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China's construction of military base in the strategic location of Djibouti is just the first of what will likely be an ongoing expansion in friendly foreign ports around the world, says a Pentagon report. IMAGE: The Gwadar port that Pakistan is developing with Chinese help. China is likely to establish additional military bases in Pakistan and other countries with which it has longstanding friendly ties and similar strategic interests, a new Pentagon report said on Wednesday as the world's largest army increasingly flexed its muscles. In its annual report to the Congress on China's military build-up, the United States Department...

'Don't move or I'll shoot' - China teaching Korean to soldiers on N. Korean border By Lee Han-soo Chinese soldiers stationed along the North Korean border are learning Korean in case North Koreans cross the border to flee any U.S. attacks, according to a Japanese news outlet Tuesday. The Yomiuri Shimbun said the soldiers are memorizing phrases such as "Stop" or "Don't move or I'll shoot" in Korean, citing sources familiar with China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). "The PLA is teaching Korean to soldiers near the North Korean border in case North Korean refugees start flocking into China if a...

Chinese Troop Deployment at Sino-N. Korean Border (status) These reports are from Chinese and Japanese media. Since I have no time, I will just translate titles and key points. I will paste the entire text of original articles for those who are interested in details and could read them. It is up to you to make judgment on how credible they are. I heard some folks at DoD are screaming about this kind of articles. From CNA News and Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy in Hong Kong: Korean Peninsula Tense, China's Northern Military District on level 1 alertKey...

/begin my translation Chinese Military: Battle Preparation Order to all 5 Military Districts due to Crisis in Korean Peninsula Lee Jae-jun 2017-04-12 “Preparing to deploy additional 25,000 troops to N. Korean border where 150,000 troops had massed” [Seoul=Newsis] Lee Jae-jun reporter = According to Apr. 12 report of Oriental Daily News in Hong Kong, in addition to the Northern Military District bordering on N. Korea, Chinese military issued battle preparation order to the remaining four Military District in response to potential crisis in Korean Peninsula as U.S. is ready to use military force due to N. Korea’s nuclear and missile...

Several of Vietnam’s state-controlled news outlets have in recent days recalled the country’s 1979 border war with China, until now a strictly taboo topic. Such a recollection may signal that the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam has finally eased censorship of the short-lived but bloody military conflict. The war between the two communist neighbors broke out in the early hours of February 17, 1979, when China launched a full-scale military invasion into Vietnam’s northernmost provinces. Though the skirmish lasted only 27 days, the devastation it caused was colossal.

It will be a small-scale rerun of the island hopping of the Pacific campaign of World War 2. This campaign will start with the air base on Mischief Reef, 250 km west of Palawan. This puts it in range of ATACMS missiles with a range of 300 km. The United States has possibly some 2,000 of these in stock. The amphibious attack on Mischief Reef will be associated with the suppression of the airfields on Subi Reef and Fiery Cross Reef. From Mischief Reef, it is then on to the airfield on Subi Reef and then all the other island...

China inaugurates PLA Rocket Force, Xi confers flags English.news.cn 2016-01-01 20:41:22 Chinese President Xi Jinping (L F), confers the military flag to Li Zuocheng (C F), commander of the Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), and Liu Lei, political commissar of the Army, in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 31, 2015. The general commands of the PLA Army, Rocket Force and Strategic Support Force were founded on Thursday. (Xinhua/Li Gang) BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday conferred military flags on the general command for the Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the...

U.S. intelligence agencies recently monitored a Chinese test of a new rail car-based long-range missile capable of hitting targets throughout the United States. The canister ejection test of a DF-41 missile from a rail-mobile launcher was detected on Dec. 5 in western China, said defense officials familiar with reports of the test. Few details were available on the DF-41 launcher ejection test.

The speed and scale of China’s island-building spree have alarmed other countries with interests in the region. China announced in June that the creation of islands — moving sediment from the seafloor to a reef — would soon be completed. Since then, China has focused its efforts on construction. So far the country has built port facilities, military buildings and an airstrip on the islands, and recent imagery shows evidence of two more airstrips under construction. The installations bolster China’s foothold in the Spratly Islands, a disputed scattering of reefs and islands in the South China Sea more than 500...

BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia bombed Syria for a third day on Friday, mainly hitting areas held by rival insurgent groups rather than the Islamic State fighters it said it was targeting and drawing an increasingly angry response from the West. The U.S.-led coalition that is waging its own air war against Islamic State called on the Russians to halt strikes on targets other than Islamic State. "We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians and to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL," said the coalition, which includes the United States, major...

LONDON: Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly sending 150,000 soldiers to Syria to wipe out the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). According to The Daily Star, he is apparently mounting an enormous military mission to take control of the terror group's stronghold of Raqqa. Raqqa is the self-declared capital of ISIS which is patrolled by as many as 5,000 jihadi members. Putin is set to mobilise 150,000 reservists whom he conscripted into the military earlier this week.

Much more of China's military procurements are taking place entirely within the nation A new report by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) sheds further light on China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)). According to the authors, China’s naval ambitions extend towards a global presence—thereby seeking to place it alongside the U.S. Navy as the only other nation with a worldwide seaborne military reach: Since our last publication in 2009, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)) has made significant strides in operationalizing as well as modernizing its force. Although the PLA(N)‘s primary focus remains in the East Asia region, where...

An article in Sina's Chinese-language military news web portal compared the abilities of India's HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and the FC-1 Xiaolong/JF-17 Thunder developed jointly by China and Pakistan. Overview of the Aircraft The HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was named by former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The development plan was approved by the Indian government in 1983. The government's requirements for the Tejas were to develop an all-weather supersonic LCA which could replace the MiG-21. Its main mission is to fight for control of airspace and to offer short-range support. The development of the Tejas...

Chinese strategists see a window of strategic opportunity for China early in the 21st century, though they haven’t publicly outlined the basis for that view. But we can make a good stab at it. Firstly, an air of inevitability is important in winning battles. While China is perceived to have a strong, growing economy that is crushing all before it, that perception of inevitability rubs off on China’s military adventures. To use that perception, China has to attack before its economy contracts due to the bursting of its real estate bubble. This explains the current rush to build the bases...

China has signed a contract with the Russian state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport for the purchase of the S-400 air defense systems, the company's chief executive Anatoly Isaikin said in an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant. "I will not disclose the details of the contract, but yes, China has indeed become the first buyer of this sophisticated Russian air defense system. It underlines once again the strategic level of our relations," Isaikin said, when asked whether it was true that Beijing signed a contract for the purchase of four S-400 divisions in September 2014. Isaykin also said that "many countries"...

Pakistan's Z-10s www.top81.cn Pakistan recently took delivery of three Z-10 attack helicopters, stored at this hangar in the Qasim Army base near Rawalphindi. The helicopters' state of disassembly suggests that Pakistani technicians are working to quickly familarize themselves with these new helicopters by installing rotor blades and other parts for flight, and then combat. Since a January 2015 agreement, China has transferred three Z-10 "Thunderbolt" attack helicopters to Pakistan, which has become China's staunchest ally and largest weapons buyer. These three Z-10 helicopters are currently at a Pakistani Army base in Qasim/Dhamial, undergoing testing, maintenance training and modifications for operating...

Narendra Modi in Mahe, Seychel On February 18, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) formally cleared India's single-largest defence project: a joint Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)-Navy project to build six nuclear-powered attack submarines or SSNs for roughly $12 billion (Rs.74,400 crore). This mammoth 'Make in India' project, nearly the size of the budget allotted this year to the three services to buy hardware ($15 billion), was not an isolated policy decision. Less than a month after he chaired the CCS, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Indian Ocean littoral countries of Seychelles, Mauritius and...

China’s latest nuclear submarine design appear to include a shelter capable of holding a miniature submarine for special operations forces (SOF) not unlike vehicles used to deliver Navy SEALs to shore from U.S. nuclear attack boats, according to an image in wide circulation in Chinese online networks. The Chinese boat — a Type-93T or Shang-class nuclear attack submarine — features a hangar for the SOF submersible that would allow People’s Liberation Army troops to discrete deployment much like U.S. forces, according to a translation of a March 17 story in the state-run Reference News. The image was first reported in...

Jeremy Bender March 10, 2015Chinese officials have confirmed that the country is currently building a second aircraft carrier, according to a number of Chinese and Taiwanese media sources. The former political commissar of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Liu Xioajiang told the Hong Kong Commercial Daily that a second aircraft carrier's construction is now in the hands of governmental agencies, according to news translations by Focus Taiwan. Liu also hinted that Beijing's second carrier, which would be China's first indigenously produced carrier, was only the start of the nation's maritime ambitions.(snip)

...Under its nationalistic prime minister, Shinzo Abe, Japan has embarked on the most sweeping overhaul of its defense posture in recent memory. Not only has Mr. Abe reversed a decade-long decline in military spending as part of what he calls “proactive pacifism,” but his government is also rewriting laws to lift restrictions on Japan’s armed forces, which are already taking a more active role as far afield as the Gulf of Aden.