Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[tomahawk6]

http://www.janes.com/news/security/jir/jir080421_1_n.shtml

China is constructing a major underground nuclear submarine base near Sanya, on Hainan Island off its southern coast, Jane's can confirm. Although Asian military sources have disclosed this fact to Jane's since 2002, high-resolution commercially available satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe allows independent verification of the previous suggestions.

The extent of construction indicates the Sanya base (also known as Yulin) could become a key future base for People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) aircraft carriers and other power-projection ships. In December 2007, perhaps in concert with a major PLAN exercise the previous month, the PLA moved its first Type 094 second-generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) to Sanya.

An underground submarine base and the positioning of China's most advanced sub-surface combatants at Sanya would have implications for China's control of the South China Sea and the strategically vital straits in the area. Further satellite imagery suggests the construction of Sanya has been supported by a gradual military build-up in the Paracel Islands over the last 20 years, and the transformation of the Chinese-occupied features in the Spratly Island group into assets that could support a range of military operations.

China's nuclear and naval build-up at Sanya underlines Beijing's desire to assert tighter control over this region. China's increasing dependence on imported petroleum and mineral resources has contributed to an intensified Chinese concern about defending its access to vital sea lanes, particularly to its south. It is this concern that in large part is driving China's development of power-projection naval forces such as aircraft carriers and long-range nuclear submarines.

China has pursued this build-up at Sanya with little fanfare, offering no public explanations regarding its plan to base nuclear weapons or advanced naval platforms there.

For both regional and extra-regional powers, it will be difficult to ignore that China is now building a major naval base at Sanya and may be preparing to house and protect a large proportion of its nuclear forces here, and even operate them from this base. This development so close to the Southeast Asian sea lanes so vital to the economies of Asia can only cause concern far beyond these straits.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Hmm, well maybe the US will have some juicy targets for those space based large mass KE penetrators they have talked about for so long.

 

[TCBF]

Hmm, well maybe the US will have some juicy targets for those space based large mass KE penetrators they have talked about for so long.

- Off topic, but hyper-velocity tungsten carbide darts plunging down from space would be worthy of their own thread, would they not?  I see them as an excellent anti-ship weapon.  The target need not be stationary.

 

[a_majoor]

An excerpt from Wikipedia. This is actually a fairly old idea (I first read about it in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" [written in 1966] where the Lunar colony uses a mass driver to bombard targets on Earth)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment

Real life concepts and theories

Project Thor

Project Thor is an idea for a weapons system that launches kinetic projectiles from Earth orbit to damage targets on the ground. It is said that the concept originated in a classified study for the United States Air Force in the 1950s.[citation needed]

The most described system is 'an orbiting tungsten telephone pole with small fins and a computer in the back for guidance.' The weapon can be down-scaled as small as several meters long, an orbiting "crowbar" rather than a pole.

The time between deorbiting and impact would only be a few minutes, and depending on the orbits and positions in the orbits, the system would have a world-wide range. There is no requirement to deploy missiles, aircraft or other vehicles. Although the SALT II (1979) prohibited the deployment of orbital weapons of mass destruction, it did not prohibit the deployment of conventional weapons.

The weapon inflicts damage because it moves at orbital velocities, at least 9 kilometers per second. The amount of energy released by the largest version when it hits the ground is roughly comparable to a small nuclear weapon or very large conventional bomb. Smaller weapons can deliver measured amounts of energy as small as a 500 lb conventional bomb. (Interpolation: A few ounces of copper in a HEAT warhead moving at Mach 25 cab cut through the armour of a tank. Imagine a few kilograms of tungsten hitting you at Mach 27. KE=1/2MV2)

The "pole" shape is optimal because it enhances reentry and maximizes the device's ability to penetrate hard or buried targets. The larger device is expected to be quite good at penetrating deeply buried bunkers and other command and control targets. The smaller "crowbar" size might be employed for anti-armor, anti-aircraft, anti-satellite and possibly anti-personnel use.

The weapon would be very hard to defend against. It has a very high closing velocity and a small radar cross-section. Launch is difficult to detect. Any infra-red launch signature occurs in orbit, at no fixed position. The infra-red launch signature also has a small magnitude compared to a ballistic missile launch. One drawback of the system is that the weapon's sensors would almost certainly be blind during reentry due to the plasma sheath that would develop ahead of it, so a mobile target could be difficult to hit if it performed any unexpected maneuvering.

While the larger version might be individually launched, the smaller versions would be launched from "pods" or "carriers" that contained several missiles.

It was most recently popularized by Jerry Pournelle, on his website, under the title "Project Thor."

Rods from God

"Rods from God" is a space-based kinetic energy weapon that has been discussed since the early 1980s.

They would conceivably be particularly well adapted to penetrate hardened targets, such as underground nuclear facilities.

There are major difficulties involved. One of them is where to position the rods. They need to be high enough to deliver enough energy upon impact, but not so high that they vaporize in Earth's atmosphere. The other difficulty is the number of satellites that would be required to cover a material portion of the Earth.

 

[CougarKing]

A rally of 10,000 Chinese Australians- most probably presumably immigrants, students or even just tourists from mainland China- were able to drown out the protest rallies by Free Tibet protesters. This is the kind of resurgent, Han-centric, nationalism that we WILL encounter in the future and which we we cannot ignore in any future interaction with the PRC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24268336/

Pro-Beijing crowds drown out torch protesters
Australian leg of relay largely peaceful as 10,000 Chinese show patriotism
MSNBC News Services
updated 6:35 a.m. PT, Thurs., April. 24, 2008

CANBERRA, Australia - More than 10,000 Chinese Australians staged the biggest pro-Beijing rally of the protest-marred Olympic torch relay on Thursday, bringing a sea of red Chinese flags and drowning out Tibetan demonstrators.

Protests and tight security have followed the Olympic torch around the world over the past month, putting China's domestic and foreign polices under the spotlight ahead of the Games in August.

Anti-Chinese protests during the previous relay legs have sparked a wave of patriotism amongst Chinese at home and abroad, and on Thursday thousands of Chinese chanting "One China" packed the start and finish of the torch relay in the Australian capital.Police made seven arrests, but for the most part the event was peaceful.

The event began without major incident as a half-dozen officers — in jogging pants, T-shirts and baseball caps — formed a loose cordon around the runner. Overhead, an airplane sky writer wrote the words “Free Tibet” in white letters.

Security had been boosted with officials saying the expense doubled in recent weeks to $1.9 million for the three-hour event.

'Magnificent day'
A momentary scare came an hour into the relay when a man leaped out from the crowd and sat cross-legged about 35 feet in front of the runner. Police quickly hauled him away and the runner didn’t stop.

"This is a magnificent day for us today to show that Australia can have a peaceful rally. Watching overseas protests, I felt shamed that they can behave like that," Wellington Lee, from the Chinese Association of Victoria state, told Reuters.

Chinese lined the 10-mile relay route six-deep, and hundreds of cars drove around Canberra carrying Chinese flags.

"It was highly organized," free-Tibet supporter and Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown told Reuters. "Australians will feel a little bit uncomfortable by the fact that communist China came to town and just showed it can buy anything."

China denied the charge.

"I don't know how this question is relevant," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing. "If someone is interested in it, then has he asked those people who disrupt and sabotage the torch if there are any organizers and instigators behind them? I think that question is more newsworthy."

Patriotic fervor
Jiang also defended the outpouring of patriotic fervor among Chinese as a legitimate response to "provocation".

Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of being behind March 14 riots in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, and unrest that followed in other ethnic Tibetan areas, as part of a bid for Tibetan independence and to ruin the Olympics.


On Saturday, the torch will be run through Nagano, Japan, where officials have changed the route due to security concerns and complaints from locals.

The route for the torch's visit to Ho Chi Minh City on April 29 still has not been revealed.

Unlike London, Paris or San Francisco, where torch bearers were jostled by anti-Beijing protesters as they ran, in Canberra a heavy police presence, steel barricades and the city's wide boulevards ensured runners were unobstructed.

Scuffles broke out between Tibetan protesters and China supporters, who included Australian Chinese and Chinese students in Australia, before the start of the relay and as a few Tibetan protesters tried to block the runners.

Two pro-Tibet women charged the torch convoy as it neared parliament house and were dragged away by police, as one yelled: "They're torturing my country."

Star among protesters

Police were at times forced to escort Tibetan protesters through a sea of Chinese yelling "Liar, Liar, Liar".

Tibet protesters included Canadian singer K.D. Lang, a Buddhist who interrupted her Australian tour to travel to Canberra. "Tibet is a global heritage. It's something we want to protect, it's something that enriches the entire universe," she said.

Officials claimed a victory because it largely avoided the chaotic protest scenes that marred the portions held in Europe and the United States.

“We obviously feared the worst,” local government spokesman Jeremy Lasek said. “We feel right now relieved but elated — we think we’ve pulled it off.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Police were at times forced to escort Tibetan protesters through a sea of Chinese yelling "Liar, Liar, Liar".

Now that is a lot of people shouting "PIANZI, PIANZI, PIANZI" (骗子,骗子,骗子) again and again at those poor pro-Tibet protestors and the sound of that will be even more vicious than a popular Taiwan pop song by the same name sung by the pop singer A-mei. 

 

[Edward Campbell]

I went to the recent pro-Olympics/anti-media demonsration in Ottawa. Somewhere between 3,000 and 6,000 people attended. (Two different RCMP officers gave me two different estimates of 3,500 and 5,000+ within about five minutes of one another.) I spoke to several 'protesters' from Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.

There were somewhere between 10 and 25 pro-Tibet/anti-Chinese demonstrators who were given, by the police, a brief chance to say their piece before they were hustled away, by the police. Those few garnered at least as much Canadian media attention as the larger, by more than two orders of magnitude, pro-Chinese crowd. That may, in large part, have been the fault of the pro-Chinese organizers. I asked a young person (a university student I (correctly) thought) where the media liaison person was. She didn't know but she directed me to an organizer. He didn't know either and sent me higher up the chain.The last person I spoke to, who admitted to being a member of the organizing committee, thought there was no such thing. "Who," I asked, "translates the speeches and explains the songs for the TV cameras?" "Oh," he said, sadly, "we didn't think about that." I'm pretty sure the Chinese Embassy didn't organize the event - they would have thought about the media. The pro-Tibet crowd sure did.

I think the Chinese nationalism, amongst 'overseas Chinese' as well as mainlanders, is very real. I do not think it needs to be threatening but it is a tool for Beijing (the CCP) and we fan the flames at our own risk.

 

[CougarKing]

Although this article is already close to 2 weeks old, as the article states, both CVBGs must still be in the vicinity of the Taiwan Strait with the aim of staving off any aggressive moves by either side until President Ma's May 20 inauguration.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VUAM680&show_article=1

TAIPEI, April 9 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Two U.S. aircraft carriers will remain deployed in waters near Taiwan to ensure a smooth transition of government in Taipei amid heightened regional tensions, Taiwan Defense Minister Michael Tsai said Wednesday.

Tsai told a parliamentary interpellation session that the Kitty Hawk and Nimitz will stay in the "Western Pacific" near Taiwan after deploying here since shortly before the island's March 22 presidential election.

"The deployments have their strategic significance," Tsai told lawmakers, citing what he said was the U.S. Pacific Command's position that "the period between March 22 and May 20 is an uncertain time for the Taiwan Strait."

Taiwan's President-elect Ma Ying-jeou will be inaugurated May 20.

Although Ma campaigned largely on vows to improve cross-strait ties, presidential elections and transitions of government on Taiwan are traditionally sensitive periods in the strait.

China, which claims Taiwan as its own, sometimes resorts to saber- rattling when the self-ruled island exercises its democratic autonomy.

Central to Beijing's geopolitical strategy is to eventually bring Taipei under its political fold, by force if necessary.

Asked by lawmakers Wednesday if the deployments' objective "is to deter China or to ensure a smooth transition of government in Taiwan," Tsai replied, "Both."

For military affairs expert Andrei Chang, "the deployments are a message to both Taiwan and China: 'Don't provoke each other,'" said Chang, who runs Kanwa Defense Review, a military affairs magazine.

Pro-independence rhetoric from Taipei typically invites a threatening posture by Beijing, which in turn unnerves Washington, Taipei's chief security guarantor.

Although nominally committed to Taipei's defense, Washington seeks to rein in independence moves by Taipei to head off a cross-strait conflict that could involve the U.S. military.

In 1996, China fired unarmed missiles near Taiwan in exercises meant to curb independence rhetoric by then President Lee Teng-hui and intimidate voters on the eve of the island's presidential election that year.

The maneuvers led to a deployment of the Kitty Hawk in the strait and a stand-off between U.S. naval forces and China's People's Liberation Army.

China's threatening exercises quickly stopped and the Kitty Hawk later left the strait without further incident.

The latest deployments, however, appear larger, with opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers Wednesday asking Tsai whether patrols by both the Nimitz and Kitty Hawk "constituted unusual naval activity in regional waters."

According to Taiwan's Defense Ministry, the Kitty Hawk left its port in Japan just days before Taiwan's election, while the U.S. Pacific Command said the Nimitz has been in the Western Pacific since January.

For the Kitty Hawk, defending the strait amid Taipei's latest government transition is likely the supercarrier's last mission.

The aircraft carrier Washington left its U.S. port earlier this week to eventually replace the aging Kitty Hawk as the chief supercarrier in the Asia Pacific region.

Both the Kitty Hawk and Nimitz are expected to patrol waters near Taiwan until after Ma takes office.

The Nimitz is patrolling with its entire strike group, which includes an array of destroyers, submarines and other vessels, while the Kitty Hawk is patrolling with just one destroyer, a U.S. Pacific Command spokesman said last month.

 

[Bert]

An interesting perspective by Stratfor and some insights not found in mainstream media. 

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/chinese_geopolitics_and_significance_tibet

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

I think the Chinese nationalism, amongst 'overseas Chinese' as well as mainlanders, is very real. I do not think it needs to be threatening but it is a tool for Beijing (the CCP) and we fan the flames at our own risk.

I don't really have an opinion on Tibet.  I should also admit that I am no great fan of the Olympics in any country.

Still, when does engagement and worrying about the fanning of flames of Chinese nationalism turn into appeasement?  I would hope that we would make decisions based on what we believe to be right and not on the fear that visiting students might get upset. 

Cheers

 

[Edward Campbell]

I do not see appeasement as an issue.

For the moment China needs us, specifically our resources, more than we need China. They can have them so long as they do not antagonize us too much. We do not need to appease them; if anything the reverse might be true.

But, in the medium to long term I think China will achieve great power, even superpower status at which time, I continue to believe it will be incumbent on us – the big US led, Western us – to engage them on some basis other than outright enmity.

Thus, I believe we need to learn to ‘see’ China through some lens other than our familiar, liberal Western one because China is not a liberal, Western country. The Chinese are conservative in the very real sense of that word: they value hierarchy, in is instilled in each and every Chinese child as it learns the language at its mother’s beast; they value order – there were a whole lot of thing’s wrong with Mao’s great cultural revolution but most Chinese people hated it – not too strong a word – for its lack of order and lack of respect for the natural hierarchy of age. Although the Chinese are as naturally capitalistic as anyone else they are not as individualistic (liberal) as Westerners – which makes me wonder if Max Weber was a right as many, me included, think he was. The Chinese had a different historical experience than the West – we ‘grew up’ differently over the past 2,500 years. We need to recognize that and deal with the consequences.

I don’t think agreeing to engage the Chinese on a basis of understanding that they are not liberal Westerners (but accepting that may not be a bad thing) is appeasement. I prefer to think of it as something other than bad policy.

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

I believe in the sovereignty of states, and I think that we should always be hesitant about getting involved in the internal workings of another state.

We should indeed seek to understand where a foreign culture is coming from on a given issue and we have to accept that not everybody is like us.  That being said, a sovereign state should reserve the right to not engage in the sending of athletic delegations to an event hosted by another state.  Just because a given nation has always been a certain way doesn't mean that I must be OK with it.  I am speaking beyond the China/Tibet issue here.

 

[Yrys]

CIA director: China is not an 'inevitable enemy'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The director of the CIA told an audience at Kansas State University on Wednesday that China is "not the inevitable enemy" of the United
States. Michael Hayden spoke about three main challenges facing the United States: burgeoning populations, China's increasing economic power and America's prickly
relationship with Europe.

Hayden said the world's population is expected to grow by 45 percent to 9 billion people by midcentury, mostly in countries that cannot sustain such growth, such as Asia,
Africa and the Middle East. Combine that with the likely mass migration to developed countries, and resources will be strained, leading to an increased risk of violence,
civil unrest or extremism, he said. China will become an economic and political competitor to the United States, he said, but should not be treated as "an inevitable
enemy."

Although the rapid growth of the Chinese military could pose a threat to the United States and Taiwan, Hayden said, he believes that the nation's aim of military modernization
is about "projecting strength" and demonstrating that it has "great-power status."Hayden did warn that China is focusing too narrowly on its own objectives. "If Beijing
begins to accept greater responsibility for the health of the international system -- as all global powers should -- we will remain on a constructive, even if competitive
path," he said. "If not, the rise of China begins to look more adversarial."

Differences over the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism continue to strain relations with Europe, Hayden said. Although Europe and the United States agree about
the urgent threat of terrorism, he said the United States considers itself at war with terrorists. Europe sees terrorism as primarily "an internal, law-enforcement
problem." He questioned whether "the United States and Europe will come to share the same views of the 21st century, as we did for the last half of the 20th century,
and then forge a common approach to security."

Hayden said the global context has changed considerably from the struggle of the Cold War, when America dominated the world economically, politically and militarily.
"In this new century, the world will be far more complex, and the capacity of others -- both nation-states and non-state actors -- to influence world events will grow," he
said. The "overriding challenge" for the intelligence community will be to "do a better job of understanding cultures, histories, religions and traditions that are not our
own," he said. He warned "against viewing the world exclusively through an American prism," saying that "while we cherish and live our own values, we must know and
appreciate those of others."

 

[tomahawk6]

Images of Hainan Island naval base.

 

[Kirkhill]

I believe in the sovereignty of states, and I think that we should always be hesitant about getting involved in the internal workings of another state.

We should indeed seek to understand where a foreign culture is coming from on a given issue and we have to accept that not everybody is like us.  That being said, a sovereign state should reserve the right to not engage in the sending of athletic delegations to an event hosted by another state.  Just because a given nation has always been a certain way doesn't mean that I must be OK with it.  I am speaking beyond the China/Tibet issue here.

The question, of course, is what do you do when one "state" or "proto-state" like Darfur, or Tibet does not recognize the suzerainty claims of another state like Sudan or China? One group considers it an internal matter (The Czechs) another group considers it an external matter (The Sudeten Germans).

 

[MarkOttawa]

The future menace (sounds a bit like Wilhelmine Germany?

China's next-generation nationalists
They're educated, richer and more aggressive toward the West.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-kurlantzik6-2008may06,0,3394254.story?track=ntothtml

As human rights protesters dogged the Beijing Olympics' torch relay around the world, as supporters of Tibet condemned the violent crackdown in Lhasa, and as Darfur activists demanded change in China's Sudan policy, Chinese young people worked themselves into a different form of righteous anger. In online forums and chat rooms, they blasted Beijing's leaders for not being tougher in Tibet. They agitated for boycotts against Western businesses based in nations that object to Beijing's policies, and they directed venomous fury against anyone critical of China.

The anger has even spread to American college campuses. In April, Chinese students at USC blasted a visiting Tibetan monk with angry questions about Tibet's alleged history of slavery and other controversial topics. When the monk tried to respond, the students chanted, "Stop lying! Stop lying!"

At the University of Washington, hundreds protested outside during a speech by the Dalai Lama, chanting, "Dalai, your smiles charm, your actions harm." When one Chinese student at Duke University tried to mediate between pro-China and pro-Tibet protesters, her photo, labeled "traitor," was posted on the Internet, and her contact information and her parents' address in China were listed for all to see.

The explosion of nationalist sentiment, especially among young people, might seem shocking, but it's been simmering for a long time. In fact, Beijing's leadership, for all its problems, may be less hard-line than China's youth, the country's future [emphasis added]. If China ever were to become a truly free political system, it might actually become more, not less, aggressive...

Hardly uneducated know-nothings, young nationalists tend to be middle-class urbanites. Far more than rural Chinese, who remain mired in poverty, these urbanites have benefited enormously from the country's three decades of economic growth. They also have begun traveling and working abroad. They can see that Shanghai and Beijing are catching up to Western cities, that Chinese multinationals can compete with the West, and they've lost their awe of Western power.

Many middle-aged Chinese intellectuals are astounded by the differences between them and their younger peers. Academics I know, members of the Tiananmen generation, are shocked by some students' disdain for foreigners and, often, disinterest in liberal concepts such as democratization. University students now tend to prefer business-oriented majors to liberal arts-oriented subjects such as political science. The young Chinese interviewed for a story last fall in Time magazine on the country's "Me Generation" barely discussed democracy or political change in their daily lives...

In the long run, this explosive nationalism calls into question what kind of democracy China could be. Many Chinese academics, for example, believe that, at least in the early going, a freer China might become a more dangerous China. Able to truly express their opinions, young Chinese would be able to put intense pressure on a freer government to adopt a hard line against the West -- even, perhaps, to invade Taiwan. By contrast, the current Chinese regime has launched broad informal contacts with Taiwan's new rulers, including an April meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and incoming Taiwanese Vice President Vincent Siew -- contacts denounced by many bloggers. One day, Hu may find even he can't defend himself before a mob of angry Chinese students.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CougarKing]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFoWCbQjwXw&feature=related

The first line of subtitles in Simplified Mandarin in the lower part of the screen in the link above read as "Zhong Mei Lu Zhan Dui Yuan" and "Da Bi Wu", which could be translated to mean "Chinese and US Marines" and "big exercise(bi sai)/competition" respectively.

This was filmed about several months ago, but it's interesting to see how the US Marines/"Leathernecks" do against their Chinese counterparts.

 

[CougarKing]

Here is a propaganda video song/music video with the title "Beijing Huan Ying Ni/北京歡迎你" or "Beijing Welcomes You"; I am surprised- well not really- by the sheer number of Mandopop stars that have been hired to perform this music video, including of course, Hong Kong pop stars Jackie Chan and Karen Mok and a number of Taiwan pop stars as well including Jolin Tsai. I am surprised, however, that Singaporean Mandopop singer Sun Yan Zi/Stephanie Sun was also hired for that video, though it seems that Beijing is also trying to reach out to the Overseas Chinese/Hua Qiao/華僑 all over the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EC_s4vrpW8

One thing is sure- the Beijing/PRC government has spent a lot on public relations this year in order to cover up its Tibet crackdowns. :

 

[Edward Campbell]

... it seems that Beijing is also trying to reach out to the Overseas Chinese/Hua Qiao/華僑 all over the world ... One thing is sure- the Beijing/PRC government has spent a lot on public relations this year in order to cover up its Tibet crackdowns. :

No question on either issue.

I think, after the Paris and SF fiascoes, that the outreach to the Hua Qiao intensified and appears to have worked.

The PR blitz was planned long, long ago - using it to 'cover up' the steady state muzzling of internal dissent is just a bonus for he CPC.

 

[tomahawk6]

China's new SOSUS system.Hope it works better than the USSR's.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/NATION04/52232777/0/RSS_BUSINES&template=nextpage

China surveillance
Bill Gertz

Defense officials said China has deployed a new wide-area ocean surveillance system that includes an underwater sonar network of sensors, and ground- and sea-based long-range radar that will make it more difficult for U.S. submarines to protect the fleet and to track China's growing force of new attack and missile submarines.

A former U.S. government defense specialist on China said on the condition of anonymity that there are indications China is operating a rudimentary underwater Sound Surveillance System, or SOSUS. The sonar network includes fixed sensors that can pinpoint U.S. submarines operating in some areas of the western Pacific.

The U.S. Navy operates a similar system at strategic underwater choke points around the world.

The Chinese SOSUS has been detected underwater in the Bohai Sea, off the northern Chinese coast, north of the Yellow Sea, a major Chinese navy operating area. Additionally, China also has set up at least five long- and medium-range radar sites along its coast that have over-the-horizon capability, the former official said.

The sonar and radar are part of China's key strategic wartime goal of knocking out the five or more aircraft carrier strike groups that would be rushed to the region near Taiwan in any future conflict. Those carrier battle groups are defended by submarines.

"If they are after carriers, we protect carriers with subs and if they know where they are, they can find the carriers," said the former defense official, who confirmed that the Chinese are developing various ground, sea and space sensors designed to "target the American fleet."

The Chinese sonar and radar also complicates the Navy's mission of tracking China's submarine fleet, which includes large numbers of newer and quieter attack and ballistic missile boats with JL-2 nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.

"If the Chinese can do SOSUS that would be a tremendous leg up for their submarines," the defense official said. "Because the best way to hunt a sub is with a sub."

China's SOSUS array "will make it more difficult to follow and prosecute their [missile submarines] with all their missiles aimed at the U.S.," the former official said. The radar-sonar network provides the Chinese military with "constant air and sea coverage of the western Pacific for the first time, so they can keep a 24-7 trail on American naval assets for the first time."

 

[RickDevlieger]

"If they are after carriers, we protect carriers with subs and if they know where they are, they can find the carriers," said the former defense official, who confirmed that the Chinese are developing various ground, sea and space sensors designed to "target the American fleet."

:rofl:

The author of this doesn't have a fricking clue.