BEIJING: A Chinese general has called for the country's navy to join the fight against Somali pirates, saying the mission would boost China's international stature and give its sailors valuable experience in fighting open ocean combat operations far from their home ports.
In other news: China has a navy?
Yeah, and they also have really quiet diesel submarines too. Our own sailors have a lot of respect for those.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-492804/The-uninvited-guest-Chinese-sub-pops-middle-U-S-Navy-exercise-leaving-military-chiefs-red-faced.html
China is all about keeping that region free of pirates since they get so much of their oil from there. And for our navy, seeing more of their fleet is a good thing. It allows us to become more familiar with the potential enemy.
You are right about that Pat. I see us throwing down with the ChiComs sooner than the Ruskies.
ReplyDeleteFrom the articles I read today, China has a pretty substantial surface fleet, you just never hear about them. And with everybody so hesitant(rightly so) to use nukes, any naval conflict will pretty much be limited to the surface fleet. I wonder what their force-projection capabilities are, I mean in terms of air-craft carriers?
They appear to have a single carrier, but its inoperable.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sinodefence.com/navy/surface/varyag.asp
They have several destroyers and lots of frigates.