Chinese, Indian Troops Withdraw From Dangerous Pangong Lake Area

Troops of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force and the Indian Army are conducting simultaneous disengagements along the dangerous frontline bordering Pangong Tso (Pangong Lake) spanning eastern Ladakh in India and West Tibet.

Mountainous Ladakh was the site of a lethal nighttime brawl on June 15, 2020 that led to the deaths of 20 Indian Army troopers and at least 40 men of the PLAGF.

Both sides on Wednesday confirmed the start of troop and equipment withdrawals along the rugged and hilly Line of Actual Control (LAC) separating their military forces. The disengagements are taking place along both the north and south banks of Pangong Tso.

The Indian Army occupies territory on both north and south banks west of the LAC while the PLAGF controls land on both north and south banks to the east.

The Chinese troop pullback was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and confirmed by Ministry of National Defense spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian of the People’s Liberation Army on the microblogging website Sina Weibo.

“The Chinese and Indian front line troops at the southern and northern banks of the Pangong Tso Lake start synchronized and organized disengagement from February 10," said Wu.

"This move is in accordance with the consensus reached by both sides at the ninth round of China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting.”

Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin confirmed that frontline troops of the PLAGF and the Indian Army began to conduct simultaneous and planned disengagement in the Pangong Lake area on February 10.

"We hope the Indian side will work with China to meet each other halfway, strictly implement the consensus reached between the two sides and ensure the smooth implementation of the disengagement process.”

Indian Army sources also confirmed the pullback to media and said these movements are only the first in a long process of disengagement and de-escalation. They said the initial withdrawal restarted the stalled process of disengagement in the longest military standoff between India and China in decades.

Pangong Tso

The Indian Army said the pullback is the first phase of disengagement. It has begun withdrawing some tanks and armored units on the south bank, as well as thinning down troops on the north bank. Indian Army jawans, however, continue to remain in key positions overlooking China defenses.

The heavily militarized south bank has seen the Indian Army deploy tanks and armored vehicles in positions sometimes only a few hundred meters away from the Chinese. (11 Feb. 2021)

French Navy Nuclear Submarine Patrols South China Sea

 The French Navy nuclear attack submarine SNA Emeraude (S604) and the support ship BSAM Seine (A604) have completed a joint patrol of the South China Sea, the first such mission acknowledged by the French this year.

The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs confirmed the unopposed transit of the South China Sea by the French warships. It pointed out the navy has conducted several freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea in the past.

France has always emphasized the importance of defending freedom of navigation in the volatile region. It also has exclusive economic zones in its territories on the Indo-Pacific region, and intends to protect its sovereignty and interests.

"This extraordinary patrol has just completed a passage in the South China Sea," tweeted Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly.

"A striking proof of the capacity of our French Navy to deploy far away and for a long time together with our Australian, American and Japanese strategic partners."

"Why such a mission? To enrich our knowledge of this area and affirm that international law is the only rule that is valid, whatever the sea where we sail," she later said.

Parly said France is joining the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries in pushing back against China’s growing militarization and excessive territorial claims in the region.

SNA Emeraude

In June 2019, Parly said France will continue to sail in the South China Sea more than twice a year. She urged like-minded countries to follow to maintain open access to the waters that China illegally claims to own almost in its entirety.

In September of that year, France, Germany and the UK issued a joint statement to the United Nations supporting a judgment by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague in July 2016 that dismissed as illegal and invalid China's claim to own almost the entire the South China Sea based on its spurious "nine-dash line" map.

The three countries said China's claim to “historic rights” in the South China Sea does not comply with international law.

The transit of the South China Sea by the Emeraude and the Seine almost coincided with a powerful freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) conducted Tuesday by two U.S. Navy nuclear powered aircraft carriers and their carrier strike groups (CSGs).

The Biden administration carried out its third FONOP in Asian waters since it came into power three weeks ago with a FONOP by the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and its CSG 9 and the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) with its CSG 11.

The navy said it “conducted a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities" during the dual-carrier FONOP.

“We are committed to ensuring the lawful use of the sea that all nations enjoy under international law,” said Rear Admiral James Kirk, commander of CSG 11.

It was the second two-carrier combat exercise in the South China Sea since the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) did so in July 2020. (11 Feb. 2021)

Biden Plans To Wield 'Bigger Stick' Against China

President Joe Biden will keep speaking loudly against China and its abuses but plans to wield a better designed bigger stick.

Biden's take on former President Theodore Roosevelt's "big stick diplomacy" saw him announce on Wednesday his intent to form a new task force to review and recalibrate the United States' strategy and operations against China.

He said the task force will make recommendations to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “so that we can chart a strong path forward on China-related matters.” 

“It will require a whole-of-government effort, bipartisan cooperation in Congress and strong alliances and partnerships,” said Biden of the review during his, and Vice President Kamala Harris', first meeting with Pentagon leaders Wednesday afternoon.

“That’s how we’ll meet the China challenge and ensure the American people win the competition of the future.”

Biden sees the rivalry between the U.S. and China as “the competition of the future." He voiced concerns about the “growing challenges” posed by China and its many threats to U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere.

President Joe Biden

The task force will present its findings to Austin within four months. Pentagon officials will discuss recommendations with Congress and others but no report to the public report is expected.

The task force will be headed by deputy national security adviser Ely Ratner. An expert in Asian foreign policy issues, Ratner is Biden's principal adviser on subjects concerning China. He was then-vice president Biden’s deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration.

Ratner's vast China experience will counterbalance Austin's relative lack of experience and knowledge in foreign affairs.

Some national security experts said Ratner's appointment as deputy national security adviser is a good sign for those that want to see Biden's national security team take a more competitive approach against China while working more closely with U.S. allies in Asia.

Pentagon officials described the impending strategic review as a “sprint" effort that will include inputs from U.S. intelligence, troops levels in the Indo-Pacific region and U.S. defense alliances, among many others.

Austin and Ratner will work together to craft the strategic review. Both are known China hawks intent on confronting Chinese abuses.

Austin, a retired four-star U.S. Army general and the first African-American defense secretary, said he intends to do what he can to prevent China gaining military superiority over the U.S.

He told a Senate committee during his nomination hearing he agreed with a recent Pentagon report saying China’s ambition is to transform the People's Liberation Army into an armed force equal to, and in some respects superior to, that of the United States by 2050.

“While that may be their goal, I would ... intend to make sure that never happens,” according to Austin.

Austin also announced a “global posture review” of the U.S. military last week. He intends to ensure the military’s presence around the world “aligns with our national interests" and affirm “we have the right capabilities in the right places."

The Trump administration focused almost solely on economic and trade concerns in its testy relationship with China. Its military moves against China concentrated on arming Taiwan to deter a Chinese cross strait invasion. It also conducted freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait separating Taiwan from mainland China. (11 Feb. 2021)

Two U.S. Navy Carriers Do Combat Drills In South China Sea

The Biden administration carried out its third freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in Asian waters since it came into power three weeks ago with two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers on Tuesday holding a show of force combat drill in the South China Sea.

The dual carrier operation was conducted by the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and its Carrier Strike Group 9 (CSG 9) and the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) with its CSG 11. Altogether, more than 10 Navy warships were involved in the maneuvers.

The Navy said both CSGs carried out operations and exercises to support a free and open Indo-Pacific. It said it “conducted a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities."

The carriers led their individual CSGs consisting of escorting destroyers, cruisers, submarines and supply ships.

“We are committed to ensuring the lawful use of the sea that all nations enjoy under international law,” said Rear Admiral James Kirk, commander of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group.

It was the second two-carrier combat exercise in the South China Sea since the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) did so in July 2020.

Tuesday's drill was the third FONOP in Asia since the Biden administration took office on January 20. It was also the most powerful given two aircraft carriers were involved.

The operation comes in the wake of tough statements by Biden, who said China will be taken to task for its excessive geopolitical ambitions. On Monday, Biden said his administration is ready for “extreme competition” against China but on its own terms. He told Americans and the world his administration intends to compete hard against China.

USS Nimitz

He also said Chinese leader Xi Jinping "doesn't have a democratic ‘small D’ bone in his body.” Despite these strong words, Biden also opened the door to talks with China.

“The question is, I’ve said to him all along, that we need not have a conflict,” he pointed out.

On the same day Biden made these remarks, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) again stoked Chinese anger, this time by conducting a FONOP near the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

The Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army Navy said McCain entered into what it claimed are the territorial waters of the Paracels without permission, “seriously infringing upon China’s sovereignty and security."

It was the Navy's first such operation in the South China Sea this year but the second in Asia. On February 4, McCain accomplished the Biden administration's first FONOP in Asia when it transited the Taiwan Strait separating mainland China from Taiwan in a voyage that sparked Chinese anger. (10 Feb. 2021)

New U.S. Marines Littoral Combat Regiments Will Spearhead Fight Vs. China In Indo-Pacific

The U.S. Marine Corps is pushing forward with plans to organize, equip and train its first three "Marine Littoral Regiments" (MLRs) that will spearhead combat operations against the Chinese in the event of a future armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

It was only last week the Marines made known their intention to stand-up, or make operational, their first MLR. These more mobile but heavily-armed fighting units will be designed to execute the Marines' island-hopping strategy against the People's Liberation Army Ground Force and the People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps.

Initial plans call for an MLR consisting of 1,800 to 2,000 Marines and U.S. Navy sailors. An MLR will comprise a Littoral Combat Team, a Littoral Anti-Air Battalion and a Littoral Logistics Battalion

Brig. Gen. Benjamin Watson, Vice Chief of Naval Research and Commanding General, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, recently said the service plans to have the first MLR reach initial operational capability in Fiscal Year 2023, which starts October 2023. This MLR, the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, will be based in Hawaii.

“There has been discussion of creating as many as three in the Pacific between now and 2030 and they would be forward-based in the Pacific, although they might–depending on the experimentation that we do–they might be rotational in terms of how we source some of the people that man these Marine Littoral Regiments,” said Watson.

“And then based on their -- where they’re home-based in the Pacific, elements would rotate on a regular basis further west,” he noted. “So working with allies and partners so that we persistently have a presence from each of the Marine Littoral Regiments out there in the western Pacific.”

Watson said the new MLRs can also fight in other geographies, including contested waters like the Black Sea near Russia or the Persian Gulf against Iran.

U.S. Marines

Watson described MLRs as fighting units optimized to fight and win in the complex littorals of the western Pacific. MLRs should also prove a useful tool for U.S. foreign policy in the Baltics, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Black Sea and any sort of close contested littoral terrain, according to Watson.

“So it’s a unit that’s designed to be lethal first and foremost, on land or at sea and from the land to the sea, to operate in distributed small units that are low signature and to bring capabilities that enable the larger naval or joint force, particularly in contested or a denied degraded environment.” (9 Feb. 2021)

China Plans Naval Facility Only 200 Km From Australia

China apparently aims to build a wharf or a naval station in an island in the south of Papua New Guinea (PNG) to offset a plan by Australia and the United States to build a joint naval base on an island to the north of the country.

Triggering speculation China is using subterfuge to build a naval facility at Daru Island in the Coral Sea are fresh reports in Australian media a Chinese company named WYW Holding Ltd is again goading the PNG government into approving its plan first broached in April 2020 to build a new industrial island city called "New Daru City" with an investment of $30 billion.

At the time, the Papuan government replied by saying it wasn't considering this Chinese proposal, and had no plans of designating Daru Island a "business, commercial and industrial zone" as the Hong Kong-registered Chinese company proposed.

Daru Island

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday dismissed as “speculative” reports about New Daru City.

“I honestly think it’s just speculative,” said Morrison. “It’s just people flying some kites and I’m not going to overreact to the noise that is flying around out there.”

“I speak pretty regularly with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (James Marape) and we have a very good relationship and he well understands our relationship and the importance of our other partners and I couldn’t see Papua New Guinea being terribly hasty on anything like that,” according to Morrison.

Papua New Guinea is the largest recipient of Australian foreign aid and is unlikely to anger Australia, which lies only 200 kilometers to the south, by hosting a PLAN naval facility.

Australian military analysts argue the Chinese proposal to build a city makes no economic sense given the remoteness of Daru and its population of only 20,000 people. Some, however, suspect China instead plans to build a wharf for a naval facility to be used later on by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

The Chinese seem to have been encouraged to push the proposal for New Daru City after the PNG government in 2020 signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company. This Chinese firm intends to build a "comprehensive multi-functional fishery industrial park" on Daru Island.

The existence of a PLAN facility to the north of Australia will represent a dangerous strategic military threat to the country, which has taken the lead among Asian countries in confronting Chinese geopolitical and economic abuses.

Analysts also point to a project by the United States and Australia to redevelop the Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island to the north of Papua New Guinea into a major naval base as a reason for China wanting a naval facility of its own in the area.

Australia and the PNG in 2018 entered into talks about providing port facilities to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the U.S. Navy on Manus Island.

Australia and the U.S. proposed to expand Lombrum Naval Base, which has a deep-water port near important shipping lanes, to accommodate large RAN and U.S. Navy warships. Australia wants to bolster the military capabilities at Lombrum and three other ports to counter Chinese expansionism in Australasia and the neighboring Pacific Island nations.

RAN operated a naval base on Manus Island from the 1950s until it transferred the naval base to the Papua New Guinea Defense Force in 1974. (9 Feb. 2021)

Republicans Reaffirm Commitment To Stronger U.S. Navy

Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives vow to fight for the military spending vital to keeping the U.S. Navy on track to deploy 546 manned and unmanned warships by 2045 as rumors swirl of lower military budgets under the Biden administration in the coming years.

The need to finance the massive U.S. budget deficit is putting pressure on Congress to scale back expenditures. The U.S. incurred a deficit of $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020 ending September 30.

This number was more than triple the deficit for fiscal year 2019, and amounted to 15.2% of GDP, the largest deficit as a share of the economy since 1945. The economic devastation caused by COVID-19 and the huge stimulus packages that kept the economy from going under were major reasons for the record deficit last year.

Senior Navy officers are publicly voicing concerns to members of Congress about the likelihood of flat or declining defense budgets in the years ahead in light of U.S. economic woes.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker said he expects to have a better understanding of the Biden administration’s priorities for shipbuilding once officials like deputy defense secretary nominee Kathleen Hicks and Neera Tanden, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, are confirmed by the Senate within the month.

Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the top Republican and the Ranking Member in the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), and Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia, Ranking Member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, affirm they'll push to maintain defense spending at current levels. Doing so will ensure money is available for the modernization and increased readiness for the Navy and the other armed services.

U.S. Navy warships

“And that means making sure that we stand by the funding levels that we’ve had in the past," said Wittman. "In fact, I would argue you have to be able to factor in an element of inflation to make sure we have the dollars necessary."

“You know that those dollars are needed, as we’ve seen in the National Defense Strategy, the 30-year shipbuilding plan, Battle Force 2045, however you want to parse it out. Those things are incredibly important,” he added.

Wittman and the Biden administration are on the same page in their assertion the emphasis on China as the main challenge for the Navy will drive U.S. strategy in Battle Force 2045 and make a larger fleet essential.

“You might have a debate about what classes of ships you want to prioritize or how you integrate unmanned platforms. But I think overall the idea is you have to be able to counter the Chinese and in turn our other adversaries, including the Russians that, while they’re not modernizing at the pace that the Chinese are, they have some pretty capable assets that do place the United States at risk. So you have to be able to do those things,” said Wittman.

Last December, the Navy released details of its immense warship building program that will ensure its capability to defeat the navies of China and Russia over the next half century.

The Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan proposes investing more than $167 billion for 82 battle force ships and 21 unmanned surface vessels (USVs), among other ships, to expand its total surface and subsurface fleets.

The enormous shipbuilding program will see the size of the fleet hit the long-sought-after 355-ship level by 2033 compared to a low of 271 ships in 2015 and some 300 today.

By 2045, the Navy will have 403 battle force ships and 143 unmanned vessels. This future fleet should include 11 aircraft carriers, nine amphibious landing ships, 57 amphibious warfare ships, 74 large surface combat ships, 66 small combatant ships, 72 attack submarines and 12 ballistic missile submarines.

An enormous increase in the numbers of robotic ships is key to reaching a 500-ship Navy and reducing the huge maintenance costs of manned ships. The plan projects spending $4.3 billion on 21 robotic ships from fiscal 2022 to 2026. (7 Feb. 2021)