this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2026
61 points (93.0% liked)

World News

54677 readers
3071 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world

Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
NewsAutoMod@lemmy.world
Tenthrow@lemmy.world
little_cow@lemmy.world
lemmyAtom@lemmy.world
jordanlund@lemmy.world
61
Thousands of Chinese boats mass at sea, raising questions (www.france24.com)
submitted 17 hours ago by throws_lemy@reddthat.com to c/world@lemmy.world
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

"Something didn't look right to me because in nature very rarely do you see straight lines," said Wang, chief operating officer of ingeniSPACE, which analyses satellite imagery and ship signals data.

"We've seen like two, 300, up to a thousand (Chinese fishing boats congregate), but anything exceeding a thousand I thought was unusual."

Maritime and military experts told AFP the massing of Chinese fishing boats on December 25, about 300 kilometres northeast of Taiwan, was on a scale they had never seen before.

all 17 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 18 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

I’ve been waiting for China to do something.

A year+ ago I learned the Strait of Hormuz existed from a video about China and Taiwan. In that video they claimed that if China were to do something dramatic like invade Taiwan, the US could retaliate by using its naval might to close to Strait of Hormuz.

China produces little oil and relies on imports for something like 80%. And most of that comes through the Strait of Hormuz. With that closed, China begins ticking through their reserves, which last something like 90 days.

So closing the Strait was always a card the US could play against China, a formidable opponent to the US (as Trump sees the world anyway).

Now the US has started a bizarre war against Iran with unclear goals. But surprise surprise, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz. So basically the US got one of China’s own partners, Iran, to put a chokehold on China.

It’s just a matter of time before China responds.

Do we want World War 3? Because this seems like how we get World War 3.

[–] tyrant@lemmy.world 8 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Iran is allowing Chinese flagged vessels through I believe

[–] mimavox@piefed.social 1 points 11 hours ago

Yes, I heard that as well. What it mean though, is that US doesn't have control of the strait right now.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 0 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I don’t understand how they create an effective barrier to the whole rest of the world without at least slowing down Chinese vessels.

How do their rocket systems even know where all the ships are bound for?

[–] tyrant@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Because they have a stockpile of cheap drones that can be launched from anywhere in the country and only need to keep an eye on a choke point that is 39km (24 miles) wide. They aren't physically blocking it but the threat of drones and now maybe mines are causing insurance companies to exclude these tankers that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 0 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Doesn’t the insurance issue affect Chinese bound ships the same as any others? I’m not yet seeing how this adds up to Iran being able to block just what they want and allow through just what they want. Mines especially aren’t known for being discriminating.

[–] tyrant@lemmy.world 8 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I'm just some dude on the Internet man. I'm parroting what I've read elsewhere. You'd have to look around at more reliable sources for the answers to your questions

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

Appreciate the honesty. I do read the news but then Reddit is often good for asking the inevitable follow up questions that haven’t clicked for me.

[–] finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 0 points 5 hours ago

Trump knows he hasn't got too many years left in him. Do you honestly think he'll accept the idea of people getting to live when he can't? Yes, he's that petty and that vindictive.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 12 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Iran hasn't closed the strait to its own tankers.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 1 points 13 hours ago

So? The US is attacking Iranian ships.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, come on, China. Could you please not?

[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 1 points 16 hours ago

It's China. I think the most they have as far as animal protections are the bans they placed on wet markets and the trade of wildlife.

This should not be a surprise.