Chinese military expansion into Vanuatu aimed at Australia and NZ

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The escalating trade war mixed with the current 40 ship live firing drill China is projecting right now means the region is being redefined by Beijing’s interests as opposed to Washington’s.

By projecting power all the way to Vanuatu, China would be able to dominate Australia and New Zealand in any military navel setting…

China eyes Vanuatu military base in plan with global ramifications
China has approached Vanuatu about building a permanent military presence in the South Pacific in a globally significant move that could see the rising superpower sail warships on Australia’s doorstep.

There have been preliminary discussions between the Chinese and Vanuatu governments about a military build-up in the island nation.

While no formal proposals have been put to Vanuatu’s government, senior security officials believe Beijing’s plans could culminate in a full military base.

…if we protest, China could argue they’re protecting their significant interests in Australian mining and NZ Dairy.

Such a concentration of Military fire power could easily be used to guarantee access to fishing grounds as well.

It is a bold move by a country feeling increasingly threatened by an erratic American President and would represent only the second Chinese military base outside of China.

Militarisation of the Pacific is something NZ has not had to consider defending from for a long time because of our distance from any one seriously capable of invading.

A huge naval base in Vanuatu however changes that defensive slouch in an instant.

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28 COMMENTS

  1. All the action is in the Asian property market. What 99% of the worlds population can not do is value the underlying asset properly and calculating properly the underlying asset. And in my opinion with most assets that underlying asset is property.

    Overall I think it’s going to be a net boon for Asia-Pacific. It’s certainly not the boogeyman New Zealand, but the US will struggle to compete with China. Both sides have been apt to posture and act tough but they are really gun shy towards each other. Lucky they have North Korea to beat. Tough guys eh.

    Further more we can rule out nukes because a nuclear exchange really messes up those economic calcs. And no one wants to rule over a closet full of skeletons. Not at least until either Beijing or Washington can guarantee victory and that is far from certain. For Beijing to launch a successful invasion of the South Pacific they would have to take and stage conventional forces in Indonesia and then overwhelm the Australian Defence Force. Equally there is no combination of forces that could take and hold ground in Asia but they can deny access to resources which is a fate worse than death.

    This is why we spend so much on defence. Our defence force can not even sustain half the missions it should be capable of. We can not sustain more than a handful of armed soldiers abroad and we don’t have any frigates to break a blockade or counter piracy because both ANZACS are going through upgrades. So IMO RNZN should have 3 or 4 frigates so one can be deployed, one ready to deploy and one in maintenance. And ideally a forth for training. And those frigates require a maritime patrol aircraft to screen ahead of the ANZACS. NZDF has 2/5th of what it needs to conduct operations in defence of New Zealand’s sovereignty.

    With the $20bln defence recapitalisation fund NZDF has or will have the vessels and gear they need to defend our interest and the values our pacific allies so that trade is left open and our economic and poverty reduction targets can be meet.

  2. China is scary, no overt Russian spies but plenty plenty Chinese ones, not even ‘undeclared’, the whole great: unwashed knows they exist… BTW… Not a great deal is being said about the change in the Chinese constitution, to allow that guy to stay on forever….
    At least, Mao has personality, he participated in the Long March…swam that big river…had inventive names for social upheavals …the hundred flowers movement etc….
    If the Chinese do take over the Pacific in an aggressive manner, do jou think they will just treat us as a vassel state and we can just pay tribute…. In milk powder?

  3. Come on, they are only considering a well protected Mainland Chinese holiday resort, for navy officers and so, perhaps also for NZ and Australia based spies and patriotic support workers for the good cause.

    What is fit for the US, Russia, France, Britain and others, that should also be ‘fit’ for China.

    The ‘yellow peril’ must be embraced, we will gain through huge contracts, bringing bountiful profits through ripping more fish out of the sea, more out of the soil, around NZ Inc, Australia, the Island States and around Antarctica.

    Humans are here to plunder, as Kiwis can, so can Chinese, and as they are strong, they will assert themselves, the US did so for decades.

    Welcome to the real world, Sleepy Hobbits.

  4. Militarization of the Pacific has been going on since Obama started mentioning “The Asian Pivot.”
    And personally i do not think Obama’s visit to New Zealand had anything to do with golf and everything to do with the militarisation of the Asian Pivot.
    If China is expanding it’s military into the pacific it would probably have everything to do with defending it’s country that is surrounded by 400 U.S military bases.

  5. Yes Martyn you are correct on your assumption, it changes everything from a NZ military, Foreign Aid and NZ trade POV. There has been talk of a possible Chinese bases in Tonga, PNG and Fiji though work at open and closed circles.

    It really makes a mockery of Auntie Helen’s assumption when she disbanded the Air Strike Wing, reducing the Anti Surface/ Anti Sub Surface Capability of the RNZAF and RNZN and refusing the Navy to have more capable ships under Project Protector.

    You reap what you’ve sowed and I wonder you are the idiots now for not listening to the Chiefs at the time?

    BTW, Watch the rape and pillage of the southern ocean if this goes ahead a couple of sub- par OPV’s won’t cut the mustard now.

        • I see things through my animals. So the lion surveys the Savannah and he sees through his animal eyes something he’s never seen before and it’s an armada of ships along way from home. And this new presence on the Savannah as a threat. So you best bring your A game if any want to start militarising the South Pacific.

  6. What can be done about it if Vanuatu let’s them? Too bad NZ and possibly Australia were not better neighbors, more united with our Pacific brothers and sisters… China is already firmly entrenched, we are just beginning to see the consequences of that, it seems.

  7. What can be done about it if Vanuatu let’s them? Too bad NZ and possibly Australia were not better neighbors, more united and open with our south Pacific family.. China is already firmly entrenched, has been for decades and the potential consequences of that are becoming apparent. A military base would be totally freaky.

    • Yep, this what’s happens when you get involved in silly little wars in the MER and you forget your backyard NZ/ Oz.

      You reap what you sow folks.

  8. It will also give the USA the jitters big-time.
    One things for the real the Pacific is not America’s sole patch any more.

    • Yep, better go and check my SLR and the L4 Bern tomorrow morning as it isn’t been fired in a long time.

    • It’s their subs, Coast Guard ships (they are more capable than our own sub- par OPV’s) and their fishing fleet that I’m worried about atm. Their surface fleet though capable on paper is still small operate affectively outside the first chain island for combat operations but give them a few yrs and they have carriers with cats and traps not STOAR carriers then start to worry.

  9. For all the complaints about it, this is exactly why the US has the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution (in the Bill of Rights). As much flack as the rest of world gives the US about this contentious bit of law, it does make the country virtually impossible to occupy (at least not without ongoing massive causalities of the invading army). Shooting at someone is a lot less “fun” when they shoot back.
    A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
    http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/bill-of-rights/

    • Too bad that almost none of the civilians bearing arms in the USA are part of a ‘well regulated militia’ then.

      • 100% agree. The Founding Father’s worded it specifically. The idea was that everyone basically should undergo “National Guard” duty, and be allowed to keep their fire arms to guard the country from threats “domestic and abroad”.

    • The best way to sink a ship is a submarine or mines laid by a submarine or by a converted fishing trawler when the ship is not alongside in port.

      NZ economy is a export led with over 90% of NZ exports going by sea and over 90% imports coming by sea. Cutting off NZ Sea Lanes Of Communications (SLOC) during a state of war would cripple NZ economy and likely to cause great social unrest along the way.

      NZ’s Governments consisted running down of the NZDF since 1991 is looking a bit foolish now. Neutrality to Asian eyes is a sign of great weakness, unless of course you carry a bloody big stick like Finland Sweden or Switzerland. Adopting Neutrality would mean some serious coin being pour into the NZDF or we team up with Oz and all the trappings that they bring. The so-called $20B earmarked for defence by No Mates National Party is small fry now to what could be in the future and sticking one’s head in the sand is no longer an option of NZ now.

      With Chinese subs, surface vessels or even their H6 nuclear capable bombers operating out of Vanuatu and that’s not including its fishing fleets that will rape pillage the Southern Ocean, but rape and pillage of the Antarctic mainland as well.

      Food for thought

      • We also need to be aware of the proliferation of hypersonic missile technology for deep strike missions. It’s my belief that the only autonomous aircraft is a missile. So if you’re going to buy a $30mln fighter the only insurance you have for protecting that aircraft is a well trained pilot. To defeat an armada of this size and nature you’d need at least 200x Harpoon blockII + ER, 200x CAMMS ER, and 200x Mark 46 Mod 5. Plus training rounds, and an EW/ISR aircraft like the old US Navy Growler that jams enemy communications and radar. That’s a billion dollars worth of ordnance plus about 9 billion dollars worth of launch platforms across Army, Navy and Airforce for A2AD mission and associated logistics. So you’d quickly come to a $10 billion dollar stick that can defeat any threat to NZs EEZ wether in New Zealand waters or up to Singapore or across to Hawaii.

        This would be additional to the $20bln defence fund and would be apart of the ANZAC replacement programme 2035, Army vehicle fleet replacement programme and a programme to return air combat to the RNZAF, and wouldn’t start to come online until 2035. But this is money already allocated but spread over 17 to 27 years so we wouldn’t have to dramatically boost defence spending.

        There’s probably about $40 billion in naval power in that satellite photo plus the submarine force you can’t see. So in order to defeat our $1 dollar in defence spending an adversary would need to spend $4. That’s not a bad ratio to have. IMHO an A2AD capability is entirely affordable, sustainable and necessary. All that is needed is the political will.

  10. The U.S. Empire has over 850 military bases around the world.Have we heard a peep from anyone in N.Z. about this phenomena ever? The Pacific has long been militarized by this creeping evil Empire.China decides to put one military base in the Pacific and we go all hysterical! Have you heard of American Samoa? Have you heard of Guam and the Marshall islands? Have you heard of the coup d’etat the U.S carried out in Hawaii to steal ownership of that Island, and of the Indigenous Hawaiins that are still protesting about it? Probably not, as the U.S. MSM does not encourage such knowledge.How about the 3 U.S. Empire bases in Australia? And of course we have suspicious multi training events with U.S. Empire forces carried out in N.Z. The five [Or is it six- Israel]Eyes complex near Blenheim is a de-facto U.S. Empire military base and is not under our military control. So, pardon me if I wax a bit incredulous about this concern!!!

      • Quite so! China needs to get out of Tibet. India needs to get out of Muslim majority Kasmir, and either make it an independent state or part of Pakistan.Spain needs to let Catalan become an independent country. And the U.S.needs to get out of its colonies in American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and get out of Guantanamo Bay which it has effectively stolen off Cuba!!!

    • Agreed Pete.

      US heads AngloZionist expansion, grab of resources and consequent wars.

      When Kiwis voice alarm about US surrounding both China and Russia with bases I will be impressed but at present the sleepy Kiwi swallows the MSM driven Western propaganda about bad people with socialist connections.

      China will expand its influence and match US by confronting the threats the US continually construct. It is China’s best defense against a warmongering clique that Oz and NZ have agreed to join with unfortunately.

      Our independence from this game is vital.

      The US “embassy” in Wellington is massive and complete with hotlines into the beehive.

  11. Back in the 1970s a group of western exploiters decided to try to open up China -Nixon and all that- in order to make use of the millions of workers who could be paid a fraction of the wages paid in ‘advanced nations’.

    They succeeded, and over a period of 3 decades China evolved from a largely rural peasant society into a highly industrialised society.

    With mass industrialization comes all the problems of mass industrialization, especially the need to constantly acquire massive amounts of raw materials and energy.

    Oil extraction in China has peaked and is severe decline, and China is now looking to exploit off-shore and deep-water oil-and-gas fields it needs to maintain its industrial economy.

    Although very happy to exploit China when it suited them, the Americans do not want a strong China, and have been attempting to restrict China’s exploitation of the South China Sea via military threats.

    In a world of diminishing resources, and human nature being what it is, military confrontation over the last of the resources is more-or-less inevitable.

  12. Bad news; soon the wealthy & privileged few will tear our beautiful world apart by waging a devastating, no holds barred war for the essential resources required to secure their own survival. This global conflagration (WW3), partly resulting from our failure to address the serious challenges of our times, will be catastrophic & in all likelihood, jeopardise the very survival of humanity.
    Good news; we here in far flung NZ, by being in the privileged position of having the wherewithal to prepare for & insulate ourselves against the world wide chaos to come, are destined & duty bound too; break ranks with the masters of today’s globalised world & boldly blaze a visionary new trail into the future, by becoming an exemplary model of sustainable, post-globalisation nationhood. When realised, this vision will ensure our nations real independence, survival, & the wellbeing of our peoples & environment long into the future.
    The true destiny of Godzone is to lead not follow & it will unfold as follows; just in the nick of time, when the downfall of civilisation as we know it is beginning to hit home, mainstream New Zealand, suffering from financial hardship, shortages of essentials, rising prices & societal unrest, awakens from its slumber, veers off the suicidal globalisation highway, embraces its own trail blazing “sustainable nation” destiny, & throws its weight behind a uniquely NZ flavoured revolution. Then, once our country is liberated & the localisation & future proofing is sorted, transition toward becoming the visionary, self reliant, “sustainable nation” that we’re destined to be will get underway. Then our truly independent, exemplary, federally constituted “beacon of hope” nation will be in a position to lead the rest of the world toward a post-globalisation future. This project may involve strategically situating missile silos, cyber warfare experts, small mobile defence force units & survival bunkers along our Southern Alps. “Long live the New Zealand Confederacy”.

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