Pentagon report: China advances in taking military control of strategic Pacific sea lanes

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers patrol Woody Island in the Paracel Archipelago. / Reuters

 

China is using non-military “coercion” in an effort to gain control of strategic waters in the Asian Pacific, the Pentagon said in its annual report to Congress released on June 6.

“China continues to exercise low-intensity coercion to advance its claims in the East and South China Seas,” the report said, adding that Beijing’s tactic involves the use of “timed progression of incremental but intensifying steps to attempt to increase effective control over disputed areas and avoid escalation to military conflict.”

Nearly complete Hainan PLA Navy base can dock 2 carriers: Kanwa

The basic construction of China’s second People’s Liberation Army Navy aircraft carrier base on Hainan was completed in November 2014, according to an article in the August issue of Kanwa Defense Review, cited by the Chinese-language website of China’s Global Times.

The base incorporates a pier which can dock large ships on both sides, suggesting that both carriers can dock at the PLA Navy’s carrier bases at the same time, according to the magazine. The magazine stated that the new base is 700 meters long, giving it the longest carrier berths in the world. The US Navy carrier base in Yokosuka in Japan’s Kanagawa prefecture is only 400 m long, however, Naval Station Norfolk, in Virginia, which is just 430 m in length, can also take carriers in two directions.