Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy warships and fighter jets take part in a military display in the South China Sea, April 12, 2018. Photo: Reuters/Stringer
Asia Times: Short of war, China now controls South China Sea
Beijing's new missile deployment to contested land features has tilted the maritime area's balance of power in its favor. Will the US respond?
Tensions in the South China Sea are on the boil again amid new reports that China has deployed advanced missiles to land features in the disputed maritime area.
According to new reports, China has installed several Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) and Anti-Cruise Ballistic Missiles (ACBMs) systems across the Paracel and Spratly island chains, parts of which are claimed by multiple regional states including the Philippines and Vietnam.
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WNU Editor: To justify their claim, the Chinese are now even pushing old maps .... China’s ‘new’ map aims to extend South China Sea claims (Richard Javad Heydarian, Asia Times).
2 comments:
"Short of war". Yes, absolutely.These "islands" are really nothing. 7 islands of sand would be fully erased with just 7 B2 they cannot detect with their 80 bombs. I really don't know what the Chinese are thinking.
These "islands" represent many things. One of them is to act as a provocation to outside countries. When the US conducts FONOPS the Chinese quickly turn that into national rhetoric. This nationalism allows the government to push its agenda forward while facing little to no backlash from their citizens.
Now like you said about them being fully erased..... Ya your right and again that feeds into the chinese narrative. That being..... That land is an extension of chinese soil... they may lose a few lives to an attack but the nationalist surge that would follow would again allow china to wage a war with little to no backlash from their citizens.
The reason i see something like this as important is if China is involved in any major war where they start suffering causalities they are apt to lose public support very quickly due to their one child policy. When hundreds of family lineages can be wiped out by one boat sinking........
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