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2008-05-01 China-Japan-Koreas
Chinese build secret nuclear submarine base
China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, it can be disclosed.
So the secret base isn't so secret anymore ...
Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, shows that a substantial harbour has been built which could house a score of nuclear ballistic missile submarines and a host of aircraft carriers.
None of which China has, but first things first ...
In what will be a significant challenge to US Navy dominance and to countries ringing the South China Sea, one photograph shows China’s latest 094 nuclear submarine at the base just a few hundred miles from its neighbours.

Other images show numerous warships moored to long jettys and a network of underground tunnels at the Sanya base on the southern tip of Hainan island.
Gee, whoever heard of militaries trying to conceal what they have and where they have it?
Of even greater concern to the Pentagon are massive tunnel entrances, estimated to be 60ft high, built into hillsides around the base. Sources fear they could lead to caverns capable of hiding up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites.
The tunnel entrances are just like the opening to a bottle: you just have to have the right cork ...
The US Department of Defence has estimated that China will have five 094 nuclear submarines operational by 2010 with each capable of carrying 12 JL-2 nuclear missiles.
Each of those five boats will have an American attack sub -- or two -- on its tail from the moment it pulls out to the moment it returns. Our people know how to do this; we had five decades practice with the Cold War and Soviet boats.
The images were obtained by Janes Intelligence Review after the periodical was given access to imagery from the commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe. Analysts for the respected military magazine suggest that the base could be used for "expeditionary as well as defensive operations" and would allow the submarines to "break out to launch locations closer to the US".

It would now be "difficult to ignore" that China was building a major naval base where it could house its nuclear forces and increase it "strategic capability considerably further afield".
We do the same. We won't ignore the new base, quite the contrary.
The development so close to the sea lanes vital to Asian economies "can only cause concern far beyond these straits".

Military analysts believe that China’s substantial build up of its forces is gaining pace put has remained hidden from the world in the build-up to the Olympics. China has diverted much of its resources from the huge Peoples Liberation Army to the navy, air force and missile development.

An old Russian aircraft carrier, bought by Beijing for "leisure activities" has been picked over by naval architects who hope to "reverse engineer" the ship. Within the next five to 10 years the Peoples Liberation Navy is expected to build up to six carriers which will also coincide with the Royal Navy’s construction of two major carriers.
Building a carrier is one thing, operating a carrier is another, and building and operating a carrier battle group is the toughest of all.
The location of the base off Hainan will also give the submarines access to very deep water exceeding 5,000 metres within a few miles, making them even harder to detect.

While it has been known that China might be developing an underground base at Sanya, the pictures provide the first proof of the base’s existence and the rapid progress made. Two 950 metre piers and three smaller ones would be enough to accommodate two carrier strike groups or amphibious assault ships.
Assuming the Chinese succeed in building the ships.
Posted by Steve White 2008-05-01 11:43|| || Front Page|| [1 views ]  Top

#1 Does it have a fake volcano too?
Posted by tu3031 2008-05-01 11:54||   2008-05-01 11:54|| Front Page Top

#2 
Posted by gorb 2008-05-01 11:56||   2008-05-01 11:56|| Front Page Top

#3 An old Russian aircraft carrier, bought by Beijing for "leisure activities"

Oh, water skiing...
Posted by tu3031 2008-05-01 11:59||   2008-05-01 11:59|| Front Page Top

#4 I don't see what the fuss is. China is going to take over from the US as the world's largest economy. Maintaining security on the sea lanes is going to be in their interest just as it was when we were number one after World War II. They are basically making the same discoveries we made when it comes to the need for security and stability to keep business thriving.

Stability is as much in our interest as it is in Chinas ... at least until they become their own largest customer and at that point we aren't going to amount to a pinch of owl poop to them.

Boys and girls, y'all can forget about being all that important in the overall scheme of things. By the time our children are grown, China's economy will be twice as large as ours and their military will be the most powerful on the planet.

Get used to it.
Posted by crosspatch 2008-05-01 12:05||   2008-05-01 12:05|| Front Page Top

#5 Even britain still matters today. We will certainly matter for the foreseeable future, even if no longer number one.

They only become several times as big in GDP if they can come close in GDP per cap (lots of potential issues with that) and if we maintain the current population relationship (seeing as their pop is topping out, and ours is still growing, not clear thats going to hold)
Posted by liberalhawk 2008-05-01 12:25||   2008-05-01 12:25|| Front Page Top

#6 Even britain still matters today. We will certainly matter for the foreseeable future, even if no longer number one.

They only become several times as big in GDP if they can come close in GDP per cap (lots of potential issues with that) and if we maintain the current population relationship (seeing as their pop is topping out, and ours is still growing, not clear thats going to hold)
Posted by liberalhawk 2008-05-01 12:25||   2008-05-01 12:25|| Front Page Top

#7 Two 950 metre piers and three smaller ones would be enough to accommodate two carrier strike groups or amphibious assault ships.

Now they get to build the ships to go with 'em, I guess.

Only bad thing about an underground naval base is that if a tactical nuke (or even a MOAB or a big honkin' thermobaric) goes off at the tunnel entrance, you get a nice shockwave racing into a confined space . . . which isn't good for the occupants of that space. Alternatively, if someone puts a Barnes Wallis earthquake bomb into the rock just above the tunnel entracnce, you could bring the whole thing down.
Posted by Mike 2008-05-01 12:49||   2008-05-01 12:49|| Front Page Top

#8 China is going to take over from the US as the world's largest economy.

That depends upon whether they're able to transition to a Taiwan or South Korean democratic model. I don't see the Party giving that one up easily. One good recession and watch the scramble as the internal contradictions that supports the growth come to the forefront. As the old Chinese curse goes - may you live in interesting times.
Posted by Procopius2k 2008-05-01 12:50||   2008-05-01 12:50|| Front Page Top

#9 The declining dollar is hurting Chinese export trade, and the sustained growth rates of 10+% are masking a lot of problems. Inefficiency is everywhere, there are a lot of really dumb people out there running businesses, and they succeed due to enormous demand.

Also, this is the Nanhai fleet of south China, not the critical Donghai fleet opposing Taiwan.
Posted by gromky 2008-05-01 12:59||   2008-05-01 12:59|| Front Page Top

#10 five 094 nuclear submarines operational by 2010

Holy crap! 5 * 094 * 2010...That's like 944,700 submarine type years. Do we have anything that compares with that? It looks like certain doom!
Posted by SteveS 2008-05-01 13:30||   2008-05-01 13:30|| Front Page Top

#11 Just how does one fuel a nuclear submarine on rice?
Posted by James Samuel 2008-05-01 14:38||   2008-05-01 14:38|| Front Page Top

#12 Before you get too upset about China rising, remember the huge peasant population that must be served. If China were a nation of <500,000,000 people, then we might have a problem. But gentlemen, the >800,000,000 Chinese in the back country aren't much better off than they were 100 years ago and are starting to think that they too should live the good life in Shanghai or Hong Kong. China does not have and is unlikely to acquire the economic infrastructure to meet those demands. I will be surprised if China doesn't implode within the next 20 - 30 years.
Posted by RWV 2008-05-01 14:39||   2008-05-01 14:39|| Front Page Top

#13 i thought they where rationing rice
Posted by sinse 2008-05-01 16:35||   2008-05-01 16:35|| Front Page Top

#14 I believe you're correct, sinse. They're going to have to ration females in another decade or so, too, and that for at least a generation. Which, coupled with the economic demands RWV outlines, should make for very interesting times over there indeed.
Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife  2008-05-01 18:55||   2008-05-01 18:55|| Front Page Top

#15 See NOSI + SPACEWAR + MILITARY.com + TOPIX > various artiiikles on SUB THREAT in 21st CENTURY [read - anti-US or mostly anti-US]. SPACEWAR > indics that CHINA = PLAN is interested in NEW WOLFPACK TACTICS agz US Navy???
Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-05-01 23:15||   2008-05-01 23:15|| Front Page Top

15:31 Abu Uluque
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