(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.
Logging you in...
RonnieB2 8p · 552 weeks ago
and http://tribune.com.pk/story/563435/gdp-40pc-of-mu...
doubt hell's chance of catching UK media interest. essentially news from Islamabad "The 57 members of The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) with a population of 1.6 billion had 70 percent of world energy resources; 40 percent of natural resources, but the collective GDP of these countries ($4.7 t) was less than that of Japan ($4.8 t).
While the contribution of OIC was only 8 percent towards world GDP, 40 percent of the population were living below poverty level.
This was stated by Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC), Dr. Javaid R. Laghari while interacting with Education Attaches of OIC member states which was organized by Academics Division HEC here. Dr. Laghari informed that the Muslim World of 1.6 billion inhabitants has produced only two Nobel Laureates in Chemistry and we spend 0.81 percent GDP on Research and Development, about one third of world average."
Cheers, always read your blog, bloody good.
Pounce · 552 weeks ago
Many thanks, had a quick butchers, give me a while to fully read up on the subject and I'll post something later.
Pounce
RonnieB2 8p · 552 weeks ago
“How much is the Arab region worth?” points us to statistics from the World Bank which suggest that the Arab region’s combined GDP is 2.5 trillion US dollars. This figure reflects the volume of economic activity of Arab societies, whose entire population is estimated at approximately 362 million. Half of this GDP comes from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, who boast some of the region’s strongest economies. In fact, some GCC countries enjoy some of the highest average per capita income levels in the world.
Based on these figures, the Arab world—whose collective GDP has jumped sharply in the past ten years—has outdone Southeast Asia, whose 11 countries have a collective GDP of approximately 2 trillion dollars. (At one point these countries were known as the “Asian tigers” due to the rapid economic growth they experienced.) The Arab world’s transformation is mainly due to the large increase in oil prices and oil export proceeds.
These figures reflect the Arab region’s huge economic power. Nevertheless, it is very much less than many industrial economies such as Spain whose GDP is over 1.3 trillion dollars and Germany whose GDP exceeds that of the entire Arab region by 1 trillion dollars.
another interesting read can be found at http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_251_300/sta...
good luck