The aircraft carrier “Varyag” being converted into China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy “Liaoning” at a Dalian shipyard. Photo by Victor Robert Lee.

The Last Empire Expands

From The New York Times, April 18, 1939, front page. Beijing’s annexation of the South China Sea echoes Japan’s expansion immediately prior to WWII.
The missile destroyer Guangzhou docked at China’s Southern Fleet naval base at Yulin-East, Yalong Bay, Hainan Island. Photo by Victor Robert Lee.
Yulin-East naval base at Longpo on Yalong Bay, Hainan Island. Photo by Victor Robert Lee.
Underground tunnel for submarines at the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Jianggezhuang base east of Qingdao, headquarters of the PLAN’s North Sea Fleet. Photo by Victor Robert Lee.
The Tunku Abdul Rahman, one of two Scorpène-class submarines in the Royal Malaysian Navy. Photo by Victor Robert Lee.

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China’s reach into the South China Sea and elsewhere

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