- Reaction score
- 146
- Points
- 710
Hamish Seggie said:Bahaha this makes me laugh - free vocational training meaning breaking big rocks into little rocks, also known as "re-education"
Character building with Chinese characteristics.
Mark
Ottawa
Hamish Seggie said:Bahaha this makes me laugh - free vocational training meaning breaking big rocks into little rocks, also known as "re-education"
Australia ups the ante to counter China
Tindal airbase upgrade and purchase of long-range anti-ship missiles signals greater leadership role in the region
Message to Beijing, loud and clear.
The friendly folks Down Under are stepping up their military presence in the Indo-Pacific region, and make no mistake, the crosshairs are entirely pointed at the growing power of China, says a special report from Prof. Paul Dibb at Real Clear Defense.
The first action is the announcement by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of a US$1.1 billion upgrade to the Royal Australian Air Force base at Tindal, to lengthen the runway so that US B-52 strategic bombers as well as RAAF KC-30 air-to-air refuelling aircraft can operate from there, writes Dibb, professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University.
It goes without saying, it would also benefit Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider long-range strategic stealth bomber, which could enter service in 2025.
The second is the announcement by the US State Department that Australia has been cleared, at a cost of about US$1.4 billion, to purchase 200 AGM-158C long-range ship-killing missiles (LRASM), which can be fired from F/A-18 Super Hornets and F-35s [emphasis added], the report said.
Clearly, the coincidence of these two developments at the same time should not be underestimated by Chinese military analysts.
Morrison described the upgrades to Tindal as being “the sharp end of the spear” for Australian and US air operations in the Indo-Pacific, the report said.
The sharp end indeed.
As ASPI’s Peter Jennings observed, the decision to expand the Tindal airbase is perceived as a giant strategic step forward and could be the basis for a greater leadership role for Australia in the region, the report said...
When the upgrade, including major runway extensions, fuel stockpiles and engineering support, is completed, Tindal will be the most potent military base south of Guam, the report said.
And — for the time being — beyond the reach of Chinese conventional ballistic missiles.
The LRASMs will give Australia a highly capable stand-off anti-ship strike capability with much longer range than before, the report said.
Unclassified sources state that this missile has a range of at least 500-600 kilometres. It can conduct autonomous targeting (moving ships and land targets), relying on on-board targeting systems and data links to acquire the target without GPS [emphasis added].
The missile is also designed with countermeasures to evade active defence systems, and, reportedly can share data to coordinate and attack in a swarm — the future direction of military weapons on all sides.
The actions represent a Herculean boost to Australia’s strike capabilities, following the retirement of the RAAF’s ancient F-111s and the fact that it takes forever for the navy’s diesel-electric Collins-class submarines to transit South Pacific waters, the report said.
For the first time since World War II, a major power is deploying military capabilities which are contesting strategic space in the “inner arc,” stretching from the Indonesian archipelago and Papua New Guinea down to Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
Meantime, the US is also developing a ground-launched version of the latest Tomahawk maritime strike missile, a boost glide anti-ship missile, a hypersonic cruise missile and potentially a Pershing III anti-ship intermediate-range ballistic missile [emphasis added], the report said.
With ranges of around 1,000 kilometres to more than 3,000 kilometres, these sorts of weapons would enable Australia to strike at targets well into the South China Sea.
https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/australia-ups-the-ante-to-counter-china/
The Dragon Claws Back on COVID-19–and much else
...
I would frankly say that the Chicoms are a foreign influence/foreign interference (once known as subversion) threat coming at least to equal that ever posed by the Soviet Union.
https://mark3ds.wordpress.com/2020/03/25/the-dragon-claws-back-on-covid-19-and-much-else/
COVID-19 and the Dragon’s Foul Breath
Further to this post,
The Dragon Claws Back on COVID-19–and much else
I’m certain Canada’s current Liberal government will not even consider saying “Boo!” to Xi and the Chicoms (not a bad band name, eh?), what with Beijing’s Canadian hostages Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor much in mind (see here)–along with many other things such as simply being unwilling, in the face of all the evidence, to accept that “constructive engagement” with China is a failed policy. Now consider what’s going on with the Brits:
https://mark3ds.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/covid-19-and-the-dragons-foul-breath/China will face ‘a reckoning’ over virus, Britain warns
...
MarkOttawa said:One shudders to think what US may soon be saying to us about Huawei/5G:
Rather a barracking as the Brits say.
Mark
Ottawa
COVID-19 Help, or, Feds Damn’ Well Better Cut Huawei a Cheque
Further to the UPDATE at this post,
COVID-19, or, Chicoms will Chicom, Australia Section
Gary Mason, the Globe and Mail’s national columnist based in Vancouver (tweets here)–no hardline neo-con–does take a hard line on Huawei’s “gift” of medical supplies:
https://mark3ds.wordpress.com/2020/04/10/covid-19-help-or-feds-damn-well-better-cut-huawei-a-cheque/When it comes to Huawei, there’s no such thing as a free gift
cavalryman said:The Chinese Communist Party is an existential threat to humanity. Change my mind
Non-Xi Jinping controlled genocidal state apparatus. The Chinese people are as much victims of their rulers as anyone else.MarkOttawa said:Non-Han humanity?
Mark
Ottawa
FJAG said:There was a time once where the truth mattered and set you free. Not so much these days.
:stirpot:
CBH99 said:In China, it's actually the total opposite.
If your someone of interest - a prominent business person, doctor, scientist, social personality - and you start to tell too much of the truth...you disappear or end up imprisoned.
More and more, I'm thinking China is very much turning out to be today's version of a pre-1939 Germany.
Colin P said:Couldn't have happened to a nicer navy..... 8)
COVID-19 and the Curse/Menace of the Chicoms
1) First a piece of which one of the co-authors is Irwin Cotler (justice minister 2003-06 in PM Paul Martin’s Liberal government, tweets here); listen up you Justin Trudeau Liberals:
https://mark3ds.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/covid-19-and-the-curse-menace-of-the-chicoms/Xi Jinping’s China did this
The corrupt, criminal regime wasted 40 days blocking information while it crushed domestic dissent and ensured COVID-19 would become a global pandemic