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Ian Ellis Profile picture
@ianellisjones
Jul 8 • 11 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
🚨 China has moved significant firepower & naval assets into the South & East China Seas

For the first time, Beijing conducted drills within the Philippines EEZ & deployed the Shandong carrier group to nearby waters

Premier surface combatants & amphibious warships also underway Image
Thread tracking increased Chinese PLA military activity during June:
China’s massive 12,000-ton intimidator, China Coast Guard 5901 (nicknamed “The Monster”), has taken up station in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) at Sabina Shoal.
Prior to arriving on station at Sabina Shoal on 3 July, the Monster conducted an extensive & intrusive patrol along China’s “9-dash line” & within the Philippines’ EEZ.
Last week, China announced & carried out three separate, simultaneous military exercises across the Indo-Pacific theater.

Two are still ongoing, & @RoadMobileICBMs reports another was announced yesterday near the Bohai Strait.
PRC media stated that China’s first deployment of an aircraft carrier to waters near the Philippines “aims to deter”

Shandong is likely on a scheduled exercise that “could also prepare it for a potential far seas voyage beyond the first island chain into the Western Pacific”
One of the PLAN’s three big deck Type 075 landing helicopter docks, CNS Hainan (31), conducted a rare exercise with Shandong & deployed to the Spratlys for the first time.

The Type 075 represents an “important advance in power projection capability for China’s maritime forces.”
All four Type 055 large destroyers affiliated with PLA Southern Theater Command are deployed/underway. Three recently drilled together for the first time.

Renhai-class guided-missile cruisers are among the most formidable warships afloat. They represent the culmination of China’s efforts to build powerful long-range surface combatants to project power and escort the PLAN’s growing fleet of aircraft carriers. (Source: USNI)
Last week, the Chinese Coast Guard boarded & detained a Taiwanese fishing boat near the frontline island of Kinmen.

The Dajinman 88 was intercepted by 2 Chinese ships. Taiwan’s Coast Guard dispatched 3 vessels to help, but one that got close was blocked & told not to interfere.
China’s newest, most advanced & lethal aircraft carrier, CNS Fujian (18), recently started its 3rd sea trial. The first two took place in rapid-fire succession during May & June.
The standoff @ Sabina Shoal continues

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More from @ianellisjones

Ian Ellis Profile picture
Jul 9
🚨 Breaking: China moves the Shandong carrier strike group into the Western Pacific

Japan’s defense ministry confirmed the aircraft carrier, escorted by some of China’s newest & most advanced warships, was 500km SE of Okinawa, Japan, 9 July

1st transit east of Taiwan in 2024 🧵 Image
Thread tracking increased & interesting PLA military activity in the Indo-Pacific:
Source + translation:

“At approximately 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 9, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force confirmed that four Chinese Navy vessels, namely, the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Shandong (ship number "17"), the Renhai-class guided missile destroyer (ship number "106"), the Luyang III-class guided missile destroyer (ship number "164"), and the Jiangkai II-class frigate (ship number "571"), were sailing in waters approximately 520 km southeast of Miyako Island (Okinawa Prefecture), and confirmed the takeoff and landing of carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters from the Chinese Navy Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Shandong.”
Read 7 tweets
Ian Ellis Profile picture
Jun 25
🚨For 5 days in a row, 4 Chinese Coast Guard ships have repeatedly entered the 12-mile territorial limit around Japan’s Senkaku islands

CCG “drove away & expelled” Japanese patrol boats & have been spotted sailing within Japan’s EEZ for 186 days straight, the longest record ever Image
While it doesn’t get as much mainstream media attention, China employs many of the same gray zone tactics around the Senkakus that they do in the Taiwan Strait & South China Sea. Worth repeating what I said below — Beijing is all over Taiwan, the Philippines, & Japan.
Three Dongdiao-class surveillance ships have also been operating around Japan over the last week (791, 795, 799), as well as a Luyang III Mod guided-missile destroyer (156).


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Read 9 tweets
Ian Ellis Profile picture
Jun 19
🚨 Ayungin Attack — Shocking new details & video shows China’s “brutal assault” on the Philippines

- Chinese Coast Guard deployed tear gas
- “In a brazen act of aggression, Filipino troops valiantly fought back & defended their position”
- CCG employed physical attacks, bladed weapons, blaring sirens, & blinding strobe lights
- Threatened Philippine soldiers with axes, knives, & bolos, & began hurling rocks & other objects
- “In an act of piracy, CCG personnel proceeded to loot supplies & pilfer equipment”
- Violently attached ropes to tow Philippine boats & slashed RHIBs, rendering them inoperable

Quick thread with the latest:
Source + thread with more detail on the attack:
Everything that happened + what you need to know:
Read 9 tweets
Ian Ellis Profile picture
Jun 18
New: Pentagon on China’s “very concerning” attack @ Ayungin Shoal in Philippine territory

“This kind of behavior is provocative. It’s reckless. It’s unnecessary. & it could lead to something bigger & more violent”

A significant escalation — everything you need to know 👇

• Chinese Coast Guard & Maritime Militia employed the “dangerous & deliberate use of water cannons, ramming, & blocking”
• 8 Filipinos injured, including one who lost a thumb, near Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal
• Collided, boarded, searched, & seized multiple Philippine boats, & confiscated firearms
• Disrupted the mission & prevented resupply
• Established & enforcing a de facto blockade
• Beijing wasted no time weaponizing a recently enacted law that allows the CCG to detain “trespassers” by force & without trial, anywhere within its vast claims across the SCS
• 3rd incident since March where Philippine personnel have been injured by Chinese forces
• Will Beijing try to normalize this hostile behavior?

🎯 “China will always claim to be the victim of their own aggression. They will blame this on the Filipinos.” @Jkylebass

Thread with sources & more info
What happened:
Via @GordianKnotRay (follow for the latest) — 1951 🇺🇸🇵🇭 Mutual Defense Treaty, Article III:

“The Parties, through their Foreign Ministers or their deputies, will consult together from time to time regarding the implementation of this Treaty and whenever in the opinion of either of them the territorial integrity, political independence or security of either of the Parties is threatened by external armed attack in the Pacific.”
Read 15 tweets
Ian Ellis Profile picture
Jun 16
Hellscape — new video of ultra long range drone deployed in the Indo-Pacific 👀

Vanilla has world record max endurance of 10 days & serves as a C2 “mothership” with air-launched swarm capabilities to deploy 40 micro-drones. They’re low-cost, payload agnostic, force multipliers.
More on hellscape:
Ultra long range unmanned aerial vehicle launches in support of Valiant Shield 24: DVIDS

Vanilla, an ultra long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, is deployed in support of Valiant Shield 2024 on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, June 13, 2024. Exercises such as Valiant Shield allow the Indo-Pacific Command Joint Forces the opportunity to integrate forces from all branches of service and with our allies to conduct precise, lethal, and overwhelming multi-axis, multi-domain effects that demonstrate the strength and versatility of the Joint Force and our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.Image
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Read 8 tweets
Ian Ellis Profile picture
Jun 12
The U.S. Navy operates ~100 ships around the world every day, NATO is drilling with 50+ warships, & massive exercises are underway & planned in Asia.

Russia sent a frigate, sub, oiler, & tug to the Caribbean, & doesn’t have a single carrier operational. “We are not concerned. Russia’s deployments are part of routine naval activity... which pose no direct threat to the U.S.”

The transit imposes a “significant cost on the Russian Navy, which faces challenges in maintaining readiness & conducting deployments with an aging fleet.”

A few notes & context:Image
The U.S. anticipates “heightened naval & air activity near the U.S.” this summer. “These actions will culminate in a global Russian naval exercise this fall. Russia will temporarily send combat naval vessels to the Caribbean region, & these ships will likely conduct port calls in Cuba & possibly Venezuela.”
Note: Russian naval visits to Cuba are not unusual, having taken place every year between 2013 & 2020.

“Given Russia's long history of Cuban port calls, these are considered routine naval visits, especially in the context of increased U.S. support to Ukraine & NATO exercises.”
Read 8 tweets

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