The base question.

Since pundits love to portrait the Global Times as the ONLY opinion and ONLY news source out of China. It is given that the following OpEd will receive much media attention. Also, A few concepts need to spell out -- "build" vs operate vs ownership vs control vs lease.... all those are loaded words in geopolitics.

China needs overseas bases for global role
http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/chinese-press/2011-05/658995.html
Source: Global Times
[19:26 May 25 2011]
Comments

Beijing recently denied a rumor that the Pakistani government has invited it to build a naval base at the port of Gwadar.

But this doesn't stop some of the Western countries and India, China's regional competitor, playing with the so-called China threat theory.

China still has many internal issues other than military development that require urgent attentions, and its military is only being developed to meet the country's self-defense needs. China has made these points many times in the international arena.

China has also made it clear that it wants to maintain peaceful and harmonious relationships with other regional powers.

However, if China is going to play an important role in the Asia-Pacific region and on the international stage, as urged by the international community, it eventually will need to establish overseas military bases in cooperation with other countries.

Military co-operation, along with economic and cultural co-operation, will become increasingly important between China and other regional powers.

It will not only make our world safer, but can also protect trade routes from pirates and terrorists. Worrying about China's overseas military activity will only isolate China from the rest of the world.

Thus, if the world really wants China to take more responsibilities in Asia-Pacific region and around the world, it should allow China to participate in international military co-operations and understand the need of China to set up overseas military bases.

Peace is China's only military interest and the international community should keep this in mind.
Huanqiu Shibao

My previous blog entry on the base question from last year.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Of bases, places, access points, and friendly locations

AYPABTU -- all your place are belong to us.

The question of how the PLAN will receive support for their deployments to the gulf of Aden is still subject to debate and here are some recently published views:

Daniel Kostecka of the US Navy explains the difference between a naval "base" vs. a "place" in the context of the The Chinese Navy’s Emerging Support Network in the Indian Ocean in the latest issue of the Jamestown Foundation's China Brief. (here)
Here are some noteworthy quotes.

While Chinese government officials and academics debate the underlying issues, a supply network of “places” is quietly taking shape [*]. Regardless of whether or not the PLAN develops its support network through a series of formal agreements that guarantee access, or continues to supply its forces as it has been, that network is developing and will in all likelihood continue to grow in the foreseeable future.

Singapore – In all of the speculation about future Chinese facilities in the Indian Ocean, Singapore has been largely ignored by pundits and military analysts. This is somewhat puzzling given Singapore’s friendly relations with Beijing and its strategic position in the Strait of Malacca, which Chinese strategists consider a critical gateway to the Indian Ocean. PLAN vessels have made four port calls to Changi Naval Base, including the May 2007 participation of a PLAN frigate in the multilateral exercise IMDEX-07 and a December 2009 visit by FFG-529 during its transit home from patrol duty in the Gulf of Aden (China Military Online, May 24, 2007; PRC Ministry of National Defense, December 8, 2009). Beijing also signed a defense agreement between China and Singapore in January 2008 that calls for increases in exchanges, educational opportunities and port calls and in July 2010, China’s defense minister pledged to further the development of military relations between China and Singapore (The Straits Times Online, January 8, 2008; Xinhua News Agency, July 14).

* The term "place" as opposed to a "base" was used by then Commander USPACOM, Admiral Thomas B. Fargo during a March 31, 2004 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, www.pacom.mil/speeches/sst2004/040331housearmedsvcscomm.shtml

Dr Andrew S. Erickson writing for "The PLA At Home And A Abroad -- Assessing The Operational Capabilities" prefers the phase "access points" or "friendly locations" to describe the PLAN's support networks.

For several years now, China has been developing a number of what Kamphausen and Liang refer to as “access points,” or “friendly locations” that are intended to enhance the PLA’s ability to project power in Asia.

Pakistan’s port of Gwadar and Sri Lanka’s port of Hambantota represent possible candidates. China has invested significantly in their development, and has made contributions over the years to the welfare of their host governments in the areas of politics, economics, and infrastructure. Perhaps the PLAN is making greatest progress in Burma, where it has reportedly assisted in the construction of several naval facilities (their precise nature undefined) on the Bay of Bengal.

Dr Andrew S. Erickson's places and access graph

No matter how it is called, the Pakistan Navy recently offered facilities, ports, logistics, maintenance among other things to the Chinese navy

http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110081&Itemid=2

Pakistan navy vows to expand co-op with China

BEIJING, July 22 (APP): Pakistan Navy is very satisfied with the performance of the F-22P frigate it bought from China and hopes to further the cooperation with the nation, said Admiral Noman Bashir, Pakistan’s Chief of Naval Staff. Two of the four F-22P frigates it ordered are already in service in Pakistan Navy, with the third one scheduled to be commissioned on September 15 this year. It is also expected that all the four ships will be in service by 2013. “We are very happy with the performance, and some technology is as good as in Western countries,” the China Daily quoted Admiral Noman Bashir, who visited China four times last year.

Pakistan also hopes to buy bigger ships with more firepower from China, such as 4,000 ton class frigates.

Pakistan has proposed to develop strategic maritime cooperation with China in both military and commercial sects, such as in fishery, economic development zones, and cargo, he said.

“The friendship between China and Pakistan is greater than the Himalayas and deeper than the Ocean. We already made progress in air force and other areas, now we should further and expand the cooperation in Navy, a broadly-based relation.”
Pakistan’s strategic geographical location in the Arabian Sea and its long coastline mean its possible contribution to the missions of China’s navy, particularly under the context of energy need from the Persian Gulf, said Pakistan officials.

Pakistan also has rich experiences in countering illegal activities at sea in order to maintain maritime security, four ships participated in anti-piracy operations, and there has been no act of maritime terrorism in its region in the recent past.
“We can provide facilities, ports, logistics, maintenance among other things (to Chinese navy),” said a Pakistan navy official.

Pakistan hopes to buy more ships from China, UK and France according to its development plan.

A larger navy requires a greater logistic support.

China’s new vehicle-mounted degaussing station enters naval service

(Source: PLA Daily) 2011-05-24

The vehicle-mounted degaussing station is conducting degaussing operation to a naval vessel. (Photo by Lu Wenqiang)

In mid May, the China-made new-type vehicle-mounted degaussing station, which has been manufactured under the supervision of a military representative office of the Armaments Department under the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) stationed in Wuhan, finished overall technical joint debugging test and officially entered the degaussing center of a support base of the PLA Navy.

According to expert’s introduction, the China-made new-type vehicle-mounted degaussing station has successfully broken through nearly a hundred of key technologies. Able to carry out 24-hour degaussing operation under no wharf circumstance, it will greatly promote the maneuver support capacity of degaussing naval vessels.

Zhu Yunyu, senior engineer of the military representative office of the Armaments Department of the PLA Navy stationed in Wuhan, told the reporter that the new-type vehicle-mounted degaussing station is barely affected by sea conditions or time periods, besides, after integrated optimization, the vehicle-mounted degaussing devices have been all installed in the standard container, allowing to be carried by landing ship to degauss on the sea.

Editor:Cui Xinwen

Selected photos of PLAN's ADG - De-gaussing ship (Auxiliary, DeGaussing) Fleet.

China defense fourm is now back online.

Since I am posting a new blog entry, might as well share some of the Vietnam People's Air Force's Su-30 bombing run photos.

It is interesting to see that they are still soldiering with the ZSh-3 helmet

ZOMBIES!! China-Defense Forum Under DOS Attack!

Well our hosting service has informed us that as of this morning our discussion forum is undergoing a Denial of Service (DOS) attack from legions of zombie computers (actually I just added that part about zombie computers, but the DOS attack is real). Apparently our cutting edge analysis is cutting too close for a certain foreign government who felt we had to be silenced...or a bunch of teenage losers sitting around in soiled underwear with nothing better to do decided to mess with our site.

In either case, we'll be back soon. Do your part to help the zombie hordes and check often to see if our forum is back up at http://www.china-defense.com/smf

Photo of the day: Chinese entrepreneurial spirit at work

It does not take long for J-20 models to be wildly available in China. Hey, if fanboys are willing to spend, why not.   it seems that answering to the need of the market and reacting to consumer demand is how a communist nation is run

Uranus, made in the U.S.A

Okay, enough college humor.... Looks like Fisheries Law Enforcement Command (FLEC)'s next generation of 400 Ton light patrol boat will be powered by a US made engine.

China Grabs Top Spot In Shipbuilding

While this news is not directly related to "maturing" of the PLAN, but it can serve as a back drop in analyzing China's naval building capability.

China Grabs Top Spot In Shipbuilding

http://www.capitalvue.com/home/CE-news/inset/@10063/post/1396453
Monday 2011-05-09 15:19

A ship being built at a shipyard in Yichang, Hubei province

May 9 -- China recorded completed shipbuilding volume of 65.6 million deadweight tons (DWT) in 2010, accounting for a 43 percent global market share, reports ccstock.cn, citing Xu Zuyuan, the Deputy Transport Minister.

The volume of shipbuilding orders on hand totaled 195.9 million DWT, accounting for 41 percent of the total worldwide.

The volume of new orders received in 2010 hit 75.23 million DWT, accounting for 54 percent of the global total.

China was the top-ranked country worldwide in terms of cargo throughput and container throughput in the past seven years.

According to Li Dong, deputy director of the equipment industry department under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China aims to obtain advanced shipbuilding techniques and become a builder of advanced ships by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

Shares of China CSSC Holdings (600150) rose 2.4 percent to trade at 70.08 yuan per share at 13:24 today.

Berge Everest, the largest dry-bulk vessel (388,000 DWT) launched today in China (here)

An update on PLA's Mi-171 fleet.

After ramping up production of the Mi-171 transport in Chengdu  (here) (here) and taking delivery of the latest batch from Russia, PLA's 2nd LH regiment is now converting some of them into S&R birds.   It seems that the Mi-171 will remain as PLA's mainstay mid-size military transport for the foreseeable future.

Russia to sell 34 helicopters to China by August09:54, May 21, 2011     
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/7387183.html

Russia will finalize the sale of 34 transportation helicopters to China by August, the Interfax news agency reported Friday.

The Mi-171 helicopters are being built in a plant in Russia's Buryat republic. The plant is a part of the Russian Helicopters holding.

The plant's CEO, Leonid Belykh, said the contract for building the helicopters was signed in 2010.

"This is not the first and hopefully not the last contract with our Chinese partners," he said.

Belykh said that Russian helicopter builders have been gradually shifting their cooperation with China from direct shipment to joint projects.

Russia and China have been negotiating on a joint venture for localization of assembly of the Russian helicopters, he said.

The Mi-171 can be used for both commercial and military purposes, depending on modifications.

Source: Xinhua

2nd LH Regiment's S&R with local mods 

China to Speed Up Fighter Jets for Pakistan

Recently, there have been articles all-over-the-place regarding the Sino, US, and Pakistan relations. In addition to the misinformation (one recent article cited the total aid to the Pakistan flood as 28 million, the reality is more than 250 million here  and the deployment of four S&R helicopters here)
Most of the articles are so native they are entertaining.   Than  again, why let facts get in the way of a "good analyses".


Here is an example of an "politically fueled" write up -- one should not draw a conclusion based on an on-going jet project to a complex geo-politic theater of South Asia.   It is advised that not to confuse public display due to internal pressure vs long term geo-political reality on the ground.

China to Speed Up Fighter Jets for Pakistan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704083904576333192239624926.html

By JEREMY PAGE

BEIJING—China has agreed to provide 50 more JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan on an "expedited" basis, a spokesman for the Pakistani air force said, one of the most concrete illustrations yet of how China could fill the vacuum if the U.S. scales down its aid to Pakistan following the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The agreement to accelerate supply of the jointly developed jets, the first 50 of which are being assembled in Pakistan, came as Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani held talks in Beijing during a visit that he has used to portray China as an alternative source of military and civilian aid.

The air-force spokesman, a high-ranking officer who declined to be identified by name, said the deal had been reached during Mr. Gilani's four-day visit to China, which concludes Friday following a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"We're getting the 50 jets, on top of the ones we already have. Something has been agreed in Beijing, so they'll be expedited," he said, declining to give further details.

Mr. Gilani's visit was arranged long before bin Laden's death raised questions about Pakistan's efforts to hunt down the al Qaeda leader, and the trip is ostensibly to mark the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations on Saturday.

But as political pressure mounts in the U.S. for a review of aid to Pakistan, Mr. Gilani has used his visit to highlight his country's long and increasingly close relationship with China, which he described Tuesday as Pakistan's "best friend".

China is Pakistan's biggest arms supplier and its third-biggest trading partner.

The JF-17 is a potent symbol of the two countries' friendship, and a key part of Pakistan's plans to upgrade its aging fleet of American-supplied F-16s and French-made Mirages and to try to match the air power of neighboring India—its arch rival.

The U.S. has repeatedly delayed delivery of F-16s to Pakistan, and has insisted that they not be used against India, with which Washington is now cultivating a strategic partnership to counterbalance Beijing's clout in Asia.

China and Pakistan began developing the relatively cheap multipurpose fighter in 1999 and Pakistan, which has said it wants 250 of them altogether, inducted its first squadron of JF-17s last year, and a second earlier this year.

The air-force spokesman said he did not know whether the second batch of 50 jets would be assembled in Pakistan or delivered whole from China.

He also declined to discuss whether they would be the basic so-calledBlock I models, like the first batch, or an upgraded Block II version, which military aviation experts say could include radar-evading stealth technology—potentially giving Pakistan that capability for the first time.

Questions also remain over the new jets' engines. The first batch were all fitted with Russian ones, but Russian officials have expressed reservations about supplying more of those engines as Pakistan and China have been marketing the JF-17 in many of Russia's traditional markets.

China has been developing its own engine, but it is still undergoing tests, military aviation experts say.

The Pakistani Embassy declined to provide further details about the deal, and a spokeswoman for Mr. Gilani did not respond to repeated phone calls. China's Foreign and Defense Ministries both declined to comment, as did China's air force and the Chinese company which jointly produces the JF-17 with Pakistan.

China has hailed the strength and longevity of the relationship this week, praising Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism, and supporting its response to the U.S. raid. Wen Jiabao, the premier, said China and Pakistan would remain friends "forever" when he met Mr. Gilani on Wednesday.

However, Beijing's rhetoric has been more reserved than Pakistan's, reflecting a desire not to antagonize the U.S. or India or to become too entangled in Pakistan's domestic and international problems.

Nonetheless, diplomats and analysts say China sees an opportunity in the aftermath of bin Laden's death to enhance its economic and military influence in Pakistan with a long-term view to containing India's rise, and opening new trade routes to Central Asia and the Middle East.

China and Pakistan are also discussing plans for Pakistan to buy China's more advanced FC-20 fighter, also known as the J-10, Ahmad Mukhtar, Pakistan's defense minister told reporters Wednesday.

Pakistan's efforts to showcase its close ties with China are causing consternation in the U.S.

During a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday, Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho expressed frustration at Mr. Gilani's statement that China was Pakistan's "best friend" despite billions of dollars of U.S. aid over the last decade.

"It just—it just doesn't make sense...Because, frankly, I'm—I'm getting tired of it, and I think Americans are getting tired of it as far as shoveling money in there [to] people who just flat don't like us," he said, according to a transcript.

At a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week, Congressman Michael McCaul (R) of Texas raised particular concern about whether U.S. military aid had been diverted into the JF-17 program.

Write to Jeremy Page at jeremy.page@wsj.com

more photos of the Qing class SSK

Sub Photos of the day: Qing class in Shanghai, LA class in HongKong

After downstreaming for a day, the new Qing class SSK has reached Shanghai from Wuhan today.

HONG KONG (May 15, 2011) The Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Hampton (SSN 767) approaches the submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40). Frank Cable conducts maintenance and support of submarines and surface vessels deployed in U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Melvin Nobeza)