(Beijing) For a while now, China's bullying tactics against its neighbours, especially in the South China sea, has worried them. It has no problem in using its vast, fast growing and much improving armed forces to intimidate others. Be it drilling for oil off the coast of Vietnam, declaring a Chinese no fly zone over Japanese Islands or even sailing a naval task force off the coast of the Philippines in a show of force in 2013, while the rest of the world was responding to the same country during the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.
In other words, the mandarins in Beijing have no problem using the Chinese Navy as their muscle, which is why it makes good sense in which to keep an eye on them. Which is also why the Chinese get very uppity when the US flies in international waters off the coast of China, but especially off the Island of Hainan.
You see, the Chinese have a huge underground submarine base on the bottom of the Island and they know that by dint of geography, that base is somewhat hemmed in (or well protected). Here is where it is situated, via Google Earth. Zoom in on Hainan Island and gravitate towards the bottom.
Continue zooming in and head towards the little spur of land between those two sets of beaches.
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is Yulin Naval Base:
That leg, which sticks out at the left, covered by green, is the site of the underground submarine base and is reported to be able to hold up to 20 nuclear missile carrying submarines.
And here is the above in a little more detail:
Here's a better view of that sea entrance into the underground base:
The base is also being built up to accommodate aircraft carriers, so you can see why the rest want to know what is going in and out of the area and why the Chinese are quite happy to risk losing a plane or two in which to keep prying eyes away, even over international waters. A little more info can be found at this little exposé by Neotrix.
In other words, the mandarins in Beijing have no problem using the Chinese Navy as their muscle, which is why it makes good sense in which to keep an eye on them. Which is also why the Chinese get very uppity when the US flies in international waters off the coast of China, but especially off the Island of Hainan.
You see, the Chinese have a huge underground submarine base on the bottom of the Island and they know that by dint of geography, that base is somewhat hemmed in (or well protected). Here is where it is situated, via Google Earth. Zoom in on Hainan Island and gravitate towards the bottom.
Continue zooming in and head towards the little spur of land between those two sets of beaches.
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is Yulin Naval Base:
That leg, which sticks out at the left, covered by green, is the site of the underground submarine base and is reported to be able to hold up to 20 nuclear missile carrying submarines.
And here is the above in a little more detail:
Here's a better view of that sea entrance into the underground base:
The base is also being built up to accommodate aircraft carriers, so you can see why the rest want to know what is going in and out of the area and why the Chinese are quite happy to risk losing a plane or two in which to keep prying eyes away, even over international waters. A little more info can be found at this little exposé by Neotrix.
