The Pentagon’s top Asia official has urged Australia and other US allies to boost their military presence in the South China Sea, to send a signal to China that its behaviour in the region is unacceptable.
Malaysia's recently elected prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has ,despite public pronouncements, always preferred the US presence in the SCS. Malaysia is also a member of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), which Mahathir has never opposed, even at the height of the Buy British Last policy.
Australia is a member of the FPDA but has decided that Malaysia is irrelevant to the defence of SCS. This writer has been told so, by a senior member of the current government who was asked why Australia is not doing more to work with Malaysia in order to counter China's moves in the SCS.
The Pentagon’s top Asia official has urged Australia and other US allies to boost their military presence in the South China Sea, to send a signal to China that its behaviour in the region is unacceptable.
Randy Schriver, the Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Affairs, also warned that China’s interest in the South Pacific region signalled it may have ambitions one day to establish military bases there.
He said the US welcomed the fact Australia had recently stepped up its naval activities in the disputed South China Sea.
But Australia and other US allies could exert even more pressure on Beijing if they further lifted their presence in the South China Sea, at a time when the US had stepped up its own naval patrols to challenge China’s claims to disputed islands.
“I think what could potentially bring more pressure on the Chinese is other partners and allies joining in these activities,” Mr Schriver said in an exclusive interview in Washington.
“If not freedom-of-navigation operations … just joint patrols, presence operations.
“There have been several public accounts of Australian activities in the South China Sea and some of the assertive challenges (to Australia) from China, so I think that is characteristic of what we are seeing from Australia and certainly we welcome that.”
Mr Schriver said any decision to boost military presence in the region was a sovereign one for Australia and the US “feels good” about the way Australia and the US were approaching the challenge in the region.
The US has stepped up its freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, where Beijing has angered the international community by militarising islands that are also claimed by other regional countries, as the Trump administration challenges China on a broad front, including a tariff trade war and condemnation of Beijing’s espionage operations against the US and its allies.
In August, a Chinese warship almost collided with a US destroyer when it challenged it near the disputed Spratly Islands.
An Australian navy warship, HMAS Melbourne, transited the Taiwan Strait in late September — a move that usually displeases Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
The Australian understands that more Australian naval transits through the Taiwan Straits are under active consideration.
Although Australia has not joined the US Navy in conducting freedom-of-navigation patrols within the 12-nautical-mile zones of disputed islands in the region, it has stepped up its military activity in the region.
In late February, then defence minister Marise Payne said Australia had made a “quite significant increase” in its military presence in the South China Sea and elsewhere in the region during the previous 18 months, including exercises and port visits with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and The Philippines.
The moves have angered Beijing, which has accused Australia of acting as Washington’s “assistant police”. China’s military issued “robust’’ challenges in April to three Australian warships, HMAS Anzac, HMAS Toowoomba and HMAS Success, as they travelled through the South China Sea to Vietnam.
Mr Schriver said other US allies, including Britain, France and Canada, had lifted their own military activities in the South China Sea. “We’ve seen a lot more activity from other interested parties because I think there is recognition that an erosion of international law and norms in the South China Sea has implications globally,” he said.
Mr Schriver said the US and Australia had significantly stepped up co-operation in the South Pacific in the face of China’s attempts to establish closer ties with small island nations. He warned that China’s growing interest in the region could lead to it establishing military bases there.
“We certainly see a lot more investment, in some cases debt financing, (and) they (China) are appointing defence attaches in more of these places so as a minimum they are seeking greater influence,” he said. “They may have ambitions beyond that, for example military access or maybe even military bases.
“(In) my consultations with Australia and New Zealand, all three of our governments are very seized with the need to increase our own engagement and our own investments as a way to prove ourselves a better and reliable partner to these countries.”
Mr Schriver said the rise of China was a generational strategic challenge for the US and Australia.
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia
Cameron Stewart is an Associate Editor of The Australian who combines investigative reporting on issues of foreign affairs, defence and national security with feature writing on a wide range of topics for the W... Read more
The Edge reported: Professor Dr Sundra Rajoo has resigned as director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) following a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation into his alleged misconduct including the use of public funds to influence ministers to get his term extended.
Sundra spent a night at the MACC lock-up but was released yesterday after Putrajaya magistrate Khir Nizam denied the graft busters a seven-day remand application and ruled they had no jurisdiction to detain him as he was protected under the International Organisations (Privileges and Immunities) Act 1992 (Act 485).
Moreover, his lawyer Philip Koh said he was protected under the Diplomatic Privileges (Vienna Convention) Act 1966. “He is no longer under arrest or remand. The judge agreed that Sundra Rajoo is protected under the International Organisation Act and is not liable for any form of arrest under diplomatic privileges ... he is released without any condition.”
An Act to reform the law relating to domestic
arbitration, provide for international arbitration,
the recognition and enforcement of awards and for
related matters.
According to Section 3(1) of the Arbitration (Amendment)
Act 2018 [Act A1563] and the Ministers’ appointment
of the date of coming into operation, gazetted on 27th
February 2018, the name of Kuala Lumpur Regional
Centre for Arbitration (the “KLRCA”) was changed to
the Asian International Arbitration Centre (Malaysia)
(the “AIAC”) starting from 28th February 2018. Any
reference to the KLRCA in Arbitration Act 2005 (as
amended in 2011) published by the KLRCA, in any
written law or in any instrument, deed, title, document,
bond, agreement or working arrangement shall, after
the 28th February 2018, be construed as a reference to
the AIAC. All approvals, directions, notices, guidelines,
circulars, guidance notes, practice notes, rulings,
decision, notifications, exemptions and other executive
acts, howsoever called, given or made by the KLRCA
before 28th February 2018, shall continue to remain in
full force and effect, until amended, replaced, rescinded
or revoked.
As for immunity ,this is all the immunity that its officers have:
48. Immunity of Arbitral Institutions
The Director of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre
for Arbitration or any other person or institution
designated or requested by the parties to appoint
or nominate an arbitrator, shall not be liable for
anything done or omitted in the discharge of the
function unless the act or omission is shown to have
been in bad faith.
The Diplomatic Privileges (Vienna Convention) Act 1966 has no application, and even if it does it is overruled by the specific provisions of the later and specific provisions of the
The good professor and the other directors are not immune from anything.
END
Mr. Vinayak Pradhan
DIRECTOR (ACTING)
Vinayak Pradhan was appointed as Acting Director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) on 21st November 2018. He is a Consultant with SKRINE, an Associate Member of Littleton Chambers, London and is on the panels of Conciliators and Arbitrators of ICSID, a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Vinayak is currently Vice Chair of the ICC Commission on Arbitration.
Vinayak is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration.
The Advisory Board advises AIAC on its strategic direction in its aim to be the preferred arbitration centre in the Asia Pacific region as well as in positioning Malaysia as an arbitration-friendly destination.
The Chairman of the Advisory Board is by convention the Attorney General of Malaysia.The Board consists of renowned and respected Malaysian and international arbitrators. They are Professor Philip Yang, Honorary Chairman of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre,YBhg Tan Sri Dato' Cecil Abraham, Senior Partner, Cecil Abraham & Partners; Mr Sumeet Kachwaha, Partner, Messrs Kachwaha & Partners, India,Mr Vinayak P Pradhan, Consultant, SKRINE,Professor Robert Volterra, Messrs Volterra Fietta, UK.
These are surely interesting times for those tasked with watching Chinese military modernization. Ideas once considered far-fetched, such as a Chinese aircraft carrier or anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM), now seem rather normal. New and capable Chinese platforms, ranging from the Type 055 cruiser to a highly anticipated next-generation long-range bomber, are certain to have an impact on the balance of power in the western Pacific in the coming decades. Additionally, every few months Beijing seems to roll out a new type of missile, with more and more impressive capabilities.
In this series of articles, your Dragon Eye has tried to keep a focus on developments in the undersea realm, since that is an area of strategic competition where the U.S. competitive edge has seemed to be most secure. Given that assumption, the latest bombshell, appearing in the South China Morning Post on July 23 will be making some waves on the Potomac and well beyond. Relying apparently on an interview with the director of marine technology equipment at the Shenyang Institute of Automation, the article claims that the Chinese Navy is now building “a series of extra-large unmanned underwater vehicles, XLUUVs.”
As that impressively detailed article is in English and readers may peruse it on their own, here we will just briefly review some highlights. The South China Morning Post article uses the term “robotic submarines” or “AI subs,” suggesting that these vessels are indeed substantially larger than the unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) that many nations, including China, are known to have been working on. Among the missions that the new Chinese unmanned submarines will take up include “… reconnaissance … mine placement … [and] even suicide attacks against enemy vessels.” The article mentions that they can set up ambushes for enemy vessels at “geographical chokepoints.” They could “work with manned submarines as a scout or decoy to draw fire and expose the position of an adversary. If necessary, they can ram into a high-value target.” Furthermore, these “giants” will be capable of receiving instructions from ground-based control centers and “will start with relatively simple tasks,” when they are fielded in the early 2020s. Among the most interesting, if ambiguous sentences, in the piece is the statement: “Their energy supply comes from diesel-electric engines or other power sources that ensure continuous operation for months.”
It is perhaps not coincidental that this revelation follows after months of intensive writing in the Chinese defense press about Russia’s “Status-6” large-size UUV that is both nuclear-powered and also apparently armed with a massive nuclear warhead. The intention here is not to suggest that the Chinese and Russian programs are directly related. Indeed, there seem to be rather distinct differences based, at least in part, on their respective goals. Nevertheless, Chinese commentary regarding Russia’s Status-6 [状况-6] could perhaps help to reveal certain “coming attractions” from Beijing’s robotic submarine program.
A brief note in the January 2018 edition of the Chinese Navy magazine Navy Today [当代海军], described Russia’s Status-6 as a “doomsday [世界未日]” weapon. The March 2018 edition of the naval magazineNaval and Merchant Ships [舰船知识] offered a schematic drawing of the Russian weapon for its Chinese readership. Besides citing the weapon’s extraordinary range (10,000km), depth (1,000m) and speed (100 knots), that schematic also notes that the Status-6 carries a nuclear warhead with the explosive power that is “twice the force of the ‘Tsar’ hydrogen bomb [‘沙皇氢弹’ 的两倍],” which was the largest nuclear explosion ever witnessed by humanity. The illustration depicts a Type 09851 Khabarovsk-class (Belgorod) submarine that is configured to carry six of these ominous weapons. Along with the exceedingly debilitating radiation poisoning that would accompany the use of the weapon, the graphic also projects that the weapon is designed to create a “500 meter tsunami [500米海啸]” that would obliterate shore targets, including obviously port cities. Also quite disturbing is a July 2018 note in the Global Times [环球时报] that vividly illustrates with Russian-language diagrams how Status-6 is equally effective against surface ship targets [надводная цель], as against a shore targets [береговая цель], thus forming an “assassin’s mace weapon against aircraft carriers [航母杀手].”
Yet, Chinese defense media did not just start writing about this unique Russian weapon system in 2018. Quite to the contrary, a somewhat detailed analysis already appeared in China Defense Report [中国国防方报] in late 2015. And a rather specific report also appeared in fall 2016 (issue no. 209) in the Chinese magazine Weapon [兵器]. That report had provided a full picture of the development process for the T-5 Soviet nuclear torpedo, including detailed diagrams of test results (not available at link regrettably) and differentiating between various tests undertaken at Novaya Zemlya Island [新地岛] in the fall of 1957. That particular article may imply a very close Chinese study of the Soviet development of naval tactical nuclear weaponry, especially torpedoes.
A more recent and related Chinese-language article from the magazine Ordnance Science and Technology[兵工科技] from spring 2018 (no. 8) also deserves a moment of reflection. The title of that article about Russian UUVs, mini-subs, and torpedoes may indeed convey the trend: "Going toward Nuclear Power [走向核动力]." That article does explain that "given technological breakthroughs in the miniaturization of nuclear reactors over the last few years, that the nuclear propulsion question has not been difficult to resolve [以及近年来在核反应堆小型化技术上的突破核动力技术不难解决]." This analysis appraises the Status-6 and suggests that its speed (reaching 100 knots) is "quite shocking [非常惊人]." The article posits that the most likely explanation is that Status-6 relies on Russia's hyper cavitation drag reduction technology [超空泡减阻技术]. Much of the rest of that article is devoted to explaining the likely significant impact of hyper cavitation technology on the future of naval warfare.
It is unknown whether the Chinese robotic submarines mentioned in the South China Morning Post article will employ either nuclear reactors or hyper cavitation technology. Nor is it clear, as indicated in the introduction, that Beijing and Moscow are cooperating in this ultra-sensitive area of technological development. Although China, like Russia, has been extremely perturbed by U.S. development of missile defenses, there is no direct evidence (as of yet) to suggest that China is seriously considering employing UUVs or robotic submarines as "doomsday devices" in the Russian style. Still, these possibilities cannot be ruled out either. As current American foreign policy appears to apply strategic pressure against both Russia and China simultaneously, there should be no particular surprise in learning that Beijing and Moscow could well be exploring ever greater military synergies, including in the undersea domain.
Lyle J. Goldstein is a research professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the United States Naval War College in Newport, RI. In addition to Chinese, he also speaks Russian and he is also an affiliate of the new Russia Maritime Studies Institute (RMSI) at Naval War College. You can reach him at goldstel@usnwc.edu. The opinions in his columns are entirely his own and do not reflect the official assessments of the U.S. Navy or any other agency of the U.S. government.
Image: Russian submarines Rostov-on-Don and Stary Oskol sail during a rehearsal for the Navy Day parade in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Crimea, July 27, 2017. REUTERS/Pavel Rebrov
Australia's Department Of Defence, Navy and politicians continued attempts to justify their decision to do business with DCNS has only served to confirm suspicions that the Australian deal is not very different from DCNS' Pakistan submarine contract, the infamous l'Affaire Karachi.
Meanwhile, see below what a real attack submarine project looks like:
Navy Creating Attack Sub Aggressor Unit to Train to Fight Against Russia, China
Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Missouri (SSN-780) on May 31, 2018. US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy submarine force is creating an aggressor squadron as one initiative to ensure all subs are combat-ready as the service trains to take on China and Russia, the commander of Naval Submarine Forces said on Wednesday.
He has backed up those words with actions in the months since, moving ahead with a plan – updated in March to reflect the National Defense Strategy – that includes refocusing training and certification on combat and developing new tools and concepts to support high-end warfighting.
“We have restructured and retuned the fast attack training period to ensure that we’re ready for that high-end fight, including restructuring what we used to call the Tactical Readiness Evaluation, and it is now a Combat Readiness Evaluation to ensure we’re focused on warfighting,” he said.
“We’ve updated the deployment certification process to eliminate duplication, put the right focus in the right place. I’ll tell you that I am driving to put competition in everything we do inside the submarine force. I want to produce winners and losers just like we do in battle; it does you no good to be at standards if your opponent is more at standards than you are. You still lose, and in this competition, you may not come home.”
The new aggressor squadron fits in with the desire to create more high-end sub-on-sub competitions and ensure the Navy is ready to win. Richard said the plan mimics what the naval aviation community has at “Top Gun.”
Vice Adm. Charles A. Richard, the incoming commander of Submarine Forces, walks through the side boys during the Submarine Forces change of command ceremony aboard the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Washington (SSN-787) in Norfolk, Va. on Aug. 3, 2018. US Navy Photo
Navy spokeswoman Cmdr. Sarah Self-Kyler told USNI News at the event that, unlike Top Gun, the squadron won’t have its own submarines dedicated to training the squadron and fighting other submarines in training events. Instead, the squadron will include a yet-to-be-determined number of personnel – which Richard said would include active and reserve sailors and civilians – and that personnel would get to work with submarines and sub crews as allowed by operational and training schedules.
Richard, calling the new group “a cadre that does nothing but emulate red in all of our training and certification exercises, said “we’re taking a page from naval aviation and we’re establishing an aggressor squadron with a team that will become experts in employing our adversaries’ potential capabilities and then set them up to be able to go head-to-head with our units so that we’re always training against what we think is the highest fidelity simulation I can give them in terms of what they might be able to expect when they go into combat.”
The Commander’s Intent plan also outlines an Undersea Rapid Capability Initiatives (URCI) program that Richard said not only delivers “stuff” but also concepts of operations, tactics, maintenance strategies and more.
“I can’t go into a lot of detail given the nature of the work – it is classified – but I am able to tell you that we are working on 26 major future projects, including the Navy’s number-one priority of strategic deterrence; 13 URCIs; 11 operational initiatives; and a series of advanced workshops and military exercises designed to expand our capabilities in the undersea domain. We are pursuing next-generation weapons, multi-domain sensors, comms systems, navigation aids, and unmanned and autonomous technologies. In some cases, these capabilities are revolutionary and will inform future programs of record.”
Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Hampton (SSN-757) during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2016. US Navy Photo
On the hardware side of this rapid development, Richard highlighted the work the Navy’s Digital Warfare Office is helping them do to move full speed ahead with “the employment and naval application of artificial intelligence and machine learning.” He also cited DARPA and the Office of Naval Research and their work with prototypes of unmanned systems and advanced sensors that have made significant progress in development and testing in just the past couple of years.
Lastly, he cited the ingenuity of the fleet in embracing additive manufacturing as a means of boosting readiness and helping reduce their logistics footprint.
“Onboard our submarines, we are embracing the future of at-sea maintenance and repair. We are actively experimenting with additive manufacturing and working expediently to provide this capability to all of my ships – all of my boats will get 3D printers in the near-term,” Richard said.
He noted that SUBSAFE standards would still apply but that the printers could still prove to be a useful asset to the crews. The crew of attack submarine USS Virginia (SSN-774) bought their own 3D printer and “in using that, built themselves a part at sea and helped keep their boat on deployment. It is that type of initiative and problem-solving that happens daily across the force.”
This report and others like it confirm what was reported by this writer (who was then promptly condemned as an ignorant infidel) on 5 February 2016 :
PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang (pic) has urged Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) depositors not to withdraw their savings hastily from the financial institution concerned.
He said, although a mistake was made by the previous administration of TH, it was not appropriate if there were some depositors who wanted to do so because the role of the institution was also to take care of the welfare of those going for the haj and and not solely focused on the economic sector.
"Not apt (to withdraw savings from TH) because what is important is to repair TH. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. If there is a mistake (in the TH administration), we correct it,'' he said in the ‘Bicara Minda' programme organised by Sinar Harian here Wednesday (Dec 12).
Now read on:
First Published On Sahathevan Blog On 5 February 2016
The following figures (in Ringgit million ) have been extracted from Tabung Haji's audited financial statements for the relevant years. The figures are from the cash flow statement, not the profit and loss,for the cash flow statement gives a better picture of how much cash a business has gained or lost. In that way it is more a objective assessment of a business' performance,for profit and loss numbers are easily manipulated.
These numbers show how much cash TH has mostly lost from its ordinary business operations.
The "Group" column is a consolidated figure ,summing up cashflow from operations of all the companies TH controls.The "Tabung Haji" column shows what Tabung Haji earns on its own, without counting the companies it controls.
We usually look at the Group figure to provide a better overall view of the business,and in this case one can see that in the past 4 years, the Tabung Haji Group had a positive cash flow from operations in only 2013.In all other years it has lost billions in cash.
Net
cash used in operating activities
Group
Tabung Haji
2011
-1 767 361
-1 150 025
2012
-1 354 224
-1 863 515
2013
205,63
-1 335 595
2014
-2 268 827
-1 108 847
However, in the case of Tabung Haji the Group figure is not so useful for there is no guarantee that TH can draw on the cashflow of Group companies to meet its financial obligations ie its obligations to depositors who can at anytime demand their money.
As shown in the table above, TH has been losing billions in cash over the past four years.
While its overall cash position might be positive, this is due to borrowing, sale of investments, property and the like. That can never be the basis for a any business, particularly one that has immediate demands on cash from depositors.
In any case, a large significant deficit of cash from operations will ultimately impair any business' ability to raise funds,and will push it into disposing assets at fire sale prices.
The current debate about the intrusion of Singapore's aircraft navigational systems into Malaysia ignores the complications that can arise from Singapore''s use of its Ericsson Giraffe 100 radar station.
Being mobile platforms there is the potential that these units may cause something called "ghost noise" that can interfere with Malaysian civilian and military radar systems when deployed in areas close to the Causeway and border.
"Ghost noise" occurs due to interference with radar signals from ground based radar transmitters.
For example ghost noise,, which corrupts radar images, has been observed in radar images of the area around St John's Island, south of Singapore, where there has been a radar installation since at least 1997.
The latest version of the Giraffe system has a range of 75 km.It is more likely than not to interfere with Malaysian radar systems when deployed.
Saab’s Giraffe 1X ground-based radar is the ultimate gap filler, providing airspace commanders with the capabilities needed to maintain continuous and accurate air situational awareness.
With a surveillance-on-the-move capability, the awareness stretches even further. Forces will stay safer even when on the move and a situational awareness can be achieved at all times without any deployment time or any person having to be exposed to outside threats during deployment.
For mobile forces out in the battlefield, air situational awareness is critical. The threat can consist of rockets, mortar, unmanned aerial systems, missiles or asymmetric attacks from terrorist groups. Saab’s lightweight, compact Giraffe 1X can be handled by one single operator.
“Our new radar solutions, including Giraffe 1X, use digital technology with flexible software. Software-based solutions are instantly upgradeable and require fewer components, which means the radars can be built smaller and lighter”, says Daniel Forsberg, marketing director India within Saab’s market area Asia Pacific.
Providing reliable protection for the forces and assets is even more important in high-risk situations. This requires a flexible and agile radar which can be located close to the combat area. Saab’s Giraffe 1X is lightweight and designed for easy integration on any type of platform. This means that the complete radar can be transported for example on a pickup truck or a helicopter, or it can be towed on a trailer. Its flexibility and compactness mean Giraffe 1X can be easily relocated even by means of manpower only. For example from a vehicle to the rooftop of a building, making it ideally suited to the rapidly changing needs of mobile forces.
Giraffe 1X can be operated both remotely and locally, and it can either be installed on a building or mast or integrated into a suitable vehicle. Giraffe 1X is a 3D Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, featuring the latest in radar technology, including Gallium Nitride (GaN) circuits.
Giraffe 1X forms part of Saab's Mobile Short-Range Air Defence (MSHORAD) solution – comprising the Giraffe 1X, C2 and RBS 70 NG Remote Weapon System (RWS) it enables moving units to identify and counter air threats quickly and effectively.
The MSHORAD solution is designed to complement existing defence by filling the gaps in long-range radar coverage created by terrain obstacles. It acts as a protective shield, scanning the battlefield to find and identify a threat, then coordinating the necessary action to remove the target. As an entire package, MSHORAD provides a solution that increases survivability and supports domain sovereignty in conflict zones.
Saab offers a full range of high-performance radar systems for a multitude of applications and mission types within the naval domain and for weapon locating, air surveillance, and ground-based air defence.
Giraffe 1X is on display at Saab’s stand at Defexpo in Chennai, India 11-14 April 2018. Please visit us in Hall 3, Stand 2.1A.
For further information, please contact:Saab Press Centre, +46 (0)734 180 018 presscentre@saabgroup.com
Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions within military defence and civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents around the world. Through innovative, collaborative and pragmatic thinking, Saab develops, adopts and improves new technology to meet customers’ changing needs.
