PLAN SCS Bases/Islands/Vessels (Not a Strategy Page)

solarz

Brigadier
I met a PLA Army vet in a pub the other day, and I asked him why China is building up all the artificial islands. He said that the ones in the Spratleys are for surveillance/tracking/early-warning purposes only. In the future, the airfields could serve as refueling and maintenance stations for operations over the Indian Ocean. However, the one in Paracel could be something else, especially given its proximity to the Yulin Naval Base.

I've always thought that the only reason the Chinese government would declare the SCS islands a "core interest" would be because of their vital strategic value.

As the US has repeatedly said, the SCS is a vital area for shipping lanes. However, what the US doesn't mention is that the area is vital mostly for China, as the vast majority of the traffic in the area either goes to or comes from China.

The real reason the US has waded into the SCS dispute is not to preserve "freedom of navigation" as it claims, but to *control* those shipping lanes. The US doesn't want true freedom of navigation, it wants freedom of nagivation under US allowance.

China, therefore, is taking measures to deny area access to the US in order to preserve control over their sea lines of communication. This is the real "battle" being fought right now, and everything the US and China has done and is doing right now makes sense when viewed from this light.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
ssible Radar Suggests China Wants ‘Effective Control’ in D
China keep adding the building block of robust Air defense and area denial It make sense since Yongxin is so close to Yulin submarine base . The only base that is has access to Pacific without bypassing narrow strait controlled by Japan and US.
Combined with the planned Anti Submarine base . they guard the southern approach of Yulin
Poisputed Sea
By
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
FEB. 23, 2016
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Photo
24China-master675.jpg


The People’s Liberation Army Navy patrolling on the Spratly Islands. Credit Reuters

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

HONG KONG —
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
may be building a series of radar facilities on artificial islands in disputed waters in the South China Sea, which would help it to establish “effective control” over sea and air in one of the world’s busiest waterways, according to a
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
released this week.

The report, released on Monday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, based on satellite images taken as recently as Feb. 12, comes less than a week after the United States said that China appeared to have deployed
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
on another island in the disputed sea, parts of which are claimed by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The possible radar facilities are far to the south of the missile batteries, on a series of artificial islands in the Spratly chain, closer to the shores of Vietnam, the Philippines and the island of Borneo than to China. In September, China’s president, Xi Jinping, speaking with President Obama at the White House,
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
that Beijing “does not intend to pursue militarization” in the Spratlys, or the Nansha, as the islands are known in China.

Last week, Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, said that the country’s artificial islands in the South China Sea were being used for
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
, pointing out that Beijing had built lighthouses and weather observation facilities there.

But experts say the satellite imagery tells another story.

One structure, built on a newly constructed island on Cuarteron Reef, more than 600 miles south of the southernmost Chinese province, appears to be a high-frequency radar center, made up of a series of tall poles laid out on a flat, rectangular surface, according to the report, compiled by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at C.S.I.S.

Such radar is
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
to detect ship traffic and measure ocean currents, and it can also
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
. Other likely radar sites, some with possible gun emplacements, are on Gaven Reef, Hughes Reef and Johnson South Reef in the Spratlys, the report said.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

“Most people in this area recognize that the facilities that China has constructed are primarily for strategic reasons. They’re for military purposes, rather than civilian,” said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. “But that’s how China will spin it.”

Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that she was unaware of the details of the report about possible radar facilities. But she reiterated Mr. Wang’s assertion that construction in the Spratlys was focused on “public goods,” urging journalists not to focus on military issues.

She left no doubt that China believed it had every right to do what it wanted on the artificial islands, saying its claim over the South China Sea islands was “indisputable.”

“China’s deployment of limited, necessary defense facilities on its own territory is its exercise of its right of self-defense to which a sovereign state is entitled under international law,” Ms. Hua said.
 
Last edited:

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
I met a PLA Army vet in a pub the other day, and I asked him why China is building up all the artificial islands. He said that the ones in the Spratleys are for surveillance/tracking/early-warning purposes only. In the future, the airfields could serve as refueling and maintenance stations for operations over the Indian Ocean. However, the one in Paracel could be something else, especially given its proximity to the Yulin Naval Base.

The islands are just platforms which can accommodate all sorts of systems.

At a minimum, they would extend ISR coverage in the waters of the SCS.

And these days, if you can see it, you can generally hit it.
 

solarz

Brigadier
Not only that, those islands can effectively garrison enough forces to form protective bastions around the PLAN SSBN patrol zones which would have been the envy of the USSR (hence the big emphasis on ASW helicopter bases - to find and hunt any "unfriendly" SSNs coming in to try and stalk PLAN SSBNs).

Good point, the SSBN angle is something I had not considered. It only adds to the idea that SCS is of vital strategic importance.
 

plawolf

Lieutenant General
Good point, the SSBN angle is something I had not considered. It only adds to the idea that SCS is of vital strategic importance.

Well to be fair, this isn't remotely close to being a job for any of us, so the amount of time and energy we direct at it is going to be fleeting.

I only joined the dots myself as I was writing that post. But now that I made the connection, it does make an awful lot of sense as to why everyone is devoting so much energy and attention to this issue, at least to me.
 

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
Well to be fair, this isn't remotely close to being a job for any of us, so the amount of time and energy we direct at it is going to be fleeting.

I only joined the dots myself as I was writing that post. But now that I made the connection, it does make an awful lot of sense as to why everyone is devoting so much energy and attention to this issue, at least to me.

I think there are just too many scenarios where the islands come in useful.

I'll add that once the SCS island bases are operational, any hope that Clinton had of forging a united SCS front against China will be gone, because China will militarily dominant the region, irrespective of what anyone else does.

In this scenario, it just isn't worth ganging up with the US against China, because the benefits are actually negative to them.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Here is the picture
CHINA appears to be building military-grade radar on key shipping routes, in a move that’s filling other world powers with fear.

Satellite images show what look like high frequency radar, communication towers and observation posts under construction on Cuarteron Reef, the southern most of a chain of seven disputed islands in the South China Sea.

The images were released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the US shortly after 3000m runways were spotted at nearby reefs built up by China.

China claims the construction work is purely for civilian use, but Gregory Poling from CSIS told news.com.au it would be “over the top” for non-military purposes in the region.

“We noticed the poles that seemed to indicate radar,” said Mr Poling, head of the CSIS Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative. “It will increase China’s ability to patrol and monitor the South China Sea.”

44b31710d43a4bb027e81ca3319e2c2c

The Asian superpower appears to be building radar poles and communications equipment in the south of the outpost. Picture: CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe

5ec51e96e81585a165eccbebecb60d7b

The northern section appears to have under-construction radar, a bunker and a lighthouse. Picture: CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe

CSIS pinpointed what look like two radar towers, a bunker and a lighthouse in the north of the 200,000sq m island; several 20m radar poles and communications equipment in the south; a quay with loading crane in the west and a helipad in the island’s centre.

Cuarteron Reef is one of the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by less powerful countries including Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Photos suggest China is building radar on some of these other islands, too.

“We’ll see these facilities come online over the course of a year,” said Mr Poling, who is based in Washington. “There’s no way of knowing if the high frequency radar are already in operation but we can tell some of the towers are not done yet.

“Along with the runways and infrastructure, the effect is going to be exponential in increasing China’s power in the region. It will increase its ability to project power further south.”

23c91639b936404138f1b96d77312433

China also seems to be building radar and runways on other islands in the Spratly chain. Picture: CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe

a5fdc6c98e0f351c87447e568d78e69e

The military-grade capabilities will increase China’s ability to patrol one of the world’s most important shipping routes. Picture: CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe

This growth in military capabilities will make it harder for not only China’s smaller neighbours to operate in the area, but for the US, Japan and Australia. It will give the Asian superpower control over planes and vessels in the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world for goods including oil.

The radar will work like Australia’s “Jindalee” over-the-horizon system, bouncing radar waves off the ionosphere. They will be able to spot US stealth aircraft such as the B2 Spirit stealth bomber, F-22 Raptor and the F-35, so they can send in fighters with advanced infra-red seekers.

“It’s more advanced than what anybody else has in the South China Sea,” said Mr Poling. “Vietnam occupies 27 islands but in a far less sophisticated way.

“China has been pretty clear it aims to establish de facto, if not legal, control over the area.”

While other countries may be able to remain on nearby islands, their ability to resupply their islands and fish in the region will depend on China.

9dfea395f104a3125a4fecedb98c32a2

Experts say it will allow China to extend its influence to the south, affecting any country that uses the popular shipping lanes, including Japan, the US and Australia. Picture: CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe
 

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
Are the islands actually big enough for long range OTH-B emitter with lots of 20m poles like Jindalee?

Or are the 20m poles just for a shorter-range OTH-SW radar?
 
Top