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The above comments are made in the latest issue of the magazine. Merchant and naval ships, reports to the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), a shipbuilding unit of the Beijing-based navy.
Articles from the latest edition of Merchant and naval ships highlights the weaknesses of artificial islands that China has illegally accumulated in four respects: distance from land, small size, limited runway capacity, and many routes where the island could be affected. public.
“These artificial islands have special advantages for maintaining a Chinese military presence in deep-sea oceans. But they also have defense disadvantages,” the article admitted.
China has built airstrips and many military installations on artificial islands that are illegally accumulated in the South China Sea. Photo: AP
The illegal artificial islands are found deep in the East Sea and far from mainland China. Merchant and naval ships Since without a tight chain connecting them, it would be difficult to hold it in case of attack.
This magazine used Cross Stone belonging to the Spratlys of Vietnam but was illegally occupied by China as an example. Stone Cross has an airstrip, but it is 1,000 km from Tam A city in Hainan province. That distance means that China’s fastest combat support ships will need more than 20 hours to reach the island.
The article also argues that the islands are too far away to effectively deploy the J-16, China’s most advanced multipurpose fighter jet. Fighters cannot patrol the area due to their long distances and can be easily intercepted or attacked by surface ships.
According to the article, most islands have only one runway and there is no space for multiple aircraft to support them at the same time. In the event of a conflict, this means that an aircraft is unloading or refueling on the runway preventing other aircraft from reaching the runway.
Not to mention the track near the ocean, which is affected by the tides and the tropical climate. The magazine also said that artificial islands are too small to survive big attacks. Most of the islands are flat and have very little vegetation or rocks. This means that there is very little cover to defend against an attack.
La Cruz became a functioning military base after 2013. Photo: Bangkok Post
According to the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), China has renovated the reefs and atolls it illegally occupied in the Spratlys to turn them into artificial islands. Beijing has built runways and other military facilities and deployed equipment such as anti-aircraft guns and short-range weapons systems.
These moves have raised concerns among South China Sea claimants, who fear that military construction could allow Beijing to attack fighter jets or shoot down rockets.
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