On May 2 2008, the internet carried some excellent satellite photographs of the newly disclosed Sanya Nuclear Submarine Naval Base for the Chinese Navy on the southern coast of Hainan island. My analysis of these internet satellite photos indicates that the Chinese have built a massive naval base, strategically located not only with respect to Taiwan, but also the three access or choke points of the Indian Ocean-South China Sea region, viz, the straits of Singapore, Malacca, Sunda and Lombak, through which all international shipping must flow. So, though the Chinese Navy is presently ‘Taiwan centric’ and is being built up to deter the US Navy, this base is ideally located to enable interdiction of shipping at the three access/choke points but also will permit Chinese submarines and surface units to foray to the Indian Ocean — the Andaman islands are only 2000 nm away. In addition, unlike the shallow waters off the Chinese mainland coast (where submarines have to transit on surface for a few hours, due to shallow depths, and are thus vulnerable), submarines leaving Sanya naval base can dive immediately outside harbour due to greater depths. The photos reveal the following:

• Two finger jetties, each approximately 950 m long, located on the northern side, with infrastructure for accommodation, power supplies, maintenance, simulators for crew work up etc. These jetties should be able to accommodate two 80,000 ton aircraft carriers or two large amphibious ships, two tankers and some 10 to 14 destroyers or frigates. It may be noted that Hainan island is also a tourist destination and has a large airfield.This same airfield should be able to support the aviation component of the Chinese surface fleet.

... contd.