Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- . . [Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] ----- Original Message ----- From: Charles F. Moreira <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: MLL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2001 8:10 AM Subject: [MLL] US sabre rattling in South China Sea. Comrades, US sabre rattling in South China Sea. Charles Saturday August 18 US navy stages big show of force in South China Sea Alan Low 2:04pm, Sat: HONG KONG, (AFP) - Two US aircraft carrier battle groups have staged a rare exercise in the South China Sea in an apparent show of support for Taiwan as China conducts its biggest ever war games. The USS Carl Vinson and the USS Constellation led Friday's one-day exercise involving 13 other vessels including three submarines, about 150 aircraft and more than 15,000 personnel. The exercise was a "rare meeting at sea" for two US battle groups, an official report on the US 7th Fleet's Internet website said. The "passing exercise" was believed to have comprised the launching of fighter jets and joint operations between crews from the giant aircraft carriers. "Along with the valuable training benefits achieved during the exercise,the meeting of the two aircraft carrier battle groups on the high seas demonstrates a commitment to providing peace and cooperation in the region while preserving the right to freedom of navigation." The website report did not give the exact location in the South China Sea for the exercises. The Constellation is due to arrive in Hong Kong on Monday for a port call. Pointed message A spokesman for the 7th Fleet told the South China Morning Post the exercises were not intended to send a "specific message" to China, but analysts quoted by the newspaper were doubtful. They said the rare US show of force was a pointed message to Beijing as the People's Liberation Army conducts big war games on the southern coast facing Taiwan. "There are no coincidences around the Taiwan Strait and the Americans would have been fully aware of the PLA exercises when they planned this," said Paul Beaver, an independent defence analyst in Britain. "They are demonstrating to the PLA that they have an interest in the future of Taiwan," he said. The Constellation is making its way home to San Diego in California following a six-month deployment that included operations in the Gulf. The Carl Vinson has commenced a six-month deployment. "It is a very obvious response to the (mainland) exercise," said Joanna Kidd, a naval analyst at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. Simulated invasion China has begun final preparations for its largest ever military exercises which would simulate an invasion of the Taiwan-controlled Penghu islands, the Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po said today. In the third phase of the "Liberation No 1" drill on Dongshan island on the Chinese side of the Taiwan Strait, PLA troops will try to "strongly resist US intervention" over Taiwan, the daily said. The drills, which started in April, involve more than 100,000 troops from military divisions across China as well naval and air forces, it said. Apart from occupying an outlying Taiwanese island, the Chinese exercises are aimed at "fighting off an aircraft carrier", the South China Morning Post said. Taiwan does not have any aircraft carriers. Exercises involving two US aircraft carriers last took place in the region in August 1999, after then-Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui said relations between China and Taiwan should be on a "state-to-state basis". The remarks sparked fury in Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, to be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary. In a previous crisis in 1996 when Beijing fired test missiles into the Taiwan Straits, Washington sent two battle carrier groups to waters off the island in a thinly veiled warning to China. _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
