Saturday, June 16, 2018

With Tensions Rising In The South China Sea, China Holds Missile Drills

© AFP 2018 / ST

Reuters: China holds missile drills in South China Sea amid heightened tension

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s navy carried out drills in the South China Sea to simulate fending off an aerial attack, state media said on Friday, as the country trades barbs with the United States over responsibility for heightened tension in the disputed waterway.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed concern during a visit to Beijing on Thursday over China’s efforts to militarize the seas.

His remarks came after a flurry of U.S. activity in the region, including reports last week that U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers had flown near disputed islands that drew a sharp rebuke from China.

China’s navy carried out a simulated missile attack in an unspecified area of the South China Sea using three target drones making flyovers of a ship formation at varying heights, the official army newspaper said.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: On this issue the Chinese do not care what the U.S. is saying, and I suspect that the Chinese are also directly issuing threats and warnings to U.S. officials like US Secretary of State Pompeo .... Pompeo talks North Korea, South China Sea with China's Xi (Reuters).

More News On China Conducting Missile Drills In The South China Sea

Beijing responds to US B-52 bombers flying over South China Sea with anti-aircraft drill -- Business Insider
Chinese navy deploys drones in South China Sea missile drills -- SCMP
Chinese navy carries out missile drills -- News.com.au
China Deploying Advanced Missiles to International Waterway -- Western Journal
Chinese Navy Runs Anti-Aircraft Drills in South China Sea After B-52 Flyby -- Sputnik
Who lost the South China Sea? -- Brahma Chellaney, The Strategist
ASEAN and the New South China Sea Reality -- The Diplomat

4 comments:

fred said...

Let's now blame Obama! but whats-his-name will fix things

fred said...

Consider, too, China’s proclaimed ownership of the South China Sea and her building on reefs and rocks in that sea, of artificial islands that are becoming air, missile and naval bases.

Hawkish voices are being raised that this is intolerable and U.S. air and naval power must be used if necessary to force a rollback of China’s annexation and militarization of the South China Sea.

Why is this not going to happen?

While this area is regarded as vital to China, it is not to us. And while China, a littoral state that controls Hainan Island in that sea, is a legitimate claimant to many of its islets, we are claimants to none.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan are the other claimants. But though their interests in the fishing grounds and seabed resources may be as great as China’s, none has seen fit to challenge Beijing’s hegemony.

Why should we risk war with China to validate the claims of Communist Vietnam or Rodrigo Duterte’s ruthless regime in Manila? Why should their fight become our fight?

China’s interests in the sea are as crucial to her as were U.S. interests in the Caribbean when, a rising power in 1823, we declared the Monroe Doctrine. Over time, the world’s powers came to recognize and respect U.S. special interests in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

Given the steady rise of Chinese military power, the proximity of the islets to mainland China, the relative weakness and reluctance to confront of the other claimants, China will likely become the controlling power in the South China Sea, as we came to be the predominant power in the Western Hemisphere.

What we are witnessing in Crimea, across the Middle East, in the South China Sea, on the Korean peninsula, are nations more willing than we to sacrifice and take risks, because their interests there are far greater than ours.

What America needs is a new national consensus on what is vital to us and what is not, what we are willing to fight to defend and what we are not.

by Pat Buchanan, conservative, GOP etc...no mention of Obama!

jac said...

Fred,
You can give all reason for China, there's a fundamental problem here.
The international tribunal of La Haye under UNCLOS authority judge that these man made islands are illegal. If we are not enforcing it, this create a very bad "precedent". Any countries around the world could do the same thing and bring a lot of conflicting situation.
Do you want more war in the world? May be yes.

Anonymous said...

Fred is a never-Trumper. Just ignore him on anything related to Trump, he usually means well/is alright