http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/majornews/1917167/Chinese-build-secret-nuclear-submarine-base.html
if US and UK build similiar underground sub bases,would any one
make a comment?
Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, shows that a
substantial harbour has been built which could house a score of
nuclear ballistic missile submarines and a host of aircraft
carriers.
In what will be a significant challenge to US Navy dominance and
to countries ringing the South China Sea, one photograph shows
China’s latest 094 nuclear submarine at the base just a few hundred
miles from its neighbours.
Other images show numerous warships moored to long jettys and a
network of underground tunnels at the Sanya base on the southern
tip of Hainan island.
Of even greater concern to the Pentagon are massive tunnel
entrances, estimated to be 60ft high, built into hillsides around
the base. Sources fear they could lead to caverns capable of hiding
up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites.
The US Department of Defence has estimated that China will have
five 094 nuclear submarines operational by 2010 with each capable
of carrying 12 JL-2 nuclear missiles.
The images were obtained by Janes Intelligence Review after the
periodical was given access to imagery from the commercial
satellite company DigitalGlobe.
Analysts for the respected military magazine suggest that the
base could be used for "expeditionary as well as defensive
operations" and would allow the submarines to "break out to launch
locations closer to the US".
It would now be "difficult to ignore" that China was building a
major naval base where it could house its nuclear forces and
increase it "strategic capability considerably further afield".
The development so close to the sea lanes vital to Asian
economies "can only cause concern far beyond these straits".
Military analysts believe that China’s substantial build up of
its forces is gaining pace put has remained hidden from the world
in the build-up to the Olympics.
China has diverted much of its resources from the huge Peoples
Liberation Army to the navy, air force and missile development.
An old Russian aircraft carrier, bought by Beijing for "leisure
activities" has been picked over by naval architects who hope to
"reverse engineer" the ship.
Within the next five to 10 years the People's Liberation Navy is
expected to build up to six carriers which will also coincide with
the Royal Navy’s construction of two major carriers.
The location of the base off
Hainan will also give the submarines access to very deep water
exceeding 5,000 metres within a few miles, making them even harder
to detect.
Britain’s Trident submarines have to remain on the surface when
they leave Faslane in north east Scotland and cannot dive to depth
until outside the Irish Sea.
While it has been known that China might be developing an
underground base at Sanya, the pictures provide the first proof of
the base’s existence and the rapid progress made.
Two 950 metre piers and three smaller ones would be enough to
accommodate two carrier strike groups or amphibious assault
ships.
Christian Le Miere, editor for Jane's Intelligence Review, said
the complex underlined Beijing’s plan “to assert tighter control
over this region".
"This is a challenge to any hegemonic power, particularly the US
which still remains dominant in the region."
So far China has offered no public explanation for its building
at Sanya.
