United States warships and planes
carried out over 2,000 close buying
operations aimed at china this year. According to a military analyst, the targets of these missions include
chinese-controlled islands and reefs in
the south china sea as well as the
coastal area of the chinese mainland.
According to Kao Yansong, a researcher
with the people's liberation army
academy of military science, the high frequency of such close
reconnaissance endangers china's
sovereign security and heightens
regional tensions which will inevitably
trigger firm opposition from china and
undoubtedly increase the risk of gunfire.
Cow told a panel at the 10th Shangshan
forum an annual chinese military
conference that was held via video link
this week, the most urgent task at the
moment is that the u.s immediately
ceases its frequent close reconnaissance
to reduce the possibility of misfires, he
said.
Cow said the u.s had carried out a
series of acts that challenged china's
sovereignty and security and was trying
to contain it in areas such as trade, science and technology. He argued that china was forced to take
counter-measures but this would
inevitably hamper their ability to
cooperate on things such as arms control
and regional security. Cow said that while the risk could be
reduced by better communications and
rules of safe conduct between the two
sides, ultimately the u.s should make
fundamental readjustments to its china
policy and stop treating the country as
a threat U.S Strike Group, japanese warship and
joint south china sea drills.
As tensions between the two sides grow, China has complained about the increase
in u.s intelligence operations carried
out by planes and ships. Apart from the much publicized freedom
of navigation operations by u.s naval
vessels and aircraft that aim to
challenge china's claims to disputed
land features in the south china sea. Reconnaissance planes ships and
submarines have also been carrying out
more operations to monitor chinese
military air and naval bases on the
islands and near the coast.
China has also accused the u.s of
disguising warplanes as civilian
aircraft for close shore reconnaissance
missions, something foreign ministry
spokesman wang wenben described as a
common trick that the u.s air force
carried out at least 100 times last year. In august last year the chinese defense
ministry protested that a u.s
surveillance plane had entered a no-fly
zone in the yellow sea during a pla
exercise, something Beijing described as
a serious violation of the codes of safe
behavior. This month beijing demanded an
explanation after the uss connecticut a
nuclear-powered submarine was damaged in
a collision with an unknown object in
the south china sea.
The U.S did not release further details
of the incident which injured 11
submariners and china has expressed
concern about a possible nuclear leak. A Beijing-based think tank is keeping an
eye on an increase in close-range
reconnaissance activities this year by U.S Navy ocean surveillance ships in the
south china sea saying in a report
released on tuesday that the u.s is
attempting to monitor chinese submarine
activities in the region and provide
anti-submarine intelligence support. This situation poses a significant
threat not only to the chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) submarines, but also
to its submarine-based nuclear missiles
chinese experts warned and suggested
counter-measures including noise
disruptions by using civilian and
military vessels.
In the first half of 2021 the south
china sea experienced a surge in u.s
maritime reconnaissance activity with
all five of the u.s navy's marine
reconnaissance Vessels, four victorious
class vessels and one impeccable class
vessel. The U.S deployed at least one
surveillance ship to the south china sea
at least 161 days out of the total of
181 days in the first half of 2021, a
coverage rate of at 89 that indicates
such deployments have become routine.
The XB said, the u.s ship's missions were
likely intended to monitor pla submarine
movements, analyze their key activity
regions and frequently used routes and
provide anti-submarine intelligence
support the report said noting that the
u.s ocean surveillance ship activities
were accompanied by aerial monitoring
with more than 2,000 U.S spy aircraft
conducting close-range reconnaissance on China each year.
According to the spies monitoring waters
off the Zaisha and Lancia islands were
some key points of interest for the u.s
surveillance ships, as the ocean there is
more than 2,000 meters deep and has a
complicated environment making the
region a natural battlefield for
underwater and anti-submarine warfare.
