tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8605176.post110032461762536248..comments2023-08-21T18:00:34.044+09:00Comments on Asian Gazette Blog ✍ Joël Legendre-Koizumi: Japan tested by China on submarine incursionAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17323738274259327790noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8605176.post-1100790625375708682004-11-19T00:10:00.000+09:002004-11-19T00:10:00.000+09:00A submarine that briefly intruded into Japanese wa...A submarine that briefly intruded into Japanese waters<br />last week was tracked by U.S. Navy P-3C patrol planes<br />off Guam until it moved to waters near Okinawa, Japanese<br />government sources said Tuesday.<br /><br />A Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter tracks a<br />submarine that entered Japanese waters last week some<br />300 km north-northwest of Miyako Island.<br /><br />Tokyo determined the sub to be Chinese and lodged a<br />protest. On Tuesday, Beijing acknowledged it was a<br />Chinese vessel and expressed regret over the incident.<br /><br />Based on the positional information obtained by the<br />P-3Cs, which tracked the nuclear-powered sub from the<br />Guam area, Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol planes<br />dropped a sonobuoy for detecting submerged submarines<br />and confirmed the vessel's location south of Ishigaki<br />Island in Okinawa Prefecture early Nov. 9, the sources<br />said.<br /><br />The submarine continued to travel submerged from the<br />Guam area until MSDF planes and vessels stopped tracking<br />it Friday in the East China Sea, they said.<br /><br />It is highly probable that a submarine from the U.S. 7th<br />Fleet was the first to detect the Chinese submarine in<br />the Pacific after a U.S. military satellite system<br />apparently detected a Chinese Han-class sub departing<br />from a Chinese port, the sources said.<br /><br />Defense Agency sources had earlier said the sub was<br />thought to be a Han class -- China's first nuclear<br />submarines, which went into service in the 1980s --<br />based on noise analysis.<br /><br />The sub moved through a corridor between Ishigaki and<br />Miyako islands at around 5:50 a.m. Wednesday, breaching<br />Japanese territorial waters for about two hours.<br /><br />Since the 1990s, the Chinese Navy has been exploring<br />submarine routes that will take vessels to the Pacific<br />between Taiwan and Okinawa, the sources said.<br /><br />China has designated the area connecting Tanegashima<br />Island to Amami-Oshima Island, both in Kagoshima<br />Prefecture, and the Sakishima island chain, which<br />includes Ishigaki Island, as one route, and another<br />route between Tokyo Bay and the Izu and Ogasawara island<br />chains, with Guam at its periphery.<br /><br />"I have heard that the Chinese submarine did not advance<br />into the east side (toward the United States) of the<br />second island chain line" linking Tokyo Bay to the<br />island chains south of Tokyo, a government source said.<br /><br />The intrusion prompted Defense Agency Director General<br />Yoshinori Ono to mobilize the MSDF for enhanced maritime<br />security at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. Such an order has been<br />issued only once before in the 50-year history of the<br />Self-Defense Forces. That was in 1999, when two North<br />Korean spy ships were chased away after nearing Ishikawa<br />Prefecture's Noto Peninsula.<br /><br />The order was lifted at 3:50 p.m. Friday, and MSDF P-3C<br />patrol planes, destroyers and helicopters stopped<br />tracking the sub as it moved away from Japanese<br />territory, judging there was little likelihood it would<br />backtrack.<br /><br />Military analyst Kenji Ebata said that while it was<br />unclear how close the sub had been to Guam, he had never<br />heard of Chinese subs operating so far away from the<br />Chinese coast.<br /><br />"It may have been training for encounters with U.S.<br />(military) vessels," he said, adding he was surprised<br />the Chinese side would undertake such activities with<br />Han-class subs, which are large and noisy.<br /><br />Ebata also said he had no idea why the sub then entered<br />Japanese territorial waters, noting that further<br />information, including how long it took to travel from<br />waters off Guam to those near Ishigaki Island, would be<br />necessary before making such an analysis.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17323738274259327790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8605176.post-1100592556823655382004-11-16T17:09:00.000+09:002004-11-16T17:09:00.000+09:00Profesor Lim corrected a mistake confusing China's...Profesor Lim corrected a mistake confusing China's Han<br />(nuclear) and Kilo (non nuclear) submarines. The Kilos<br />are the ones purchased from Russia. <br />[See NBR forum of the day]Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17323738274259327790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8605176.post-1100562674881385722004-11-16T08:51:00.000+09:002004-11-16T08:51:00.000+09:00As of the end of July 2004 the Japanese navy had
o...As of the end of July 2004 the Japanese navy had<br />observed 30 Chinese vessels operating within Japan's<br />claimed EEZ since the beginning of the year. None had<br />observed the agreement of February 2001 that advance<br />notice should be given to Japan, Professor Robyn Lim<br />writes.<br /><br />I think I am correct in assuming that this is the first<br />time that a nuclear-powered Han submarine, purchased<br />from Russia, has been found to be engaging in such<br />activities.<br /><br />China is presumably planning a blockade of Taiwan.<br /><br />It should not plan on the Japanese Navy remaining in<br />port should it seriously contemplate such an option.<br /><br />With all the recent talk about Nanjing, Yasukuni etc, we<br />also need to "Remember the Queenfish", because the<br />Japanese Navy most assuredly has not forgotten it. (The<br />US submarine that lurked in the Bashi Channel in the<br />latter stages of WW2 and sank an inordinate amount of<br />Japanese shipping.)<br /><br />A China in possession of Taiwan would have open access<br />to the deep waters of the Pacific, and thus represent an<br />intolerable threat to Japan's sea lanes. That's a<br />reminder of the fact that Taiwan controls the maritime<br />approaches from the west for both China and Japan, which<br />is why Spain and Holland set up shop there in the first<br />place.<br /><br />More broadly, China's probes eastwards are meeting the<br />bedrock of the US-Japan alliance, even if it's nearly<br />all jello to the south, where China's vast territorial<br />claims represent the greatest threat to strategic<br />stability in the ASEAN region.<br /><br />Growing economic interdependence between China and Japan<br />does not detract from these geopolitical realities.<br />Indeed, growing economies also provide the means of<br />strengthening the "sinews of war".Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17323738274259327790noreply@blogger.com