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Over the Spratly Islands, China has air superiority

2011-06-15 (China Military News cited from http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=696267&publicationSubCategoryId=63">Philippine Star and written by DJ Sta. Ana) -- Should a shooting war break out over the disputed Spratly Islands, China could easily achieve air and sea superiority due to the increased focus Beijing has given to improving its force projection capabilities in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

According to documents obtained by News5, China gradually developed its facilities on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands – making it an unsinkable aircraft carrier. The runway on Woody Island has been extended and hangars and fuel depots have been constructed, which enable China to base and deploy its latest generation of multi-role fighters.

From Woody Island, China will have no problem sending its warplanes to the Spratlys as this is well within the operational radius of its fighters. China’s multi-role fighters can reach as far Metro Manila.

Apart from the unsinkable aircraft carrier, China is scheduled to start sea trials of its first aircraft carrier, the Shi Lang.

Apart from China and the Philippines, the other claimants of the Spratlys are Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Spratlys are believed to have huge deposits of oil, natural gas and minerals and is also considered a major fishing area.

The Paracel Islands are being disputed by China and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said defense modernization remains one of the priorities of the Aquino administration but stresses that they cannot just go on a shopping spree. In an interview with News5, the defense secretary admitted that internal security still had top priority even if the peace talks are ongoing with the communist insurgents and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Gazmin said they have adopted the process which they termed the “Defense System of Management.” He explained they are balancing the needs and requirements with the government’s capability to fund these.

“Our number 1 problem is the internal security operations,” Gazmin told News5 in an interview prior to the reports of Chinese intrusions. “The equipment needed to address internal security operations are a priority.”

“We do not need jets, we need helicopters, transports ... with endurance in air. In the navy, you don’t need blue water equipment – what you need is for island, transport and for use in flood and earthquake,” he added.

Original Full Report

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  • 43 Comments For This Post

    1. kiemhao Says:

      Again,an Asian speaks with the tongue of a Westerner--remnent left behind in Asia by their colonial masters. It would takes at least a couple of decades more before Asia return to its original nature. For now,China will have to move forward with its own developnments and allow time and natural forces to re-shape or re-generate other parts of Asia to its former beauty.

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    2. robs Says:

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    3. Jose Rizal Says:

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    4. James Kampilan Says:

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    5. James Kampilan Says:

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    6. Tienfei Says:

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    8. hacker Says:

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    9. James Kampilan Says:

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    10. Tienfei Says:

      100 million christians in China? According to who? christians? christianity is the religion of your foreign oppressors. If your ancestors had not been forced and brutalized by foreign rule, you wouldnt be singing hallelujah.

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    11. James Kampilan Says:

      You are right. And it all started in Israel. Wiki can answer you. Didn't you see Bush go to one of the underground churches in Beijing? That's how the 100 million exist. They are not even visible. Yes, I'll be signing hallelujah walking and stepping all over insects like you who has transformed into little animals! LOL!

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    12. Tienfei Says:

      Underground christians. pssh. Even Japan rejects christianity. christianity originates from jews. During a period of Roman rule. Jews gathered and waited for a messiah who could grant them independence. The story of jesus however falls short of that. Instead, he was crucified and his goal was stated to have given mankind salvation. No longer independence for the jews, since that would never come.

      It later became the religion of the Roman Empire due to Constantine winning the Roman civil war. Barbarians tribes of all corners of the Roman Empire were converted by the Romans. Likewise, philippines was converted by the Spanish and then americans. Its not an indigenous religion. Its something that was forced by foreign conquerors.

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    13. pacinko123@yahoo.com Says:

      Most people in philippine have colonial mentality problem.They lost almost their culture and tradition.Most of them want to be like white people in the west.As a matter of fact many of them are not proud to be pinoy and they just believe almost everything the westerners tell them.I live in Daly City , California.I have many pinoy friends...many of them admitted.That's why i'm not surprised why most pinoys are catholic.I went to christian school for 9 years..the jesus i learnt in new testament never created any kind of religion...he just teaching people to do good thing...no politic..no religion...never created any uprising against the ruler.Religions are created by people ...not by God and when people mix it with politic people's live could end up like the old europe,the old tibet ( before dalai lama left tibet) or like what's going on in Iraq and many middle east countries now.

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    14. Gallon Trader Says:

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    15. Leventis Says:

      You guys are posting hocus-pocus! The issue on ground is political not religious

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    16. pacinko123@yahoo.com Says:

      james I'm not the one who started talking about religion..you did.You seems very proud that your country has transformed to a westernize society .Good luck on worshiping you master from the west but never expect China would do the same.By the way i don't live in Chinatown...how about you ?.Do you live in filipino town...uups sorry there is no filipino town in US ...

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    17. James Kampilan Says:

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    18. sharik Says:

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    19. pacinko123@yahoo.com Says:

      Ha..ha..ha.. that's what you call filipino town...that's just like daly city.why you call me pnoy crab...i'm not filipino.You should call yourself pinoycrab cause you are so proud that your people has becomed evangelized.See how far england from malvinas or Falkland Islands.

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    20. James Kampilan Says:

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    21. pacinko123@yahoo.com Says:

      I never say the distance of England to Malvinas is the same as Spratlys from China.....whitey wanabe.

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    22. Katipunero Says:

      He did not even get what you meant.

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    23. JB Says:

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    24. Katipunero Says:

      "By choosing its own battle" means Americans also use their brains when they go to war. Losing is different from withdrawal. North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, all these nations have no warships, frigates, carriers, no military hardware left for the US to crush and junk. And every war they have engaged into have different missions and OOBs. They don't have to wipe out a nation's entire military personnel in order to tell they have won. The war in Afghanistan and Vietnam was just an opportunity for them to test the "Daisy Cutter Bomb". Just like when they grabbed the opportunity to test the Atomic Bomb in Japan. You know, Americans have this thing for testing their newly-developed military hardware in which China being the only nation in the world that has some "big fat target", and for that they love China to be their next "crash-test dummies" for MOABs (the new and improved Daisy Cutter) and their new weapons. AFAIC, being an Asian myself, I am happy for China for their military development, but this is not the time for them to brandish their arms and army that has not even tested on real wars. Chinese army has not even gone on foreign lands to fight. Don't you wonder why the US sends its army wherever there is war? Even on wars in which they are not even directly involved with? Because they are just using the opportunity to train their soldiers. Wake up, Chinese man. This is not the right time to go to war, not with skilled war veterans who are not afraid to die. Your untrained military is still in infancy, they could be wiped-out faster than you can say Bruce Lee.

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    25. Tienfei Says:

      Korean war was about the North Korean invasion of South Korea. As a response, united states sent soldiers into South Korea to retake South Korea and continued to pursue North Korean forces near the Chinese border. After several months of Chinese warning, Chinese forces finally crossed the Yalu and evicted american forces from North Korea. During this war, China even attacked Taiwan and confiscated islands under their control.

      A similar event occurred during the Vietnam war as North Vietnamese forces continued to invade South Vietnam. american forces responded by defending south vietnam against northern incursions. But no forces were sent to invade and occupy North Vietnam out of fear that it would with another Chinese response. China even attacked South Vietnamese in the spratlys to take islands under their control.

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    26. GI Joker Says:

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    27. Tienfei Says:

      us fought no battles on Chinese soil during WW2. So the us never managed to prevent a single rape.

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    28. SamS Says:

      @GI Joker ahaha it's more like i wonder why people like you are dissing the Russians, the Japanese during their rise in the 70s and now China.

      Btw, a late congratulation to the U.S for pouring in millions and millions in China during WWII to support the losers side. And then you did again in Vietnam. Millions and millions to support the wrong people then betrayed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba and now Pakistan, the list goes on and on.

      Seems like the whole world is very very ungrateful to self-indulging idiots like you hm how come??

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    29. GI Joker Says:

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    30. Tienfei Says:

      Absurd. The first Sino-Japanese war was fought as early as 1894. The second Sino-Japanese war was fought in 1937. us didnt even enter the war against the Japanese until its navy was bombed in pearl harbor in 1941. China owes america shit.

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    31. Zshu Says:

      US owes china in trillion and counting,go check out us debt clock

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    32. angerychinaman Says:

      Phillipine will burn, U.S will crumble, China will rise like the mighty pheonix from the flame. It's in the Holy Bible, look it up.

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    33. James Kampilan Says:

      angerychinaman....That's the antichrist! So China is the antichrist! You must not be a Christian because you don't know your bible!

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    34. Tienfei Says:

      Yea, we arent christians.

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    35. watuzi Says:

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    36. pinoy_swabber Says:

      China is not foolish enough to destroy its own source of money. The world economy is what drives the Chinese economy. If China starts attacking it clients, such as other Asian countries, where is China going to sell its merchandise? This isn't a game of attrition anymore, no one wins and no one loses. If any major player in the world market starts demolishing the world trade system, then WW3 will ensue. Philippines' only hope is to start becoming a major player in the Chinese market, oh by the way, we are! We buy computers, cars, building materials, weapons, cooking utensils, electronics, etc. you name it we have it in the Philippines and they're all cheaply made in China. Good money for everyone right?

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    37. Pinoy! Says:

      All that the Chinese tried to conquer ended in bloodbath and they never win! All they can do is retain what they have. This is because the world hates communist China! The world hates them more than they hate Russia. The idiotic and greedy chinky people are all loud mouthed people who thinks that they are still in the era of the emperors. ALL EMPIRES FALL DOWN! BUILD ONE AND IT WILL AGAIN FALL DOWN! This issue is not a question of religion or who gave us our religion! We love our religion no matter what you say! Be it from Spaniards or the US who the F cares because we love our religion! We love Catholic faith and Islamic faith. And in fact it is out of the question because the debate is about "our Islands!" The Philippines own the Spratleys and the Scarborough and the Recto Bank and all other islands that belongs to our EEZ and UNCLOS under oath by even the greedy China! If war is what you ask for we would be glad to fight back! Our heroes died for our independence and we will be glad to do it again over a thousand times!

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    38. Pinoy! Says:

      We do not need a Filipino Town because we are not overly populated and we don't plan to become REFUGEES in some other countries like the Chinese. We have something like "FAMILY PLANNING". By the way maybe you should powderise and dry up your poor babies and put them into capsules, sell them, and make money out of their dead remains like what you usually do with aborted babies. People without respect for human life are lower than fungus!

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    39. Tienfei Says:

      hehe....

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    40. Tienfei Says:

      You cant be serious. Thats a lot of false optimism.

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    41. Pyro Says:

      "Phillipine will burn, U.S will crumble, China will rise like the mighty pheonix from the flame. It's in the Holy Bible, look it up."

      In Nostradamus' third quatrain: " The Bear and the Eagle will unite against the Dragon". A possible reference to United States as the "eagle", Russia as the "Bear", China as the "dragon" and in the view of most historians, this references World War 3.

      "I don't know how WW III will be fought, but I do know how WW IV will be fought: with sticks and stones."

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    42. Tienfei Says:

      Yea..Im not much of a conspiracy theorist.

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    43. SamS Says:

      Yeah Russia absolutely love the idea of China fallen to the U.S and U.S finally complete the encirclement of Russia spanning across the entire planet right? I think the bear is not that yet stupid.

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    1. Could an armed conflict erupt between mainland China and Taiwan (and other nations) in the Spratley Islands? Why would anyone want to fight over low lying islands, reefs, and shoals? | World Disaster Report Says:

      [...] achieve air and sea superiority due to the increased focus Beijing has given to improving its force projection capabilities in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea. This entry was posted in WAR (DECLARED OR [...]

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