The U.S. has revealed what the
U.S. Navy EP-3 electronic reconnaissance aircraft was spying on when it was
clipped by a Chinese fighter in early 2001. The target was the new naval base
China is building in the south.   Two
years ago, commercial satellite photos began to show details of a new naval base
that China was building at Yulin, near Sanya, on the southern island of Hainan
(near Vietnam) [PHOTO]. The base has underground docking facilities for nuclear and
diesel-electric subs and surface ships, created by tunneling into coastal
hills.

Rumors of
such a base have been circulating for the past six years, apparently since
locals began noticing all the construction activity, and the tight security
around the site. The underground facilities not only protect the boats from air
or sea based attack, but enable maintenance and modifications to be done in
secret. Apparently back in 2001, the U.S. Navy believed there was enough
electronic emissions coming from the construction site to justify sending an
EP-3.

The U.S.
intelligence community had picked up signs of work on the new base even before
the locals began to chatter about something going on there. Several smaller
naval bases and navy air fields already exist on Hainan Island, but the new
base is shaping up as a major facility, one capable of supporting a much larger
fleet than China now possesses. India is particularly concerned because the
Hainan base is close to the Indian ocean, and areas where the Indian Navy has
long been top dog. Many other nations note the proximity of the new base to the
Straits of Malacca, the busiest shipping channel on the planet.