USNI News – Chinese Maritime Militia vessels swarmed within and around Second Thomas Shoal this week in Beijing’s latest move against the Philippines in the South China Sea.

Reuters – Every day, nearly 60 fully loaded very large crude-oil carriers sail between the Persian Gulf and Chinese ports, carrying about half of the oil that powers the world’s second-largest economy. As the vessels enter the South China Sea, they ply waters increasingly controlled by China’s growing military, from the missile batteries and airfields at its bases on disputed islands to its stealthy Type 055 destroyers. But when crossing the Indian Ocean, joined by others headed to China from Africa and Brazil, these tankers lack protection in a naval theatre dominated by the U.S.

China Maritime Studies Institute – China’s development of a credible sea-based deterrent has important implications for the PLAN, for China’s nuclear strategy, and for U.S.-China strategic stability. For the PLAN, the need to protect the SSBN force may divert resources away from other missions; it may also provide justification for further expansion of the PLAN fleet size. For China’s nuclear strategy and operations, the SSBN force may increase operational and bureaucratic pressures for adopting a more forward-leaning nuclear strategy. For U.S.-China strategic stability, the SSBN force will have complex effects, decreasing risks that Chinese decisionmakers confront use-or-lose escalation pressures, making China less susceptible to U.S. nuclear threats and intimidation and therefore perceiving lower costs to conventional aggression, and potentially introducing escalation risks from conventional-nuclear entanglement to the maritime domain.

BBC – The Philippines has accused China of “swarming” a reef off its coast after more than 135 military boats were spotted in the South China Sea.

Naval News – China’s latest non-nuclear submarine, the Type-039C Yuan Class, features a distinctive angled sail. We can now be confident that this is part of a sonar stealth technology. Other countries are also pursuing this general technique, but China is the first to field it.

Naval News – New combatant features striking stealthy design and likely much improved capabilities over existing corvettes, but exact nature of effort remains uncertain.

BBC – Australia has accused China’s navy of using sonar pulses in an incident in international waters that resulted in Australian divers suffering injuries.

Naval News – There have been persistent reports of China attempting to expand the global reach of its Navy with a network of overseas bases. Ream in Cambodia has long been on that list. New evidence shows that a large dry dock is now under construction there. As the war in Ukraine shows, these facilities are strategically important.

People’s Daily – China’s latest ocean patrol ship was delivered for service in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Wednesday, as the nation seeks to bolster its fleet that safeguards its territorial claims and other interests in the South China Sea and other waters.

Chinese Maritime Studies Institute – With its fielding of the PCH191 multiple rocket launcher (MRL) and its variety of long-range precision munitions, the PLA Army (PLAA) has become arguably the most important contributor of campaign and tactical firepower during a joint island landing campaign against Taiwan. No longer simply the primary source of amphibious and air assault forces, the PLAA is now capable of using its multiple battalions of PCH191 MRLs to support maritime dominance, the joint firepower strike, and ground forces landing on Taiwan’s shores and in depth. The Chinese ordnance industry has developed multiple low-cost rockets, an anti-ship cruise missile, and a tactical missile to be used with the PCH191, as well as its export variant, the AR3, including munitions that can quickly and precisely strike targets in the Taiwan Strait, across the island, and beyond. Recent demonstrations of the PCH191 during PLA training events and Eastern Theater Command response actions to politically charged visits, in addition to the fielding of new reconnaissance assets capable of providing targeting and battle damage assessments to the MRL, make it clear the Army intends to use the system to achieve effects in a future Taiwan crisis that formerly would have been the responsibility of other PLA services.

CIMSEC – China is reaping huge economic benefits by selling fish to the United States in a manner that is directly funding its military and diplomatic buildups to be able to out compete the United States.

US Department of Defense – The following is the Oct. 19, 2023, Department of Defense report to Congress, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China.

1945 – If the allies entrench themselves on prime real estate within the anti-access zone, they could defy the PLA to come and take the ground while operating on tactically exterior lines. They could flip the script on China, making use of interior lines. 

US Naval War College Review – Chinese leaders probably believe that America’s worldwide commitments mean that the United States never will concentrate its entire naval strength against them in a conflict. But “Tirpitz’s Trap” serves as a warning of the consequences of challenging a maritime rival at sea while retaining the commitments inherent in a continental state with strategically significant land borders and powerful neighbors.

US Naval War College Review – As China enters a period of heightened strategic competition with the United States, the PLAN will adjust its foreign-engagement strategy. China will forge stronger naval relations with non-U.S. major powers, including Russia; the United States will attempt to deny China new overseas naval facilities; and both countr

Daily Mail – Fifty-five Chinese sailors are feared dead after their nuclear submarine apparently got caught in a trap intended to ensnare British sub-surface vessels in the Yellow Sea.

Chinese Maritime Studies Institute – In recent years, China’s naval industries have made tremendous progress supporting the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) submarine force, both through robust commitment to research and development (R&D) and the upgrading of production infrastructure at the country’s three submarine shipyards: Bohai Shipyard, Huludao; Wuchang Shipyard, Wuhan; and Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai. Nevertheless, China’s submarine industrial base continues to suffer from surprising weaknesses in propulsion (from marine diesels to fuel cells) and submarine quieting. Closer ties with Russia could provide opportunities for China to overcome these enduring technological limitations by exploiting political and economic levers to gain access to Russia’s remaining undersea technology secrets.

China Aerospace Studies Institute – The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Naval Aviation forces have been undergoing a large scale divestment of its shore based aviation capabilities through 2023. However, since then, PLAN Aviation has clearly sought to retain not only is fixed wing anti-submarine warfare (ASW) assets, but also its other shore based special mission aircraft (SMA), notably its intelligence collection aircraft and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) fleet of KJ-200s and KJ-500s. These aircraft enable the PLAN to conduct modern combined arms tasks such as ASW, supplement a currently non-operational carrier based fixed wing AEW capability, continue to collect electronics intelligence (ELINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT), and enable further range and jointness when fulfilling air defense and domain awareness tasks in the last PLAN controlled air defense area, the South China Sea. Given the importance of these capabilities, the PLA has been undertaking an effort to expand the land-based facilities which support these aircraft to allow for more airframes to operate from these bases. Since 2021, airfields supporting PLAN SMA in the Eastern Theater Command (ETC) and Northern Theater Command (NTC) have completed or started renovations of their runways or expansions of apron space to enable airfields to house more aircraft or to otherwise continue to generate sorties. Southern Theater Navy (STN) subordinate airfields supporting this type of aviation do not appear to have started renovations within this time frame targeted at supporting SMA.

Reuters – The Philippines will take “all appropriate actions to cause the removal of barriers” in a disputed area of the South China Sea, the country’s national security advisor said on Monday. The Philippines on Sunday shared images of a floating barrier blocking fishing vessel access in the Scarborough Shoal with Chinese coast guard ships nearby, and said it would protect the rights of its fishermen.

BBC – Fifteen years after it began, there is still not much to see of the Dara Sakor Seashore Resort in southern Cambodia.

Global Times – With the return of the Shandong aircraft carrier group and other warships, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has seemingly wrapped up its five-day blitz exercise around the island of Taiwan, which analysts said on Saturday was characterized by its large scale, joint operations and short duration in what could be a new tactic.

USNI News – While the Chinese Navy has made progress operating at sea, institutional issues between its military and political leadership could pose problems in a wartime scenario.

Global Times – The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently conducted an anti-submarine exercise that stretched for more than 40 hours and featured more than a dozen groups of anti-submarine patrol aircraft in the South China Sea, which is a region experts said is infested with foreign submarine activities that potentially threaten China’s national defense.

China Daily – Chinese naval hospital ship “Peace Ark” set sail on Monday for a humanitarian medical mission in Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and East Timor.

South China Morning Post – Defence researchers say sensors can identify extremely small surface vibrations produced by a low-frequency sound source in the open sea. A UAV-mounted platform could work in concert with other submarine detection methods such as a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD), microwave radar or laser.

(Thanks to Alain)