the newly-built airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef, referred to as Yongshu Reef by the Chinese. The mission was declared a success, with the flight attendants posing for a series of photos which serve to demonstrate China's undisputed sovereignty over the territory.

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[Edward Campbell]

Actually, the images of the greenhouse are, possibly, more important ...

... still using pretty girls ~ good PR in all of Asia; but, also ...

... indicating that Fiery Cross is there for the "long haul;" and ...

... can, potentially, wait out a blockade.

This is, I think, just one part of a "layered' campaign in which the real target is US power in East Asia. (I suspect North Korea is another club in the same golf bag.) The Chinese aim, I guess, is to replace America as the dominant power in Asia and make Japan, the Koreas, Philippines, Thailand etc kowtow, politically and strategically, to Beijing as "little brothers."

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

A "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere"?

 

[Edward Campbell]

A "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere"?

;D  :nod:

Yes, something like that ... perhaps SMA, who is far, far better at language issues than I, can weigh in on the "little brother" notion. I have heard it used ~ it has been interpreted to me as that ~ by Chinese, when referring to the "proper" relationship between e.g. China and Japan, specifically, and between China and other Sinic peoples.

I don't think the Chinese want an empire, not even of the American type. Some (many?) Chinese scholars think that the Qing went too far in the 18th and 19th centuries in gobbling up Tibet and Xinjiang which are too full of non-Sinic or, at least, less-Sinic peoples. Some scholars think that too much "foreign" influence weakens China's culture which they see as unique and superior.

 

[CougarKing]

PLA-N growth over last year:

Navy Recognition

The Impressive Commissioning Pace of the Chinese Navy (PLAN) in 2015

2015 was a record year for the the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) in terms of new vessels procurement. No less than 3 destroyers, 4 frigates and 5 corvettes were commissioned into the Chinese fleet. Let's take a look back at the impressive number of units that joined the PLAN's fleet last year.

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[CougarKing]

10,000 tons...that's the average tonnage of a WW2 heavy cruiser/1930s treaty cruiser!

It dwarfs the 2 ex-USCG Hamilton class cutters the Philippine Navy is using to patrol the same disputed areas of the South China Sea!

Diplomat

Beijing Builds ‘Monster’ Ship for Patrolling the South China Sea

According to Chinese state media, the ship will be the largest coast guard vessel in the world.

By Franz-Stefan Gady
January 13, 2016


China has finished construction on a second 10,000-ton China Coast Guard (CCG) cutter destined for patrols in the South China Sea, Chinese state media reports. The ship, designated CCG 3901, “has been completed recently and is ready to start protecting China’s maritime rights,” The Global Times announced. A sister ship, the CCG2901, already deployed to the East China Sea in 2015.

The CCG 3901, constructed at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard, has been dubbed the ‘monster’ by the media due to its unusual large size for a coast guard vessel. According to some sources, the vessel could have a displacement 12,000 to 15,000 metric tons once all systems have been installed aboard. In comparison, the China Coast Guard ship outsizes a the U.S. Navy’s Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser by about 50 percent, and is also bigger than an Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyer (e.g., the USS Lassen), which displaces around 9,700 tons. In addition, it also outclasses Japan’s 6,500-ton Shikishima-class coast guard cutters.

According to Chinese state media, the coast guard vessel can reach a top speed of up to 25 knots and is equipped with 76 millimeter rapid fire guns, two secondary guns and two anti-aircraft guns. It also has a helicopter platform and hangar in the stern large enough to accommodate larger rotary wing aircraft.  With the exception of the CCG 3901s sister ship, all other China Coast Guard vessels have so far been only lightly armed or are equipped with water cannons.

Unlike actual surface naval combat, in hostile encounters between coast guards the size of the ship plays a large role, particularly in the South China Sea, which has seen numerous instances of ‘ramming contests’ with two vessels often engaging in games of chicken trying to scare the other vessel off.  The CCG 3901 appears to be first and foremost a coercive instrument for such encounters and will help to advance China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.

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