Beijing’s Naval and Merchant Ships said the base was “alone in the distant sea” and far from the Chinese mainland and other islands in the vast disputed waters, which cover about 3.3 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles). Said Naval and Merchant Ships. Magazine based by China State Shipbuilding Corporation, which supplies the People’s Liberation Army.
“The islands and reefs in the South China Sea have unique advantages in protecting national sovereignty and maintaining a military presence in the open sea, but they also have their own natural weaknesses in terms of military defense,” it added.
The United States – which deems China’s claim illegal – has responded by naval warships, close to facilities claimed or captured by Beijing, calling it freedom of navigation operations. Washington Washington and its allies say such patrols enforce the right to free passage in international waters, while China argues that they violate its sovereignty.
Under international law, the owner of the islands’ fighting wire at sea will have the right to all nearby water resources, such as fish, oil and gas. More broadly, this will control any of the world’s most valuable trading routes controlling the sea – it’s a third of all global shipping.
But while distant bases extend Beijing’s control over the area, they are also far from helping in a state of military action. Naval and merchant ships cited the example of the Finney Cross Reef, which also controls the southern Chinese coastal city of Henan Island, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Sanya and 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Pacel Russell Islands. By Beijing.
“Even if the support fleet runs at the fastest speed, it will take more than a day to arrive,” the report noted. Noted in the report.
The report adds that the bases are highly susceptible to ambush, given their inland locations, and the U.S. And it is targeted by Japan’s long-range missile systems, or by navies in the region. And even if the islands were not attacked, it would be easy to blockade their supplies, starving them.
“Island shelters lack vegetation, natural stone and soil and other coverings and have low altitude, while groundwater levels are high. Employees and resources can no longer be stored underground,” the report added. The bases built on the shelters will have “very limited” anti-strike capability.
There are other issues that make defending the islands exceptionally difficult, said McCullum Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s defense strategy and capabilities.
“Rough environmental conditions in the South China Sea – saltwater corrosion and poor weather – make it impossible to arrange anything on the islands in such a way that they can defend these foundations.” , The complex aircraft will be on the uninhabitable side “in a week or so on these islands.”
He said that while some islands could be effective as shooting platforms, they would be among the first targets if any conflict were to occur in the South China Sea, and given the “physically impossible to build an island” was basically the type of rocks and sandbars there.
Davis said the Chinese are trying to connect international maritime space, control international waters and do their own thing and do what they need to be there permanently. “But it is becoming clear that while they will be sufficient to make a territorial claim, they are not really long-term practical measures, because they cannot really defend those foundations.”
Of course, Beijing relies on the fact that any attack against a base in the South China Sea – even an outpost considered illegal under international law – is tantamount to an act of war against a nuclear power with vast military resources. Threats of revenge may be enough to prevent the island’s base from facing any attack.
Contributed by CNN’s Beijing Bureau and Jesse Young in Hong Kong.
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