The surveillance pictures were mostly taken between June and December last year. Photograph: Inquirer.net/Philippine Daily Inquirer
Inquirer.net: EXCLUSIVE: New photos show China is nearly done with its militarization of South China Sea
Aerial photographs obtained by Inquirer.net from a source show that China is almost finished transforming seven reefs claimed by the Philippines in the Spratly archipelago into island fortresses, in a bid to dominate the heavily disputed South China Sea.
Most of the photos, taken between June and December 2017, were snapped from an altitude of 1,500 meters and they showed the reefs that had been transformed into artificial islands in the final stages of development as air and naval bases.
Shown the photographs, Eugenio Bito-onon Jr., the former mayor of Kalayaan town on Pag-asa Island, the largest Philippine-occupied island in the Spratlys and internationally known as Thitu Island, recognized new facilities on the man-made isles.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: These are the best pictures that I have seen so far on how much China has militarized the South China Sea. The countries in this region are reacting .... China activity on reclaimed reef has eroded trust: ASEAN (AFP). More here .... SE Asia ministers air concerns over Beijing's activities in South China Sea (Reuters). Philippine President Duterte is under pressure .... Duterte slammed for response to Chinese activities in South China Sea (UPI).
More News On The Release Of New Aerial Photos That Show In Great Detail On How Much China Has Militarized The South China Sea
Photos show Beijing’s militarisation of South China Sea in new detail -- The Guardian
Photos show China is probably winding down dredging work -- Asia Times
Detailed photos of China's militarization projects in South China Sea released online -- Taiwan News
China Has Nearly Conquered the South China Sea -- The National Interest Online
New Photographs Show China's South China Sea Artificial Islands Like You've Never Seen Them -- The Diplomat
3 comments:
If these nations have territorial claims in this region, they need to fight for them!! Kindly leave us (Americans) out of it!!
Unfortunately we were stupid enough to intricate ourselves into many of these things long, long ago. It's long past time we extricated ourselves. I'd suggest looking at the foreign policies of countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand just to name a few examples and trying to emulate these countries in terms of foreign policy as much as possible.
The United States economic dominance is directly tied to its military superiority. Examples of other nations like New Zeland and Canada also owe their economic success to Military Support by The Americans. Just as they did Britain in times past. As China Rises economically. It's interests can be protected only militarily.
corey k,
"The United States economic dominance is directly tied to its military superiority." The countries I mentioned such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have lifestyles that few Americans can ever hope to have. When discussing America and "economic dominance" given the reality of the situation this seems rather hollow and frankly beyond insulting to most Americans.
Now as for "military superiority," this is debatable at best. If we eliminate the nuclear deterrent, the American military may be little more than a mid level power especially after our leaders have ground it to powder in a series of fruitless operations around the world that did absolutely nothing to advance our interests and, in fact, greatly undermined them. At best for America, Russia and china would be "peer" military powers essentially close to the same level as America. I will reiterate what I've said here many, many times that you may have missed. We cannot "know" the outcome of a war until it actually happens. In the case of Russia and pretty much in the case with China as well, we lack the resources to effectively fight a new cold war, we can't afford it, and even if we did have the resources and we could afford it, we DON'T NEED IT!!
Assuming Canada and New Zealand or anyone else owes their economic success to "the Americans" an unlikely assumption as there is no reason these countries can't build their own military capabilities and negotiate their own trade agreements, they have achieved economic success on the backs of us and at our expense as Americans have yet to enjoy any of the fruits of such success!! As such, they do in fact "owe" us. Is there any chance of us collecting? I'd say no. Just having them respect us as an equal and in general be gone from us would be sufficient!!
Now if New Zealand, Australia, Canada, or name your country wishes to stake territorial claims in the South China Sea or help Vietnam, the Phillipines, Japan or someone else defend theirs by all means STARP IT ON!! By the sentence "...owe their economic success to military support by the Americans..." you come across as condescending and it causes me to suspect you may not be from America. What are we to you? Some asset that you run until it can't be run anymore then you discard it!! Maybe you are a self hating American. I don't know.
With that said if these nations owe their economic success to American military support a normal country who made this military investment would have expected something in return. We've gotten precious little to nothing in return for this. At least any returns do not seem worth the investment. Candidate Trump was right when he suggested that perhaps these should be rethought. As I recall, South Korea and Japan were named specifically. These would be good places to start. I would also include Eastern Europe on the list. Dropping these deadweights has huge upside potential along with no real costs.
Post a Comment