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In case anyone did't get the "disputed" part, Vietnam occupies most of South China Sea islands especially in the 70s and 80s around Sino-Vietnam war. China (act
by est 11y ago
In case anyone did't get the "disputed" part, Vietnam occupies most of South China Sea islands especially in the 70s and 80s around Sino-Vietnam war. China (actually Republic of China) claimed them earliest but didn't occupy.
- dogma1138 11y agoIt's disputed because 3 countries claim ownership of the the island as it's within their "territorial" (with the exception of Taiwan which claims it because it's still pretends to represent "real China") waters. China pretty much made claim to all of the waters it's claim extends as far as the shore lines of Malaysia. China also extends it's claim over waters outside of the immediate territorial waters by building artificial islands so far only within the 200 n/M of their exclusive economic zone which it claims extends it's coastal waters even further (this isn't exactly the case for this specific island (it's land mass was artificially extended, and a large harbor was built) but an important background point for the entire dispute). So far countries have refrained from militarizing the islands too much sure they might post a couple of sailors here and there but this is a long rang air defense system capable of shooting down aircraft as far as 400km away, this is basically an S-300/400 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-400_(missile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-400_(missile)] "copy" with a much more advanced radar and better interceptors by all counts.
- varjag 11y agoS-400 long range capability is mostly theoretical, as there's no stock of the 40N6 missile capable of it. Especially doubtful in case of China, given the secondary nature of their missile technology.
- dogma1138 11y agoChina builds their own interceptors so the availability of Russian stockpiles isn't relevant, they've both deployed and conducted real world tests on multiple interceptors beyond the initial 200 KM range that the system went into service with including having improved interceptors that can counter ballistic missiles and satellites[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_missile_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_mi...].
- varjag 11y agoThat has nothing to do with S-400. The satellite interceptor was a modified ballistic missile.
- dogma1138 11y agoBy all accounts it was a modified HQ-9 interceptor which was piggybacked on a short/medium range ballistic missile (mostly because of the high inclination of the test satellite, which might mean it's quite likely to be potentially capable of reaching LEO VISINT satellites which pass over the interceptor on it's own). Chinese source: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_49e4b637010007hi.html http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_49e4b637010007hi.html I don't speak Chinese but it seems to translate rather well.
- varjag 11y agoAny space faring nation has technology to intercept LEO satellites. That doesn't mean a tricked out ICBM has any use in intercepting manuvering fighter jet. The original HQ-9 interceptor is stated to have 200km slant range, just as the Russian missile it was faithfully copied from.
- dogma1138 11y agoThe ICBM didn't hit the missile the HQ-19 interceptor did, and no not every space capable nation can shoot down a satellite look how many decades it took the US to being able to do achieve that. And yes I said that the system initially was deployed with a range of about 200KM but they have made improvements since: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HQ-9#Variants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HQ-9#Variants Most SAM's have different profiles and interceptors that cover targets with different capabilities this quite often limits their range, you can argue about the exact range and operational ceiling for the interceptors in question all day long it still doesn't change the fact that China has deployed one of the most sophisticated SAM's currently in operation on and island that they might not have full legal claim for which can threaten quite a big chunk of the air traffic over the south china sea.
- quan 11y agoIf you google "nine-dash line", which violates UNCLOS, you'll understand why the ASEAN countries are upset and rightly so. China has visibly flexed their muscle in the region in recent years with building military bases, adding land to underwater islands so they can claim sea territory around them, and attacking fishing boats in disputed region. Some of this happen to dispute with Japan as well. With the economy not going well, I'm afraid this may be the Communist Party's strategy to diffuse tensions at home in order to hold on to power.