China's security & military partnerships

Appix

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English is not my native language and I have only started to use the language in writing more frequently albeit still sporadic in the last 4 years. I apologize for my rustic and basic English. I do not use it with ease. China has only concentrated on economy, trade, industry and technology since 1861 when the self-strengthening movement was initiated by Feng Guifen, Zeng Guofan, Zhang Zhidong, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Yung Wing and has accumulated a rich experience of 150 year in this fields but has lacked in building security and military partnerships with other nations while the US has security partnerships all over the world. We are near illiterate in this field. Lets open a topic to dicuss and post new developments in this field. If we want to strengthen our international security we need to really be serious about creating a network of security and military partnerships.
 
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Appix

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Australian officials call for copy of China-Solomon Islands security pact​


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Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Kathryn Campbell during a Senate estimates hearing at Parliament House in Canberra, on Thursday, 7 April, 2022. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

Australia's top foreign affairs official says the federal government has requested a copy of the China-Solomon Islands security pact after telling a Senate estimates hearing bureaucrats had not yet seen it.

Foreign affairs officials have not seen the text of a security pact between China and the Solomon Islands despite it having been "initiated" by the two countries.
Australia only found out about
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when a draft version was leaked on social media.

The document detailed measures
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to the crisis-hit Pacific island nation. The deal would also allow armed Chinese police to deploy at the Solomon Islands' request to maintain "social order".

The "forces of China" would also be allowed to protect "the safety of Chinese personnel" and "major projects in the Solomon Islands".

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Kathryn Campbell told senators the government had asked for a copy of the agreement.

But Australia did not have any more information following a statement from the Solomon Islands government revealing the "initialling" of the agreement last week, Ms Campbell said.

"My last briefing was that we have not seen the text of the agreement," the secretary told Senate estimates on Thursday. "It's important that we do see the text and we have called for that."

The revelation comes a day after Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare revealed he had met two of Australia's top intelligence officials in the capital, Honiara.

Australian Secret Intelligence Service head Paul Symon and Office of National Intelligence director-general Andrew Shearer discussed "Australia's core security concerns", according to Mr Sogavare's office.

Mr Sogavare said in a statement the Solomon Islands reassured the intelligence officials the pact with China was "domestically focused" and complemented the current bilateral agreement with Australia.

"The meeting provided a platform for the two countries to better understand each other, in particular on Solomon Islands' decision on its broadened security partnership with China and other countries," Mr Sogavare said. The prime minister remains firm about the signing of the agreement.

Revelations of the draft agreement also sparked fears that China would seek to establish a military base in the Solomon Islands. But Mr Sogavare said last week his government would not allow this to occur "under its watch".

He labelled the claims as "misinformation promoted by anti-government commentators". If China was to set up its military base in the Pacific, "it would have done so with either Papua New Guinea or Fiji," he said in a statement on Friday, arguing it was among the first South Pacific nations to establish bilateral relations with Beijing.

"Government is conscious of the security ramification of hosting a military base, and it will not be careless to allow such initiative to take place under its watch," he said.

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China Signs Deal With Cambodia Army, Rebuffing U.S. Warnings​

The Chinese and Cambodian armies have signed a memorandum of understanding, as Beijing seeks to deepen regional security ties amid increasing competition with the U.S. Senior commanders from the ground forces of the two militaries sealed the agreement in a video call Thursday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian told a regular news briefing in Beijing. He didn’t elaborate on the details of the agreement.

“China and Cambodia are close neighbors and iron-clad friends,” Wu said. “In recent years, the pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries in various fields, including strategic communication, joint exercises and training, exchanges and personnel training, has continued to deepen.”

The agreement was signed by General Liu Zhenli, commander of the People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces, and General Hun Manet, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Army. Hun Manet, who studied at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, is the eldest son Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and has been endorsed by the nation’s ruling party as its future leader.

The announcement comes days after revelations that China was crafting a security pact with the Solomon Islands, that would give its warships a safe harbor some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from the Australian coast. Ministers from Australia and New Zealand have expressed concern about the deal’s impact on security in the South Pacific.

Ties between the U.S. and Cambodia have been tense following reports in 2019 that Beijing signed a secret agreement to allow its armed forces to exclusively use parts of the Asian nation’s Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand. While the Chinese military has denied the reports, the Biden administration in November imposed sanctions against involved companies and individuals, including two senior Cambodian defense officials for corruption related to the base.

That was followed by a Department of Commerce arms embargo on Cambodia over its military connections to China, which the U.S. side said “undermines and threatens regional security.”

U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Phnom Penh, Chad Roedemeier, on Thursday called on the Cambodian government to reveal the extent of Chinese military involvement in the country. “Full transparency regarding the intent, nature, and scope of these activities would benefit the Cambodian people, neighboring countries, and ASEAN,” he said, adding that such developments could have long-term implications for “regional security and sovereignty.”

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sndef888

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I wonder if China can influence Egypt enough for them to close off the suez for western navies in a hypothetical war over taiwan
 

Michaelsinodef

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I wonder if China can influence Egypt enough for them to close off the suez for western navies in a hypothetical war over taiwan
Doubtful, that paint Egypt as a target and China would be too far away to help Egypt.

They could make a ship block the canal though, although in such times the US and its allies might just bomb the ship to get it out of the way.
 

Appix

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Solomon Islands: Japan sends envoy as Australia warns of Chinese military base ‘red line’​

  • Kentaro Uesugi is expected to convey Tokyo’s concern about the islands’ security pact with China, and discuss bilateral and regional issue
  • It comes after Australian PM Scott Morrison said on Sunday that a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands would be a ‘red line’ for his government

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dispatched a foreign vice-minister to the Solomon Islands on Monday amid worry over
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that the South Pacific nation struck with
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that could increase Beijing’s military influence in the region.

Kentaro Uesugi’s three-day trip to Solomon Islands comes on the heels of a visit by a senior US delegation, who warned that Washington would take unspecified action against the South Pacific nation should the security deal with China pose a threat to US or allied interests.

The security pact, which China and the Solomons confirmed last week, has also alarmed neighbouring countries and Western allies, including Japan, that fear a military build-up in the region.

“We believe the deal could affect the security of the entire Asia-Pacific region and we are watching the development with concern,” Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday.

Uesugi, during his visit to the Solomon Islands, is expected to convey Japan’s concern about the security pact and discuss bilateral and regional issues.

Japan sees China’s increasingly assertive military activity in the East and South China seas as a threat in some of the world’s busiest sea lanes. Tokyo is especially concerned about Chinese military and coastguard activity in the East China Sea near the disputed Diaoyu Islands, which Japan controls and calls the Senkakus.

Tokyo has in recent years significantly stepped up security cooperation and expanded joint drills with the United States and other Western partners, including Australia, India, France, Britain and Germany, that share its concerns about China’s growing influence. The Solomon Islands switched diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing in 2019.

On Sunday,
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’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands would be a “red line” for his government, adding at a press conference that his determination to avoid a naval base there was shared not just by the US but by the Pacific nation’s prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare.

Morrison said Sogavare had assured him personally there would be no military base in the Solomons. “This is a shared concern, not just Australia. This is Australia with regional governments,” he said. When asked by journalists what he would do in the event of the announcement of a Chinese military base in the Solomons, Morrison did not say.

Australia’s Liberal National coalition is working to contain the political fallout from the announcement in the past week that the Solomon Islands had signed a security agreement with China, the details of which have not been made public. A draft of the agreement leaked in late March would allow Chinese naval vessels a safe harbour just 2,000km (1,200 miles) from Australia’s coastline.

The opposition Labor Party described the pact as the “worst failure of Australian foreign policy in the Pacific since the end of World War II”. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday morning, Labor’s shadow defence minister Brendan O’Connor said he would request a briefing from the government on what it would do if the “red line” was crossed by China.

“The fact that we have to turn to using that type of language is too little, too late. We should have been doing more,” he said. Morrison’s government is currently campaigning for a fourth term in power at a national election due to be held on May 21. Despite Australia’s strong economy and record low unemployment, Morrison’s centre-right government is trailing Labor in opinion polling.


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