Lu Qiming, former vice president of the Navy Branch of Xinhua News Agency and a famous writer, is the author of dozens of reportage collections, such as "The Pride of the Sea - Chronicle of the People's Navy", "The Battle of the Republic - Naval Warfare", and "The Birth of the People's Navy".
Lu Qiming was born in 1931, participated in the revolution in June 1948, as a member of the underground party of the Communist Party of China in southern Jiangsu, a township instructor, and a cultural instructor of the art troupe company of the logistics department of the East China Military Region, he has completely experienced the whole process of the Chinese Navy from scratch and from weak to strong from the grassroots level to the leadership.
Lu Qiming's works are all based on real people and real events, and take the revolutionary traditions of our party and our army as their contents, and they are not only appealing military literature and art books, but also vivid revolutionary traditional education books, and rich historical materials on naval construction. The reportage he wrote, "The Stars of the Sea -- The Chronicle of Chen Weiwen, Commander of the Nansha Naval Battle Formation," is a valuable historical material for us to explore the Nansha Naval Battle, including what was the direct cause of the naval battle, what was the specific process, and why the domestic and foreign media adopted completely different attitudes? There are all true and objective answers.
According to Lu Qiming's works, one day in December 1987, Chen Weiwen, chief of staff of the Navy's Yulin Base Command, who was preparing to take a vacation in Guangzhou after a meeting, listened to the "briefing" given by the director of the intelligence department of the military region headquarters at the end of the meeting and immediately decided to change the vacation plan.
The Minister of Intelligence informed that there were new indications that the Vietnamese Navy would sabotage the Fiery Cross Reef Marine Observatory that was being built on the mainland, and the Minister did not specify what "new signs" there were, nor what means the Vietnamese Navy would use to sabotage them. However, it was such a brief "briefing" that aroused Chen Weiwen's high vigilance and deep thinking.
The Nansha Islands are China's inherent territory, and UNESCO's decision to have China establish a marine observatory in Nansha is in accordance with international law, and the Vietnamese representative also voted in favor of the vote.
In May and October 1987, the Navy, together with the State Oceanic Administration, sent ships to the Nansha Islands to survey and select sites. In November 1987, the oceanographic observatory was located at Fiery Cross Reef, and the design of Fiery Cross Reef No. 74 Marine Observatory was completed in December 1987 and construction began in February 1988. The 929 Formation of the landing ships carried out the construction task, with 10 ships and more than 400 engineering personnel.
Project 929 Purple Mountain ship performing construction tasks
However, during the selection of the site, the design and the start of construction, the Vietnamese authorities suddenly reversed course and replaced the representatives who voted in favor of the Oceanic Committee, and at the same time the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement: "We want to intervene in China's establishment of the No. 74 Ocean Observatory in the Spratly Islands."
From 15 January to 19 February 1988, the Vietnamese army successively invaded and occupied five islands and reefs in China's Nansha Islands, namely West Reef, Wu Gang Reef, Riji Reef, Daxian Reef, and East Reef. So far, Vietnam's occupation of China's islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands has increased to 20, and among the series of Vietnamese operations, only the operation to seize Huayang Reef has failed.
Map of the location of the Great Reef
On 17 February 1988, a Vietnamese minesweeper and a transport ship suddenly sailed into Huayang Reef to drop their dinghy in a vain attempt to seize Huayang Reef and blow up the monument of China's sovereignty on the commanding heights. The two Chinese and Vietnamese detachments launched a "100-meter race"; our commando team took the lead in landing on Huayang Reef and guarding the sovereignty monument and national flag on the commanding heights; the Vietnamese troops behind had no choice but to plant their national flag on the shoals; our small detachment forced them to the shoals to drive away the Vietnamese troops, and after several hours of confrontation, the Vietnamese troops were forced to withdraw, and the mainland smoothly took control of Huayang Reef.
Chen Weiwen, chief of staff of the Navy's Yulin base, who was the outpost of the South China Sea and had repeatedly commanded naval battles, heard this "new sign" of Vietnam's intervention in Guangzhou and had a premonition that the situation was more serious than he had imagined.
Chen Weiwen rushed back to the base and found that the formation led by Deputy Chief of Staff Wang Shisi had just returned from duty in Nansha, and the warship was being overhauled and was preparing to go to Nansha again to carry out the mission. Chen Weiwen immediately approached Commander Yang Yushu and requested:
Yulin base of the Navy
Commander Yang disagreed, saying that the commander of the formation to go to Nansha next time had already been decided, and a deputy commander would lead the team. Chen Weiwen was anxious and further stated:
Commander Yang did not ask a question directly, but asked: "You were transferred from the Guangzhou Naval Academy last year?" Chen Weiwen nodded and said, "Yes." Only then did Commander Yang say: "You have not been transferred to the base for a short time, and now your main task is to familiarize yourself with the situation. ”
Chen Weiwen immediately understood that the reason why Commander Yang did not agree to lead his team to the Nansha Islands for duty was because he had been transferred to the base not long ago, and Chen Weiwen suddenly aroused an impulse in his heart and immediately introduced himself: "I have worked in the base and the Xisha Islands for 20 years. I am familiar with the troops, especially the situation of the naval units, I am a captain of navigation, a chief of navigation business, and I have also served as a captain, so I am quite familiar with the Nansha waters, and the safety of navigation is guaranteed. ”
Seeing that the commander still didn't mean to let go, Chen Weiwen, who was anxious, suddenly said again: "I have participated in four naval battles and fought with the Vietnamese twice, so I know them better, and it is most suitable for me to lead the team to Nansha on duty!"
As soon as this sentence came out, Chen Weiwen immediately regretted it, isn't this an invitation to merit? But Commander Yang did not see it that way, and perhaps it was also this sentence that won him the task of leading the team on duty in Nansha; China's actual combat naval talents are still extremely scarce, and Chen Weiwen has participated in four naval battles and has performed well in each battle.
After arguing with reason, Chen Weiwen served as the commander of the 502 formation as he wished, and the formation consisted of two frigates of the base, No. 502 and No. 503, and the first task given to Chen Weiwen by the superior was "In order to ensure the completion of the No. 74 marine observatory on Fiery Cross Reef, you must also control 4 to 6 more reefs nearby!"
After Chen Weiwen led the 502 formation to Nansha, he took control of Gaven Reef on February 25, 1988, left the sea area of Gaven Reef, and successively inspected and controlled 8 islands and reefs, including Dongmen Reef, Subi Reef, Nairo Reef, Anda Reef, Oxbow Reef, Chigua Reef, Qiong Reef and Guiying Reef, plus Gaven Reef controlled a total of 9 Nansha islands and reefs, exceeding the "reef control" task, and finally broke out a naval battle with Vietnam at Chigua Reef, which defeated Vietnam cleanly and obtained a valuable strategic fulcrum based on Nansha.
The nine islands and reefs controlled by Chen Weiwen, Dongdongmen Reef, Subi Reef, and Chigua Reef, were immediately stationed in China, and now they have all become China's large-scale bases, especially Subi Reef, which has become the second largest island in the Spratlys, Subi Island, with an area of 4.3 square kilometers, more than 10 times that of Thitu Island.
Aerial view of Subi Island
Although Oxbow Reef and Anda Reef were not garrisoned, they have always been under the actual control of our navy, and Nairo Reef, Qiong Reef and Ghost Cry Reef were not stationed in time, and some leaders thought they were useless and were selectively abandoned (see "3-14 Naval Battles" in the 2013 China News Weekly "Liu Huaqing" feature).
For the same reason, another formation in the sea area was selectively abandoned, and the current situation is that the Chinese garrison has 13 islands and reefs, and among the Nairo Reef, Qiong Reef and Guiying Reef controlled by General Chen Weiwen and occupied by Vietnam, the most regrettable is Nairo Reef, near Qiong Reef and Guiying Reef, China has built Chigua Island near Qiong Reef and Guiying Reef, which can effectively control the nearby waters, and the gain and loss of Nairo Reef will cause two major negative impacts on China's Nansha strategy.
First, China has lost its foothold in the Spratly twin reefs. The long axis of the twin reefs is northeast to southwest, about 16 kilometers long, about 7.5 kilometers wide, and the total area of the reef is about 64 square kilometers, which is composed of Gongshi Reef, Beizi Island, Beiwai Sandbar, Nanzi Island, Nairo Reef, Southeast Dark Sand, Northeast Dark Shoal and Beizi Dark Shoal.
Satellite image of the Twin Reefs
Among them, Beizi Island and Nanzi Island are rare natural islands in Nansha, Beizi Island covers an area of 0.14 square kilometers, Nanzi Island originally covers an area of 0.13 square kilometers, Vietnam began to reclaim land after occupation, Nanzi Island not only added a large port, due to the expansion of a circle around the expansion, the total area has expanded from 0.12 square kilometers to 0.26 square kilometers, after a surprise construction, Nanzi Island has become Vietnam's northernmost military fortress and civil center in the Nansha Islands.
Aerial view of Nanzi Island
From the very different fates of Beizidao and Nanzidao, we can perceive that the threat of Vietnam in the Spratly Islands is much greater than that of the Philippines, not only because Vietnam has occupied more islands and reefs than the Philippines, but also because Vietnam has been pursuing an offensive policy of islands and reefs, which is the biggest obstacle to China's resolution of the South China Sea issue.
The main islands and reefs of the Twin Reefs
As we all know, there are six major reefs in Nansha, from north to south, they are the Twin Reefs, Zhongye Reefs, Daoming Reefs, Zhenghe Reefs, Jiuzhang Reefs and Yinqing Reefs.
Location map of the six major reefs in Nansha
The abandonment of Nairo Reef means that China has given up a good opportunity to gain a foothold in the twin reefs, which has a great negative impact on China's control of the northern islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands, and the reef conditions of Nairo Reef are better than those of Nanzi Island and Beizi Island, and land reclamation can obtain a stronger base than Nanzi Island.
Second, it has greatly dampened the enthusiasm of fishermen to return to Nansha for fishing. Due to the implementation of the sea ban policy in 1956, fishermen could not go to Nansha for production, until 1985, with the support of the Qionghai municipal government, the director of the county agricultural office and the deputy mayor of Tanmen Town led a team to the Fisheries Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture twice to apply for approval to restart production in Nansha, and finally approved in 1986.
Since then, Tanmen fishermen have been in constant friction with the surrounding countries in the South China Sea, Chinese fishermen to Nansha to pass through nearly 1,000 kilometers of Nansha basin, the first stop after arriving in Nansha is the twin reefs, mainland fishermen into the South China Sea will always stay in the twin reefs and nearby islands and reefs, Nairo Reef was occupied by Vietnam, there is no foothold and law enforcement force on the Twin reefs, fishermen are easily intercepted and captured, which greatly hits the enthusiasm of fishermen to Nansha fishing, once caught will be bankrupt, but now it is good, Subi Island base is only 53 kilometers away from Nairo Reef.
Map of the location of Nairo Reef and Subi Island
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