From a report in China Reform Monitor, it was learned that China is making a bid to protect its oil supplies and growing international clout by building up its military forces and establishing military bases along sea-lanes from the Middle East to the South China Sea, the Washington Times reports. According to “Energy Futures in Asia,” a new report by defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, the new deployments are intended not only “protect China’s energy interests, but also to serve broad security objectives.” The study attributed the massive oil shipments passing through the sea-lanes, coupled with growing piracy and maritime terrorism, as China’s motivations for the increase in naval power. Another reason is also in play; China believes that the U.S. military will disrupt its energy imports in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, and is therefore seeking to “encircle” China by expanding control over key energy canals, particularly the Strait of Malacca, through which 80 percent of Chinese oil imports transit.

 

The weapons being acquired by China for sea-lane control include new warships equipped with long-range cruise missiles, as well as submarines and undersea mines. The country also plans to purchase aircraft with long-range target acquisition systems, including optical satellites and maritime unmanned aerial vehicles. These activities are designed to enable the PRC to effectively control tanker transit through key areas, according to the report.

 

China, the study says, has also developed electronic eavesdropping posts from the Pakistani port of Gwadar to Burma, to monitor ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea, and has provided Burma – the closest point to the Strait of Malacca – with “billions of dollars in military assistance to support a de facto military alliance.”

 

Earnest prayer is required as the nations of earth spiral toward the end-times and the final battles before the Lord retrurns. Reading these reports makes one realize that the coming of the Lord draws nearer- very near. Live in the light of eternity and work while it is day.