China Sends Flanker Fighter Jets To South China Sea Amid Tensions
July 17 - As the USS Ronald Reagan carrier battle group sails into the South China Sea, evidence has emerged that China has deployed fighter jets to an airstrip on a disputed island there. Satellite imagery from July 15 shows at least four aircraft present. This move comes two days after U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo declared that “Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful.” It is also set against a large U.S.-led naval exercise and rising tensions across the region generally.
The planes are believed to be the Chinese-made J-11B variant of the famous Flanker aircraft. These are broadly equivalent to the F-15 Eagle used by the U.S. Air Force. China builds a range of versions of the Russian family of fighter aircraft, originally known as the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. While the exact variant is hard to discern from the satellite imagery, there is no doubt that these are Flankers.
The Flankers are on the airstrip at Woody Island in the Paracel Islands. Although de-facto occupied by China, it is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, and is one of many islands in the area that are disputed. China beefed up the facilities in recent years and has deployed fighters and bombers there previously... more
July 17 - As the USS Ronald Reagan carrier battle group sails into the South China Sea, evidence has emerged that China has deployed fighter jets to an airstrip on a disputed island there. Satellite imagery from July 15 shows at least four aircraft present. This move comes two days after U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo declared that “Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful.” It is also set against a large U.S.-led naval exercise and rising tensions across the region generally.
The planes are believed to be the Chinese-made J-11B variant of the famous Flanker aircraft. These are broadly equivalent to the F-15 Eagle used by the U.S. Air Force. China builds a range of versions of the Russian family of fighter aircraft, originally known as the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. While the exact variant is hard to discern from the satellite imagery, there is no doubt that these are Flankers.
The Flankers are on the airstrip at Woody Island in the Paracel Islands. Although de-facto occupied by China, it is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, and is one of many islands in the area that are disputed. China beefed up the facilities in recent years and has deployed fighters and bombers there previously... more
...Communist China defines itself in opposition to European and Japanese imperialism, a scourge CCP leaders decry for inflicting a “century of humiliation” on Asia’s leading power. Unsurprisingly, then, China’s embassy in Washington DC leapt to deny Pompeo’s accusation.
And indeed, the CCP is not seeking an empire in the South China Sea, strictly speaking. An empire exercises dominion over foreign territories from an imperial center. Beijing wants far more than a maritime empire. It covets ownership. It wants to make the South China Sea what Romans once called the Mediterranean Sea—namely mare liberum, or “our sea.”... more
And indeed, the CCP is not seeking an empire in the South China Sea, strictly speaking. An empire exercises dominion over foreign territories from an imperial center. Beijing wants far more than a maritime empire. It covets ownership. It wants to make the South China Sea what Romans once called the Mediterranean Sea—namely mare liberum, or “our sea.”... more
