China

China military bases

The cold war between the United States and China is heating up. Most Americans likely first realized this when a Chinese balloon drifted above the United States and panicked talking heads on TV asked why the military had not shot it down.

Other news stories report the U.S. opening seven bases in the Philippines and spending more money to upgrade existing bases in Guam.

The map below shows the locations of all known air, navy, and ICBM bases on the Chinese mainland. China also has a base in Djibouti in eastern Africa, and another under construction in Cambodia.

All the other military bases in the region are also shown.

Country	Air	Navy	ICBM
China
Japan
Malaysia
N Korea
Philippines
Russia
Taiwan
Thailand
US
Vietnam

The Longpo submarine base on Hainan Island is underground and can survive a significant attack. Hainan Island is in a strategic location, sitting in the South China Sea. It's about seven miles from the Chinese mainland, separated by the Qiongzhou Strait. To its west is the Gulf of Tonkin, separating it from Vietnam, about 150 miles away.

The Jianggezhuang Naval Base near Qingdao on the Yellow Sea also has an underground shelter for China's Xia-class ballistic missile submarine. The base also hosts several Han-class nuclear attack subs.

To a degree, China is cursed by geography. Its sea lanes to major world markets run through choke points controlled by countries that are not allies. Wikipedia has done a good job describing this.

There are two disputed territories that China wants to dominate. About 200 miles to the southeast of Hainan Island are the Paracel Islands, which is disputed territory. Vietnam and Taiwan claim rights to the Islands, but China has established a permanent presence there.

Spratley Islands

The Spratley Islands are much further to the southeast, about 640 miles away. China refers to them as the Nansha Islands. They are claimed by Malaysia, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Brunei. The islands are close to the Philippines, so it's no wonder the U.S. is opening bases there. However, the U.S. presence in the northern Philippines is reported to be for the protection of Taiwan.

On April 3, 2023, the Phillipines announced that the United States will be using their military base on Balabac Island. They had previously announced that the U.S. would be using their base on Palawan. Both of these islands are about 350 miles from China's base on Mischief Reef in the Spratley Islands. In the 1990s, China warned the U.S. to keep out of the South China Sea militarily. You can read about this in the article The Battle for Mischief Reef written by Indian author B.Raman.

It seems likely that the U.S. intends on placing a submarine base on Balabac Island.

This is required reading for a thorough understanding of China's capabilities in the disputed regions of the South China Sea: A Survey of Technologies and Capabilities on China’s Military Outposts in the South China Sea

For more information on these disputed territories, consult the Wikipedia pages, whose links are below.

This page has intersting information germane to the Spratley Islands: Philippines v. China: Arbitration Outcomes

Isthmus of Kra

You might have noticed that the U.S. military has been trying to cozy up to the Myanmar government in recent years, following President Obama's historic trip there in November of 2012. One reason for this is Myanmar's territory extends south to the Isthmus of Kra. This is the stretch of land that connects mainland Asia to Malaysia. The isthmus separates the Gulf of Thailand to the east with the Andaman Sea to the west.

A canal cut through the isthmus would offer Chinese vessels a more direct route to the Indian Ocean. They wouldn't have to sail south to Singapore and through the Straits of Malacca. The United States has a naval base and an air base in Singapore. Should the Kra canal be built, the U.S. wants to be sure they have some control (or influence) over it.

Cutting a canal through the mountainous isthmus would be a big job, at least as big as digging the Panama Canal. Then there's the environmental impact. However, the marine traffic through the Straits of Malacca is huge. Check out the Marine Vessel Traffic through the strait. Spreading the traffic over another path would benefit many countries, not just China.

UPDATE: In August of 2023, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that if he was president, he’d work with India to deny China access to the Straits of Malacca and the Andaman Sea.