Pheewoops, it is hot out there.

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“MALE, SEPT 24:  2012

China has been allotted a plot in the heart of the Maldivian capital to open its embassy.

Chinese embassy currently works out from a rented complex and the plot has been allotted to it to construct its own building.

The plot with a land area of 3,920 square feet at Majeedhee Magu near the National Stadium is a stone’s throw away from the Indian High Commission.

China had opened its embassy in November last year in a rented building belonging to the family of former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed.” 

Started to issue VISAs as well.

“Xinhua | 2014-1-10 20:53:11 By Agencies

The Chinese embassy in Maldives has opened a visa section in order to allow Maldivians to get Chinese visa directly from capital Male, local media reported on Friday.

Speaking at a ceremony, Foreign Minister Dhunya Maumoon expressed her gratitude to the Chinese government for opening the visa section and noted the significance of the facility's role in furthering trade and investment between the two countries.” 

“The country of 330,000 Sunni Muslims attracted some 1.2 million tourists last year, officials said.”

Sunni eh! I wonder, I wonder, who’s supertankers will be protected as they ply their way from the Gulf homebound?

“One of the Chinese navy’s new supply ships, the Taihu Lake, berthed for the first time in a foreign port when it arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on September 14 for five days to re-supply, reported state media.

The Taihu Lake was commissioned by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Navy (PLAN) in June and was rushed into foreign deployment to carry out missions with the North Sea Fleet escort task force in August, said state media. The PLAN is desperately in need of replenishment tankers, Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said. 

The Taihu Lake has been at sea in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast for 38 days, providing support for the North Sea Fleet warships as part of the 15th naval escort taskforce.

Provisioned with 1,790 tons of fuel oil, 114 tons of fresh water and nearly 6 tons of dry goods, including fresh produce, the Taihu Lake provides supplies for amphibious dock landing ship Jinggangshan and guided missile frigate Hengshui.

The Taihu Lake, hull number 889, was constructed from a new, larger and more comprehensive supply ship design developed for China’s needy fleet. It has a length of 178.5 meters, a beam of 24.8 meters and a displacement of around 20,000 tons, and it can carry 11,000 tons of cargo. It will berth monthly to take on fuel oil, fresh water and fresh produce.

The new generation of large offshore supply ships is built with a high degree of automation, explained a Chinese military site.

A second new supply ship, the Chaohu, was commissioned this monthfor the East China Sea fleet of the PLAN, saidstate media. The Chaohu has a displacement of more than 20,000 tons and is ableto travel anywhere except in the polar ice regions, said its captain.” 

I’d expect Diego Garcia to get taken out pronto.

Indian Marines

ChiComm Marines and friends in 2012

“China Builds Modern Marine Corps Force

April 2006

By James C. Bussert

Missions seem ambiguous, but preparations for opposed combat landings are not.

The People’s Republic of China has developed a marine corps for maritime and amphibious operations. However, instead of being designed to invade Taiwan as expected by many Western experts, China’s marine corps appears to have been created for SouthSea expansion. A major upgrading of weapons, structure and support is making the Chinese marines an increasingly viable threat to nearby islands.

A unique People’s Liberation Army (PLA) marine corps likely has existed for only 25 years, rather than the 40 or 50 years believed by some scholars. Although China has claimed the existence of marines as a threat to invade Taiwan since the 1950s, these forces probably did not exist before 1980 other than as sailors and soldiers being trained in amphibious landings. Even today, China’s marines still lack the personnel and naval assets to overcome the challenges of an opposed landing against a prepared Taiwan defensive shoreline.

In addition, China has other Taiwan strategies that for its goals are better than launching an opposed amphibious landing. Covert economic isolation by submarines and/or mines is one such approach. China does not want to destroy Taiwan and its infrastructure with intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in the Fujian area of the Taiwan Straits.”