Vietnam - Minister chides public, calls “barefoot scientist’” achievements modest

Not all of these inventors are farmers; some are businesspeople. For example, a story about the first made-in-Vietnam combatant submarine appeared in local newspapers four months ago.

 

Phan Boi Tran, a composite material engineer, is the inventor of the Yet Kieu 1 mini submarine. It runs on an electric engine which can bring it to a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour. Ninety percent of the submarine’s parts and accessories can be manufactured domestically. This was big news for Vietnamese, who believe that Vietnam “can only assemble machines, but cannot manufacture machines”.

 

Several days later, local newspapers reported that Nguyen Quoc Hoa, the owner of a print company in Thai Binh province, stated he had successfully tested his submarine named Truong Sa (Spratly Islands).

 

Science reporters, in a great excitement about “Vietnamese intelligence”, have discovered that a series of other scientific research works had been conducted by “barefoot scientists”, or farmers who work every day in rice fields and have no university education.

 

Bui Hien, a farmer, created a mini helicopter in accordance with international standards to prove that Vietnamese people can do anything.

 

While barefoot scientists have been praised for their achievements, the scientific community, which comprises thousands of PhDs, have been heavily criticized and described as “spongers”, because they cannot invent machines useful for production and daily life.

 

The well-educated scientists work at academies and big research institutes, where there is modern equipment, but they cannot create products which farmers, untrained and working in the rice fields, can.

 

However, Minister Quan “poured a ladle of cold water onto the public’s excitement” after he said that farmers’ achievements are “modest” and are not “inventions”.

 

Defending scientists, Quan said that if scientists and research institutes are assigned to create submarines and helicopters, they would create products much better than those made by the farmers.

 

In a related matter, the government does not intend to allocate resources to aircraft manufacturing.

In fact, Quan said, even countries that are more developed than Vietnam dare not think of manufacturing aircraft and submarines as the technical equipment requires very high technologies.

This explains why Boeing and Airbus aircraft are used all over the world, while only a few countries make submarines.

 

“The public tends to go to extremes when commenting that scientists are less capable than barefoot farmers,” he said.

 

The National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) grants intellectual property right certificates and extends patents to 1,000 inventions every year, both foreign and domestic, of which the number of patents granted to Vietnamese are under 100.

 

Quan stressed that most of the 100 patents are granted to scientists, institutes, schools and enterprises, while very few are granted to farmers.

 

Third Kilo submarine to arrive in Vietnam in November

VietNamNet Bridge – The third diesel-electricity fueled submarine built by the Admiralty Shipyard in Saint Petersburg for the Vietnam Navy will be delivered to the military port of Cam Ranh in November, according to the Russian news agency Interfax-AVN.

 

According to Interfax-AVN, Vietnamese sailors are practicing with the submarine at sea, which is the second training phase at sea. The first phase training took place from July 1 to 20 in the waters of Hogland Island.

 

“In the first phase, the submarine was in the water for 57 hours," Interfax-AVN said.

 

On August 20 the ship will return to the shipyard and will then return to sea 10 days later. It is expected to be delivered to Vietnam.

 

The fourth submarine in the contract to build six submarines for Vietnam is being tested at sea by the shipyard, while the fifth and the sixth ships are being built. The launch of the sixth ship is scheduled in September next year.

 

Besides building the submarines, Russia will help train Vietnamese sailors and provide equipment and technical supplies.

 

Varshavyanka (Kilo) submarines are the most advanced type in the contemporary world. The length of the vessel is 74 meters, and the width 10 meters. Their deepest submerging level is 300 meters, and they have an underwater speed of up to 37 km/h. The submarine can run automatically for 45 days and nights.

 

The Kilo submarines are equipped with the "Club" missile complex which is capable of projecting power at a distance of 300 km. The unique feature of this submarine is its extremely low noise. Western experts call Varshavyanka submarines the "black holes in the ocean."

 

Vietnam’s 2nd Russian-made sub completes sea trials

The second Kilo-class submarine Vietnam agreed to buy from Russia has completed its sea trials and been returned to the shipyard where it was built, Russian news agency Interfax reported Tuesday.

 

The submarine named Ho Chi Minh City and built by Admiralty Shipyards of St. Petersburg undertook two dives, reaching a depth of 190 meters on one of them, reported Interfax.

The Ho Chi Minh City set off for its sea trials on April 28, four months after being launched. 

The training of the submarine’s Vietnamese crew will take place later this month.

According to Interfax’s sources, the third of the six submarines that Vietnam ordered from Russia, named after Vietnam’s port city of Hai Phong, will be launched at the end of this year, while the remaining three are still being built.

Vietnam signed a US$2 billion deal to buy six Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Moscow in December 2009, with Russia promising to deliver all of them by 2016. As part of the deal, Russia agreed to train the Vietnamese crew and supply Vietnam with necessary equipment.

The first sub, named after Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi, was launched in August 2012. 

It underwent 23 successful dives, according to an Interfax report in May.

The first two subs are scheduled to be handed over to Vietnam later this year.

Kilo-class subs, nicknamed “Black Holes” for their ability to prevent detection, are designed to carry out anti-submarine and anti-ship missions, general reconnaissance and patrols, according to a RIA Novosti report. They are thought to be among the world’s quietest diesel-electric powered subs.

Equipped with six 533-millimeter torpedo tubes, they can travel up to 9,600 kilometers without refueling; have a displacement capacity of 2,300 tons; and can reach depths of up to 350 meters. 

Vietnam has said it has purchased the Kilo-class subs and other armaments exclusively for self-defense purposes.

Vietnam buys six submarines

In a meeting with voters of Phu Cu district in Hung Yen province last week, Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh said that to modernize the army, Vietnam has ordered six submarines.

The security- defense related issues, including modernizing the Vietnam People's Army was mentioned by the Defense Minister in the meeting.

The minister reaffirmed that the military and police forces are well coordinated to ensure stability, security and territorial integrity of the country, including the integrity of the waters and islands.

Related to the disputes in the East Sea, the head of the Defense Ministry confirmed that the army in particular and Vietnam in general will not use force, but through negotiations to find satisfactory solutions.

He said that Vietnam and China are in talks to set up a joint fishing area for fishermen two countries. The two sides have mutual respect to and abide by the principles of the Law of the Sea 1982 and the UN Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), keep the current status quo in the disputed areas while finding long-term solutions that are acceptable to all parties.

He also informed that in the 10 zones in the continental shelf of Vietnam, there are 15 oil rigs performing oil and gas exploration and exploitation, generating income for the country.

General Phung Quang Thanh also said that in an effort to modernize the army for the national defense, the army has purchased a number of weapons and new equipment, including some modern aircraft Su-30’s of Russia and seaplanes.

To protect the waters, he said, Vietnam has also ordered marine missiles, modern ships and six submarines from Russia.

Crew of first Vietnamese submarine to make five 10-days sea voyages

The sea part of the training of the crew of the first Project 636 submarine built for the Vietnamese Navy has begun in the village of Svetly near Kaliningrad, a source in the Russian shipbuilding industry told Interfax-AVN.

"The theoretical, coastal part was followed by the sea part of the training, which includes five 10-days sea voyages," the source said.

"Since the beginning of the factory trials, which included tests by the customer's representatives, the first export series submarine has successfully conducted 23 dives," he said.

In 2013, the shipbuilding enterprise Admiralteiskiye Verfi will provide to the Vietnamese Navy the first two diesel electric Project 6363 Varshanyanka submarines of the six submarines envisioned by the contract, a source in the Russian defense industry told Interfax earlier. 

The contract for the supply of six diesel electric Project 6363 submarines was signed in 2009 during a visit to Moscow by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Besides, submarine construction, the contract envisions the training of Vietnamese crews and the supply of the needed equipment and technical property.

Project 6363 diesel electric submarines are third-generation submarines. These submarines have a good modernization potential that makes it possible to integrate new weapons, including the anti-ship missile system Club, which considerably expands the target area. 

A training center is created to train the crews of the Vietnamese submarines in Kamran with assistance from the ST. Petersburg OAO Concern NPO Avrora. 

The enterprise developed and created five systems for these submarines, specifically, the computerized information system Lama and the submarine management system Palladiy.

Vietnamese PM to visit Russia, Belarus to boost ties

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will pay official visits to Russia and Belarus from May 12 to 17, to boost bilateral ties.

As scheduled, during their talks in Russia, PM Dung and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev will discuss orientations and measures to bolster the bilateral ties in politics, economy, security and defence, as well as to review the implementation of big projects in nuclear power and oil and gas industries.

Speeding up negotiations for a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan and expanding bilateral cooperation in the fields of telecommunications, use of space for peaceful purposes are also highlights of the working agenda, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

The two PMs are likely to touch upon some important issues, including acceleration of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

PM Dung will also inspect two submarines made by Russia in line with Vietnam’s order, and visit a nuclear power construction site. This plant’s nuclear power technology is expected to be applied at Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant in central Vietnam.

After leaving Russia, the Vietnamese PM will pay an official visit to Belarus from May 15 to 17, said the ministry.

Vietnam officially established diplomatic ties with the Russian Federation (the then Soviet Union) in 1950 while the country established diplomatic ties at ambassadorial level with Belarus in 1992.

Russia to Help Launch Vietnam's Submarines This Year

Moscow will proceed with plans this year to help Vietnam launch a new submarine fleet and train the crews, Russian Defense Ministry Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday. 

“This year our joint efforts will open a new page in Vietnam’s navy – a new fleet will appear,” Shoigu said, after talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Defense Minister General Phung Quang Thanh.

Shoigu said the two ministers discussed “crew training and preparation of the submarines,” for which Russian military schools will provide assistance, he said.

In 2009, Vietnam ordered a fleet of six Russian Project 636M diesel-electric (Kilo class) attack submarines, in a step seen as an effort to counterbalance China’s expanding maritime influence in the region.

The two nations remain in dispute over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

Earlier this week Shoigu visited Khanh Hoa Province's Cam Ranh Port, which was Russia's largest naval base outside its territory until 2002.

Small Navy, Strong Navy

Our friends at the Center for International Maritime Security are running a “Maritime Futures Project” and requested some input on the following question, among others: “What advice would you give to a smaller nation on the maritime investments it should pursue, and why?”

Response –

Lesser maritime nations often seem to assume they have to compete symmetrically with the strong in order to accomplish their goals. That would mean that, say, a Vietnam would have to build a navy capable of contending on equal terms with China's South Sea Fleet in order to fulfill its strategic aims. That need not be true. Here at the U.S. Naval War College we sometimes debate whether small states have grand strategies, or whether grand strategy is a preserve of the strong. Small coastal states do have grand strategies. In fact, there's a premium on thinking and acting strategically when you have only meager resources to tap. Our Canadian friends, for instance, take pride in operating across interagency boundaries. Small states can't simply throw resources at problems and expect to solve them. They have to think and invest smart. That's my first bit of advice.

What kinds of strategies and forces should the weak pursue? Here's the second bit of advice. They should consult great thinkers of the past. The French jeune ecole of the nineteenth century formulated some fascinating ideas about how to compete with a Royal Navy that ruled the waves. Sir Julian Corbett fashioned a notion of active defense by which an inferior fleet could prevent a greater one from accomplishing its goals. In effect it could hug the stronger fleet, remaining nearby to keep the enemy from exercising command of the sea. Mao Zedong's writings about active defense also apply in large part to the nautical domain. The notions of sea denial and maritime guerrilla warfare should resonate with smaller powers today. Clinging to an adversary while imposing high costs on him is central to maritime strategies of the weak.

And third, what does that mean in force-structure terms? It means smaller maritime powers should look for inexpensive hardware and tactics that make life tough and expensive for bigger powers. I have urged the Taiwan Navy to downplay its sea-control fleet in favor of platforms like missile-armed fast patrol boats that could give a superior Chinese navy fits. Such acquisitions are worth studying even for a great naval power like Japan. So long as Tokyo caps defense spending at one percent of GDP, it has to get the most bang it can for the buck. Sea denial should be in its portfolio.

Bottom line, lesser powers should refuse to despair about their maritime prospects. They should design their fleets as creatively as possible, taking advantage of the home-field advantage all nations enjoy in their immediate environs. That may mean a navy founded on small craft.

Arms race explodes as neighbours try to counter China

An arms-buying spree across south-east Asia will be the elephant in the room when almost 20 world leaders meet in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, on Tuesday.

Defence spending across the region increased 13.5 per cent to $US25.4 billion ($24.5 billion) last year and was expected to rise to $US40 billion by 2016, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said.

Flush with economic success and wary of China's military expansion, countries are acquiring sophisticated sea- and air-based arsenals that include dozens of submarines that can operate in secret.

The institute said Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia had increased defence budgets by 66 per cent to 82 per cent from 2002 to last year.

 Indonesia was buying submarines from South Korea and coastal radar systems from China and the US, Vietnam was getting submarines and combat jets from Russia and had acquired Israeli ballistic missiles, defence analysts said.

Vietnam's defence budget for this year is $US3.1 billion, a rise of 35 per cent over last year. The Philippines has a huge wish-list of equipment it wants from the US and is also approaching Japan, South Korea, France and Britain for defence acquisitions.

Singapore, already the fifth-largest weapons importing nation, looked like keeping its title as the region's biggest spender, allocating $US9.7 billion this year on defence, 24 per cent of its national budget. The city-state's purchases included combat jets from the US and submarines from Sweden.

Thailand was planning to buy submarines and warplanes from Sweden that would eventually be fitted with anti-ship missiles, while arms deliveries to Malaysia jumped eightfold over the five years to 2009.

For decades, much of south-east Asia spent little on weapons except guns and tanks to respond to internal threats. But they are now building their defence capabilities amid tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea and other squabbles that underscore the role of the East Asia Summit.

Leaders attending include the US President, Barack Obama, the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, and the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

Defence officials estimated 86 submarines would be added to regional fleets by 2020, 30 of which would belong to China, which already had the most.

Some Chinese nuclear submarines were expected to carry 12 sea-launched ballistic missiles and could eventually be equipped with multiple warheads.

A south-east Asia analyst from the Australian Defence Force Academy at the University of NSW, Carl Thayer, said the ''deployment of nuclear submarines, including ballistic missile submarines, will introduce a new geostrategic dimension to the regional balance of power''.

Professor Thayer said Chinese nuclear submarine deployments would attract continuing attention from the US Navy. He warned the arms buying spree could have a destabilising impact on regional security.

In a paper delivered in Vietnam at the weekend, Professor Thayer says ''south-east Asia is ripe for rivalry - but not armed conflict - due to the strategic mistrust between a rising and increasingly militarily powerful China and a US committed to maintaining the present balance of power''.

Senior US officials said Mr Obama's trip to Cambodia, the first by a US president, would reinforce the ''pivot'' of US security forces to Asia and the Pacific. The strategy is seen as a counterweight to China, which is aggressively asserting its claim to almost all the South China Sea. Parts of the area are also claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

In his paper, Professor Thayer says the ''most disturbing'' trend in defence spending is China's growing reliance on citizen fishing fleets and paramilitary forces gathering in a disputed area to assert Chinese jurisdiction.

 

Vietnam’s Undersea Anti-Access Fleet

If nothing else, this series on access denial shows that anti-access strategy comes in many varieties. Vietnam too is pursuing such a strategy, founded on a squadron of six Kilo-class submarines Russia is building for the Vietnam People’s Navy under a contract inked in 2009. In August the Vietnamese press reported that the first boat has been launched, and that all six will be delivered by 2016. The elusive Kilos should make a lethal access-denial force. While China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy operates Kilos itself, it has conspicuously neglected antisubmarine warfare hardware and techniques. It seems South China Sea waters will remain opaque to Chinese commanders for the foreseeable future despite the PLA Navy’s overwhelming superiority over the Vietnam People’s Navy.

First consider the politics of access denial, as we did with Iran and North Korea. Vietnam and China, like North and South Korea, are contiguous powers with vital interests at stake in the same waters. Vital interests like territory beget strong passions. Whereas Iran prizes its ability to manage offshore waters and skies more than the United States cares about operating there—and thus commands a political edge—both Hanoi and Beijing are impassioned about their maritime claims in the South China Sea. Both are prepared to wage efforts of serious magnitude and duration,commensurate with their material capacity to carry on the competition. Neither is likely to relent after dispassionately tallying up the costs and hazards of operating in waters its opponent wants to place off-limits. The result: a combustible situation.

Several tactical and operational characteristics of Vietnamese access denial are worth pondering. Its anti-access force, like all such forces, is asymmetric to the adversary it is designed to oppose. But unlike relatively balanced Iranian and North Korean forces, the Vietnamese access-denial contingent is almost purely one-dimensional. Hanoi doubtless chose well if it could select only one platform to execute its strategy. Submarines offer enormous bang for the buck, and they are survivable. Still, this also means that advances in Chinese antisubmarine warfare could nullify Vietnam’s effort to fend off the PLA Navy. Next, Vietnamese access denial could take on an offensive as well as a defensive character. Vietnamese Kilos could, say, loiter unseen off the Chinese naval station at Sanya, on Hainan Island, holding PLA Navy submarines at risk at the delicate moment when they are entering or leaving port—exposing them to enemy action.

Access denial—a strategically defensive posture—could therebytake on an escalatory hue.The inception of a Vietnamese undersea fleet will further crowd the already crowded waterspace of Southeast Asia, complicating efforts to discriminate among friend, foe, and bystander. China operates Kilos; so will Vietnam; even India could conceivably dispatch Kilos to the region. And this leaves aside the different submarine types deployed by Singapore, Malaysia, and other regional seafaring states. The chances for miscalculations and mishaps will only grow as access-denial strategies take shape.

Not long ago, pundit Robert Kaplan pronounced the South China Sea “the future of conflict.” Kaplan may have spoken truer than he knew.

Warplanes - China Trains To Take On Vietnam

At least one Su-30 of the Chinese Air Force Aggressor Squadron has been spotted painted in the colors of the Vietnamese Air Force (which also uses Su-30s). Relations with Vietnam have been increasingly tense in the last few years, and this paint job on a Chinese Su-30 may just be a warning to Vietnam or it may indicate a lot of Chinese pilots are being trained to quickly identify and deal with Vietnamese Su-30s.

The Chinese Air Force now has a training unit that will accurately (as possible) portray enemy (especially American and Indian) aircraft and combat tactics. Thus there are three Blue-Army Aggressor Squadrons (Blue is the bad guys in Chinese training, Red is the good guys) for this. One is equipped with Su-30s, to represent American F-15s or Indian or Vietnamese Su-30s. Another has the J-10A, which is similar to the F-16. The third squadron has J-7s (Chinese copies of the MiG-21), which represent low end threats, like the many MiG-21s India still uses.

Using your own aircraft for "aggressor (or dissimilar) training" began in the 1969, when the U.S. Navy established the original "Top Gun" fighter pilot school. This was done in response to the poor performance of its pilots against North Vietnamese pilots flying Russian fighters. What made the Top Gun operation different was that the training emphasized how the enemy aircraft and pilots operated. This was called "dissimilar training". In the past, American pilots practiced against American pilots, with everyone flying American aircraft and using American tactics. It worked in World War II, because the enemy pilots were not getting a lot of practice and were using similar aircraft and tactics anyway. Most importantly, there was a lot of aerial combat going on, providing ample opportunity for on- the- job training. Not so in Vietnam, where the quite different Russian trained North Vietnamese were giving U.S. aviators an awful time. The four week Top Gun program solved the problem. The air force followed shortly with its Red Flag school. In the early 1980s, the Russians established a dissimilar air combat school, and the Chinese followed in 1987.

Over the last four decades the two American training programs have developed differently, and the entire concept of "dissimilar training" has changed. The navy kept Top Gun as a program to hone fighter pilot's combat skills. The air force made their Red Flag program more elaborate, bringing in the many different types of aircraft involved in combat missions (especially electronic warfare). But after the Cold War ended, it became increasingly obvious that none of our potential enemies was providing their fighter pilots with much training at all. In other words, the dissimilar training for U.S. fighter pilots was not as crucial as it had been during the Cold War. Actually, it had been noted that flying skills of Soviet pilots was declining in the 1980s, as economic problems in the USSR caused cuts in flying time. During that period American pilots were actually increasing their flying time. Moreover, U.S. flight simulators were getting better. American pilots were finding that even the game oriented combat flight simulators had some training value.

So in the late 1990s, Top Gun and Red Flag found their budgets cut. But the programs remain, as does the memory of why they were set up in the first place. If we find that, say, China is continuing to improve its combat aviation, gives its fighter pilots more flying time, and their politicians maintain a bellicose attitude towards the U.S., there will be a need to increase American Top Gun training. Because of the new Chinese "dissimilar training" effort, the U.S. Top Gun and Red Flag schools are being restored to their former prominence, sort of. The Chinese move is certainly a very meaningful one, as it shows that they are serious about preparing their pilots to fight and defeat Taiwanese and American pilots. Dissimilar training is how that is done.

The U.S. Navy has refurbished surplus U.S. Air Force National Guard F-16 flight simulator to help keep its F-16 pilots in shape for using F-16s to train navy pilots (in F-18s) how to best deal with Chinese and other potential enemy pilots. The navy uses F-16s because these aircraft are best able to replicate the performance of likely high end enemy fighters. That's because Russia and China have used the F-16 as the model for most of their latest fighters (the Russian MiG-29 and Chinese J-10). The navy bought 26 of a special model (F-16N) of the aircraft in the late 1980s. But in the 1990s, the navy retired its F-16Ns, because of metal fatigue, and had to wait nearly a decade before it got sixteen more. The refurbished simulator had its cockpit modified to reflect the one the navy F-16s uses.

The navy also uses F-5s to simulate lower performance enemy fighters. The navy has also bought and modified 44 F-5E fighters from Switzerland. The U.S. uses F-5s, a 12 ton fighter roughly similar to the MiG-21. The F-5 is normally armed with two 20mm cannon and three tons of missiles and bombs. The U.S. Navy modified and refurbished the Swiss F-5s so their performance better matched that of Russian or Chinese aircraft.

The MiG-21 is still widely used, although it is rapidly disappearing. It is a 9.5 ton, 1950s design, the most widely produced post World War II fighter (over 10,000 built). It is cheap and easy to maintain but not so effective in the air. Many nations keep them in service because of the low cost and because a wide range of avionics and weapons upgrades are available. Not really designed for ground attack but it can carry 1.5 tons of bombs. U.S. pilots are much better at killing MiG-21s once they have trained against an F-5 being flown like a MiG-21.

Vietnam - Navy signs building contract for two battleships

A contract to build 2 battleships was signed between the Naval High Command, and Hong Ha Shipbuilding Company and Ba Son Firm under the General Department of Defence Industry on October 8th in Hai Phong.

Under the contract, the two shipbuilders will build two modern battleships: artillery ship TT400TP and vessel 12418. 

According to Naval leaders, the building of the two battleships is part of the Service’s general modernisation programme in an effort to improve its capacity to effectively manage and firmly protect the Fatherland’s continental shelf, sea and islands.

The Vietnam People’s Navy is in the process of boosting and modernizing its force to meet the requirements of the new situation, said a high-ranking Naval officer at the signing ceremony.

According to representatives of the shipbuilders, the designs and shipbuilding technology for the two ships have been acquired, and they are ready to build the ships and finish the whole project on time

China has territorial claims to nearly 20 countries

Chinese leader Mao Zedong not only built a strong country but also outlined a global goal: "We must conquer the globe where we will create a powerful state." Today, China has territorial claims to all its neighbors. Naturally, the U.S. is dreaming of becoming a mediator in resolving disputes in the region. But it seems that Beijing absolutely does not care about their opinion.

Burma, Laos, Northern India, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Ryukyu Islands, 300 islands of the South China, East China and Yellow Seas, as well as Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Taiwan, South Kazakhstan, the Afghan province of Bahdashan, Transbaikalia and the Far East to South Okhotsk - here is the complete list of areas that, according to Zedong, were lost due to the fall of the Qing empire. All of these countries and regions combined exceed the territory of modern China. Not all complaints are voiced by the Government of China in the international arena, but within the country the imperialist ambitions have not been lost, but rather, are actively promoted.

   

The PRC authorities talk out loud only about the areas that, at least theoretically, can be taken away from Japan and Korea. Tokyo is regularly frustrated not only because of the travel of the Russian leaders to the Kuril Islands, but also about the Chinese ships freely entering the disputed Senkaku Islands waters. Beijing believes that the Islands are called Diaoyu, and they belonged to China, but the malicious Japanese tricked the U.S. into giving them to Japan because after World War II the uninhabited archipelago was in the US jurisdiction.

Significant reserves of natural gas were found on the islands. For the growing industry of China and stagnant Japan it is more than a serious argument in favor of the struggle for the archipelago, no matter what it is called. Not to mention the fish that is found there in large quantities. To date, the only agreement the parties have reached in the negotiations is on the joint development of oil fields. In addition, if the Japanese behave more or less decently, the Chinese are regularly caught for illegal fishing in the area.

Any territorial dispute, but rather, its resolution, is a serious precedent. If China's claim in respect of at least one territory from the list of the "lost" is satisfied, the Chinese machine would be unstoppable. Despite the fact that the Chinese are very pleased to partner with Russia and have always supported Russia in the UN Security Council, in person, on the sidelines, its diplomats supposedly jokingly hint to their Russian colleagues: you must understand that soon you will have to share the Far East? China has more than a billion people, while Russia's vast territory barely has 150 million.

These dangerous trends - demographic, and as a result, geopolitical - must sound scary to the Russian government, but so far it seems that it is happy with the fact that Beijing makes territorial claims only to Seoul and Tokyo. In 2005 Russia had already given China a bounty in the form of 337 square kilometers of land in the area of ​​Big Island (upper Argun River in the Chita region) and two sites in the vicinity of the islands Tarabarov and Big Ussuri near the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri.

However, none of the leaders of the military departments of ASEAN that includes all debating countries agree to recognize, for example, the fact that Diaoyu belongs to Japan. Instead, the defense ministers of Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand and Singapore urged the Japanese authorities to proceed with caution and within the framework of the international law. These countries certainly do not need a resolution to the dispute because in that case their territory will be separated from China only by perseverance of the latter.

They are silent about the "Iodo island" (the Chinese version is Suenchzhao. - Ed) in the East China Sea. The sneaky Chinese took the principle of dividing the Arctic as an example and now claim that the underwater ridge of this tiny piece of land is under close control of the Chinese. Since the Iodo is closer to Korea, in 2003 the Koreans built an uninhabitable marine research station there. From the standpoint of the international law, this rock in general should not be the subject of a debate.

In any case, the controversy continues, Japan and South Korea remain to be supported by their all-time ally - the United States. For the US, the unification of Southeast Asian Nations is a chance to save their own economy, because in that case the World Trade Center will move there, where currently there are no transnational corporations in the amount sufficient for the U.S. 

The success of the White House in the region does not depend on the strength that America loves to show any chance it has, but rather, diplomacy, as the countries of ASEAN and Asia-Pacific region do not trust each other or anyone outside the regional boundaries. However, Washington is trusted here because of the support of Seoul and Tokyo. However, China has already pushed Japan out of the ranks of the largest economies in the world, and the structure of the region is no longer formed on spatial basis.

Therefore, territorial claims of China, and not Russia, India or, for example, Australia are so important for Washington. Beijing is the only capital of the world, ready to use force in the struggle for the sake of expansion. During the last ten years, while America was blowing up its financial bubble, China has not only developed the industry, but also equipped its area of ​​interest with military equipment. China has placed 38 new diesel and nuclear submarines in the region, purchased four destroyers of class "Modern" from Russia and built another dozen on its own, and has launched a network of ground-based ballistic missiles to destroy naval targets.

Only one other country has done this before - the Soviet Union during the "Cold War". It is no wonder that the Americans are very concerned with the regular quarrels between China and its major allies. Construction of a naval base on Hainan Island does not add confidence to the U.S. The proximity to the Malacca Strait poses a threat to the smooth supply of Washington's main allies in the region - Japan, South Korea and Taiwan - this is the way the US sees the situation. The American senators have already decided that such behavior is a threat to Beijing's regional peace and stability, economic development and even "food security". The international community is well aware what usually follows such wording.