The HMS Albion passed near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on its way to Ho Chi Minh City
SCMP: Foreign warships in South China Sea ‘causing trouble’, Beijing’s ambassador to Britain says
Freedom of navigation ‘not a licence to do whatever one wishes’, Liu Xiaoming tells diplomats in London
Big countries from outside the region are abusing their freedom of navigation rights and causing trouble in the South China Sea, Beijing’s ambassador to Britain said, in a clear jab at Western nations’ recent operations in the disputed waterway.
Speaking in London on Wednesday at the annual Induction Programme for Commonwealth Diplomats organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Liu Xiaoming said that the progress made by China and Asean (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in formulating a code of conduct in the South China Sea showed that countries in the region had the confidence and capability to resolve disputes.
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WNU Editor: Someone should tell the Chinese Ambassador that "freedom of navigation" is the freedom to navigate.
Obviously the Chinese don't take "freedom of the seas" or "freedom of navigation" as applying to waters they unilaterally take for themselves. The law of the seas ends at the bows of their warships.
ReplyDeleteDa - Don't care. Keep pushing the boundaries of their perceived waters. Would love to see fly overs of their islands. Force them to make decision to shoot or not.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that China keeps raising their young ones with this idea and have done so for now a few decades. These are now hardened believers and starting to take on senior roles on those ships incl captain. They absolutely believe the south China Sea is theirs and that we, the west, are aggressors. And those who do know better are more and more afraid to speak out because of the new things the state is using, including increased surveillance, abductions of disagreeing people and of course the social scoring system that can end your and your family members' lifes - no torture needed, also better on the humans rights watch...you just won't find a good job anymore and are more likely to end up in prison. So yeah, this -will- end in conflict. Question is only when and where exactly. The Chinese side will not tell their ship, which gets to choose when to attack and where, to stand down. So I'd expect an inferior ship by the west to be targeted and driven into quick surrender (before backup can arrive) and be forced to leave or be destroyed. Either a rogue captain, or, more likely an instructed captain. It's their red line and they are gearing up for years now to enforce it and are eager to slap us... and, until the US makes the necessary advances in protecting ships against their ship killer missile network spread throughout the area, will lose this conflict in most simulations.
ReplyDeleteSo we should ask ourselves: is this also our red line? If so, we should choose the when and where, as China will not be talked into sense by diplomats. That's the sad reality. The trade war will not change this, but it could present a good opportunity to enforce our interests in this area, likely towards 2021/22 when hypersonic advances on US side, and a built out US military high on the economic upturn will once again be capable of overwhelming China if needed. So yeah, the Chinese will do everything they can to get rid of Trump. Especially once the Russia phobia has gone down and people start to see both threats that are more and more equal or even dominated by China.