China claims to South China Sea

May 20, 2013 By Dr. Subhash Kapila - eurasiareview.com

Introductory Observations

The South China Sea region has been converted into a militarily turbulent one due to the illegal claims by China declaring sovereignty over the entire South China Sea.

China in the process has not only resorted to escalated military brinkmanship but also resorted to use of armed force and coercion against its less powerful South East Asian neighbours, namely, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Asian security as a whole today stands endangered by China’s military adventurism not only in the South China Sea against Vietnam and the Philippines, but extending to the Himalayan Borders of India with China- Occupied Tibet. Chinese military adventurism to reinforce its sovereignty over disputed borders is by now a well-established pattern.

India has a legitimate strategic interest in the South China Sea region encompassing political, economic and strategic factors. At the ASEAN-India Summit in New Delhi in December 2012, India had declared its position on the South China Sea disputes in consonance with the global sentiments.

Reiteration of India’s stand on the South China Sea conflicts should be a pointer that India stands firmly against any Chinese actions that violate international laws and UN Conventions. The recent assertions by the Indian Defence Minister, A K Antony were a welcome reiteration and reassurance and should go down well in South East Asian countries that look upon India as the regional balancer against China’s hegemonistic inclinations against its Southern neighbours.

Indian Defence Minister’s Assertions on South China Sea Security

Voicing concerns over China’s actions in the South China Sea region, the Indian Defence Minister addressing media persons on May 11, 2013 made the following assertions:

    “There should be freedom of navigation as per the UN conventions.”

    “India has commercial interests and though it is not a party to the dispute, it believes that disputes should be settled as per UN laws.”

    “The protection of Sea-Lanes of Communication is becoming more and more important. Economic development, trade and commerce depend on the security of Sea Lanes of Communication”

Indian Defence Minister’s Assertions Analysed

Taken at face value, the assertions made by the Indian Defence Minister’s may not count much and may not be counted as strong assertions. But coming from the Indian Defence Minister who is noted for his reticence and measured words, there are a lot of implicit messages for China on its aggressive postures on the South China Sea issues. Political signalling can therefore be read in these assertions.

Emphasis on UN Conventions and dispute/conflict resolution as per UN Laws (read UNCLOS) by the Indian Defence Minister clashes diametrically with China’s rigidly stated positions that the South China Sea disputes will be resolved by China only through “bilateral negotiations” with the other disputants. This simply because in a bi-lateral process China can bring to bear its awesome military coercion in play against small countries like Vietnam and the Philippines.

India’s opposition to China’s declaratory stands is therefore noteworthy. It is more noteworthy in the sense that such assertions by US dignitaries earlier drew strong protests from China as interference in its internal affairs. The United States ignored these protests. It is time that India too discards its deference to Chinese sensitivities.

Further, the assertion on freedom of navigation is in keeping with international pronouncements of commitments to “defence of global commons” Implicit in such international stands is the message for China that the South China Sea is a global heritage which cannot be consigned to the ‘full sovereignty over the whole South China Sea’ as declared by China. The Chinese stand apparently is being challenged by India in an implied manner along with the rest of the Asian community.

Protection of Sea Lanes of Communication that pass through the South China Sea can be read as India fears genuinely, as the rest of the world does, that China could threaten these vital maritime lifelines and that the global community has to take initiatives to forestall that threat. Can one read in this assertion by the Indian Defence Minister that India would be inclined to join any international effort to ensure that the South China Sea maritime arteries remain open without any restrictions or impediments by China?

More significantly, what needs to be considered is the contextual backdrop where the Indian Defence Minister was making the above assertions on the South China Sea.

These assertions by the Indian Defence Minister were not made at any Seminar or discussion event on the South China Sea conflict but these Indian concerns were expressed to media-persons after commissioning the first ship-deck based super-sonic jet fighter, the MIG 29K Squadron at Goa comprising 18 jet fighters for the Indian Navy. A total of 45 MIG 29K supersonic jet fighters have been purchased from Russia at a cost of over $ 2 Billion.

Contextually, these assertions by the Indian Defence Minister were made on the eve of the Chinese Prime Minister’s visit to India. Also they coincide with recent media reports of India upgrading its maritime surveillance and operational capabilities and infrastructure in South India for extended coverage of the Indian Ocean sea-lanes and threats.

The Indian Defence Minister also informed the media that India’s first indigenously built Aircraft Carrier would be launched on August 12 this year and the INS VIKRAMADITYA would arrive from Russia before the end of 2013.

In a context other than the South China Sea, but at the same event and with China still in mind, it was reassuring to hear the Indian Defence Minister declare that “As China has the right to improve, increase and strengthen and other facilities on its land; India has the right to develop its own infrastructure.”

India’s Commercial Interest in the South China Sea.

While on the subject of India’s legitimate strategic interests in the South China Sea, it needs to be remembered that India’s energy security quest led it also to set up a joint exploration project with Vietnam in two oil exploration blocks numbered 127&128 in Phu Khanh Basin.

Some quarters have wrongly reported that India’s oil-exploration projects are in disputed waters. That is the Chinese version. It needs to be clarified that these Indian oil exploration projects which China protested against are located in South China Sea waters in Vietnam’s jurisdiction and not Chinese jurisdiction. Hence China’s protests are not tenable when the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas are kept in mind.

China neither has de-facto nor de-jure jurisdiction over the entire South China Sea. By unilateral and illegal declarations of its Nine Dashed Line, China cannot order all international oil-prospecting projects in the South China Sea region to stop their operations.

Concluding Observations

India may not be a party to the dispute in the South China Sea as regards the sovereignty of the disputed islands is concerned, but India should consider itself as a legitimate stake-holder in the security and stability of the South China Sea.

In the above context therefore, India as a major maritime power in the Indo-Pacific Region must consider that no major power including China is allowed to resort to aggressive military brinkmanship to redraw maps to establish China’s full sovereignty over the entire South China Sea. Tomorrow China would start claiming some portions of the Indian Ocean on historical grounds that some Chinese Admiral’s fleet traversed those areas centuries ago.

India to begin with may not be able to perform this task single-handedly. In tandem with its preparations for building up its maritime power, India must politically be more vocal in embedding in international consciousness that Asian stability and security stands endangered if China is allowed a free run in riding rough-shod over the sovereignty and legal claims of its smaller neighbours like Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea.

May 12, 2013 brahmand.com

BEIJING (PTI): China on Friday announced the formation of its first aircraft carrier-borne aviation force, signalling its determination to enhance the reach of its fast-expanding navy's might.

"A carrier-borne aviation force has been formally established as part of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy," the state-media reported.

The forming of the force, approved by the Central Military Commission (CMC), demonstrates that the development of China's aircraft carriers has entered a new phase, Xinhua news agency quoted military sources as saying.

Beijing's apparent determination to extend its control over the seas with a "blue-water force" comes at a time of increasingly acrimonious maritime disputes with neighbouring countries such as Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

China has also expressed public concern over the United States' "pivot" to Asia, which Beijing views as a direct threat to the country's rise.

The carrier-borne aviation force comprises carrier-borne fighter jets, jet trainers and ship-borne helicopters that operate anti-submarine, rescue and vigilance tasks, it said.

The military sources said the carrier-borne force is vital to the strike force of China's aircraft carrier and a vanguard in transforming its navy. It will also play a key role in developing aircraft carrier groups and building a strong navy.

Wu Shengli, a member of the CMC and commander of the PLA Navy, attended the forming event on Friday.

The sources said the personnel of the force are more elite than the aviation forces within the PLA. To be able to fly fighter jets, the pilots should have flown at least five types of aircraft and their flight time must exceed 1,000 hours.

Rich experience in joint drills and major drills is also a prerequisite. The pilots also received training in courses like warship theory, nautical basics, and maritime meteorology.

Currently, China operates one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was refitted based on an unfinished Russian- made carrier and delivered to the Navy on September 25, 2012.

The carrier's original design allows it to carry about 30 fixed-wing aircraft.

The Liaoning has conducted successful take-off and landing tests of its carrier-borne J-15 fighters, the main strike force of China's carrier group.

May 7, 2013 economictimes.indiatimes.com

WASHINGTON: Asserting that China has signed agreements for arms exports worth $11 billion from 2007 to 2011, the Pentagon has said that Pakistan remains Beijing's primary customer for conventional weapons.

"From 2007 to 2011, China signed approximately $11 billion in agreements for conventional weapons systems worldwide, ranging from general purpose materiel to major weapons systems," the Pentagon told the Congress in its annual report on China.

In 2012 and the coming years, China's arms exports will likely increase modestly as China's domestic defence industry improves, it said, adding that Chinese defence firms are marketing and selling arms throughout the world with the bulk of their sales to Asia and the Middle East/North Africa.

In 2012, China unveiled the Yi Long tactical unmanned aerial vehicle, which will probably be marketed to developing countries, it said.

Pakistan, it said, remains its primary customer for conventional weapons. "China engages in both arms sales and defence industrial cooperation with Islamabad, including co-production of the JF-17 fighter aircraft, F-22P frigates with helicopters, K-8 jet trainers, F-7 fighter aircraft, early warning and control aircraft, tanks, air-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and cooperation on main battle tank production," the Pentagon report said.

"We describe in this report China's bilateral military interactions with other countries, including Pakistan. China has a very longstanding historical relationship with Pakistan, and it's one that we watch and we report on in this report," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia David Helvey told reporters during a Pentagon news conference.

Helvey said the US is monitoring very carefully China's military modernisation, the implications of that modernisation both for opportunities to cooperate with China in a multinational or bilateral context, but also for potential implications for regional stability.

According to the report, Sub-Saharan African countries view China as a provider of low-cost weapons with fewer political strings attached compared to other international arms suppliers.

"China uses arms sales as part of a multifaceted approach to promote trade, secure access to natural resources, and extend its influence in the region," it said.

07/05/2013 L'Expansion.com (AFP)

Alors que de multiples accusations avaient déjà été faites à l'encontre d'entreprises privées chinoises liées au gouvernement, le Pentagone a publié un rapport accusant directement le pouvoir chinois.

May 7, 2013: Strategy page

The recent (April 15th) Chinese incursion inside Indian Kashmir has reminded Indian military leaders that despite over five years of brave talk and bold plans not much has actually been accomplished to rectify the shortage of access to the Indian side of the border. It was this lack of access that played a key role in the last border war with China (in 1962) which saw better prepared and supplied Chinese forces wearing down their brave but ill-supplied Indian opponents. Indians are waking up to the fact that a repeat of their 1962 defeat is in the making.

Over the last five years India has ordered roads built so that troops can reach the Chinese border in sufficient strength to stop a Chinese invasion. The roads have, for the most part, not been built. The problem is the Indian bureaucracy and its inability to get anything done quickly, or even on time. The military procurement bureaucracy is the best, or worst example of this. The military procurement bureaucracy takes decades to develop and produce locally made gear and often never delivers. Buying foreign equipment is almost as bad, with corruption and indecisiveness delaying, and sometimes halting selection and purchase of needed items.

Despite the bureaucracy some progress has been made. Three years ago India quietly built and put into service an airfield for transports in the north (Uttarakhand) near their border with China. While the airfield can also be used to bring in urgently needed supplies for local civilians during those months when snow blocks the few roads, it is mainly there for military purposes in case China invades again. Uttarakhand is near Kashmir and a 38,000 square kilometer chunk of land that China seized after a brief war with India in 1962. This airfield and several similar projects along the Chinese border are all about growing fears of continued Chinese claims on Indian territory. India is alarmed at increasing strident Chinese insistence that is owns northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. This has led to an increased movement of Indian military forces to that remote area.

India has discovered that a buildup in these remote areas is easier said than done. Without new roads nothing else really makes much difference. Airfields require fuel and other supplies to be more than just another place where an aircraft can land (and not take off if it needs refueling). Moreover, the Indians found that they were far behind Chinese efforts. When they took a closer look three years ago, Indian staff officers discovered that China had improved its road network along most of their 4,000 kilometer common border. Indian military planners calculated that, as a result of this network, Chinese military units could move 400 kilometers a day on hard surfaced roads, while Indian units could only move half as fast, while suffering more vehicle damage because of the many unpaved roads. Moreover China had more roads right up to the border. Building more roads on the Indian side will take years, once the bureaucratic problems are overcome (which often takes a decade). The roads are essential to support Indian plans to build more airfields near the border and stationing modern fighters there. Military planners found, once the terrain was surveyed and calculations completed, that it would take a lot more time because of the need to build maintenance facilities, roads to move in fuel and supplies, and housing for military families.

All these border disputes have been around for centuries but became more immediate when India and China fought a short war, up in these mountains, in 1962. The Indians lost and are determined not to lose a rematch. But so far, the Indians have been falling farther behind China. This situation developed because India, decades ago, decided that one way to deal with a Chinese invasion was to make it difficult for them to move forward. Thus, for decades, the Indians built few roads on their side of the border. But that also made it more difficult for Indian forces to get into the disputed areas. This strategy suited the Indian inability to actually build roads in these sparsely inhabited areas.

The source of the current border tension goes back a century and heated up when China resumed its control over Tibet in the 1950s. From the end of the Chinese empire in 1912 up until 1949 Tibet had been independent. But when the communists took over China in 1949, they sought to reassert control over their "lost province" of Tibet. This began slowly, but once all of Tibet was under Chinese control in 1959, China once again had a border with India and there was immediately a disagreement about exactly where the border should be. That’s because, in 1914, the newly independent government of Tibet worked out a border (the McMahon line) with the British (who controlled India). China considers this border agreement illegal and wants 90,000 square kilometers back. India refused, especially since this would mean losing much of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India and some bits elsewhere in the area.

Putting more roads into places like Arunachal Pradesh (83,000 square kilometers and only a million people) and Uttarakhand (53,566 square kilometers and ten million people) will improve the economy, as well as military capabilities. This will be true of most of the border area. For decades local civilians along these borders have been asking for more roads and economic development, but were turned down because of the now discredited Indian strategy.

All the roads won't change the fact that most of the border is mountains, the highest mountains (the Himalayas) in the world. So no matter how much you prepare for war, no one is going very far, very fast, when you have to deal with these mountains. As the Indians discovered, the Chinese persevered anyway and built roads and railroads anyway and now India has to quickly respond in kind or face a repeat of their 1962 defeat.

Despite the lack of roads India has moved several infantry divisions, several squadrons of Su-30 fighters, and six of the first eight squadrons of its new Akash air defense missile systems as close to the Chinese border as their existing road network will allow. Most of these initially went into Assam, just south of Arunachal Pradesh, until the road network is built up sufficiently to allow bases to be maintained closer to the border. It may be a decade or more before those roads are built, meaning China can seize Arunachal Pradesh anytime it wants and there’s not much India can do to stop it.

Undeterred by that the Indian Army has asked for $3.5 billion in order to create three more brigades (two infantry and one armored) to defend the Chinese border. Actually, this new force is in addition to the new mountain corps (of 80,000 troops) nearing approval (at a cost of $11.5 billion). The mountain corps is to be complete in four years. The three proposed brigades would be ready in 4-5 years. By the end of the decade India will have spent nearly five billion dollars on new roads, rail lines, and air fields near the 4,057 kilometer long Chinese border. Spending the money is not the same as actually getting the roads and railroads actually built.

All this is another example of the old saying that amateurs (and politicians) talk tactics, while professionals talk logistics. China realized this first and has built 58,000 kilometers of roads to the Indian border, along with five airbases and several rail lines. Thus China can move thirty divisions to the border, which is three times more than India can get to its side of the frontier.

Apr 25, 2013 brahmand.com

NEW DELHI (PTI): Against the backdrop of China strengthening its capability to airlift soldiers, India is planning to raise around 1,500 more airborne troops for deployment in the northeast along the China border.

Under the 12th Defence Plan, India is planning to raise two new battalions of the airborne troops with around 1,500 personnel under the elite Parachute Regiment of the Army, Defence Ministry sources told PTI here.

The new raisings would be apparently used to check any move by any adversary to airdrop their troops within Indian territory and capture that area, they said.

The new units would also be used for the conventional roles in counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations in that area and would also be capable of being dropped behind enemy lines in case of any future war, they said.

Recently, the Army raised the 11 Para (SF) that is being deployed under the Tezpur-based 4 Corps and 3 Corps in Dimapur which are two of the Army's main formations looking after the border with China in the northeast.

The Parachute Regiment has 10 units under it of which eight are Special Forces units while the rest are Para Commando units with capability of launching airborne operations.

Seven among them have already been trained and classified as Special Forces, which are supposed to carry out counter- insurgency operations during peacetime and sabotage enemy installations beyond enemy lines during wars.

They are deployed in different sectors of the country and have also been given the responsibility to handle 26/11 type attacks near their area of deployment.

China in the recent past has significantly enhanced its capability to launch airborne operations and according to some reports, can air lift more than 3,500 soldiers for operational deployment in one go.

25/04/2013 par Jacques N. Godbout - 45eNord

Nouveau pas dans la construction de la puissance navale chinoise, le numéro deux de la Marine populaire de l’Armée de Libération (APL), Song Hue, a déclaré cette semaine que «la Chine aura plus d’un porte-avions», rapporte l’agence officielle chinoise Chine Nouvelles.

Song Hue a déclaré, lors d’une cérémonie pour célébrer le 64e anniversaire de la fondation de la Marine à Pékin, en présence d’attachés militaires étrangers, que «le prochain porte-avions dont nous avons besoin sera plus grand et pourra transporter plus de combattants».

Actuellement, la Chine opère un porte-avions, le Liaoning, qui a été construit sur la base d’une coque inachevée de fabrication russe et livré à la Marine le 25 septembre 2012.

Le Liaoning, doit effectuer sa première campagne en haute mer d’ici un an.

L’amiral Song a aussi rappelé que le Liaoning n’appartient pas à l’une des trois flottes de la Marine, mais qu’il est placé sous le commandement direct du quartier général de la Marine.

Le Liaoning a une cylindrée totale de plus de 50 000 tonnes et peut accueillir 30 aéronefs. Le prochain porte-avions, toujours selon l’amiral chinois, devrait en accueillir davantage.

Song Hue a également déclaré que la Marine chinoise est à bâtir une force aérienne navale et qu’il il y aura bientôt au moins deux régiments d’aviation à bord du Liaoning, y compris des chasseurs, des avions de reconnaissance, des avions anti-sous-marins, des avions de contre-mesures électroniques (ECM) et des hélicoptères.

Le numéro deux de la marine chinoise dit également que les futurs groupes de porte-avions comprendront aussi des destroyers, des frégates, des sous-marins et des navires de ravitaillement.

Plus de mille entreprises chinoises auraient participé à la construction et au réaménagement du Liaoning.

April 26th, 2013 defencetalk.com (AFP)

Japan would respond with force if China attempts to land on the disputed Senkaku Islands, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in Parliament.

Abe was responding to a question about what he was prepared to do if Chinese ships sailing close to the islands — called the Diaoyu Islands by the Chinese — tried to land, a BBC report said.

“We have made sure that if there is an instance where there is an intrusion into our territory or it seems that there could be landing on the islands then we will deal will it strongly,” Abe said.

China claims the Senkaku Islands, which lie about 100 miles north of Japan’s Ishigaki Island and about 115 miles northeast of Taiwan, as its territory under treaties signed in the late 1800s.

At the end of World War II the islands were under U.S. jurisdiction as part of the captured Japanese island of Okinawa. Japan has administered them since 1972 when Okinawa was returned to Japan.

Tensions flared between Beijing and Tokyo in September after the Japanese government bought three of the islands from a private Japanese owner, triggering protests in Chinese cities.

Since then China has stepped up patrols around the islands for which Japan has lodged formal diplomatic complaints.

Abe’s warning — the most explicit to China since he took power in December — came as eight Chinese ships sailed around the islands, the BBC said. A flotilla of 10 fishing boats carrying Japanese activists was also reported to be in the area, as well as the Japanese coast guard.

A report by Japan’s Kyodo news agency said China’s State Oceanic Administration saying its eight vessels were in the area but within what it claims is its territorial waters.

The vessels are monitoring the activity of a flotilla of boats reportedly carrying members of a Japanese nationalist group, the Kyodo report said.

Japanese coast guard officials have said it was the largest number of Chinese government ships to enter the disputed area since September when Tokyo purchased the islands.

In January China said it would carry out an oceanic survey of the islands as part of a larger island and reef mapping project started in 2009, Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency said.

“Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets have been the inherent territory of China since ancient times,” a Chinese government said at the time.

China’s National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation has completed mapping of islands within 60 miles of China’s coastline and will start on territories further afield which include the Senkaku, also claimed by Taiwan.

April 24, 2013: Strategy Page

Four years ago China revealed an assault gun version of its ZBL 09 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle. This version has a small turret containing a 105mm gun, for providing direct fire support for troops. There was already an artillery version, carrying a 122mm howitzer in a larger turret. There are several other versions, and apparently more on the way.

The Chinese Army has been recently referring to this vehicle as a wheeled light tank. It’s unclear if this means a new doctrine about how the ZBL 09/105mm is to be used, or if the vehicle remains assigned to infantry support work with some extra training for shooting up other armored vehicles. The 105mm gun carried is not powerful enough to destroy most modern tanks, but could knock out most other armored vehicles.

The basic ZBL 09 is a 21 ton vehicle that has a crew of three and carries seven passengers. The vehicle is 8 meters (25 feet) long, three meters (9.2 feet) wide and 2.1 meters (6.5 feet, to the hull roof) high. It's amphibious, and has a top water speed of 8 kilometers an hour. On roads, top speed is 100 kilometers an hour, and max road range on internal fuel is 800 kilometers. The infantry carrier version has a turret with a 30mm autocannon. There are also artillery versions carrying either a 105mm or 122mm howitzer.

The ZBL 09 entered service in 2009, and some combat brigades are being equipped with it, to operate somewhat like the American Stryker brigades. China has been developing new wheeled armored vehicles for over a decade. Until recently, these were all based on Russian designs. The ZBL 09, however, borrows more ideas from the West. Still, some of the more recent (five years ago) Russian type designs were interesting, and instructive.

Apr. 24, 2013 – Defense News (AFP)

As tensions rise over island dispute

BEIJING — The top US military officer told China’s leaders on Wednesday that Washington is committed to defending Japan, as Beijing and Tokyo engage in intensified rhetoric over a territorial row.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is visiting China just as the dispute between Beijing and Tokyo over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea is again heating up.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Tuesday to “expel by force” any Chinese landing on the islands, which are administered by Japan as the Senkakus but also claimed by China as the Diaoyus.

His statement came after a flotilla of eight Chinese government vessels sailed into the disputed waters, the biggest number to do so in one day since Tokyo’s nationalization of some of the islands in September.

“In the case of Japan, I was careful to remind them (China’s senior leaders) that the US has certain treaty obligations with Japan, that we would honor,” Dempsey told reporters in Beijing.

US officials have said that while Washington takes no side in the dispute itself, the islands are under Japan’s control and thus protected under the US security treaty with Tokyo.

Dempsey also expressed concern that rhetoric between China and Japan over the rival claims is increasing the risk that the situation could spin out of control and lead to clashes.

“I think the heightened risk is a function of heightened rhetoric that could produce emotional outcomes at the tactical level, that could frankly get away from the control of the central level,” he said.

A group of Japanese nationalists said Tuesday it had sent nine ships to the area around the islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan.

Dempsey said at a joint press conference Monday with Fang Fenghui, the chief of the People’s Liberation Army general staff, that Washington’s aim was “to be a stabilizing influence in the region.”

China appeared to single out the US in a military white paper last week, saying “certain efforts” to enhance military deployment in Asia “are not conducive to the upholding of peace and stability in the region.”

The US is engaged in a “pivot” to Asia after years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“A fair share of the questions that were discussed in my meetings with senior leaders had to do with our rebalance to the Pacific, and seeking greater clarity on what we mean by it,” Dempsey said.

“It is a strategic imperative for us over time to rebalance to the Pacific, because that’s where future trends are taking us,” he said.

Dempsey met new Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, with the state Xinhua news agency reporting that Xi called for the two countries as well as their militaries to foster deeper trust.

PEKIN, 24 avr 2013 marine-oceans.com  (AFP)

La Chine va se doter de plusieurs porte-avions et le deuxième devra être plus grand et capable d'accueillir plus de chasseurs que le premier, a indiqué un haut responsable militaire chinois cité mercredi par l'agence Chine nouvelle.

"Nous espérons que le prochain porte-avions sera plus grand et qu'il pourra transporter plus d'avions", a expliqué le contre-amiral Song Xue, chef d'état-major adjoint de la Marine chinoise, aux attachés militaires de 64 pays, selon l'agence officielle chinoise.

Ceux-ci étaient reçus mardi pour le 64e anniversaire de la fondation de la marine de l'Armée populaire de libération.

En septembre dernier, la Chine a mis en service son premier porte-avions, le Liaoning, construit à partir de la coque d'un navire destiné à l'origine à la Marine soviétique, le Varyag, qui n'avait jamais été achevé.

Cette mise en service était intervenue en pleine crise des relations entre Pékin et Tokyo autour de la souveraineté d'îles - appelées Diaoyu en chinois et Senkaku en japonais - en mer de Chine orientale.

Le contre-amiral a expliqué que la Marine chinoise mettait actuellement en place un groupe aérien composé d'au moins deux escadrilles pour le Liaoning, comprenant à la fois des chasseurs, des avions de reconnaissance, des appareils antisousmarins et de brouillage électronique, ainsi que des aéronefs à décollage vertical.

Il a précisé que le Liaoning était placé sous le commandement direct du quartier général de la Marine et ne dépendait d'aucune de ses trois flottes en particulier.

Le responsable a d'autre part déclaré que des informations de presse selon lesquelles ce deuxième porte-avions chinois serait construit à Shanghai étaient inexactes.

Des essais d'atterrissage et de décollage ont déjà été effectués par des chasseurs J-15 à bord du Liaoning, mais le contre-amiral Song a indiqué que d'autres essais aériens été nécessaires avant que ces chasseurs-bombardiers dérivés du modèle russe Sukhoï Su-33 soient opérationnels.

TOKYO, 24 avr 2013 marine-oceans.com (AFP)

Huit navires chinois qui étaient entrés mardi matin dans les eaux territoriales des îles Senkaku disputées au Japon en sont repartis en fin de journée, a-t-on appris auprès des garde-côtes nippons.

Ces bateaux de surveillance maritime chinois ont croisé mardi dans la zone de 12 milles (22 km) entourant ces îlots de mer de Chine orientale, administrés par Tokyo mais revendiqués par Pékin sous le nom de Diaoyu. Ils sont repartis en début de soirée, ont précisé les garde-côtes.

Il s'agissait de l'intrusion la plus massive de navires gouvernementaux chinois dans les eaux territoriales de cet archipel inhabité, depuis que ce différend territorial s'est aggravé en septembre après l'achat par le Japon de trois de ses cinq îles à leur propriétaire privé nippon.

La Chine y envoie régulièrement des navires depuis, qui croisent quelques heures dans la zone avant de repartir.

Les autorités japonaises ont protesté et l'ambassadeur de Chine à Tokyo a été convoqué au ministère nippon des Affaires étrangères.

Au parlement japonais, le Premier ministre Shinzo Abe a été interrogé mardi sur sa réponse à un éventuel débarquement chinois. "Il serait normal que nous les repoussions par la force si d'aventure ils débarquaient", a-t-il prévenu, évoquant les garde-côtes nippons qui assurent la protection de cette zone.

L'archipel est situé à 200 km au nord-est de Taïwan, qui le revendique également, et 400 km à l'ouest de l'île d'Okinawa (sud du Japon). Outre sa position stratégique, il recèlerait des ressources énergétiques dans ses fonds marins.

20.04.2013 ( Xinhua )

Le premier porte-avions chinois, le Liaoning, commencera cette année un voyage en haute mer.

Le Liaoning et son équipage ont mené une série de tests et d'exercices d'entraînement depuis que le porte-avions est arrivé en février à son port d'attache de Qingdao, dans la province du Shandong (est), a-t-on appris jeudi d'informations diffusées par la Télévision centrale de Chine (CCTV).

Tous les tests réalisés jusqu'à présent se sont déroulés sans encombre, et le port de Qingdao a prouvé sa capacité à accueillir le porte-avions et à répondre aux besoins de celui-ci, selon ces informations.

Le Liaoning a réalisé plus de cent exercices et expérimentations depuis qu'il a été remis l'année dernière à la Marine de l'Armée populaire de libération et qu'il est entré en service.

Des tests supplémentaires sont prévus, notamment des essais de navigation et des exercices d'atterrissage, a précisé la CCTV.

La chaîne de télévision a ajouté que le port de Qingdao connaîtrait de nouvelles améliorations.