Should the 'West' be worried by this? Is this provocative or merely sensible defence?

http://srirangan.net/india-defence/node/241

14 May 2005: Deepening its “strings of pearls” strategy of acquiring bases and cultivating ties from the Middle East to Southern China, China is now planning a submarine facility on one of the Indonesian islands close to the Malacca Straits, and Australia has protested this.

Diplomatic sources said that China ostensibly wants to protect the sealanes of communication in the Indian Ocean, especially the transit of oil tankers from the Persian Gulf, but it is also seen as a measure to preempt a US blockade of China’s energy sources in the event of a war with Taiwan.

In January, The Washington Times published an internal report for US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld in which the “strings of pearl” strategy was posited, and the key under-construction Chinese bases that were identified were Gwadar in Pakistan, and facilities in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and the South China Sea generally, but Indonesia is a new addition.

The Pentagon report said, “China is building strategic relationships along the sealanes from the Middle East to the South China Sea in ways that suggest defensive and offensive positioning to protect China’s energy interests, but also to serve broad security objectives.”

The report added that “China…is looking not only to build a blue-water navy to control the sealanes, but also to develop undersea mines and missile capabilities to deter the potential disruption of its energy supplies from potential threats, including the US Navy, especially in the case of a conflict with Taiwan.”

“The Iraq War, in particular,” said the report, “revived concerns over the impact of a disturbance in Middle East supplies or a US naval blockade,” adding that Chinese military leaders wanted an ocean-going navy and “undersea retaliatory capability to protect the sealanes.”

As a direct consequence of such thinking, China will mass the Indian Ocean with attack submarines, and sources do not rule out deployment of nuclear submarines as well.

Because of anomalies in GPS data immediately available to undersea submarines, diplomatic sources warned that there would be a growing number of Chinese territorial violations in respect of India, and Australia has already objected to the upcoming Chinese facility in Indonesia.

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'Never was so much owed by so many to so few.' Sir Winston Churchill.

Nearly 750,000 Iraqis have died since 2003 who might still be alive but for the US-led invasion. That is a cause for shame, not pride.

no. If things got tense, America would just nuke them. Sad but true

the hell those suck asses are detonating nukes anywhere NEAR my country.

in truth, its the first media coverage i've heard of this submarine facility, and to be honest, the Australian Government is only concerned because the yanks want us to be.

frankly couldnt give a **** about China's growth/expansion or foreign policies. Its America's response i'd be more concerned about.

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Who Dares Wins

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'Never was so much owed by so many to so few.' Sir Winston Churchill.

Nearly 750,000 Iraqis have died since 2003 who might still be alive but for the US-led invasion. That is a cause for shame, not pride.

dnt u get it??? in the bible codes it says that the middle east are allies and gonna rise up against UN so this is the first chess move of the whole thing...and yer but u would nue them but other comminist countries will nuke u back and the we will uke them and then the world would be a bit of ocean flying thru orbit

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'Never was so much owed by so many to so few.' Sir Winston Churchill.

Nearly 750,000 Iraqis have died since 2003 who might still be alive but for the US-led invasion. That is a cause for shame, not pride.

WARNING: Attempting to interpret religous writings is a volatile ingredient in an arguement.

please, i have read the Revelations and well as the writings of Ezekiel. not a single mention of any such power like the UN is mentioned. only extremist interpretations have been made on such things, with the finger pointing primarily at either the middle east or Russia as being the 'Gog and Magog' of the writings.

Personally, i think its all bull**** (not the bible, the interpretations), but if they ARE correct, then we have around two years three months until the world ends. seriously, i'm not kidding, some crack pot actually said August 2007. check it out, i think its on some site like apocalypse.com

back to China and foreign policy... i agree with Kurusch, the US is a dangerous nation, not one to be ****ed with. BUT, its the only nation that acutally stands up to keep others in check. unfortunately some believe that by doing this, she risks making herself look like a total *****.

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if u dont wann **** with the US uhave common semse mainly bcos u got the britishbacking them therefore......GURKHS and huever said keep to reality, its true u know and also interpretations are extreme bull**** iknow but im not jsmac i dont wanna start an argument m8s

u say you dont wanna start an arguement, yet your opening sentence is quite an eye opener.

allow me to respond: I'm not afraid of American's because they have British allies, i'm afraid of Americans because they are Americans. i couldnt give a **** how many times Bush has licked Blairs crack. Hell, Howard likes to join in every now and then, so we're just one big happy family right?

but apart from that, i thankyou for staying away from the religous crap. it either brings the world together, or tears it apart.

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and besides, im not even afraid of Americans to begin with, i'm just stating that any country would be much wiser to be friendly to them than start **** with them.

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