A combination image of satellite photos shows Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, China on Oct. 3, 2018, April 17, 2019 and Sept. 18, 2019. (CSIS/ChinaPower/Maxar Technologies and Airbus 2019/Handout via Reuters)
Satellite Images Reveal China’s Aircraft Carrier ‘Factory,’ Analysts Say
HONG KONG/BEIJING—High-resolution satellite images show that the construction of China’s first full-sized aircraft carrier is progressing steadily alongside expansive infrastructure work that analysts say suggests the ship will be the first of several large vessels produced at the site.
The images of the Jiangnan shipyard outside Shanghai were taken last month and provided to Reuters by the non-partisan Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), building on satellite photos it obtained in April and September last year.
Noting a series of pre-fabricated sections, bulkheads and other components stacked nearby, CSIS analysts say the hull should be finished within 12 months, after which it is likely to be moved to a newly created harbor and wharf before being fitted out.
The vast harbor on the Yangtze River estuary, including a wharf nearly 1 mile (1 kilometer) long and large buildings for manufacturing ship components, is nearly complete. Much of the harbor area appeared to be abandoned farmland just a year ago, according to earlier images CSIS analyzed.
It dwarfs an existing harbor nearby, where destroyers and other warships are docked.
“We can see slow but steady progress on the hull, but I think the really surprising thing these images show is the extensive infrastructure buildup that has gone on simultaneously,” said CSIS analyst Matthew Funaiole.
“It is hard to imagine all this is being done for just one ship,” he added. “This looks more like a specialized space for carriers and or other larger vessels.”
Singapore-based military analyst Collin Koh said the modern, purpose-built facility on a sparsely populated island in the Yangtze may provide better security than the congested shipyards of Dalian in northern China. It could also help deepen co-operation between commercial and military shipbuilders.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies noted this year that China’s military shipyards were focusing increasingly on larger surface warships, “adding to the sense that Chinese naval-capability development may be entering a new phase.”
China’s navy has recently launched four large Type 055 cruisers and its first large helicopter carrier, known as the Type 075.
China’s military has not formally announced the plans for the third carrier, designated Type 002, but official state media have said it is being built.
The Pentagon said it in its annual survey of China’s military modernization, published in May, that work on the third carrier had begun.
China’s Ministry of Defense did not respond to questions from Reuters.
Funaiole said the latest images appeared to confirm the earlier photos, which suggested the latest carrier would be somewhat smaller the 100,000-tonne “supercarriers” operated by the United States but larger than France’s 42,500-tonne Charles de Gaulle.
The images are due to be released by the CSIS China Power Project later on Oct. 17.
Asian and Western militaries are tracking developments closely. They say this carrier would represent a vital step in China’s ambitions to create a far-ranging navy that can project power around the world to serve Beijing’s expanding global interests.
It is expected to be China’s first carrier with a flat deck and catapult launch system, allowing the use of a wider range of aircraft and more heavily armed fighter jets.
China’s first two carriers, which it has dubbed Type 001-class, are relatively small, accommodating only up to 25 aircraft that are launched from ramps built onto their decks. U.S. carriers routinely deploy with nearly four times the number of aircraft.
Foreign military attaches and security analysts say the Type 001 ships are expected to essentially serve as training platforms for what they believe will be fleet of up to six operational carriers by 2030.
They say the construction and deployment of aircraft carriers is considered exceptionally difficult to master. Protecting such a large and vital surface target with escort ships, submarines and aircraft is a core part of the problem.
“The PLA navy is not saying much in detail about its plans now, but we can see from their building works that their ambitions are vast,” said one Asian military attache, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. “And they will get there.”
Koh, a research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the new Jiangnan facilities looked permanent and reflected China’s long-held ambitions to bulk up its fleet with more carriers and other large vessels.
“We are talking about infrastructure being built quickly and on a large scale. It could well be the start of a ‘factory,’ if you like, for carriers and other very large vessels,” he said.
By Greg Torode and Michael Martina
FEINSTEIN HAS SPENT HER POLITICAL LIFE STALKING THE HALLS OF
CONGRESS SNIFFING OUT DEALS THAT PUT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN HER POCKETS.
SHE HAS AVOIDED PROSECUTION BY VOTING AGAINST ANY ETHICS BILLS
AND HER HUSBAND, RICHARD BLUM'S HANDING OUT "CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION"
BRIBES TO EVERY DEMOCRAT OUT THERE!
*
IN THE November 2006 election, the voters demanded congressional
ethics reform. And so, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Rules
Committee, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is now duly in charge of regulating the
ethical behavior of her colleagues. But for many years, Feinstein has been
beset by her own ethical conflict of interest, say congressional ethics
experts.
*
“All
in all, it was an incredible victory for the Chinese government. Feinstein has
done more for Red China than other any serving U.S. politician. “ Trevor Loudon
*
“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and
Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy approaching par with
third-world hell-holes. This is the way a great country is raided by
its elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER.com
Everything we know about Hunter Biden's business connections in
China
Alexandra Ma
,
Hunter Biden
Paul
Morigi/Getty Images for World Food Program USA
·
President Donald Trump this week suggested that Hunter Biden had
used his position as then-Vice President Joe Biden's son to secure a $1.5
billion deal with the Chinese state bank for a Chinese private equity company
where he is a board member.
·
There is no evidence to this claim.
·
The $1.5 billion appears to refer to a sum that BHR, the private
equity firm, was trying to raise in 2014 to invest outside China, according to The
Wall Street Journal.
·
But Biden's lawyer said Biden has never profited from his work
at BHR.
·
Here's what we know about Hunter Biden's business dealings in
China.
The global business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of former
Vice President Joe Biden, have been thrust into the spotlight after President
Donald Trump suggested without evidence that the father and son had engaged in
corruption in Ukraine and China.
Trump on Thursday openly called on
China to
investigate the Bidens, suggesting — without evidence — that
China had given $1.5 billion to a Chinese private equity firm where Hunter
Biden was a board member to secure favorable deals with the US while Joe Biden
was Vice President.
Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1179769217534582784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
President Trump: "China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine. So, I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens." pic.twitter.com/Xia8vLUVT2
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1179769217534582784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
President Trump: "China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine. So, I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens." pic.twitter.com/Xia8vLUVT2
Here's what we know about the background of this allegation.
·
Biden
has been a board member at BHR Equity Investment Fund Management Company, a
Chinese state-backed private equity firm, since late 2013, according to The New York
Times and the South China
Morning Post.
·
In
2017, Biden bought 10% of the company for about $420,000, The Times reported.
·
The
$1.5 billion Trump cited on Thursday appears to refer to a sum that BHR was
trying to raise in 2014 to invest outside China, as The Wall Street
Journal reported at the
time.
·
That
sum appeared in "Secret Empires," a book published last year that
criticized Biden's business activities, The Journal
reported.
·
Peter
Schweizer, the author, said BHR "would seal a highly unusual $1.5 billion
deal with funding from the Chinese government" after Biden flew to Beijing
aboard Air Force Two at the time.
·
Trump
has praised the book in the past, The Journal reported.
·
Trump
on Thursday suggested that Biden used his position as the vice president's
son to secure the money from China's state-owned bank, and made millions in the
process, the South China
Morning Post reported.
·
But
Biden's lawyer George Mesires said earlier this week that Biden had never been
paid for sitting on BHR's board, and has not received any payouts from his
investment, according to The Times and The Washington
Post.
·
BHR
has removed all photos of Hunter Biden from its website, the South China
Morning Post reported on Saturday. BBHR has not yet responded to Business
Insider's request for confirmation and comment on the date of the photo's
removal.
Mesires has not yet responded to Business Insider's request for
comment on Biden's current role and responsibility at BHR Partners.
BHR has not yet responded to Business Insider's request for
comment on Biden's role and responsibility at the firm.
Is Dianne Feinstein out to kill off Kamala Harris's presidential
bid?
Kamala Harris has always
been known for her lean and hungry, pushy, grabby, ambition, which
includes a willingness to sleep her way to the top to
get what she wants. Her political start began as a social mountaineer
with San Francisco's old-money Pacific Heights set dating from her 20s and then just moved
onward and upward.
That's not sitting well
with California's lizardy old-money senior Senator, Dianne Feinstein, who
knows that establishment well.
BLOG: BIDEN AND FEINSTEIN GO WAY BACK WITH THEIR RED CHINA FOR RAW CASH DEALS SIPHONED THROUGH HER HUSBAND AND HIS SON.
According to reports,
Feinstein, the senior senator from the Golden State, will throw a
fundraiser next month for Democratic 2020 presidential frontrunner Joe Biden -- and not for
Harris, another White House contender whose poll numbers suggest she could
probably use some high-profile help.
BLOG: WHAT FEINSTEIN MEANS IS THAT OL' BIDEN IS AS CORRUPT AS
SHE IS ANY DAY!
“My candidate would be
Joe Biden,” Feinstein told CNBC back then. “I watched him as vice president.
I’ve seen him operate. I’ve seen him perform and I think he brings a level of
experience and seniority, which I think is really important.”
The early evening
reception will be the first that Feinstein hosts for Biden in the 2020
election, CNBC reported. Her husband has already participated in several
fundraising events for Biden, who campaigned for Feinstein in 2018, when she
was re-elected by a landslide.
Oh, spare us. Feinstein
knows as well as anyone that old Joe is addled and gaffe-tastic. This is more
likely about putting Kamala back in her place.
Fox News speculated that
this fundraiser among the fatcat donors might just have been payback for
Harris's nasty first-debate attack all but accusing Biden of being a Bull
Conner racist. Remember Harris's phony earnestness in: "That little
girl was me"?
Sure, it's possible.
But it's also been known for close to a year that Feinstein considers
Harris a wretched parvenu who hasn't paid her dues.
Remember this?
“I’m a big fan of Sen.
Harris, and I work with her. But she’s brand-new here, so it takes a little bit
of time to get to know somebody,” Feinstein said of the junior senator,
according to the Los Angeles Times.
Her press secretary told
CNN that Feinstein later added that she certainly likes her California
colleague, saying, “Oh, I love Kamala.”
Translation in a plummy
accent: Do we know her?
Hard to get a better
old-money passive-aggressive remark than that one. People are either known or
unknown in Feinstein's rich circles and it's pretty obvious to Feinstein
that Kamala doesn't cut it.
What's more, Feinstein is
a 'get off my lawn, whippersnappers' non-ideological sort of small-c
conservative, or, as Fox News put it, she pulls rank. Remember this?
Democratic Sen. Dianne
Feinstein pulled rank Friday when a group of kids tried to school her on
climate change.
After the group sought
her support for the Green New Deal, the 85-year-old senior
senator from California let them know she wasn't about to be bossed around by a
bunch of youngsters.
BLOG: THE OLD WHORE FEINSTEIN MADE A VAST FORTUNE SERVING CRIMINAL OPERATIONS LIKE PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC, CRIMINAL BANKSTERS WELLS FARGO AND BANK OF AMERICA AND THE FREAKING PARASITE TRIAL LAWYERS!
“You come in here, and
you say it has to be my way or the highway. I don’t respond to that,” Feinstein
continued. “I’ve gotten elected, I just ran. I was elected by almost a
million-vote plurality. And I know what I’m doing. So you know, maybe people
should listen a little bit.
So just the fundraiser in
Harris's home state of California was a shiv in the side to Kamala.
Why is that?
Well, for one thing, the
Democratic political set widely believes that to win the presidency, one must
win California. Harris is from California, so that stacks things in her favor.
Now Feinstein is
marshalling money from California Biden's way? So that they give their money to
him and feel 'donor fatigue' when Kamala comes calling?
The matter is compounded
by the fact that the California Democratic campaign fatcats weren't impressed
with Harris's performance in the third debate, as this CNBC report here indicates. Feinstein
knows those people and may very well be egging them toward Biden, or at least
piling on.
Here's another thing:
Money from fatcats over
little-people donations is Kamala's vulnerable spot. The queen of fake Twitter followers is also
highly reliant on big dollar donors over the little
guys, even as the New York Times tries to claim she's changing
that. Well, maybe she is, but if she is, it would be in the infant stage and in
any case, they're taking her word for it. More likely, she still relies on the
big boys, because that's what she knows.
Which would mean that
Feinstein's bid to separate Harris from that cash lifeline is like that of
General Grant at Vicksburg, targeting Confederate supply lines. The California
dinosaur strategizes.
The Feinstein fundraiser,
which will channel and suction big money toward Biden, can't help but come
at a cost to Harris. And Feinstein, right in the middle of the Pacific Heights
crowd, is lobbing her cannon ball where the funds are richest and Kamala's ties
are tightest.
It almost looks like a
concerted chess move to checkmate the upstart. And given the evidence of
Feinstein's antipathy toward Harris, one can't help but think it's all
intentional.
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