Jovian
Junior Member
If you want to understand the purpose behind the latest "island building" projects in the South China Sea (by PRC), try finding out how each countries are re-supplying their respective islands today. You can find a YouTube (report) on how the Philippines re-supply their island and reef (claims, see the "BRP Sierra Madre" report), and there are some photos that give some hints on Vietnam's processes.
Basically it comes down to building docks that can load or (more importantly) unload supplies. That tend to make enormous differences. Let's face it, no one will want to fight a "naval battle" in the South China Sea (and that's a good thing). Therefore this is a case of out lasting the others. Everyone are waiting for others to leave. That's how the Philippines lost an island to the Vietnamese (I think, can anyone confirm?) sometime ago.
Re-supplying of island bases which have wide stretches of shallow surroundings is not an easy task. Multiply that difficult task by the number of days, weeks, months and years, and you will start getting a sense of the problem. In future, the Chinese's "garrisons" can be resupplied by bigger tonnage ships (that can carry more supplies). Furthermore, these ships can unload at the garrisons' dock (directly); compare that to previous scenarios where they needed to unload their supplies onto smaller boats first.
So, in short the docks that are currently under constructions are the main game in the current "island building" projects. Any airstrips that can be build are just bonuses. The PLAN will likely NOT want to base anything like submarines or warships (long-term) at these island. However, the Chinese Coast Guard is another matter altogether. Just imagine how far the Chinese Coast Guard ships have to travel to patrol their claims today. Just think about the fuel and food bills (just naming two) today!
Can any one else in the region match what the Chinese are doing? Not at the moment (I think). However, once these "new" island becomes "operational", the other claimants will likely see the benefits of having docks for their respective claims. The age old question is how to fund it in the first place, and how to convince your people (and nation) of the need to fund it. Also, some countries like Vietnam or Philippines might not need projects of similar scale: by the fact that their claims are closer to their "home supply bases". However, having someone like China building on such scale, there will be significant pressure to match them (the Chinese) in this case.
The biggest sour point for me, is the destruction of the reefs, but that's a subject (for discussion) for a different kind of forum.
Jovian
Basically it comes down to building docks that can load or (more importantly) unload supplies. That tend to make enormous differences. Let's face it, no one will want to fight a "naval battle" in the South China Sea (and that's a good thing). Therefore this is a case of out lasting the others. Everyone are waiting for others to leave. That's how the Philippines lost an island to the Vietnamese (I think, can anyone confirm?) sometime ago.
Re-supplying of island bases which have wide stretches of shallow surroundings is not an easy task. Multiply that difficult task by the number of days, weeks, months and years, and you will start getting a sense of the problem. In future, the Chinese's "garrisons" can be resupplied by bigger tonnage ships (that can carry more supplies). Furthermore, these ships can unload at the garrisons' dock (directly); compare that to previous scenarios where they needed to unload their supplies onto smaller boats first.
So, in short the docks that are currently under constructions are the main game in the current "island building" projects. Any airstrips that can be build are just bonuses. The PLAN will likely NOT want to base anything like submarines or warships (long-term) at these island. However, the Chinese Coast Guard is another matter altogether. Just imagine how far the Chinese Coast Guard ships have to travel to patrol their claims today. Just think about the fuel and food bills (just naming two) today!
Can any one else in the region match what the Chinese are doing? Not at the moment (I think). However, once these "new" island becomes "operational", the other claimants will likely see the benefits of having docks for their respective claims. The age old question is how to fund it in the first place, and how to convince your people (and nation) of the need to fund it. Also, some countries like Vietnam or Philippines might not need projects of similar scale: by the fact that their claims are closer to their "home supply bases". However, having someone like China building on such scale, there will be significant pressure to match them (the Chinese) in this case.
The biggest sour point for me, is the destruction of the reefs, but that's a subject (for discussion) for a different kind of forum.
Jovian
