3 Chinese navy ships visit Vietnam

3 Chinese navy ships visit Vietnam

(Source: Xinhua)   2013-01-08

　　HO CHI MINH CITY, Vitenam, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Three Chinese navy ships returning from counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden have docked at south Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, kicking off a five-day good-will visit on Monday.

　　The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ships belonging to the 12nd Escort Task Group were warmly received by representatives from Vietanmese army and government, the Chinese embassy in Vietnam and consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City as well as local Chinese institutions and companies.

　　The escort task group is composed of missile frigates CNS Yi Yang and CNS Chang Zhou and comprehensive replenishment ship CNS Qian Dao Hu. The fleet, led by Rear Admiral Zhou Ximing and joined by over 790 PLA Navy officers and men, had left China in July, 2012, and visited Sydney of Australia in December after fulfilling the escort mission.

　　Zhou Ximing, on behalf of the escort task group, briefed Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Kong Xuanyou and other visitors to the ships on their counter-piracy and excort mission.

　　According to the schedule, the Chinese PLA Navy visiting group will hold various activities jointly with their Vietnamese counterparts, as to increase bilateral communication and understanding, while Zhou Ximing and his commanding team are to visit and hold talks with Vietnamese government and senior military officials including Rear Admiral Pham Van Hong, Deputy Staff Chief of Vietnamese Navy.

　　Navy fleets escorting commercial vessels in the Indian Ocean have successfully accomplished their international missions over the last four years, the PLA Naval Headquarters has said on Dec. 25, 2012.

　　Chinese Navy has increased its ability to conduct off-shore military maneuvers, with a total of 34 warships, 28 helicopters and over 10,000 officers and sailors participating in ocean-going missions since Dec. 26, 2008, when Chinese navy ships began conducting escort missions in the Indian Ocean. Since then, they have escorted over 5,000 Chinese and foreign civilian vessels, half of which belonged to foreign owners including Vietnamese.

Editor:Ouyang Dongmei

Photos of the day: New Chinese light tank

Not much is known about this new AFV but it has been spotted en route to the Tibet area on a regular basis.   It is also sporting a 105mm tank gun.

Burma, too close for comfort

Not sure using harsh language will be any good in stopping the bombing.  Anyhow, you can watch the bombing from this BBC vid (here)

China makes formal complaint to Myanmar over bombing raids

Foreign ministry asks Myanmar to confine its military action against Kachin rebels to its own territory after air strikes on the Chinese side
Saturday, 05 January, 2013, 12:00am

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1120200/china-makes-formal-complaint-myanmar-over-bombing-raids


China has made a diplomatic complaint to Myanmar after three bombs landed on its territory during air strikes on ethnic minority rebels in Kachin state, causing damage to one house.

"The Chinese side has launched representations with the Myanmar side requiring them to take effective and immediate measures to avoid the repetition of similar incidents," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing yesterday. She said there were no casualties from the bombs, which landed on a village in Yingjiang county, Yunnan , on Sunday night.

Residents of the border county said there had been bombing and air raids close to their homes every day in the past week as the Myanmese army struck rebel positions.

"My home is just 10 metres from a river that forms the border with Myanmar's Kachin state," a resident of the town of Nabang said.

"We have heard bombing and air raids in Kachin day and night since [December 28]."

He confirmed that no one had been injured on the Chinese side of the border, but that a house had been flattened by a bomb on Sunday night.

Another Nabang resident said villagers had seen two Myanmese military jets enter China's air space on December 28.

"It's been very common to see Myanmese military jets flying in our skies in the past week, but luckily they just came into our territory in the day time," the villager, who works for a Sino-Myanmese trading company, said. Nighttime air strikes took place in Kachin state, however.

"The air raids have caused thousands of Kachin refugees to escape to our town.

"Our trading business has been affected, with our more than 100 Myanmese staff being forced to cross the border every day before dusk to sleep in a guesthouse in Nabang to escape air raids at night."

The two villagers said the Myanmese refugees had caused no social unrest in Yingjiang county, although many had asked villagers for food.

The trading company employee said none of the refugees had engaged in stealing or robbery, but police patrols had been stepped up anyway since December 28.

The air attacks began the day after the Kachin Independence Army ignored an ultimatum to stop blocking an army supply route in the hilly, resource-rich northern state, where more than 50,000 people have been displaced.

Hua refused to be drawn on whether or not China would mediate between the two sides in an effort to end a conflict that has overshadowed wider political reforms in Myanmar.

"The issue concerning northern Myanmar is Myanmar's internal affair and we hope that the Myanmese government can appropriately deal with the issue through peaceful negotiation," she said.

Reuters, Agence France Presse

Monday, August 31, 2009

The Limit of China’s Influence?

As the conflict between the Kokang army and the Burmese Military subsides, two unexpected developments have unfolded -- The speed of the Burmese military advance and the limit of China’s influence over the course of the event.

Before the current clash began, the Burmese military seized all reinforcement routes between the Kokang army and its allies making speedy reinforcement difficult. A force of 2,000 Wa soldiers had initially come to the assistance of the Kokang, but they retreated Friday. The Karen army is now under Burmese attack and it was also unable to send reinforcements. In addition, Bai Souqian, The Kokang Army’s second in command, defected to the Burmese military with 200 troops and opened the town of Laogai to allow for Burmese occupation. After a week of fighting with hit-and-run tactics and mortar strikes from nearby hills, the 700-strong army fled when two additional Burmese divisions (7000 troops) arrived in Laogai. After reaching the safety of Yannan, they handed their weapons to the Chinese authority and purchased civilian clothing. The Kakang Army suffered minor causalities and is currently safe inside China. However, their future viability is in question.

The Chinese government issued a rare statement to the Burmese Government to "properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the China-Burma border region." China has taken care of the refugees but it seems they have done little beyond that: there was no active support to the Kokang Army as others have suggested. The failure of the Chinese Government in preventing this conflict and the mass exodus of ethnic Chinese puts into question China's capability of maintaining peace in this region. While China supports the Burmese Government in preventing ethnic groups from seeking independence, she failed to live up to the “quid pro quo” role of protecting Burma's minorities (here)

All in all, it was a well-planned and well-timed operation by the Burmese Military in a classic divide-and-conquer move and so far they have succeeded in their objective of routing the Kakang Army with minimal casualties and without strong China interference. They've now moved their attention to the next target, the Karen.

The real loser of this battle might be the Kokang civilians as their lively-hood has been looted by the advancing troops and their autonomy replaced by a “Kokang Region Provisional Leading Committee” under the control of the Rangoon government. Since the cease fire of 1989, the Kokang has become one of the few economic “bright spots” and a busy regional trading center (the planned route for Burma’s largest natural-gas pipeline from western Burma to China runs near the Kokang region). Returning civilians can only hope that their new Provisional Leading Committee does not kill the goose the laid their golden egg.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/world/asia/31iht-myanmar.html?ref=asia

August 31, 2009
Myanmar Army Routs Ethnic Chinese Rebels in the North
By THOMAS FULLER

BANGKOK — The Myanmar military has overwhelmed rebels from an ethnic Chinese minority in the northern reaches of the country, the junta’s second victory over armed opponents in three months.

The routing over the weekend of the forces of the small, Chinese-speaking Kokang ethnic group gives Myanmar’s governing generals momentum in their campaign to quell armed opposition before elections and the adoption of a new Constitution next year.

Several well-armed groups, notably the Wa and Kachin, still stand in the way of the junta’s goal of complete control over the country. But a recently announced agreement of solidarity among the rebel groups, which had the potential to slow the central government’s advance against the Kokang, may be fraying.

The Myanmar government’s strategy, analysts say, appears to be to challenge the groups one by one and to try to capitalize on the many factions within each group.

In June, the military defeated ethnic Karen insurgents along the border with Thailand, aided by a local militia of Karen Buddhists who led an attack on forces that were largely made up of Karen Christians.

To defeat the Kokang, the small ethnic group in the north, the junta allied itself with a defector and chased out troops loyal to the Kokang’s chairman, Peng Jiasheng.

A force of 2,000 Wa soldiers had initially come to the assistance of the Kokang, but they retreated Friday, according to Aung Kyaw Zaw, a former rebel based on the Chinese side of the border. This appeared to undercut a mutual-assistance agreement that the rebel groups reached several weeks ago.

Late on Sunday, Myanmar’s official media broke their silence on the fighting with a television broadcast announcing that clashes had ended and providing what appeared to be a preliminary death toll of 26 members of government security forces and 8 Kokang militiamen, The Associated Press reported. “The region has now regained peace,” the official announcement said.

Chinese state media said that two Chinese citizens had also been killed in the fighting.

News services reported from southern China that Kokang forces were continuing to flee across the border into China on Sunday on the heels of what United Nations and Chinese officials estimated were as many as 30,000 civilian refugees. Nearly half the estimated 1,500 members of the Kokang militia have crossed the border and handed their weapons to the Chinese authorities, according to Mr. Aung Kyaw Zaw.

The central government’s assaults on the Kokang, which began last week, have put other ethnic groups on alert, according to Brang Lai, a local official in the Kachin headquarters in Laiza, along the Chinese border.

“People are very concerned,” Mr. Brang Lai said in a telephone interview. On the Chinese side of Laiza, residents have put Chinese flags on their roofs in the hope that they will be able to avoid any additional fighting. Officers from the Myanmar military’s Northern Division were in Laiza over the weekend to call for calm, Mr. Brang Lai said.

Followers of Mr. Peng, the Kokang’s chairman, were spotted by reporters on the Chinese side of the border buying civilian clothes to replace their militia uniforms.

“There was no way we would win,” Ri Chenchuan, a Kokang rebel, said as he shopped for new clothes, The A.P. reported.

The Myanmar government has signed more than a dozen cease-fire agreements with ethnic groups over the past two decades, but the fighting with the Kokang raised questions about the military’s intentions.

Aung Din, executive director of the United States Campaign for Burma, an advocacy group that opposes the junta, said the generals apparently had adopted a more aggressive posture, partly influenced by the Sri Lankan government’s military victory over Tamil rebels in May.

Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, met with Myanmar’s generals in June in what was his first overseas trip after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers. The visit might have inspired Myanmar’s senior general, Than Shwe, who has spent much of his military career battling ethnic groups, Mr. Aung Din said.

“It was an encouragement to the regime to do away with the insurgency once and for all,” Mr. Aung Din said. “Their thinking has changed.”

The motives and strategies of Myanmar’s leaders have long been difficult to divine. General Than Shwe is a very secretive man and the state-run media are highly selective in their reporting. The report on Sunday evening was the first time they had mentioned the campaign against the Kokang.

The fighting appears to have strained Myanmar’s relations with China, especially since the Kokang are ethnically Chinese. The Chinese Foreign Ministry warned Myanmar on Friday to “properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the China-Myanmar border region.”

Analysts said that the Chinese government had asked Myanmar’s generals to refrain from initiating military campaigns before the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1.

In that light, China could view Myanmar’s campaign as provocative, especially since China is a large investor in Myanmar and plays the role of the junta’s protective big brother in the United Nations and other international forums.

Mr. Aung Kyaw Zaw said he suspected that the Myanmar generals wanted to demonstrate their independence to Chinese leaders. Their message, he said, is that “if we want to fight along the border, we can fight.”

“This is a political game,” he added.

Monday, August 31, 2009

First photos of the Kokang Army since the fighting started

Kokang Army also known as Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)

Photos of the day: Z-9D 001

Back in July 2008, I posted a photo of Z-9D prototype 001 geared as a AShCM carrier equipped with a pair of TL-10 missiles.  Well, it now appears that the project is going no where with the prototype in storage.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Few days ago, I posted news about Z-9D

And today.....
Date Posted: 01-Aug-2008

Jane's Defence Weekly
China rolls out naval variant of Z-9 helo armed with new anti-ship missile

Robert Hewson Jane's Air-Launched Weapons Editor
London
Key Points

*

A recent image of the prototype Z-9D appears to show it armed with a Hongdu TL-10 missile
*

With the Z-9D prototype carrying full PLA markings it appears that the TL-10 is intended for Chinese service

A new armed naval variant of China's Z-9 helicopter has been rolled out, fitted with a new anti-ship missile.

Developed from Harbin's Z-9C shipboard helicopter, already in service with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, the latest aircraft is designated Z-9D. An image taken recently at the Harbin Aircraft Industry Group facility in the northeastern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, shows what appears to be the prototype Z-9D armed with a Hongdu radar-guided TL-10B (KJ-10B) missile. This is the first time that an anti-ship missile has been seen on a Chinese naval helicopter. The image also confirms that the air-launched TL-10 programme is moving forward to deployment.

The TL-10 missile family first appeared in public as a ship-launched weapon (JJ-10) in 2004. In 2006, its manufacturer, the Hongdu Aviation Industry Group, showed the air-launched version (KJ-10). The TL-10 series is a modern, lightweight anti-ship missile system with a 30 kg armour-piercing warhead. It is a rocket-powered, relatively high speed (M0.85) weapon with a maximum range of about 18 km when air launched.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the TL-10 programme is that it has been developed in co-operation with Iran. The Iranian Aerospace Industries Organisation claims to have produced a weapon that is identical to the TL-10, which it calls Kosar. For its part, Hongdu notes that the TL-10 is an export product that has already been delivered to an overseas customer. Initial deliveries - to Iran - covered shipboard missiles only. The emergence of the Z-9D/TL-10 combination indicates that a new phase in the programme has begun.

As well as the radar-guided TL-10B, a version with an electro-optical seeker (TL-10A) is also available. In the past, Hongdu has exhibited mock-ups of the TL-10A fitted to its L-15 trainer and light attack aircraft. The air-launched KJ-10 was conceived from the outset as a helicopter weapon and the Z-9 is an ideal platform. Weighing 105 kg per round, up to four KJ-10Bs could be carried by a Z-9D, although the standard load is likely to be two missiles.

The basic maritime Z-9C helicopter has a sea search radar in its nose. It is not known if this equipment has been upgraded or changed completely to better support the KJ-10's targeting requirements on the Z-9D.

With the Z-9D prototype carrying full PLA markings it appears that the TL-10 is intended for Chinese service, but both helicopter and missile should equally be available for export.

In Iran, HESA (the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company) has drawn up concepts for an armed, up-engined Shahed 478 helicopter that could carry a missile in the TL-10/Kosar class. However, as this remains a speculative design for the moment it is possible that Iran might become a Z-9D customer also. Iran has already shown some acumen in adopting Chinese missile systems for its own helicopters, equipping Mil Mi-17s with the C-802KD anti-ship missile.

The newly rolled out Z-9D shipboard helicopter seen at the Harbin plant with a TL-10B (KJ-10B) anti-ship missile (Via Chinese internet)
130818


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Communist propaganda of the day: Loud speakers backed by a 105mm tank gun

Psychological warfare variant of the ZTD05 Amphibious Assault Gun -- just in case OpFor missed the first message. Personally I prefer to see loud speakers mounted on a Bell UH1 Huey blasting out Wagner's grandoise Ride of the Valkyries instead

Chinese Area 52.

Well, according to this recent CCTV news report, the PLAAF "red flag" test range in northwest China is code named "area 52".   It might be just a might be a coincident but I have a feeling that they were inspired by what the USAF's Tonopah Test Range has to offer in training next generation of combat pilots.

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

The PLAAF Regiments are ....

Recently, the PLAAF gathered over 100 birds for an "air-combat testing assessment" and the participating fighter regiments are as follow:  The 1st (J-11B), 4th (J-8DF), 8th (J-10), 42nd (J-7E), 54th (Su-30) and 55th (J-11).   

PLA Air Force holds confrontation air-combat testing assessment

(Source: China Military Online)   2012-12-05

More than 100 top pilots from 14 aviation brigades/regiments of the Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) piloted their fighters to conduct a fierce “air-combat” from November 19 to 30, 2012, at an experimental training base of the PLA Air Force in northwest China, which is the largest confrontation air-combat testing assessment of the PLA Air Force in recent years. (China Military Online/Niu Xinya, Yang Zhanglin and Yu Hongchun)

Editor:Li Meng