PLA warships carry out biggest live-fire drills yet in South China Sea
Source: South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The PLA Navy has carried out its largest live-fire drill yet in the South China Sea, ahead of a ruling by an international tribunal on a dispute with the Philippines over claims to the strategic waters.
Warships from the north and east fleets joined the south fleet in the drills, the army mouthpiece PLA Daily said on its website.
They focused on air control operations, sea battles and anti-submarine warfare, it said.
The exercise was also significant because it brought together top generals in a joint command scenario. Navy chief General Wu Shengli joined leaders from the powerful Central Military Commissions Joint Staff Department, Training Management and the South Theatre Command for the for the exercise.
The drill focused on air control operations, sea battles and anti-submarine warfare, said the Daily, whose article was also reposted on the defence ministry website. The Daily insisted the exercises were routine and unrelated to the ruling.
But Antony Wong Dong, a Macau-based military observer, said the prominence of the south fleet was noteworthy.
The PLA has always said its drills do not target a third party. But warships from the South Sea Fleet are playing key roles in the drills, and commanders on-site are all top leaders in the army, hinting that the US Navy was the imagined target, Wong said.
Read more: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1987620/pla-warships-carry-out-biggest-live-fire-drills-yet
uawchild
(2,208 posts)The Chinese are really insistent that the UNCLOS has no provisions to settle territorial disputes about land masses (and they are correct, it does not) and that they will not abide by any decision rendered against them by the international tribunal. A proceeding they have refused to take part in.
What's next?
China has offered to conduct bilateral negotiations with any and all other claimant nations to settle the South China Sea dispute, but will anyone even try to go that route?
Is the alternative an increasingly dangerous game of military face-offs?
Will the US and the EU impose economic sanctions on China instead?
How will the US, which itself is not a signatory to the UNCLOS, stop China from going ahead with its plans?
Does this really mean war?
between the US and China would be very bad for business.
Ford_Prefect
(7,828 posts)On the other hand food, raw material and fuel exports would be curtailed dramatically.
Oh yeah, there's that pesky bit about the amount of US debt held by Chinese banks.
Which is to say nothing about the effect of warfare and explosives on fish stocks and harvest in the South China Sea.
Igel
(35,197 posts)Just say that if you're at war with somebody, any US securities registered in that country's name or by that country's nationals are immediate "nationalized" and void.
And to think, in one swell foop Obama could drastically reduce the national debt.