China Nixes U.S. Navy Visits to Hong Kong Over American Support for Pro-Democracy Movement
Meanwhile, the US Navy issues a $22 billion order for nuclear submarines.
China has banned the US Navy from making stops in Hong Kong after President Donald Trump signed legislation supporting the city’s pro-democracy protesters.
“In response to the unreasonable behaviors of the US side, the Chinese government decides to suspend the review of requests by US military ships and aircraft to visit Hong Kong as of today,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news conference in Beijing.
Hua also announced that Beijing would impose sanctions on several US non-governmental human rights organizations that have been monitoring and reporting on the protests in Hong Kong.
Taiwan, on the other hand, is keen to have the Americans sail into their ports!
Beijing’s decision to suspend US military port calls in Hong Kong has been greeted with a degree of derision in Taiwan, with many suggesting that the Americans would be welcome to come to the island instead.
Although the United States is unlikely to risk angering Beijing further by sending warships on a port call to the self-ruled island, many Taiwanese internet users said the southern port city of Kaoshiung would “win big” if the Americans did decide to visit.
One comment on the PTT terminal bulletin board system joked those visits would happen only when “US-China [trade] talks fall apart or reach a standstill”.
A Taiwanese blogger wrote on Facebook that such a move could “stimulate spending in Kaoshiung by US naval officers and elevate Kaoshiung’s skills in naval vessel repairs”.
Interestingly, it appears that Trump is not in a rush to make a trade deal with China. He just indicated that it might be better to wait until after the 2020 election to make formal agreements.
“In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal, but they want to make a deal now and we will see whether or not the deal is going to be right,” Trump told reporters in London, where he is attending the NATO summit. The U.S. general election is set to take place next November.
…When asked if he had a deadline for the deal, Trump added: “I have no deadline, no.′
Not only is Trump not rushing into a trade deal with China, but the administration is also now spending $22 billion to purchase nine new nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines to maintain superiority over China’s growing Navy.
“These next generation submarines provide our forces with a distinct national security advantage. They are an unmatched tool for deterrence,” said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, who has held the position for just days following the ouster of his predecessor, Richard Spencer, added that the commission affirmed the U.S. commitment to naval dominance.
“Our submarine force is fundamental to the power and reach of our integrated naval force,” he said. “Today’s announcement affirms our commitment to the future strength of our nation, undersea and around the world.”
Trump is willing to trade with China…its a matter of China deciding precisely what it wants to trade with us.
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Beijing has nothing to lose by gambling against Trump’s reelection – another byproduct of the sham impeachment.
The US can skirt problematic south east asia warship port calls by sending a hospital ship to Taiwan.
-> The Taiwan measels outbreak lends credence to the hospital ship port call.
A 12 trimester impeachment planned for a president who has the courage to confront Chinese arbitrage games, internal human rights violations, and external expansion dreams. As well as catastrophic anthropogenic immigration reform in social justice zones and south of our border. I think he also denied funding to the Planned Parenthood umbrella corporation.
In honor of the impeachment…
Happy Festivus!
To paraphrase Teddy: dive deeply and carry a big missile.
Why doesn’t the Navy the great naval hero , John Forbes Kerry, instead? In fact perhaps China can keep him.
No loss. Plenty of other great liberty ports in WESTPAC.
is Olongapo on that list?
😉
“Interestingly, it appears that Trump is not in a rush to make a trade deal with China.”
The point is to beat China, reduce or eliminate them as a threat. It’s a cold war, one that we were losing because we pretended it didn’t exist. Trump and others recognize the truth and have acted upon it.
Although the United States is unlikely to risk angering Beijing further by sending warships on a port call to the self-ruled island,
Self ruled island? Perhaps they mean the independent nation The Republic of China as they call themselves.
How do we know the CIA has been infiltrated by Communists (like John Brennan?)? From the CIA Factbook, which is supposed to be a reliable source:
Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Taiwan
local long form: none
local short form: Taiwan
former: Formosa
It’s not just the CIA or whatnot. The United States officially recognized Peking as the rightful gov’t of all of China several decades ago. We had, for years, recognized the gov’t in Taiwan as such (because we were fighting communist Chinese around that part of the world, duh), but dropped it in the late 70s for Peking. (Oh yeah, you can guess which President that was. Same one that backed the communists in Africa.)
Fine. Don’t stop in Hong Kong. Just sail by, flying the largest ensign available, and make sure the people of Hong Kong see it.
https://newwars.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/060618-n-8492c-066.jpg
It’s called the right of innocent passage. Any warship, including a surfaced submarine flying it’s nation’s flag (ensign) can transit any country’s territorial waters as long as it doesn’t conduct warlike, provocative operations, such as a submarine transiting submerged or flight operations.
Which would be what the carrier strike group, standing out to sea outside Chinese territorial waters that WE recognize as Chinese waters, is for. As many CSGs as it takes. Maybe the USAF can toss in a few strategic bomber fly-bys.
I’ve done my share of FONOPs (freedom of navigation operations). I’m a big fan of the freedom of the seas. I’m disgusted and angered by China’s behavior when it comes to their disregard of the laws, customs, and treaties that govern the freedom of the seas. It’s a long list that I won’t go into, but they act like they own the South China Sea and they have no legal basis to their claims.
And if anybody thinks that isn’t important then do some homework to learn about how much of the world’s trade goes through there.
As much as I want to show my support to the people of Hong Kong I want to see what the Chicoms would do about it when we assert our rights. My informed WAG is that they would back down.
I would stake my life on it. Seriously. I’m in the fleet reserve, so just recall me to active duty so I can have a front row seat.
Well, no.
Freedom of navigation and right of innocent passage applies in in non-territorial waters and in narrow straights that would otherwise be territorial waters such as the Malacca Straits and in other narrow bodies of water such as the Gulf of Aqaba.
Hong Kong is wholly within the territorial waters of China.
“Freedom of navigation and right of innocent passage applies in in NON-TERRITORIAL WATERS and in narrow straights that would otherwise be territorial waters such as the Malacca Straits and in other narrow bodies of water such as the Gulf of Aqaba.”
Umm, no. Right of innocent passage applies ONLY to transit in the territorial waters of a coastal state.
Straits passage applies in international straits such as the Malacca strait. One difference being that a submarine can transit submerged when conducting straits passage, but must transit on the surface flying the national ensign when conducting innocent passage. Ships may conduct flight operations when conducting straits passage, but cannot when conducting innocent passage.
When conducting straits passage in Belleau Wood pirates attacked a surfaced USN submarine near us. Not a part of our ARG (Amphibious Readiness Group, now called an Amphibious Strike Group and who knows what it will be called when the next CNO decides changing jargon is the best FITREP bullet he can put on his resume). We launched USMC Sea Cobras to put an exclamation point on, “You just don’t do that to a United States submarine.” The sub would have been fine if she could have transited submerged but it was just to shallow. A surfaced submarine these past few decades has precious little to defend itself when it gives up it’s stealthy underwaterness.
I do not mean to imply that a naval unit abandons its right to self defense when conducting innocent passage as opposed to strait passage, but the considerations and implications are far less when it’s the latter.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c1bf/18d29ee6fd4a69c79024f4eda9dec3859f21.pdf
“1983
Innocent Passage and Transit Passage in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
…I. Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea
Innocent passage signifies a right of free passage through TERRITORIAL waters which exists only as long as the foreign vessel respects coastal state regulations and does not interfere with or threaten the tranquility of the coastal state.21…”
You are confused, my friend. I am not. I just cited a UN document that summarized the state of the law that applied when I was in the USN from the late 1980s through the late first decade of the 21st century and as far as I know still does. I hate to cite the UN as a source, but I have confirmed its accuracy, and it at least gets it straight about the difference between the territorial and non-territorial. I suggest you do your homework on that difference. I used to do this for a living. You are conflating different terms while I am not.
BTW, Red, it looks like Olongapo is back on the menu of port visits. Because the Philippines, like the rest of the member states of ASEAN have rightly come to the conclusion that after checking out China’s aggressive moves in the region, we Americans aren’t so bad.
So we’ve largely been invited back to the Philippines.
Maybe it is time to start building an updated Seawolf class instead of the Virginia.