[AzCal Retred]

‘Gutter-level’ talk: China-Philippines discord deepens over Taiwan
https://www.ft.com/content/f0246816-0bac-4754-b85e-b1a7a9f1da38
After Taiwan’s presidential election last month, China was quick to rebuke the countries that congratulated the winner, Lai Ching-te, who Beijing has labelled a separatist.
But it reserved its strongest condemnation for the Philippines, admonishing the country “not to play with fire” and its president to “read more books” to understand the dispute over Taiwan — comments Manila described as “low and gutter-level” talk.
The bitter exchange marked the latest episode in an escalating dispute between China and the Philippines, which has taken a more assertive stance under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr against Beijing’s coercive actions in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

China Challenges Philippines' Claim on South China Sea; Sends 200 Vessels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdGjF597Om8

Philippines plans to buy submarines to defend sovereignty in South China Sea January 31, 2024
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippines-plans-buy-submarines-defend-sovereignty-south-china-sea-senior-2024-02-01/
MANILA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has approved the third phase of the military's modernisation, which includes the purchase of the country's first submarine, in order to defend its maritime sovereignty in the disputed South China Sea.
Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Roy Trinidad, said on Thursday the third phase of modernisation reflected a shift in strategy away from internal to external defence.

[AzCal Retred]

China blocks Philippines access to South China Sea reef   2 FEBRUARY 2024
Satellite images reveal the extent of a Chinese blockade to prevent the Philippines supplying its base on Second Thomas Shoal, write John Pollock and Damien Symon.
https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2024-02/china-blocks-philippines-access-south-china-sea-reef
Satellite images recently released by Maxar reveal the extent to which tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China over a strategically important reef. Chinese coastguard vessels are shown blocking access to a Philippines military base on the reef, known internationally as Second Thomas Shoal and by China as Rén’ai Jião.
Second Thomas Shoal – which lies within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone 200km west of the archipelago and 1,000km from the nearest Chinese landmass – has been occupied by the Philippines since the 1990s. But the reef, which Manila calls Ayungin Shoal, has been a flashpoint for a decade, as Beijing continues its campaign to assert territorial control over the South China Sea.

[AzCal Retred]

What the OpFor is up to -

China's Newest Tank is Doing the Opposite of Everyone Else

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AHz39IIkmc&t=216s

Compared to their own Type 96 and Type 99 main battle tanks, the Black Panther is lighter, coming up at around 32 tons, with better mobility, speed, and improved performance at high altitude levels with lower oxygen.
It is also known that China has especially developed this light tank for plateau combat against neighboring India. Both countries have had territorial disputes for decades, and China has recently deployed this new tank on the Tibetan Plateau, ready to attack at any moment's notice…

[GlennF]

What the OpFor is up to -

China's Newest Tank is Doing the Opposite of Everyone Else

Not really ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFs6LG0TEyU

[AzCal Retred]

1970 is calling and it wants its Bolo Mark 1 back...
Looks like life is getting ready to imitate art.
As always, high tech has to survive the grit & mud of the battlefield.
Maybe a fleet of Toyota "Technicals" with 50 cals will be the weapons platforms of the future.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Q: What is the meaning of the word Bolo?
A: Acronym of be on the lookout.


https://robots.fandom.com/wiki/Bolo_(tank)
Bolo (tank); BOLO1 , Bolo Mark XXX

A Bolo is a fictional type of artificially intelligent superheavy tank. They were first imagined by author Keith Laumer, and have since been featured in numerous science fiction novels and short story anthologies by Laumer and other authors. Many Bolo stories are told from the viewpoint of the Bolo itself, with it's internal thoughts printed in italics throughout the story.

The Bolo was a heavily armed and armored fighting machine with the latest AI systems, and was to conduct operations with very little need of human intervention. Even in the early models, Bolos could perform such tasks such as unassisted guard duty and fire support. With the introduction of the Bolo Mark XX, the supertanks gained limited self-awareness which grew and improved with each successive model. The Bolos served in various capacities for over a thousand years.

[AzCal Retred]

Hmmm...now we have religious backing for the cause; maybe Green Lighting a PI response? Is it a race between which flashpoint toggles first, or just another mechanism for fine tuning the start date? All sides have lots of cool new hardware to test out. A major political uproar over here in Los Estados Unidos could provide 72-96 hours of valuable cover, we may get that today. The Iranian spy ship Behshad parked in the Red Sea aiding the Houthis with intel is a very legitimate target. Place your bets...

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251114/south-china-sea-filipino-bishops-urge-manila-defend-what-ours-amid-beijings-aggression
“A policy of appeasing the Chinese aggressors is worsening the situation of our poor fisherfolk,” they said in a statement whose signatories included Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

[AzCal Retred]

South China Sea: Philippines to put military base near Taiwan in high gear to tackle tensions with Beijing; 07 Feb, 2024

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said military infrastructure in Batanes province will be ramped up to ‘ensure the overall safety and integrity of our nation’
His comments underscore Manila’s efforts to build its security capability as tensions with China flared up in recent months

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3251228/south-china-sea-philippines-put-military-base-near-taiwan-high-gear-tackle-tensions-beijing

[GlennF]

Taiwan's Kinmen/Quemoy is only 10km from the Chinese city of Xiamen in Fujian.

However putting an American base there may be seen in some circles as a touch provocative.

[AzCal Retred]

Apparently everyone is determined to test out their shiny new ordinance. I guess it needs to happen every 30-50 years or so to re-educate any survivors.
All I know is that over here a whole lot of folks are about to get a reality check. From what I've seen very few of them will actually like it, movies & TV to the contrary.
IMHO it's not a good idea to poison, blow chunks out of and generally degrade the overtaxed environment that's keeping you alive. But that's just me.
So once again -  Let Slip the Dogs of War!   

https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/china-and-cubas-plan-for-military-base-threatens-the-region/

AUGUST 22, 2023
China and Cuba are in advanced negotiations for the construction of a joint military training facility, an infrastructure that would facilitate the presence of Chinese troops in Cuba on a permanent basis. A base for these purposes would be in addition to the spy bases that China allegedly has on the island, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“One of the advantages for China of having a military base in Cuba would be to have an area of operations close to the port of New Orleans, which is very strategic for the United States, being part of a key supply chain that goes down the Mississippi River,” Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, told Diálogo on July 25. “If China wanted to disrupt this north-south chain so it could strengthen its own supply chain that is south-south, Cuba would be a very strategic positioning for a base.”

[Leofric]

Cuba  - that is not looking good.

[AzCal Retred]

Cuba is a roughly 75 mile x 500 mile island maybe 100 miles offshore from the USA. At Mach 7 that's about 1 1/2 minutes flight time for hypersonic missiles in either direction, maybe 5 minutes for ballistic MIRVS. About 5 x 20-40 megaton warheads would turn it into an uninhabitable moonscape. Just one boomer can easily do this. It's a political bargaining chip for the Chinese, just too bad for the residents.
"We'll fight this war to the last drop of YOUR blood..."

[Leofric]

Cuban missile crisis all over again ! It was diffused last time but ---- ? !

[AzCal Retred]

"...all your base are belong to us..." Words Beijing just loves to hear.

Lawmakers Move To Let US Ally Claim China's Artificial Islands ; Feb 15, 2024
https://www.newsweek.com/philippine-senate-bill-government-claim-south-china-sea-artificial-islands-1870181
A bill to challenge the ownership of China's artificial islands in Southeast Asia's contested waters is moving through the Congress of the Philippines, an ally the United States is treaty-bound to defend in the event of an attack.
An amendment approved on Wednesday by the Senate in Manila would allow the Philippine government to lay claim to any man-made feature that falls within its exclusive economic zone. That could include at least three reefs in the disputed Spratly Islands archipelago that have been fully militarized by China in the past decade.

[AzCal Retred]

The Falklands War was fought over fishing rights. This sounds worse.

Chinese fishing vessels are going scorched earth and pumping cyanide into contested waters ; Feb 18, 2024

https://www.businessinsider.com/scarborough-shoal-chinese-fishing-vessels-pumping-cyanide-contested-waters-philippines-2024-2

The Philippines' fisheries bureau says China is trying to "intentionally destroy" Scarborough Shoal.
The fish-rich atoll is hotly contested by China but internationally recognized as the Philippines'.
The bureau on Saturday accused Chinese vessels of pumping cyanide into the shoal's waters.
"These Chinese fishermen use cyanide," Nazario Briguera, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said on Saturday, per a translation from Filipino by The Philippine Star.
Cyanide fishing is a controversial fishing method that typically involves dumping the highly toxic chemical near coral reefs or in fishing grounds to stun or kill fish so they can be easily captured.
It's widely condemned because it indiscriminately affects most marine species in the area, causes severe damage to aquatic ecosystems, and can make fish harmful to handle or eat.
But Brigeura accused the Chinese fishermen of using cyanide to also "intentionally destroy Bajo de Masinloc to prevent Filipino fishing boats to fish in the area," The Philippine Star noted. Bajo de Masinloc is the Spanish name for Scarborough Shoal.
The spokesperson estimated that the alleged use of cyanide would result in about $17,850,000 in damages to the region, the outlet reported.
The bureau said it hadn't conducted a formal study of the total damage but said it was a "serious concern," The Philippine Star reported.
"We will see clearer, and we will have proof or evidence that this is really being done by Chinese fishermen and, apparently, other foreign fishers," Briguera said, according to a translation by the Philippine outlet GMA News.

[AzCal Retred]

Showing the flag - US style. The Buff can deliver a horrendous payload. Now if we just had one over Ukraine...
Decline in fish output seen amid destruction of 21,000 acres of West Philippine Sea coral reefs
Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star ; February 24, 2024 | 8:00am
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/02/24/2335793/decline-fish-output-seen-amid-destruction-21000-acres-west-philippine-sea-coral-reefs

B-52 Flies with Philippine Fighters over the South China Sea ; Feb. 21, 2024
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/b-52-philippine-fighters-flies-south-china-sea/