Obama Sends Destroyer To Chinese Islands, China Vows Military Response

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-26/its-obama-sends-destroyer-chinese-islands-china-vows-military-response


It's On: Obama Sends Destroyer To Chinese Islands, China Vows Military Response


Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/26/2015 16:26 -

 
For anyone who might still be somehow unaware, the US is currently in a superpower staring match with both Russia and China. The conflict in Syria has put Moscow back on the geopolitical map (so to speak), creating an enormous amount of tension with Washington whose regional allies have been left to look on in horror as Russian airstrikes and an Iranian ground incursion dash hopes of ousting President Bashar al-Assad. 
Meanwhile, in The South China Sea, Beijing has built 3,000 acres of new sovereign territory atop reefs in the Spratlys and although the reclamation effort itself isn’t unique, the scope of it most certainly is and Washington’s friends in the South Pacific are crying foul.
Beijing has continually insisted that it doesn’t intend to use the islands as military outposts, but the construction of runways and ports seems to tell a different story and so, Washington felt compelled to check things out over the summer by sending a Poseidon spy plane complete with a CNN crew to the area. Once the PLA spotted the plane the situation escalated quickly with the Chinese Navy telling US pilots to “Go Now!” 
After that, an intense war of words developed with Defense Secretary Ash Carter insisting that the US would sail and fly anywhere it pleased and Beijing assuring the US that sailing within 12 nautical miles of the islands would prompt a harsh response from the PLA. 
For weeks, the US was rumored to have been planning a freedom of navigation exercise in the Spratlys which, as we’ve pointed out several times this month, amounts to sailing by the islands just to see if China will shoot. 
Now, according to CNN, Obama has given the green light and the ships may sail within 24 hours: 

And more from FT:

Quote :

The US navy is poised to start freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea in a high-stakes effort to push back against Chinese territorial claims over artificial islands in the disputed waters.
 
In a move that will enrage Beijing, the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, will sail inside the 12-nautical mile zones of two man-made islands — Subi and Mischief reefs — that China has built in the contested Spratly Island chain. A senior US defence official said it would sail through the area in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
 
China has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate any effort to violate what it considers its territory. Earlier this month, a senior Chinese naval officer said the People’s Liberation Army would hand a “head-on blow” to any foreign forces that violated Chinese sovereignty. His comments came after the Financial Times reported that the US was poised to launch its operations.
 
The manoeuvre will mark the first time since 2012 that the US navy has sailed through the 12-nautical mile zone surrounding any islands claimed by China. It is aimed at demonstrating that Washington does not recognise any territorial claims over artificial islands in the South China Sea.

It's also worth noting that should the US manage to get away with this without sparking a shooting war with the Chinese, it now looks as though Washington is leaning toward making this a regular patrol. Here's a bit of color from Reuters out over the weekend: 

Quote :

A range of security experts said Washington's so-called freedom of navigation patrols would have to be regular to be effective, given Chinese ambitions to project power deep into maritime Southeast Asia and beyond.
 
"This cannot be a one-off," said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
 
"The U.S. navy will have to conduct these kinds of patrols on a regular basis to reinforce their message."
 
But China would likely resist attempts to make such U.S. actions routine, some said, raising the political and military stakes. China's navy could for example try to block or attempt to surround U.S. vessels, they said, risking an escalation.

(USS Lassen)
Here are the latest visuals from Subi and Mischief (the two islands mentioned above):



Not to put too fine a point on it, but this borders on the insane. Here we have both Washington and Beijing risking an outright military confrontation over what amount to a couple of sandcastles and while there's probably some truth to the contention that China has plans for the islands that go beyond growing plants, building lighthouses, and raising pigs, it's not as though the PLA is going to invade The Philippines so at the end of the day, this looks like another example of what Vladimir Putin recently suggested is evidence that the world is losing its collective mind.
Average:

http://allnewspipeline.com/3_Chinese_Warships_To_Dock_In_Florida.php



October 26, 2015

Three Chinese Warships To Dock In Florida Next Month After China Called Obama's South China Seas Bluff - Is This A Prelude To Invasion?  

By Stefan Stanford - All News Pipeline - Live Free Or Die

Despite the fact that the US and China are seemingly bumping heads on many different fronts including the financial world, the [size=16]internet and in the world of war, China will be sending 3 warships to the US that will be docking in Florida at the Mayport Naval Station from November 3rd to November 7th according to this story from Zero Hedge and the 1st video below from Spiro. 

 The 'battlefields' now in play include China seeking to make the yuan a permanent replacement for the dollar as the world's reserve currency, to the internet, where China continues its' endless attacks upon the US, to a potential WW3, where China recently responded to plans by the US to send warships into the South China Seas by saying: "What On Earth Makes Them Think We Will Tolerate This".

With the recent announcement that China's ally Russia has been disturbing the US with their ships near our underwater cables, we have to ask how close we are to a potential WW3 and why would we allow warships from our potential WW3 adversaries into our harbors? Is this a setup for an invasion? We also need to remember that only a little over a month ago, China released a very disturbing video that showed China attacking the US as shared in the 2nd video below. 



According to the US Naval Intelligence, the three ships that will be docking in Florida are a Type 052C Luyang II-class guided-missile destroyer Jinan (152), the Type 054A Jiangkai II-class guided-missile frigate Yiyang (548) and the Type 903 Fuchi-class fleet oiler Qiandao Hu (886).

[/size]While we're told that sailors from both the US and Chinese will interact during their time here, participating in sporting events and interacting during ship tours, the [size=16]visit isn't sitting well with some politicians in the US, especially after Barack Obama seemingly had his bluff called by China after threatening to send ships to the South China Seas by not following up upon his threat. From Zero Hedge.:

The most interesting news is that according to the US Naval Institute, despite much posturing, the Obama administration has not yet dispatched ship toward China, and instead has been merely weighing for weeks whether or not it will send a freedom of navigation mission within 12 nautical miles — the internationally recognized maritime border — of features in the Spratly and Paracel China has reclaimed from the sea.[/size]
It would appear that Obama was once again all talk and once China threatened to call the U.S. bluff and warned it would use force, the US desire for confrontation promptly evaporated.

Why is the US allowing China warships to dock in Florida? Is this a setup for a massive attack upon America or another false flag? The mere fact that Russian warships have been spotted near our underwater cables is understandably disturbing. We learned from the NY Times story on this development that if those cables are cut, that would likely completely cut off the US from the rest of the world on the [size=16][size=16]communications front. Think no more internet, no more phones, no communications between our military at home and our military overseas. Have Russia and China put the US into 'checkmate' as argued in this story from Sputnik News? While we do not have all of the answers to those questions, these latest developments are clearly bothersome. From the NY Times story.:

Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict.[/size][/size]
The issue goes beyond old worries during the Cold War that the Russians would tap into the cables — a task American intelligence agencies also mastered decades ago. The alarm today is deeper: The ultimate Russian hack on the United States could involve severing the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations to halt the instant communications on which the West’s governments, economies and citizens have grown dependent.

https://youtu.be/yqKQ5Y6bC3U





https://youtu.be/qaq-Yn6HOoI

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/24/us-southchinasea-usa-patrols-china-idUSKCN0SI04Y20151024


U.S. patrols to raise stakes with Beijing in disputed South China Sea
HONG KONG  |  By Greg Torode



Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy in this May 21, 2015 file...
Reuters/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters


HONG KONG U.S. plans to send warships or military aircraft within 12 nautical miles of China's artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, possibly within days, could open a tense new front in Sino-U.S. rivalry.

A range of security experts said Washington's so-called freedom of navigation patrols would have to be regular to be effective, given Chinese ambitions to project power deep into maritime Southeast Asia and beyond.

But China would likely resist attempts to make such U.S. actions routine, some said, raising the political and military stakes. China's navy could for example try to block or attempt to surround U.S. vessels, they said, risking an escalation.

Given months of debate already in Washington over the first such patrol close to the Chinese outposts since 2012, several regional security experts and former naval officers said the U.S. government might be reluctant to do them often.

U.S. allies such as Japan and Australia are unlikely to follow with their own direct challenges to China, despite their concerns over freedom of navigation along vital trade routes, they added.

"This cannot be a one-off," said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

"The U.S. navy will have to conduct these kinds of patrols on a regular basis to reinforce their message."

The Obama administration has said it would test China's territorial claims to the area after months of pressure from Congress and the U.S. military. It has not given a timeframe.

"I think we have been very clear - that we intend to do this," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters last Monday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry officials said this month that Beijing would "never allow any country to violate China's territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly islands in the name of protecting navigation and overflight".

Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, 12-nautical mile limits cannot be set around man-made islands built on previously submerged reefs.

Four of the seven reefs China has reclaimed over the last two years were completely submerged at high tide before construction began, legal scholars say.

China claims most of the South China Sea. Other claimants are Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.



"NO-GO ZONE"

Bonnie Glaser, a security expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said U.S. missions would likely be regular, with the navy wanting to ensure it did not become effectively shut out of the area.

"I know the U.S. does not want that outcome. Nobody wants to give the Chinese a new no-go zone and an effective territorial sea they are not entitled to," she said.

Glaser said she believed China would be careful about interfering with a U.S. patrol, despite past frictions.

Myles Caggins, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, declined to comment when asked whether a U.S. show of force might be more symbolism than substance unless there was a sustained naval effort, or whether the administration was factoring in further Chinese assertiveness.

He said U.S. thinking was illustrated by President Barack Obama's statement at a news conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington last month that "the United States will continue to sail, fly and operate anywhere that international law allows".

Despite Xi's comment at the news conference that the man-made islands would not be militarised, some mainland Chinese analysts believe the reclamations will form the heart of a new military screen protecting Chinese submarines on southern Hainan Island, as well as boasting extensive civilian facilities.

These submarines will soon carry nuclear weapons and represent the core of China's nuclear deterrence, giving it a second strike capability.

    

"DANGEROUS ESCALATION"

While China's outposts are seen as vulnerable in a conflict, up until that point they will allow Beijing to extend both civilian activities, such as fishing and oil exploration, as well as military patrols. One airstrip is finished and two others are being built.

Zhang Baohui, a Chinese security expert at Hong Kong's Lingnan University, said he feared a "dangerous escalation", with China likely to react to any attempt to make the patrols routine.

Rather than freedom of navigation, Zhang said he believed Beijing saw the issue as one of great power rivalry.

"It is all about power, and that is what makes this so dangerous," he said.

China had never formally declared a 12-mile territorial zone around the reclamations, so any U.S. show of force was premature, he added.

Sam Bateman, an adviser to Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and a former Australian naval officer, also noted the lack of any formal declaration, adding Washington risked underestimating China's angst over being contained in the South China Sea.

"There is a real risk of a confrontation between China and the U.S. that the U.S. might have to withdraw from," he said, urging more diplomacy instead.

"I'm not sure what their end-game is."



(Reporting by Greg Torode in HONG KONG; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON; Editing by Dean Yates)

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