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Politics South China Sea Thread
- Thread starter BravoZulu
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The state-owned Chinese company chosen to build Interislander’s two new ferries also builds gear for China’s military. Judith Collins says NZ spy agencies will play a role in the procurement process - although she won’t say what role. The shipyard that’s been awarded the contract to build two rail-enabled ferries for the government also makes military vessels and components for China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N). Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) was announced as the builder by Rail Minister Winston Peters earlier this week. It’s sometimes known as COMAC and it’s owned by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), a powerhouse in China’s military landscape.
They had contracted Korean Hyundai to make them...cancelled at the cost of 100 million. Current old ones run out of power and hit things. Not sure this is a good idea. It's basically funding Chinese military and the current National Govt with previous PM best pals with Xi has been rather blind.
Peters the foreign minister who likes to think he is sharp was intimating to the Koreans that we helped in the Korean war and would get some discount on some new iteration. Thus all would save face.
They had contracted Korean Hyundai to make them...cancelled at the cost of 100 million. Current old ones run out of power and hit things. Not sure this is a good idea. It's basically funding Chinese military and the current National Govt with previous PM best pals with Xi has been rather blind.
Peters the foreign minister who likes to think he is sharp was intimating to the Koreans that we helped in the Korean war and would get some discount on some new iteration. Thus all would save face.
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This is not exactly the South China Sea, but it is related (as well as to the Ukraine-Russia war, come to think of it...)
The eternal friendship proclamations between Russia & China are the result of their common antagonism to the West, nonetheless both countries form a formidable alliance. Splitting it is, IMO, a key Western objective, which should be pursued through diplomacy (hopefully Mr Trump will be the US Louis the XIth in that respect
This is captured from Rybar, a Russian TG channel, and indeed is food for thought.
Link to the remainder of the post
https://t.me/rybar_in_english/24755
The eternal friendship proclamations between Russia & China are the result of their common antagonism to the West, nonetheless both countries form a formidable alliance. Splitting it is, IMO, a key Western objective, which should be pursued through diplomacy (hopefully Mr Trump will be the US Louis the XIth in that respect
This is captured from Rybar, a Russian TG channel, and indeed is food for thought.
Link to the remainder of the post
https://t.me/rybar_in_english/24755
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Wouldn't it be ironic if a missile with cluster munitions struck the training facility, taking out most of the Chinese attendees? "Oops! You should have told us your people were there!"Desperate times call for beyond desperate measures. I'm hoping they'll also force the third best army in russia to train them how to do an air assault on an airbase after the great victory of Hostomel
Russia to equip and train China’s paratroopers for large airdrop ops tied to Taiwan
Leaked files show Russia training and equipping PLA paratroopers for large airdrop ops tied to Taiwan—raising stakes for the U.S. and allies.armyrecognition.com
Chinese diplomat threatens to cut off Japan leader's head
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers a conflict over Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan.
www.newsweek.com
LAvrov_ : "Donnie.. go to...
www.straitstimes.com
Russia vows to support China if Taiwan contingency flares up: Top diplomat
China and Russia have conducted joint bomber flights repeatedly over the years. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.
China Launches Military Drills Simulating Blockade of Taiwan Ports
China launched live-fire drills around Taiwan on Monday that it said would simulate a blockade of the self-ruled island's key ports.
thedefensepost.com
Taiwan opposition blocks NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget again despite Chinese drills | Taiwan News | Dec. 30, 2025 15:53
KMT and TPP lawmakers block defense spending plans for a fifth time | Dec. 30, 2025 15:53
Xi Jinping vows to reunify China and Taiwan in New Year’s Eve speech
Reunification ‘is unstoppable’, says Chinese president, a day after the conclusion of intense military drills
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Legitimacy Crisis and Implications for Taiwan
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is facing considerable challenges to its legitimacy, which has historically been based on two foundational pillars: the promise of prosperity and the concept of 'national rejuvenation' (民族復興), which includes reunification of Taiwan with the Chinese mainland as a vit
unravellinggeopolitics.com
, an affiliate of the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) ran a story about a recent Chinese military wargame in the city of Xuchang, Henan Province, involving the simulation of combat operations by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Western Hemisphere. Images of the wargame carried by CCTV clearly showed simulated interactions between Red (Chinese) and Blue (Western) forces near Cuba, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean.
The screens shown by CCTV from the wargame, which also depicted PLA operations in the Sea of Okhotsk and near Taiwan, illustrate how Beijing is thinking about conducting military activities in the Western Hemisphere in the context of a broader war with the West.
Such evidence lends credence to numerous statements by senior U.S. military officials, including former heads of U.S. Southern Command General Laura Richardson and Admiral Alvin Holsey, regarding the risks of China’s “dual-use” infrastructure – including ports, space, telecommunications, and other projects – in times of war.
For example, there has long been concern about China’s military use of its “Deep Space Radar” in Neuquen, Argentina. The radar is operated with little Argentine government oversight by an organ of the PLA, and uses communications frequencies commonly used by the Chinese military.
Another dual-use concern is the “exclusive” operation of the Peruvian port of Chancay by China Overseas Shipping Company (COSCO), which the U.S. government has sanctioned for its close ties to the PLA, as well as China’s insistence that COSCO be given a controlling stake in any change of ownership of ports in Panama.
The PLA’s wargaming of operations in Latin America also gives new meaning to the presence of the PLA Navy ship Silk Road Ark, which showed up in the Caribbean in December 2025. Silk Road Ark made port calls in Jamaica and Barbados, with the approval of their governments, which brought the PLA Navy vessel within miles of major U.S. military operations in the region under “Operation Southern Spear.”
China has sought diplomatic advantage by proclaiming Latin America a “Zone of Peace.” Reciprocally, many Latin American political and business leaders seek economic benefit from China without involving themselves in “great power competition.” Nonetheless, during a major conflict with the West, China would have virtually irresistible incentives and opportunities to conduct military operations in Latin America, even without formal alliances or basing agreements.
During such a war, important U.S. military facilities in Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the U.S. East Coast would potentially be within range of China’s operation of electronic intelligence (ELINT) facilities in Cuba. There is public evidence, confirmed by the U.S. government, such facilities in multiple sites across Cuba, including Bejucal, Salao, and Wajay.
Similarly, vital U.S. combat forces and military supply ships would logically transit from U.S. bases, through the Caribbean and the Panama Canal, en route to the Indo-Pacific. The Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico are precisely the sites of the PLA military operations being rehearsed in the exercise depicted by CCTV.
China could seek to leverage the political and economic sway it has gained over Caribbean governments – like those of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominican, Jamaica and Barbados – through years of gifts, hotel and port operations, and military exchanges with governments in the region. If successful, China could be allowed to stage special operations forces out of those countries, putting U.S. forces at risk.
Similarly, the ability of China to close down the Panama Canal through the physical access, technical knowledge, and relationships it has there, could make the difference in Taiwan holding out against a PLA invasion or blockade.
During a hypothetical war, China’s access to space from the Western Hemisphere, through facilities it controls or has access to in Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, and elsewhere, could allow it to locate Western satellites in order to blind, jam or destroy them, gravely impairing global combat operations by the United States and its NATO and Asian allies.
During later stages of such a conflict, the ability of the PLA-affiliated COSCO to use its exclusive control of Chancay to resupply PLA Navy warships with armaments could contribute to Chinese combat operations against the United States in the Eastern Pacific. COSCO previously hosted PLA Navy vessels in its Hambantota port in Sri Lanka in 2022 and again in 2024. China’s access to the Port of Corinto in anti-U.S. Nicaragua could bring the wartime PLA Navy threat even closer to the continental United States.
China may not even necessarily use PLA Navy vessels to launch an attack. Recent reports of a Chinese commercial cargo ship that has been equipped to launch missiles illustrate how China-operated commercial routes and ports from Tijuana, Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, could be used in wartime to threaten U.S. strategic targets and chokepoints.
Although a major war with China in the Indo-Pacific is not inevitable, worrisome recent developments – including the PLA’s new military exercises focused on Taiwan, and the cutting of an alarming number of Taiwan’s undersea data cables – highlight that war is a realistic possibility that U.S. planners must seriously consider.
The new 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy recognizes the strategic importance of Taiwan’s survival, and pushing back against China’s military presence, control of military-relevant infrastructure, and influence that would limit U.S. access in the Western Hemisphere. China’s inclusion of Western Hemisphere targets in its wargame in Xuchang shows that the effective implementation of those good intentions, working with U.S. partners in both regions, is vital to U.S. national security.
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^^^^
It all pertains to the PLAN capacity to operate far from its home waters. To do so, you need either of these : a strong naval supply train, like the US had at the end of the Pacific War. Or numerous defensible bases all over the world, like Britain at the turn of the XXth century. The PLAN has not the 1st one. As for the 2nd one, it indeed has its "necklace of pearls" around mostly the Indian Ocean (where competition with India would be a problem), but much less so in the Western hemisphere. In the Caribean, in the US home waters, it would be hopeless.
This said, thanks your post, and your information. For 20 years, we Westerners have been complacent and mistaken in placing the focus on COIN doctrine at the expense of peer powers conflict. These things seem to be changing now.
It all pertains to the PLAN capacity to operate far from its home waters. To do so, you need either of these : a strong naval supply train, like the US had at the end of the Pacific War. Or numerous defensible bases all over the world, like Britain at the turn of the XXth century. The PLAN has not the 1st one. As for the 2nd one, it indeed has its "necklace of pearls" around mostly the Indian Ocean (where competition with India would be a problem), but much less so in the Western hemisphere. In the Caribean, in the US home waters, it would be hopeless.
This said, thanks your post, and your information. For 20 years, we Westerners have been complacent and mistaken in placing the focus on COIN doctrine at the expense of peer powers conflict. These things seem to be changing now.
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