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India.com
04-08-2025
- Politics
- India.com
Runways, Missile Shelters, Aircraft Hangars… Satellite images reveal China's Military Buildup in…, H-6 bombers are placed in…, US now plans to…
Beijing: In a major development, the Chinese Navy is reportedly expanding its presence in the South China Sea by establishing a network of military bases spread over 3,200 hectares in this disputed maritime region. The claim has been made by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), which monitors maritime security issues in Asia, based on satellite images of Mischief Reef. The satellite images show a large runway, missile shelters, massive aircraft hangars, and several high-level military infrastructures—resembling a city. In a conversation with ABC, AMTI's Gregory Poling said that China has placed 72 fighter jet hangars across three major island bases equipped with ports and long runways. In addition, there are sites for surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, radar sensing, and communication infrastructure. Here are the findings of AMTI: According to AMTI, China controls 20 outposts in the Paracel Islands, including seven in the Spratly Islands. Four have been fully developed into naval and air bases. China also has control over Scarborough Shoal, which it seized in 2012. It is important to note that the China has not built any facilities on this disputed site. Satellite images from March this year reveal that China has deployed two advanced H-6 long-range bomber aircraft in the disputed Paracel Islands of the South China Sea. These images show the bombers stationed on Woody Island, marking their first visible presence there since 2020 and highlighting Beijing's growing military footprint in the region. What is China's motive? For the US military bases located in the region, the H-6 bombers are the biggest threats. Last year, these bombers were deployed during military exercises around Taiwan. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, China's Southern Theater Command, which is responsible for the South China Sea, operates two regiments of H-6 bombers. Beijing claims control over most of the South China Sea, a stance that conflicts with the territorial claims of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. In 2016, an international tribunal ruled that Beijing's claims had no legal basis, but China rejected the ruling outright.
India.com
03-08-2025
- Politics
- India.com
Runway, missile shelter, aircraft hangar and lot more; China's mammoth military city in South China Sea revealed by secret satellite pictures
(Image: Videograb/ New Delhi: The Chinese Navy is increasing its presence in the South China Sea. China has spread its feet in this disputed water area with a network of military bases spread over 3,200 hectares. It has even placed some nuclear bombers here. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), which monitors maritime security issues in Asia, has made this claim based on satellite pictures of Mischief Reef. What do satellite pictures show? Satellite pictures show China's huge runway, missile shelter, large aircraft hangar and many high-level military infrastructures. It looks like a city. AMTI's Gregory Poling told ABC that China has placed 72 fighter jet hangars on three large island bases with ports and large runways. Apart from this, bases for surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, radar sensing and communication infrastructure are included. What is the status of China's control over the islands? According to AMTI, China controls 20 posts in the Paracel Islands, including seven in the Spratly Islands. Four of these have been fully developed as naval and air bases. China also controls Scarborough Shoal, which it occupied in 2012. However, it has not built any facilities at this disputed site. Satellite images from March this year show that China has landed two of its advanced H-6 long-range bombers in the disputed Paracel Islands of the South China Sea. These pictures revealed bombers stationed on Woody Island, appearing there for the first time since 2020 and highlighting Beijing's growing military presence in the region. What is China's motive? The US military base located in this region sees H-6 bombers as a potential threat. They were deployed in manoeuvres around Taiwan last October. These have flown close to the USA for the first time in July last year. According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, China's Southern Theater Command, responsible for the South China Sea, operates two regiments of H-6 bombers. China claims control over most of the South China Sea. This clashes with the claims of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. In 2016, an international tribunal ruled that Beijing's claims had no legal basis, but China rejected it.
The Independent
01-08-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Satellite images reveal alarming scale of China's military build-up in disputed waters
China is bolstering its presence in the South China Sea with a 3,200 hectare network of military bases, including some capable of launching nuclear bombers, according to new satellite images. The latest satellite images of Mischief Reef by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), which tracks maritime security issues in Asia, show sprawling runways, missile shelters, large aircraft hangars amid several high-level military infrastructure resembling a well-defined city. 'They include harbours, large runways, more than 72 fighter jet hangars across the three big island bases, surface-to-air missile and anti-ship cruise missile emplacements, and a lot of radar, sensing and communications infrastructure,' Gregory Poling, director of the AMTI, told ABC. China is now in control of 20 outposts in the Paracel Islands and seven in the Spratly Islands, according to the AMTI. Out of these, four have been turned into fully operational naval and air bases. China also controls Scarborough Shoal, which it seized in 2012, via a constant coast guard presence but it has not built any facilities on the disputed feature. China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including areas claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. A 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal found Beijing 's sweeping claims had no basis under international law, a decision that was rejected by Beijing. Beijing maintains its military expansion in the region is defensive, arranged to protect what it says are its sovereign rights amid opposition from Asian countries that have their own claims. Mr Polling said these bases are the 'result of the quickest example of mass dredging and landfill in human history'. In May this year, China landed two of its most advanced bombers in the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea, as seen in satellite imagery. The images reportedly showed long-range H-6 bombers on Woody Island in the Paracel islands, marking the first time China's most advanced bombers were seen since 2020 and a signal of Beijing's growing military capabilities. "China's long-range bombers don't need to be on the Paracels so it does appear to be omni-directional signalling by Beijing against the Philippines and against the US and other things that are going on," said Collin Koh, a defence scholar at Singapore's S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The H-6 bombers are seen as a potential threat to US bases in the region and were also seen deployed in the war games around Taiwan last October. They flew close to the US mainland in July last year for the first time. China's Southern Theatre Command, which covers the South China Sea, maintains two regiments of the bombers, according to the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies. The bombers are generally kept at heavily fortified bases on the Chinese mainland, where they would have more protection in a conflict from US attacks in conflict scenarios.
News.com.au
25-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
China elbows its way into South Korean waters
ANALYSIS Satellite photos reveal China is using the cover of global turmoil to push its boundaries deeper into neighbouring territory. The world's eyes are focused on Ukraine, Gaza and Iran. South Korea has been contending with the fallout of a failed presidential coup. Meanwhile, Beijing has anchored an enormous deep-sea platform in the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea. And it won't let Seoul get a close look. China insists it is a service centre for surrounding caged aqua farms. South Korea, however, has its doubts. 'We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness from the standpoint of protecting our maritime territory,' Korean Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kang Do-hyung told reporters shortly after an open-sea showdown in April. International security analysts understand why. 'While available information suggests that the platforms are genuinely focused on aquaculture, concerns that the platforms may be dual-use are not unfounded, given China's track record in the South China Sea,' a new report by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) states. Beijing insisted in 2015 that its massive building campaign in the Spratly Islands was to establish weather stations and air-sea rescue facilities to serve commercial shipping in the area. Why these humanitarian roles require missile launchers, anti-aircraft guns, military-grade piers and runways, hardened hangars, ammunition bunkers, and barracks remains unexplained. The new structure is in waters previously agreed to be shared until arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) decided who owned what. That agreement, however, now appears surplus to Beijing's needs. Megastructure manoeuvres The hulking steel rig is called Atlantic Amsterdam. It was built for the offshore oil industry. It's now supposed to be the front office of a Chinese fish farm complex. But it's not the only structure Beijing has deployed in the supposedly shared Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ). Two giant steel aquaculture cages are fattening and harvesting fish. 'Even without further expansion, the platforms are likely already collecting data that could have value for undersea navigation and detection,' Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analysts Jennifer Jun and Victor Cha assess in the AMSTI report. The former offshore oil platform is certainly overkill for its new job. The 85m wide, six-storey high structure can accommodate more than 100 people. That's far beyond what's needed for its stated 'central integrated management' role – if limited to aquaculture. Chinese state-controlled media touts the facility as including a marine science laboratory, research centre, production management facilities, and tourist accommodations. 'With the platform as the landing point, more cages can be built around it …[and] the scale of deep-sea aquaculture can be continuously expanded,' it adds. Seoul isn't convinced. 'China's method of installing the (Atlantic Amsterdam) structure is similar to its tactic of creating artificial islands in the South China Sea,' People Power Party MP Kweon Seong-dong told Korea Herald. A Stanford University's SeaLight maritime security research project satellite photo assessment found the Atlantic Amsterdam was anchored in the disputed territory in October 2022. It replaced a much smaller rig placed there two years earlier. For Chinese eyes only South Korea has, until recently, kept its concerns about China's expanding infrastructure to itself. News of the increasing tensions only emerged in April. That was when details of a February high seas clash between South Korean and Chinese Coast Guard vessels became public. The South Korean fisheries research vessel Onnuri was sent into the PMZ to verify Chinese accounts of its new fish farm. But it sits within a treaty 'grey zone'. 'While ships from both sides are allowed to fish within the PMZ, aquaculture is entirely unmentioned by the 2001 fisheries agreement,' AMTI states. '(This leaves) an ambiguity that will make it difficult for Seoul to convince Beijing to remove the platforms.' It appears Beijing believes the structure falls outside the scope of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) definitions, and its PMZ compromise with Seoul. 'South Korean requests for China to relocate the structures outside of the PMZ have not only been repeatedly rejected, but the Chinese government has also unilaterally declared 'no-sail' zones within the PMZ and has deployed at least 13 additional buoys in the Yellow Sea since 2018,' AMTI adds. In February, South Korea's Onnuri fisheries research vessel was challenged by Chinese Coast Guard vessels within the shared waters. It was then forcefully redirected away from the steel platform. South Korean sources claim plain-clothed Chinese officials approached the Onnuri in inflatable dinghies while waving knives in the air. AMTI says 'multiple' similar attempts to approach the area, 'often accompanied by South Korean coast guard escorts', had been blocked since 2022. Beijing has not said why a fish farm is so politically sensitive. '(Seoul) may suspect there is more happening there than just aquaculture, such as signals intelligence operations,' Stanford University SeaLight director Ray Powell told US media. International lawfare South Korea has protested to China that anchoring the structures inside the Yellow Sea PMZ presents potential navigation hazards for South Korean fishing vessels. It adds that the lack of consultation over their presence breached its treaty rights. China rejects the allegations. It insists the structures have nothing to do with the PMZ treaty, are 'located in China's coastal waters' (which UNCLOS is yet to determine) and are a reasonable use of its offshore resources. China calls it the Yellow Sea. South Korea calls it the West Sea. Their dispute arises from the UNCLOS definition (which Beijing is a signatory to) that an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends 370km from a nation's shores – unless it overlaps with that of another. The EEZ gives commercial access to the owner state to the zone's fishing and natural resources. But international vessels are free to travel over it. Beijing and Seoul formalised their competing claim in 2001. The Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) requires approval from both states before any commercial activities can take place there. 'The agreement allows fishing activities from both sides but does not authorise other actions such as the installation of fixed structures, which could impact future maritime boundary negotiations,' AMTI states. Beijing says no. 'The aquaculture facilities set up by Chinese company in the PMZ do not contravene the agreement between China and the ROK,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a press briefing. Last month, Seoul decided to test Beijing's argument. It has deployed its own large floating structure in the PMZ. Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kang Do-hyung said the platform was for 'environmental investigation'. Surveillance staging post South Korea's parliament has been too busy for the past 18 months to address the growing tensions. It had to contend with the impeachment and removal of former President Yoon Suk-yeol after he declared martial law in an effort to sideline opposition parties. 'China has not allowed a good crisis to go to waste,' Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy Jun Kajee told Newsweek. 'Beijing insists these are private-sector projects for economic development, dismissing sovereignty concerns as overreactions. 'However, China's refusal to halt construction – even as South Korean survey vessels face coast guard blockades – reveals a strategic intent to normalise its presence.' South Korea has reported a steady increase in the activity of Chinese naval vessels in the PMZ in recent years. It's also ramped up the frequency of declaring 'no-sail zones' for war games. The Korea JoongAng Daily news service reports China deployed warships within 'South Korean controlled waters' some 170 times between January and May. Chinese surveillance ships had also been regularly entering the vicinity of Kunsan Air Base – the United States Air Force's Eighth Fighter Wing headquarters. 'The presence of these sensor-equipped ships suggests that China is likely engaged in some level of intelligence-gathering,' a South Korean defence official told the news service. 'While it is difficult to officially assess the intent of another country's military activities, it is presumed that China is seeking to expand its regional influence.' South Korea carried out a crisis-resolution national election on June 3. On June 4, Seoul finally had a constitutionally acceptable President – Lee Jae-myung. China's Chairman, Xi Jinping, quickly put him in his place. Xi wants South Korea to 'inject more certainty into the chaotic regional and international situation.' 'Respecting each other's core interests and major concerns will help maintain the right course of bilateral relations and ensure steady progress,' he said in a statement. 'A healthy, stable, and continuously deepening China-South Korea relationship aligns with the trends of the times, serves the fundamental interests of both peoples, and contributes to regional and global peace, stability, and prosperity.' President Lee has indicated compliance, stating he sought 'pragmatic diplomacy' after years of Seoul 'unnecessarily antagonising' Beijing.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CN's Falcon Premium Wins Award for Intermodal Excellence
MONTREAL, June 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced today that its industry-leading Falcon Premium intermodal service has received the Silver Container (Contenedor de Plata) award from the Asociación Mexicana del Transporte Intermodal (AMTI). AMTI is Mexico's leading intermodal transport association, representing key stakeholders across the industry and promoting best practices in cross-border logistics. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding achievements in cross-border intermodal transportation between Mexico, the United States, and Canada. 'We are honored to receive AMTI's Silver Container Award for our Falcon Premium service. CN is proud to lead the way in delivering a seamless, all-rail interline service that reflects our commitment to innovation, exceptional customer service, and sustainability across the North American supply chain.' - Derek Taylor, Executive Vice-President and Chief Field Operating Officer at CN 'Falcon Premium is the industry standard, providing customers truck-like service reliability for their shipments from Mexico through the United States to Canada. We're honored to receive this recognition and proud to collaborate with CN and GMXT to provide customers a winning solution that takes trucks off congested highways and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75%.' - Kenny Rocker, Executive Vice President – Marketing & Sales at Union Pacific 'GMXT will always strive to be at the forefront of its service. Falcon Premium is becoming one of the most efficient means to reach North America in a sustainable way. We will continue working hand in hand with CN and UP on projects like this one.' - Luis Hernández, Vice President Intermodal at GMXT CN developed the Falcon Premium intermodal service in close collaboration with Union Pacific (UP) and Grupo México Transportes (GMXT). Together, the railroads deliver the fastest and most seamless all-rail interline service connecting Canada, the U.S. Midwest, and Mexico. Falcon Premium helps customers move freight with greater speed, reliability, and environmental efficiency. By eliminating truck interchanges and optimizing route mileage, the service offers the most direct and fuel-efficient rail connection between Canada and Mexico—accelerating speed-to-market while lowering emissions. The Silver Container Award highlights Falcon Premium's transformative impact on intermodal shipping and underscores CN's broader mission to build smarter, greener, and more resilient transportation networks. To learn more about the award, visit: CN Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements by CN included in this news release constitute 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under Canadian securities laws. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. CN cautions that its assumptions may not materialize and that current economic conditions render such assumptions, although reasonable at the time they were made, subject to greater uncertainty. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of terminology such as 'believes,' 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'assumes,' 'outlook,' 'plans,' 'targets,' or other similar words. Forward-looking statements reflect information as of the date on which they are made. CN assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs, unless required by applicable securities laws. In the event CN does update any forward-looking statement, no inference should be made that CN will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statement. About CNCN powers the economy by safely transporting more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year for its customers. With its nearly 20,000-mile rail network and related transportation services, CN connects Canada's Eastern and Western coasts with the U.S. Midwest and the U.S. Gulf Coast, contributing to sustainable trade and the prosperity of the communities in which it operates since Michnowski Stacy Alderson Senior Manager Assistant Vice-President Media Relations Investor Relations (438) 596-4329media@ (514) in to access your portfolio
