20180412 - 【评】_这篇文章以无法抵赖的事实说明中国确实要在瓦努阿图建军事基地。_中国 - GooglePlus

【评】

这篇文章以无法抵赖的事实说明中国确实要在瓦努阿图建军事基地。

中国借一大笔钱给瓦努阿图建大楼（办公楼）和公路等基建设施，同时在瓦努阿图建一个超大型船坞。等瓦努阿图无法还债，就把这个船坞用来抵债（99年租约）。然后就有了军事基地。

那个超大型船坞号称用于停泊游轮和集装箱船，可瓦努阿图基本上没有游轮和集装箱船需要停泊，也不需要这么大。毕竟，一共才27万人口。还债更是不可能。

所以，中国勾结瓦努阿图腐败官员，大笔借钱给瓦努阿图的用意一目了然。

这事情似乎已经震动了欧美。

【转】

https://www.1688.com.au/australia/national/2018/04/11/321155/

澳新联合抵制中国南洋军事基地 国内外专家纷纷呼吁「不能妥协」
April 11th, 2018

据媒体报导，中国向瓦努阿图提出建立永久性军事基地的建议之后，澳大利亚和新西兰周二均警告中国，反对其在南太平洋建立任何军事基地。

费尔法克斯媒体周二报导说，中国已经向这个前法国殖民地寻求在南太平洋建立永久性的军事存在。


不过中国和瓦努阿图均否认这些报导。澳大利亚总理谭保说，瓦努阿图向他的政府保证，“中国没有提出这样的要求”。

“我们非常关心在太平洋岛国和我们的邻国建立任何外国军事基地，”谭保告诉记者。

而新西兰总理阿德恩（Jacinda Ardern）也表示，该国强烈反对太平洋地区的军事化。

瓦努阿图政府发言人布尔（Hilaire Bule）表示，目前还没有这样的计划。近几年来，这个28万人口的国家从中国获得了大量的基建资金。

中国外交部发言人也驳回了这一报导，称其为“假新闻”。

这一报道也让国内外国防专家纷纷侧目，英国首相梅（Theresa May）的前幕僚长蒂莫西（Nick Timothy）表示，中国试图进军南太平洋岛国表明其追求的利益并不温和，而西方国家需要对北京展现出更加强硬的态度。

英国政府正在监测中国日益扩大的军事扩张。蒂莫西担任梅的幕僚长直到去年5月，他说，中国的意图非常明显。“多年来，西方一直把中国视为完全无害的存在，”他告诉费尔法克斯媒体，“但人们渐渐后知后觉地意识到，北京的全球野心不仅仅在于经济和商业，还有地缘政治和安全方面，我们需要更加强硬地处理它们。”

英国国会外国特别委员会的成员、保守党议员希利（Bob Seely）表示，澳大利亚“理应感到担心”。“像中国和俄罗斯这样的威权国家正在扩大军事领域，并对抗西方国家。”

澳大利亚国立大学（ANU）国家安全学院院长梅卡福（Rory Medcalf）表示，中国在太平洋岛国的“初步”租金都很小，但这将构成“澳大利亚防务政策的负面转折点”。

“瓦努阿图和澳大利亚之间只隔着一片珊瑚海，”他在洛伊研究所的博客中写道。

“中国目前不是对澳大利亚的直接军事威胁来源，但防务规划者必须考虑到最坏的情况，中国是一个风险来源——如果它选择成为潜在威胁会如何，如果地区战略动态要持续恶化又会如何。”他写道。

最近撰写了一本书来曝光中国对澳影响力的汉密尔顿教授（Clive Hamilton）表示，中国能够在太平洋地区存在，是因为澳大利亚忽视了该地区。“我们很快就将再次削减外援预算，而每当我们削减外援预算，就会给中国创造更大的干预空间。所以我认为，澳大利亚应该向太平洋岛国表明，留在我们的后院，我们会关照你，这么做具有重大战略意义。”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-great-wharf-from-china-raising-eyebrows-across-the-pacific-20180411-p4z8yu.html

The great wharf from China, raising eyebrows across the Pacific
April 11th, 2018

A Beijing-funded wharf in Vanuatu that is struggling to make money is big enough to allow powerful warships to dock alongside it, heightening fears the port could be converted into a Chinese naval installation.

Fairfax Media inspected the $114 million Luganville wharf on Wednesday and was told US coastguard officials and Marines recently visited the sprawling facility and took a keen interest in its specifications.

Some defence experts have warned the wharf, which is now the largest in the South Pacific and strategically located in the same harbour in which the US based tens of thousands of troops during World War II, has been built with the option of converting it in the future to a naval base.

Vanuatu's Luganville wharf captured in August 9, 2015 and just ahead of its completion in April 27, 2016.

Fairfax Media revealed this week that Beijing is looking to establish a permanent military presence on Vanuatu. The Chinese and Vanuatu governments have strenuously denied they have discussed a military base, though Fairfax Media has confirmed with multiple senior sources that Australian national security officials have been aware of the overtures for some time, and are deeply concerned.

Luganville harbour master Terry Ngwele said US officials had recently visited the 360-metre long wharf. The coastguard make yearly inspections of wharfs that are certified to take international cruise liners. But on this visit, they were accompanied by US Marines.

“[In] February, we had US coastguard and the Marines based in Japan … They asked me about the depth and I told them it was 25 metres. They said, ‘Wow, this can accommodate a US aircraft carrier.’”

The business case for the wharf’s redevelopment was based on tourism from cruise ships, and from turning the port into a transit hub for container ships. But neither revenue source is meeting expectations.

According to shipping tracking service FleetMon, only four cruise ships have docked at Luganville this year, though Mr Ngwele said the figure was seven. The wharf was getting two or three container ships a week, he said, though it can take two at a time and container ships on average stay about one day to offload cargo.

Phillip Ryan, the chief executive officer of the wharf’s stevedoring firm NISCOL, said he believed the business case was fundamentally viable. But he acknowledged neither side of the business was meeting expectations.

“There’s not much here to really excite passengers getting off the ship to wander around," he said.

“The investment in cruise ships hasn’t panned out the way they would have liked it. That’s a pure and simple fact. The cruise liners have moved away to other ports. It’s just not working out at this point in time.”

The Vanuatu government has taken on significant debt to China, though it appears to have stopped taking large loans since getting a stern warning from the International Monetary Fund in 2016.

The wharf was constructed by the Shanghai Construction Company and opened with fanfare in the middle of last year. The Chinese ambassador, Liu Quan, reportedly handed keys to Vanuatu's Prime Minister Charlot Salwai during a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The new wharf in Luganville, viewed from the harbour.

“This miracle project is testimony to the Chinese companies that they have the highest engineering knowhow and technologies, and the most important of all is that once they commit, they honour their commitment and deliver in time and quality," the ambassador reportedly said.

It is unclear whether the wharf loan contract with the Vanuatu government includes a so-called debt-equity swap clause, which would mean China could take over the facility if Vanuatu defaults on its payments. It has recently taken over the major port of Hambantota from Sri Lanka in these circumstances.
A Vanuatu Finance Department official, Letlet August, declined by email to answer questions on this or to provide the loan agreement.

Malcolm Davis, a defence expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said it was “not by accident” that wharf had been built for large vessels.

“My guess is there’s a Trojan horse operation here that eventually will set up a large facility that is very modern and very well-equipped. They’ve done this before in other parts of the world. “Their hope is that the debt of the Vanuatu government will be so onerous that they can’t pay it back. The Chinese will say, ‘the facility is ours for 99 years’ and the next thing you’ve got a PLA Navy Luang III class [destroyer] docking there.

Harbour master Terry Ngwele at the wharf, which accepts cruise ships and container vessels.

“Clearly the Chinese are serious about establishing a military base in the Pacific and that fundamentally changes our strategic circumstances.”
Lowy Institute Pacific expert Jonathan Pryke said the Luganville wharf project was the “stand-out one for potential dual use … of all the work the Chinese are doing in the South Pacific” - referring to a facility that can be turned from a civil into a military installation.

His Lowy colleague Euan Graham, an expert in international security, said such a facility “fits the modus operandi elsewhere” and noted China was also involved in the upgrade of a nearby airport, though that is being funded by the World Bank.

He said there was “no obvious economic case” for China to be building a military presence in the South Pacific and “that shortens the odds of a strategic motive”.

But James Goldrick, a former navy officer and now military scholar, said a lengthened wharf didn’t itself indicate military intent because most naval ships didn’t actually need that much room.

“A wharf on its own doesn’t mean that much unless you’ve got facilities to do deep maintenance, supply facilities, the ability to refuel,” he said.

Mr Ryan, a former Royal Australian Navy sailor with 20 years’ service, said he did not believe Luganville would become a Chinese naval base.

“What you will see is there’ll be an increase in diplomatic missions from Chinese navy coming down … flying the Chinese flag.”