This used to be a once in a while thing…
The U.S. Navy plane had been in the air over the South China Sea for a few hours when a warning came crackling over the radio.
“No approaching any more or you will pay full responsibility,” said a voice from a ground station belonging to China’s air force.
Full article HERE from NBC News.
Now days, it seems that just about every flight and every Freedom Of Navigation (FON) trip in that part of the South China Sea gets intercepted/threatened…
A number of years ago an EP-3 (PR32) was hit by a Chinese fighter attempting to ‘bounce’ them. After that the Chinese became a lot more circumspect about approaching, but now…
I can’t help but wonder if the next ‘provocation’ is going to be a shootdown.
Off topic rant removed.
Was that the P-3 that landed at Hainan and eventually came back in pieces?
You know that old Pedo Joe has your back, Jack… or if not him, the whore. I realize that a lot of people hate/hated Pres. Trump, but he did have our back.
“China says it is protecting its sovereignty and maritime interests and that “close-in reconnaissance” by American planes and warships threatens its national security and undermines regional peace and stability.”
Time to give P-8s fighter escorts.
I think an error was made in naming that sea area.
Call it ‘The South OF China Sea’ to remove hints of ownership.
Change it to the ‘Sea of China in Taiwan’ or outright ‘Sea of Taiwan’ or if you still want to call it something linked to mainland China, call it ‘Sea of West Taiwan.’
Me piss of the ChiComs? Every chance I get.
And this is the pattern of the ChiComs. Push, push, push till something happens, pull back a tad, start pushing again.
And it’s not just US planes and warships the Chicoms are doing it to. Right now there’s a low-level naval war between the ChiComs and the Philippines going on. The ChiComs have shot near Filipino ships with ordnance and shot at with high-power lasers from ChiCom PLAN ships, while the ChiCom ‘commercial’ (yeah, right, just call it the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy Auxiliaries and be done with it) have been transgressing in Filipino waters.
It’s the reason the Filipinos are allowing and were begging the US to come back after so rudely kicking us out.
I keep rerunning the scene from the movie of Hunt for Red October in my mind where the admiral snarls that things are getting tighter and tighter and someone’s going to get hurt badly. With the strong implication that war would come from it.
My prediction is China is using this provocation to create a pretext for their asset (Joe) to issue new very cautious and restrictive RoE to American forces in the area. This makes them look stronger, and allows them to push their image further through domestic and foreign propaganda.
Why pay to compromise a significant sovereign asset if you’re not going to use that extensively?
We are “ruled” by evil idiots, appropriate consequences will follow.
I was an Army medic 72-75, so I know zip about armor and even less about naval warfare. However, the article states that China has the world’s largest navy, with 340 ships and a goal of 440 by 2030; and that reminds me of the warning posters everywhere in Germany in the 1970s.
My last station was at a general hospital, and on the walls of the admin building I could find numerous posters telling me, essentially, that i was going to die if the balloon went up. I suppose the intent was (I don’t know what the intent was; I was a dang medic, I told you! And the admin building at 5th General Hospital was not exactly a hotbed of military activity and intrigue) to let me know of the superior discipline of the Soviet soldier, and the overwhelming weight of the Soviet armor, so get my guts ready to lubricate their tracks.
Anyway, I found out later that the majority of the Soviet tanks were obsolete T-34 models, lightly seasoned with newer stuff. So, I’m wondering if the Chinese ships are modern. Hint: if they have benches for rowers, maybe not.
All- Good points, and can’t disagree…
Yes, PR32 was disassembled on Hainan and flown back on 2 AN-124s, rebuilt and is still in service today.
Hey Old NFO;
The Chinese are Emboldened by that dottering meat puppet in the White House, Obungler hated the Military, but he wasn’t so blatant a chinese asset like Xiden was and President Trump was considered a “loose Cannon” and the Chinese viewed him as “Cobra vs Mongoose” kinda thing.
In that 2001 incident, the pilot of the Chinese J-8 was named Wang Wei – pronounced ‘Wong Way’ – which is awfully close to ‘wrong way’- he was never recovered …
I rather enjoy that the Chinese have issued map updates using the ancient Chinese names for Russian cities and landmarks near their border. With friends like these…… i suspect that Russia isn’t holding back some of their newer weapons in case of NATO. They probably have an itchy back due to the vastness of Siberia. They have gone toe to toe with the Chinese before. There are going to be tasty bits left if Russia implodes.
Bob- True!
Tom- Yep and he died…
Mike- Excellent point. Both are in ‘expansionist’ mode!
Am sure should the ChiComs shoot down one of our planes Slo Joe will immediately apologize for the plane getting n the way of the bullets.