China - Taiwan Developments

wingnut771 said:
@Fulcrum29
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Militaries should always prioritize safety and not be negligent. To quote the official notice by the Australian Department of Defense:


Unsafe and unprofessional interaction with PLA-N​

18 NOVEMBER 2023

The Australian Government has expressed its serious concerns to the Chinese Government following an unsafe and unprofessional interaction with a People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) destroyer.

On Tuesday 14 November 2023, HMAS Toowoomba was in international waters inside of Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone enroute to commence a scheduled port visit.

HMAS Toowoomba had been in the region conducting operations in support of United Nations sanctions enforcement. It had stopped to conduct diving operations in order to clear fishing nets that had become entangled around its propellers.

At all times, HMAS Toowoomba communicated its intention to conduct diving operations on normal maritime channels, and using internationally recognised signals.

While diving operations were underway a PLA-N destroyer (DDG-139) operating in the vicinity closed towards HMAS Toowoomba. Toowoomba again advised the PLA-N destroyer that diving operations were being conducted and requested the ship keep clear.

Despite acknowledging Toowoomba’s communications, the Chinese vessel approached at a closer range. Soon after, it was detected operating its hull-mounted sonar in a manner that posed a risk to the safety of the Australian divers who were forced to exit the water.

This is unsafe and unprofessional conduct.

Medical assessments conducted after the divers exited the water identified they had sustained minor injuries likely due to being subjected to the sonar pulses from the Chinese destroyer.

The safety and wellbeing of our ADF personnel continues to be of our utmost priority.

Australia expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a professional and safe manner.

Defence has for decades undertaken maritime surveillance activities in the region and does so in accordance with international law, exercising the right to freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace.
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It is a rather curious incident though. I wonder if there is a Chinese laid undersea cable at that location, even if it is within the Japanese EEZ. Nations which have submerged communication infrastructure and routes are very jumpy as of late. Many accusations of sabotage and espionage are going around.

I am most definitely not excusing the Chinese if they have harmed anyone. But what I have written above is of geopolitical concern.

As I have previously said, allies on both sides won't approve of the USA and China improving their relations.

It seems to have hit harder at home with the Australians:


“Reports that the Prime Minister knew about this incident and deliberately withheld information until after leaving for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit are, if true, outrageous and unacceptable.”

Mr Hastie said the Prime Minister “must explain” why he chose to wait after he left the country to disclose the information and whether it was raised directly with President Xi Jinping at APEC.

“What we continue to see from the Prime Minister and his Labor government is a lack of leadership and a lack of action,” Mr Hastie said.

“In a week in which the government has failed its most basic task – to keeping Australians safe – the Albanese government has again proved that it can’t be trusted on national security.

“We have always said that we will judge the Chinese Communist Party on their actions rather than their words, and this provocative behaviour contradicts the Government’s belief they are witnessing a stabilisation of the relationship with China. This incident is evidence to the contrary.

“The Prime Minister must immediately disclose whether he raised this matter with President Xi, or whether it was withheld for expedient political purposes. Any failure to do so would rightly raise questions around Anthony Albanese’s ability to lead our nation.”
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I guess they don't like warming their own relations with China either.
 
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Fulcrum29 said:
Militaries should always prioritize safety and not be negligent. To quote the official notice by the Australian Department of Defense:




It is a rather curious incident though. I wonder if there is a Chinese laid undersea cable at that location, even if it is within the Japanese EEZ. Nations which have submerged communication infrastructure and routes are very jumpy as of late. Many accusations of sabotage and espionage are going around.

I am most definitely not excusing the Chinese if they have harmed anyone. But what I have written above is of geopolitical concern.

As I have previously said, allies on both sides won't approve of the USA and China improving their relations.

It seems to have hit harder at home with the Australians:




I guess they don't like warming their own relations with China either.
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Nice video on undersea cable wars:

 
JuliusSeizure said:
For once I agree with you, Merica was not afraid to invade Iraq for "WMDs" but are afraid of invading countries with actual WMDs like Iran and North Korea. If those countries didnt have WMDs, they'd probably have invaded by now.
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The general rule of thumb is: you don't have a WMD until you've successfully tested a WMD. Iran has not successfully tested one yet.
 
Blu82 said:
It seems China is struggling to develop a heavy lift helicopter.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1734135379261837522
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I doubt it's to develop a version of it, but rather to get hold of the hardware/software encryption systems onboard. A CH-47D can be bought through normal commercial channels for less than a third of what they were offering the pilot. We looked at acquiring a few to resell to Working on Fire, but the operating costs for the Chinook are through the roof.

China has been increasingly hacking drones and aircraft systems over and around Taiwan recently. We lost two drones doing surveys around the Penghu Archipelago. A lot of what appear to be simple Chinese fishing boats are actually mobile monitoring/data relay stations.
 
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