THE KINGS OF THE EAST
China Catches Up to U.S. Nuclear Submarine Technology
November 24, 2023 — Breitbart.com reports: “The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Monday published a gloomy report warning that the U.S. Navy is losing its competitive edge in submarine warfare to China, which went from creaky, noisy, slow-moving subs to ultra-quiet nuclear-powered attack vehicles in less than 20 years.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has greatly narrowed the submarine warfare gap, which could spell big trouble for U.S. plans to defend Taiwan with submarines.
Two particularly troubling events took place in 2023. First, satellite photos showed China putting together the hull for a new sub that would be dramatically larger than any previous PLAN undersea vessel, and then China field-tested a nuclear sub using the same quiet hydrojet propulsion system American subs employ.
Hydrojet or ‘pump-jet’ technology is the next step beyond noisy propellers, which tend to be the greatest source of noise from underwater vehicles. Propeller technology has evolved tremendously over the last few generations of subs, but hydrojets are even more silent, efficient, durable, more functional in shallow water, and best of all, less prone to cavitation.
Cavitation, whereby water boils into bubbles under high pressure at low temperatures, is among the greatest threats facing stealthy submariners. It is the undersea equivalent of stepping on a sheet of bubble wrap while attempting to sneak past guards…” (China will become a basic partner with Russia for the rapidly approaching battle of Armageddon – Revelation 16:16. Russia will lead invasion number one – Ezekiel 38 & 39. China will lead invasion number two – Revelation 16:12; Revelation 9:14 – 16. Then all nations will come against Jerusalem for the final invasion at which point Jesus will return to stop the bloodshed and set up his eternal kingdom upon earth – [He gathers] all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken… Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south – Zechariah 14:2 – 4. Then Psalm 2:6 occurs as God the Father says: …I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion [Jerusalem]. See the next three reports.)
China’s military on ‘concerning trajectory’: US general
November 10, 2023 — SpaceWar.com reports: “A top US general has told AFP that China’s military is on a ‘concerning trajectory’, twinning rapidly improving capabilities with ‘more aggressive’ behaviour in the Pacific.
General Charles Flynn, who commands more than 107,000 Pacific-based US Army personnel, said Chinese forces have made an ‘enormous amount of progress’ in recent years.
‘The trajectory that they have been following for the last decade, if I multiply that into the next decade, that is a concerning trajectory,’ the four-star general told AFP in a video interview from Hawaii on Wednesday.
Under Xi Jinping’s decade-long rule, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has morphed from an ill-equipped and ineffective force into one of the world’s fastest-growing and most potent.
Beijing also has the world’s largest navy and a growing nuclear and ballistic arsenal, fuelled by a defence budget that is second only to that of the United States…”
China Warns Australia on Naval Movements in Contested Waters
November 28, 2023 — Voice of America News reports: “China has urged Australia to notify it of navy movements in the contested South China Sea and East China Sea, with a senior Chinese official cautioning that a small incident between militaries could escalate and damage ties.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week said a Chinese warship acted in a dangerous manner by using its sonar during an incident with an Australian navy vessel in Japan’s waters that injured a military diver.
The same Australian vessel, Toowoomba, began joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea for the first time on Saturday, amid rising tensions between Beijing and Manila over a disputed shoal.
Speaking in Sydney on Tuesday, the head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party, Liu Jianchao, said the sonar incident took place in waters where there is a dispute between Japan and China, and questioned why the Australian navy was there.
Liu, who denied China had harmed Australian navy personnel, called for ‘any kind of pre-consultations or notification’ to prevent misunderstandings from happening between two militaries…”
China Says it Warns off Japanese Ships in East China Sea
November 28, 2023 — Voice of America News reports: “The Chinese coast guard said its vessels warned off Japanese ships that ‘illegally intruded’ into waters around disputed East China Sea islets on Tuesday.
The Chinese vessels ‘took necessary control measures,’ the coast guard added, without going into details. There was no immediate comment from Japan.
China urged Japan to immediately cease all ‘illegal activities’ in the area and ensure that similar incidents do not recur, the coastguard added.
The waters around Diaoyu Islands, which Japan calls the Senkaku Islands, are claimed by both China and Japan…”
North Korea suspends military accord with South after satellite launch
November 23, 2023 — SpaceWar.com reports: “North Korea said Thursday it was suspending a five-year-old accord reached with South Korea to reduce military tensions — the latest retaliatory fallout over Pyongyang’s spy satellite launch.
The angry statement from the nuclear-armed North’s defence ministry came after state media claimed leader Kim Jong Un was already reviewing images of US military bases in Guam sent by Pyongyang’s new eye in the sky.
With the United States leading allies in slamming Tuesday’s satellite launch as a ‘brazen violation’ of UN sanctions, the South moved Wednesday to partially suspend the 2018 deal, a series of measures put in place to cool tensions on the Korean peninsula.
On Thursday the North said it was ripping up the agreement entirely.
‘We will withdraw the military steps, taken to prevent military tension and conflict in all spheres including ground, sea and air, and deploy more powerful armed forces and new-type military hardware in the region along the Military Demarcation Line,’ the ministry said, according to state-run KCNA news agency.
The ministry said it ‘will never be bound’ by the deal again, according to KCNA…” (North Korea marches with Russia and China for the war of the latter years and latter days – Ezekiel 38:8, 16. Atomic bombs will produce global incineration – Psalms 97:3; Isaiah 66:15; Joel 2:3, 30; Zephaniah 1:18; Malachi 4:1; Revelation 8:7 and 9:18. See the next three reports.)
North Korea defends satellite launch at UN as Kim takes images of White House
November 28, 2023 — SpaceWar.com reports: “North Korea’s ambassador made a rare appearance at the UN Security Council on Monday to defend his country’s launch of a spy satellite, as leader Kim Jong Un studied images including of the White House and Pentagon.
Western powers, Japan and South Korea have said North Korea violated Security Council resolutions by launching the satellite last week.
The totalitarian state has said that its new eye in the sky has already provided images of major US and South Korea military sites, as well as photos of the Italian capital Rome.
On Monday it took ‘in detail’ images of the White House and the Pentagon in Washington, according to state-run KCNA news agency, which said Kim was reviewing the photos.
He also counted some aircraft carriers at a military base and a shipyard in the neighboring state of Virginia, the report said…”
North Korea to send new weapons to border after spy satellite launch
November 23, 2023 — SpaceWar.com reports: “North Korea said Thursday it would deploy new weapons and stronger armed forces to the border with the South, as Seoul’s spy agency said Pyongyang had received Russian help to successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit.
Tuesday’s launch of the ‘Malligyong-1’ was Pyongyang’s third attempt at securing a military eye in the sky after two failures in May and August.
North Korean state media claimed within hours of the launch that leader Kim Jong Un was already reviewing images of US military bases in Guam.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers the launch had been a success but cautioned it was too early to say if the satellite was working as Pyongyang claimed, adding the North had been given ‘feedback’ by Russia after Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin in September…”
Seoul Says North Korea Restores Border Guard Posts as Tensions Rise Over Satellite Launch
November 27, 2023 — Voice of America News reports: “North Korea is restoring front-line guard posts that it had dismantled during a previous period of inter-Korean rapprochement, South Korea’s military said Monday, after animosities spiked between the rivals over the North’s recent spy satellite launch.
The two Koreas previously dismantled or disarmed 11 of their guard posts inside their heavily fortified border, called the Demilitarized Zone, under a 2018 deal meant to ease front-line military confrontations. But the deal is now in danger of being scrapped as both Koreas openly threaten to breach it.
The 2018 agreement required the two Koreas to halt aerial surveillance and live-fire exercises at no-fly and buffer zones that they established along the DMZ, as well as remove some of their front-line guard posts and land mines. The deal left South Korea with 50 board guard posts and North Korea with 150.
After North Korea claimed to place its first military spy satellite into orbit on Nov. 21, South Korea said it would partially suspend the deal and resume aerial surveillance along the DMZ in response. South Korea said its response was ‘a minimum defensive measure’ because the launch showed the North’s intentions to strengthen its monitoring of the South and improve its missile technology.
North Korea immediately slammed South Korea’s decision, saying it would deploy powerful weapons at the border in a tit-for-tat measure. The North said it also won’t abide by the 2018 deal any longer…”