Posted on 10/12/2015 10:04:25 AM PDT by amorphous
On Friday, we reported the latest provocation in what has truly become a very dangerous, if largely pointless, staring contest between Beijing and Washington over China’s reclamation of land in The South China Sea.
Responding to suggestions that the US was set to sail warships around the islands Beijing has constructed atop reefs in the Spratlys, China served noticed that it would “never allow any country to violate China's territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight.” This was simply a formalized version of the more concise phrasing the PLA navy used when they instructed the pilots flying a US spy plane to “Go now!” when it ventured too close to Fiery Cross earlier this year.
It’s not immediately clear what China intends to do with the islands and further, it’s not entirely clear why anyone should necessarily care if Beijing wants to build “sand castles” in the middle of the ocean, but then again, for America’s regional allies the land reclamation efforts look a lot an attempt to build a series of military outposts by creating sovereign territory where there was none thereby effectively redrawing maritime boundaries and so, big brother in Washington is set to step in in order to protect vital shipping lanes.
Of course having already said that the navy plans to sail ships into the waters around the islands, the US can ill-afford to allow China’s “we won’t tolerate that” pronouncement to deter the Pentagon because the optics around that would be terrible at a time when the world is already questioning the strength and resolve of the US military. So the ships will indeed sail.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Ping
he got spanked by the iranians and the russians, so now he’s going to go shake his money maker at the chinese.
No, I believe you!
I was just pondering whether there was more to the article.
Perhaps, WSJ complained to Zero Hedge?
Im talking about our military, apparently you didnt watch the overflight video.
Thank you for bringing it to attention. :-)
This is rather dim. Its obvious why they are doing it, they are claiming an entire ocean right up the the Philippine beaches.
“further, it’s not entirely clear why anyone should necessarily care if Beijing wants to build “sand castles” in the middle of the ocean”
This is disingenuous at best and downright ignorant at worst. The Spratlys sit just off the coast of Brunei, and not coincidentally on top of a theorized very large petroleum deposit. The South China Sea serves as a major trade conduit for all those nations bordering it, as well as international cargo moving from the Pacific west to Europe. All the other nations bordering the SCS have claims to at least part of it, but lack the muscle China does.
LOL!
It’s also why China is much more of a cohesive nation than we’ll ever be.
The real world is not impressed by an undocumented pretender.
I hope the left is happy with the disaster they’ve brought upon the country.
One talking head predicted we’d sail 12 miles off this week (over there).
A usurper, with a bad economy, who needs a major distraction.
What could possibly go wrong?
Obama is totally absolutely the wrong guy to try acting tough. No way the Chinese, or anyone else for that matter, respects or fears him. He could very easily get a bunch of men killed and kick-off a huge conflict. What a dangerous homomaniac.
Indeed, more so considering those behind him egging him on, like Soros maybe.
In other words, Zero’s advisors told him he should get tough after letting Putin tap-dance on his face last week.
“The Chinese will not fire on a US Capital Ship.
They know the consequences. “
AS I recall, the Israelis fired on a USN ship and the North Koreans captured another one. I don’t recall anything done in either case except some whining by Jimmie Carter.
Do I have that right?
Meanwhile, these lower oil prices are bankrupting our oil industry. A win for Obama in several ways and for the Saudis, because it eliminates the completion.
And our "Congress" won't lift a finger to investigate the possibility of such blatant corruption. Crony capitalism at its best!
You do realize the response on attacking a carrier vs a destroyer would probably be different, that is an American moving island with 5000 sailors on board. It will get a heavy response.
Why tempt fate? Why not send a mult-national fleet through the area composed of ships especially from those nations directly affected?
Yes, but context matters.
The USS Liberty was immediately proclaimed by Israel as an error.
USS Pueblo was a captured spy boat who's crew were released after 11 months and some torture/abuse.
Both were small, auxillary vessels.
There's a big difference between those incidents and the sinking of a 10,000 Ton DDG. Or even firing on it.
Those reefs would go back to being reefs before the call even reached the Pentagon.
I’m surprised Owe-bama doesn’t want to send them trillions with an apology for America-caused Anthropogenic Global Warming with a reminder they’ll all be under water by 2013.
I wonder why it’s called the South China Sea?
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