G.M. Greenwood, What Lies Beneath the South China Sea: Sub Texts. Asia
Sentinel, June 22, 2010.
http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2548&Itemid=164
My comment:
(1) The "sub text" in the title is a pun, for "sub" is also the short form
of "submarine."
(2) If you do not have time, you may skip to the paragraph that starts with
"The cost-benefit value."
(3) INS Khukri (1958)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Khukri_(1958)
(a destroyer built by a British shipbuilder called J. Samuel White;
commissioned in 1958; Torpedoed and sunk by Pakistani submarine Hangor on 9
December 1971--the first warship sunk in action by a submarine since World
War II; remains the Indian navy's worst wartime loss: 18 officers and 176
sailors were lost in the sinking; The captain, Mahendra Nath Mulla, choose
to go down with the sinking ship. He refused to abandon ship, and passed his
life-jacket to a junior officer. He was reported to be in a saluting
gesture while sinking down with Khukri)
* kukri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukri
(also sometimes spelled khukri)
** INS stands for "Indian Naval Ship."
(4) Makassar Strait is to the east of Borneo island (separating Sulawesi
island). A naval battle was fought there in World War II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makassar_Strait
* Makassar is a city at the southern tip of Sulawesi island.
** To the west of Borneo island is the 150-km-wide Karimata Strait,
separating Sumatra island and named after Karimata Island in the strait.
(5) Luzon Strait
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzon_Strait
(250 km wide; The strait is divided into a number of smaller channels, the
one closest to Taiwan is Bashi Channel and farthest from Taiwan is Balintang
Channel)
(6) Sabah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabah
(a member state of Malaysia; at the northern tip of island of Borneo)