News Report: Top US General Says China Will Displace Russia as ‘Greatest Threat’ By 2025

General Joseph Dunford (Image: Wiki Commons)

The highest ranking military officer in the United States armed forces told Congress that he expected China to become “the greatest threat to our nation” by the year 2025, and pushed for an expansion in military spending to “maintain a competitive advantage” over Beijing.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on Tuesday to testify on a variety of subjects related to US national security and the military as part of the confirmation process for his second term.

Among comments on areas of interest the world over, such as Afghanistan and North Korea, Dunford told the SASC that he expected China to "probably" become the US' primary adversary by 2025.

Dunford, a decorated soldier who previously served as commandant of the Marine Corps and the leader of US forces in Afghanistan, said this in response to Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) asking him if he still believed the three biggest military threats to the US were Russia, China and North Korea in that order. "If I look out to 2025, and I look at the demographics and the economic situation, I think China probably poses the greatest threat to our nation by about 2025," he said.

News Story: China conducts first military drills in Djibouti

China has staged military exercises in Djibouti after opening its first overseas military base there last month, official media said.

State television CCTV showed armoured vehicles moving on a desert track, groups of soldiers firing automatic weapons and cannon pointing towards the horizon.

Dozens of soldiers have been deployed in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) "to reinforce their hardiness in combat and their mastery of military techniques", the report said.

"This is the first time that officers and soldiers stationed in Djibouti have left their camp to conduct live-fire exercises," Liang Yang, the base commander, told the broadcaster.

It was unclear when the drills took place. China opened its base in Djibouti in early August.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: US Navy collisions a propaganda windfall for China

By Laurent THOMET

A spate of deadly collisions involving US Navy warships in Asian waters has provided a propaganda windfall to rivals like China and given already rattled regional allies further reason to fret, analysts say.

Four accidents this year alone, including two fatal ones in two months, resulted in the dismissal this week of the commander of the iconic US Seventh Fleet -- the centrepiece of the American military presence in Asia.

The timing could hardly be worse, with the Japan-based fleet at the heart of ongoing US efforts to project an image of military strength and effectiveness in the face of threats from nuclear-armed North Korea and an increasingly assertive China.

The latest incident left the guided-missile destroyer, USS John McCain limping into port in Singapore on Monday with a gaping gash in its hull following a pre-dawn collision with an oil tanker that left 10 of its crew feared dead.

Just days before, the same ship had taken part in a "freedom of navigation exercise" -- sailing close to a contested island in the South China Sea in a show of strength to challenge Beijing's territorial claims there.

The incident, and a similar collision involving another warship off Japan in June that left seven dead, has been seized on by China as an illustration of US military overreach and incompetence.

"It's a lot of good propaganda for the Chinese," James Char, a regional security specialist at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, told AFP.

It comes as "China is trying to tell the region, 'you cannot count on the US for your security needs'," he said.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: Best Birthday Gift - Why China Marks Army Anniversary With Djibouti Base Opening

On Tuesday, China formally opened its first overseas naval logistics center with a flag raising ceremony in Djibouti, the same day as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) marked its 90th anniversary. In an interview with Sputnik some experts said this is a clear sign of China’s determination to uphold its national interests outside the country.

The base in Djibouti is China's first overseas naval base, though Beijing officially describes it as a logistics facility.

According to media reports more than 300 people attended the ceremony, including Chinese deputy naval commander Tian Zhong and Djibouti's defense minister.

The ceremony was held with the participation of Chinese PLA soldiers and the guard of honor of the army of Djibouti. The culmination of the ceremony was the mooring of the ships of the PLA Navy, which headed for Djibouti on July 11.

News Report: China Adds Monster Supply Ship to Burgeoning Fleet

The fast-growing Chinese Navy commissioned its largest resupply vessel in history into service this week.

Observers noted the vessel in Zhanjiang on Monday wearing the call number 965 — evidence that it has entered service, the South China Morning Post reports. It is twice as large as previous supply vessel variants.

Larger ships like the Type 901 comprise a "core" factor in carrier strike groups, Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo told SCMP. Type 901 will carry oil, weapons and basic living necessities to support other ships in the People’s Liberation Army Navy. IHS Jane’s notes that hoses on the ship’s sides could be used to refuel aircraft carriers.

China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier finally came online last year and the Type 001, a Chinese-made aircraft carrier, was completed in April of this year. Plans are being drafted for a domestically-produced next-generation carrier as well. 

News Story: China opens its first army support base overseas

DJIBOUTI, Aug.1 (Xinhua) -- A ceremony marking the entry of troops into the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) support base in Djibouti was held on Tuesday in the base's barracks.

The ceremony marked the first time that China has opened a military support base overseas. It will fulfill China's international obligations regarding humanitarianism aid and escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: PLA to celebrate 90th birthday with stronger, more peaceful military

BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- It has been a big year for China's military.

In April, China's first domestically produced aircraft carrier was launched, which was followed by the debut of its new generation of destroyer in June. In July, the country's first aircraft carrier allowed visits by the public for the first time.

As the 90th birthday of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) approaches, the country's army has shown how much its military capacity has grown and how committed it is to maintaining world peace.

A STRONGER ARMY

The PLA has come a long way since its birth during the armed uprising in the city of Nanchang on August 1, 1927, when it had only 20,000 soldiers.

Ninety years later, the country boasts 2 million servicemen, making it the world's largest military force, according to a national defense white paper titled "China's Military Strategy," published in 2015.

Besides the growth in numbers, the PLA has armed its soldiers with world-class equipment.

During China's epic V-Day parade in September 2015, the country displayed its Dongfeng-5B intercontinental strategic missiles, designed to carry nuclear warheads, and its Dongfeng-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles, described by some media as the "carrier killer."

Other cutting-edge weaponry included the PLA's state-of-the-art tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles, and its new generation of airborne early warning and control aircraft, carrier-based fighters and attack helicopters that fly low across the sky.

Read the full story at Xinhua

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NOTE: The “Beijing to Slash Size of Chinese Army, Largest in the World, in Half” Link in the above was added by PacificSentinel for clarity & context.

News Story: China ships troops to its first overseas base in Africa

China has deployed troops to its first overseas naval base in Djibouti, a major step forward for the country's expansion of its military presence abroad.

Chinese sailors sailed out of a naval base in Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong on Tuesday and towards the Horn of Africa nation, according to a statement posted on the defence ministry's website.

The logistics base is the first of its kind for China, which will use it to support "naval escorts in Africa and southwest Asia, (UN) peacekeeping and for humanitarian support," the statement said.

It will also allow China to evacuate its nationals in a crisis, support anti-piracy activities off Somalia and work with other nations to "jointly defend the security of strategic passages."

The Chinese navy has long assisted in anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden, as well as UN peacekeeping efforts throughout Africa, but the base will be the country's first naval base abroad.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: China sets up base in Djibouti

ZHANJIANG, Guangdong, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Ships carrying Chinese military personnel departed Zhanjiang in southern China's Guangdong Province on Tuesday to set up a support base in Djibouti.

Shen Jinlong, commander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, read an order on constructing the base in Djibouti, and conferred military flag on the fleets.

The establishment of the PLA Djibouti base was a decision made by the two countries after friendly negotiations, and accords with the common interest of the people from both sides, according to the PLA navy.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: China Deploys Submarine, Spy Ship in Indian Ocean Ahead of Major Naval Exercise

A week before the trilateral naval exercise between India, the US and Japan begins in the Indian Ocean, China sent its Yuan class conventional diesel-electric submarine in the Indian Ocean with submarine support vessel Chongmingdao and intelligence-gathering ship Haiwingxing.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Naval officials in Delhi downplay this deployment but 13 Chinese naval ships, tracked over the last two months by Indian naval satellite GSAT-7 and long-range maritime patrol aircraft like P-8I, must raise alarm bells for Indian authorities when both the nations have been engaged in a war of words and tensions on the eastern border. The India-US-Japan Malabar exercise in the Bay of Bengal is scheduled to begin next week.

"Usually, Chinese submarines have a three-month long deployment in the Indian Ocean. This is routine. The submarine's presence has nothing to do with the present situation and it has been present in the Indian Ocean for a while now," an Indian Navy official told IANS.

News Report: China's Bases in Pakistan Will Have Strategic Ramifications for India - Expert

India has downplayed a US report which warned that China could set up military bases in Pakistan. Indian Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said India has its own assessment and will not make any strategy on the basis of the US report.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The US report claimed that expanding international economic interests are forcing China to operate in more distant maritime environments to protect its interests.

“It is an assessment which is there in the US report. We have our own assessments. Let us see what happens in the future,” Admiral Lanba said on the report released by US Department of Defense on China’s military prowess this week.

“China most likely will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan,” report added.

News Report: Pentagon - Chinese Military Expansion May Lead to Pakistan Base

A new report from the Pentagon suggests China’s ongoing military expansion into friendly nations may reach Pakistan. The report also notes that instead of acquiring new land for man-made islands in the South China Sea, Beijing is opting to build up reefs with military facilities and extend existing runways.

China recently built an outpost in Djibouti. Though that base is located near the US’ Camp Lemonnier in the Horn of Africa, US military officials don’t see it as a threat to Washington’s operations.

The report stated that China, the world’s fourth largest arms dealer, "most likely will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan, and in which there is a precedent for hosting foreign militaries … This initiative, along with regular naval vessel visits to foreign ports, both reflects and amplifies China’s growing influence, extending the reach of its armed forces." 

This expansion by China is part of its New Silk Road initiative, also called the Belt and Road initiative, an effort to create an intercontinental network of highways, trade routes, ports and rail lines for economic development. The proposed land and sea networks would make their way through Europe, Asia and Africa and are touted as bringing economic benefits to countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan.

News Story: China May Build Six Carriers, Ten Overseas Bases

China's 1st Carrier Battle Group under-way (File Photo)

In an editorial published Friday to mark the anniversary of China's navy, the official military outlet PLA Daily suggested that the nation needs six aircraft carriers, an enlarged marine corps and ten naval bases in friendly foreign nations. 

"In the long run, China needs to develop its own aircraft carrier battle teams, with at least six aircraft carriers, maritime forces led by guided missile destroyers, as well as attack submarines," said Xu Guangyu, a senior advisor to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. "China will build about ten more bases for the [carriers] . . . Hopefully, China could have bases in every continent, but that depends on countries which would like to cooperate with China."

The PLA Daily said that the purpose of the enlarged carrier fleet would be to enable the PLA(N) to "break through" the first island chain (Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines) to exert its power in the Western Pacific. 

Read the full story at MarEx

News Story: ‘Very Significant Security Concerns’ On China’s Djibouti Base - AFRICOM

By COLIN CLARK

WASHINGTON: For the first time, an important United States military base, one where a great deal of highly classified communications, intelligence and operations occur, sits within a few miles of a military competitor.

Where? Djibouti, the tiny African state that sits on the Horn of Africa across from Yemen and sits astride the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It is one of the world’s most strategic locations. The US base there supports highly classified operations by Joint Special Operations Command, especially in and around Somalia, as well as a host of intelligence and support functions for US and allied forces throughout the region. The Chinese have declined to admit their location is a military base, instead calling it a “logistical support” facility to help supply China’s anti-piracy efforts. The head of Africa Command (AFRICOM), Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, put paid to China’s soft-pedaling of the base’s nature this morning when he told me that the yet-to-be-finished facility China is building is, simply, a “military base.”

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Report: Ports For Pawns - How India-China Rivalry is Panning Out in the Persian Gulf

India-backed Chabahar port and China-developed Gwadar port could become the launch pads for a strategic rivalry between New Delhi and Beijing. But, it may also open another route for trade and commerce cooperation under the One Belt, One Road initiative.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Chinese Navy's latest plans to expand its marine corps and station new marine brigades in Gwadar, Pakistan and in Djibouti near the Gulf of Aden, will raise eyebrows in New Delhi and give fresh impetus to Indian efforts to expedite the completion of the Chabahar port in Iran. India's shipping minister Nitin Gadkari had expressed optimism last week that the first phase of the strategically located port in Iran will be complete by 2018.

What the two seemingly unrelated developments bring to the fore is that India-China rivalry is expanding in the Persian Gulf with both countries hedging their bets on strategically located ports and increasing their naval presence.

News Report: Marine Corps to Protect China’s Growing Interest in Asia-Pacific Region

China plans to increase the number of its Marine Corps units from 20,000 to 100,000 in order to protect its vital marine communications and growing interests abroad, according to Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post citing military sources and experts.

The publication refers to the Chinese logistics base in Djibouti and port of Gwadar in the southwest of Pakistan. The areas of protection of interests also include the Korean Peninsula, the East China and South China Sea, and land and sea territories along the Silk Road, including Afghanistan.

The newspaper further noted that the Chinese marine contingent has been nearly doubled to the existing 20,000 by transferring two regular army brigades to their squad.

Simultaneously, with an increase to 100,000 servicemen the number of naval forces would also increase by 15 percent, as currently the number of personnel of the Chinese Navy is estimated at 235,000 men.

Sputnik spoke to Russian experts in an interview about this increase in the Marine Corps and they expressed no doubt about the validity of the assumptions made by these sources.

News Story: China, Djibouti to strengthen military cooperation

BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese military official on Monday said that the Chinese army is willing to strengthen dialogue and coordination with Djiboutian troops.

Fan Changlong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while meeting with Zakaria Cheikh Ibrahim, Chief of General Staff of the Djibouti Armed Forces.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: China's facilities in Djibouti not for military expansion - spokesperson

BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's support facility project in the east African nation Djibouti is not military expansion, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

Spokesperson Yang Yujun said at a regular press conference that the facilities being built in Djibouti will be mainly used to support Chinese armed forces carrying out escorts, humanitarian rescue and other tasks in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: China, Djibouti discuss ways of strengthening comprehensive cooperation

DJIBOUTI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China and Djibouti have discussed ways of further strengthening bilateral relations and comprehensive cooperation in various areas, including in the military field.

Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, talked with Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Prime Minster Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed during his working visit to the African country on Nov. 23-24.

Fan recalled that Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Guelleh have reached important consensus on bilateral relations during their meeting at a summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg in December.

He said that the two leaders reached consensus on enhancing political mutual trust and advancing practical cooperation in various fields to jointly build a new model of win-win cooperation and common development between developing countries.

China is willing to work with Djibouti to implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders and to actively push China-Djibouti relations to a new level, Fan said.

Fan also pointed out that relations between the two militaries have been developing smoothly in recent years.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: China ‘Likely’ To Seek More Foreign Bases; Troubling Debt Cited By US-China Commission

China's J-20 Stealth Fighter

By COLIN CLARK

WASHINGTON: If you want to grow uneasy about the world, read the US-China Commission’s annual report to Congress.

China, while it continues to enjoy robust economic growth, faces a major strategic challenge. Strategically, the biggest threat facing China right now — and the rest of the world given how integrated China is to the global economy — is the risk posed by China’s enormous corporate debt.

The report says that “China’s rapidly rising debt levels heighten risks to the stability of the country’s financial markets, which can quickly spill over into global markets….China’s rapidly rising corporate debt—which stands at 169 percent of GDP—also raises questions about the sustainability of the country’s economic growth. The International Monetary Fund warned in its annual review of China’s economy that China’s rising corporate debt was a ‘serious and growing problem that must be addressed immediately,’ estimating the potential losses from bad corporate loans to be worth 7 percent of GDP.”

The other really intriguing issue, one that may mark a huge shift in Chinese cultural, political and military terms as Breaking D readers know, is the commission’s conclusion “that China is likely to continue to seek opportunities to secure military facilities abroad, such as the one it has begun constructing in Djibouti, to facilitate a range of operations.” As we reported in May 2015, China was pressing hard to secure a base in the remote and tiny East African state that was long a French colony. China has also expressed interest in a military presence in the precarious islands known as the Maldives.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense