Panel: U.S. Lacks a Grand Strategy to Counter China

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – When considering a resurgent Chinese military, the U.S. lacks a well-developed plan or even a unifying theme, a panel of Pacific-region military and political experts said Wednesday.

Flashpoints for conflict in the Far East seem about as numerous as the islands dotting the area, and both the U.S. and China are acting as if they’re following a script leading to war, said Graham Allison, the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government....

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/10/u-s-lacks-china-strategy

BIMCO: US crude oil exports to China fell to zero during August

In August there were zero US seaborne exports of crude oil to China. On the other hand, US crude exports to all destinations except from China hit a new all-time high in September at 6.96 million tonnes. The zero US crude oil exports to China is a massive change to the export pattern seen since early 2017, BIMCO said.

Namely, there were rumours that Chinese buyers, led by the world’s top tanker charterer Unipec, would stay away from US crude oil export and this is confirmed by the new data....

https://safety4sea.com/bimco-us-crude-oil-exports-to-china-fell-to-zero-during-august/

New line opens between China & Lebanon

A huge container ship named CMA CGM Congo arrived at Lebanese port of Tripoli on Tuesday to open a new shipping line between China and the port.

“The vessel is the first to hold 10,000 containers. It will unload 1000 containers in Tripoli port for the local market, and the rest will go to other ports in the region,” said Ahmad Tamer, manager of Tripoli port.

Tamer said that this new line, Beks, is characterized by its capacity to host big-size cargo vessels that can reach 50 meters in width and...

http://container-news.com/new-line-china-lebanon/

Port of Long Beach sees container volume hit 8 million mark, just ahead of tariff start

From Freight Waves:

The Port of Long Beach says September container volumes fell from a year ago, but fiscal year volumes hit a new record. The results come just ahead of the tariffs the U.S. imposed on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

The second largest port by container volume, Long Beach saw loaded inbound containers fall 2.5% from a year ago to 357,301 twenty foot equivalent units (teu) last month. With empty containers seeing a small increase, overall September activity was flat at 701,205...

http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2018/10/port-of-long-beach-sees-container-volume-hit-8-million-mark-just-ahead-of-tariff-start/

Hunter Maritime Acquisition Corp. Enters into a Merger Agreement with NCF Wealth Holdings Limited

October 5, 2018 – Hunter Maritime Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: HUNT) (the “Company” or “Hunter”), a special purpose acquisition company, announced today that on October 5, 2018 it entered into a definitive agreement to complete a business combination (the “Transaction”) with NCF Wealth Holdings Limited (“NCF”).  The Company has established a wholly-owned subsidiary that will acquire NCF by way of merger in an all-stock transaction which values NCF at an equity value of $2,000,000,000, whereby...

http://www.allaboutshipping.co.uk/2018/10/05/hunter-maritime-acquisition-corp-enters-into-a-merger-agreement-with-ncf-wealth-holdings-limited/

China’s Atypical Response To US Navy FONOPS May Be a Message to Trump Administration

Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Decatur, left, and Chinese warship PRC 170, right, during what the US Navy called an unsafe and unprofessional incident in the South China Sea on Sept. 30, 2018. US Navy photo, obtained by gCaptain.

China ratcheted up its response to U.S. Navy freedom of navigation operation over the weekend, sending a Luyang-class destroyer on a near-collision-course with USS Decatur (DDG-73), but the reasoning behind the move is likely more nuanced than defending territory.

No...

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/03/37076

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