New York Times: South China Sea Buildup Brings Beijing Closer to Realizing Control
HONG KONG — When the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis and four other American warships sailed into the South China Sea last week for what were described as routine exercises, the message was clear: The United States is the dominant military power in the region and plans to keep it that way.
But numerous Chinese naval ships were operating nearby, the United States Navy said, noticeably more than in past years. A Chinese officer told the state-run news media that the ships were there to “monitor, identify, follow and expel” foreign vessels and aircraft, depending on how close they came “to our islands.”
The encounter, which passed without incident, was the latest episode in a wary standoff between the United States and China over two contested island chains known as the Paracels and the Spratlys.
Read more ....
Update: South China Sea Dispute: China Blames ‘Militarization’ On Others, Reminds US Of Vietnam, Korea Wars (IBTimes)
WNU Editor: The Chinese are making it very clear .... they are not going to change their position on the South China Sea .... China won't budge on South China Sea sovereignty (Al Jazeera).
6 comments:
why would they, especially after seeing the US cave in to Iran.
Caecus,
You beat me to it.
I suspect the next major confrontation in the SCS to be related to Taiwan after Tsai's inauguration.
If the US backs down there it will signal to the Chinese a withdraw from US commitments in the region and give China a green light to push more forcefully in the SCS directly.
After all, Taiwan is an internal dispute and is not recognized as a nation internationally. It also controls the northern entrance to the SCS and is crucial to enforcing any control over that area.
A direct challenge to Taiwan will give China the ability to gauge Obama's willingness to seriously commit to the region.
If the Chinese are not willing to budge in the SCS then I expect Taiwan will be their next target. Not an independent sovereign country where the risk of international fury would be exasperated.
First of all the United States and it's leaders need to understand that in a war between America and China there is no possibility of an American victory. The best that can be hoped for is to make the inevitable Chinese victory pyric enough that they would not consider the attack. Un fortunately there seems to be a number of folks who are denying reality. This needs to change.
Of course the Red Sea might part or some type of miracle along these lines might happen and America could prevail in a war with China. With that said it would be imprudent to base one's natiknal security policies, economic policies, or pretty much any policy on such an unlikely outcome.
This leaves us with two possible solutions. 1.) Acknowledge China's superiority in the SCS and act accordingly. Of course the humilitiation we are going to be enduring for the foreseeable future as China "rubs our noses" in this will be quite ugly. This is likely the least bad option, as at least China might allow the United States to survive and might even act to restrain Russia from "going in for the kill." After all humiliating America beyond it's current humilitiation would be great fun. This is probably the least bad option. "Stop the bleeding" and perhaps Russia and China allow the United States to survive. 2.)The United States could try and defend Taiwan. Since it's not recognized as a nation, the US would have no support here and the current Anti-Americanism that dominates the US and world media will seem as child's playcompared to how it will be should this conflict ensue, such a policy serves no discernable US intsrest, and the United States currently needs "made in China" far more than China needs to supply the US with "made in China." In contrast, China will lkkely have support or at least neutrality from powers such as Russia and North Korea. Such an approach would seem almost certainly doomed to failure with no discernable upside even i c sonehow successful.
There may be a "third way" which I will discuss in another post as this has run long,
As part of the negotiations China will have control of the South China Sea, Taiwan, Japan, and anything else it wants in this region. The United States will supply any assistance to China neccessary to help them minimize their costs here. In exchange, the United States will have control of the Panama Canal with China backing this up. Furthermore China will not interfere with the US in the Americas and will back the US here where and when possible and there will be mechanisms in place to ensure China honors the agreement.
Even if I'm all wrong here and I could be, at the very least such an approach would give us the opportunity to renegotiate the current defense relationships with hapan and South Korea. The current relationship with Japan and South Korea is parasitic with Japan an South Korea sucking the United States dry. This MUST change!! Perhaps "the deal maker" can renegotiate this. The same applies to NATO "allies" as well. These relationships need to be renegotiated as well, as the parasites are sucking the United States dry.
For some reason my middle post did not take. Perhaps it was to long and incoherent. Essentially what "the deal maker" or a future US POTUS must do is convince Russia, Chiba, and other more piwerful adversaries that he/she might be crazy. Before we get to this point nake sure the enemy's inevitable victory is as pyric as possible over America. From here negotians negotiations could well be possible to reach an honorable agreement.
At the very least, the current situation whereby South Korea, Japan, and BATO countries feast upon the United States like a predator feasts upon it's prey MUST change!!
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