Posted on 08/31/2024 7:28:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (yes, that's really what they call it) has been acting aggressively towards Philippine shipping and fishing vessels in the South China Sea for some time now. Because of this, the United States Navy is now reportedly "open to consultations" about the possibility of using American ships to escort Philippine shipping through the contested area.
What could possibly go wrong with that?
The U.S. military is open to consultations about escorting Philippine ships in the disputed South China Sea, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Tuesday amid a spike in hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the disputed waters.
Adm. Samuel Paparo’s remarks, which he made in response to a question during a news conference in Manila with Philippine Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., provided a glimpse of the mindset of one of the highest American military commanders outside the U.S. mainland on a prospective operation that would risk putting U.S. Navy ships in direct collisions with those of China.
Granted the Philippines is a U.S. ally, at a time when we can use all the friendly faces in the west Pacific that we can find. We have important bases in the Philippines, which occupy a strategic location. But our ally is butting heads with China rather a lot lately:
China and the Philippines accused each other of causing a collision between their two vessels Saturday in the latest flareup of tensions over disputed waters and maritime features in the South China Sea.
In a statement posted on social media, Chinese coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun was quoted as saying that a Philippine ship maneuvered and “deliberately collided” with a Chinese coast guard ship “in an unprofessional and dangerous manner.”
Philippine officials in Manila said it was their coast guard ship, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, that was rammed thrice by the Chinese coast guard without any provocation, causing damage to the Philippine vessel.
This is the kind of incident that we are going to be escorting Philippine shipping through. What happens when a Chinese Coast Guard captain "accidentally" bumps into a U.S. Navy frigate or destroyer?
These are the kinds of flashpoints that can start wars. And, candidly, we aren't ready for a war in the West Pacific.
That's not to say that we shouldn't stand by an ally. We have treaty obligations to consider, namely the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.
But there's just a lot that can go wrong when things are this tense. China, by which we can only mean the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has been showing increasing bellicosity in the West Pacific for quite a while. Under Chairman Xi, it is facing a host of problems; a moribund economy that they have been trying to conceal, a population that is about to walk off a demographic cliff, and a real-estate bubble in the process of bursting; this is a recipe for national leaders becoming increasingly irrational.
China is not showing aggression solely towards the Philippines, either. Japan has been the target of China's bellicosity lately too.
Granted with many of these actions China is probably, as the saying goes, testing the waters. We do the same thing, calling it the exercise of the right of passage in international waters or airspace, as the case may be. Russia does it too; every seafaring nation does these things.
But for some reason, China is pushing harder on the Philippines, perhaps because that nation's military is, unlike Japan, rather modest - but surely China knows that the United States has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, which makes one wonder what, at the end of the day, they are really trying to accomplish.
And, of course, there is the visible weakness and incompetence of American leadership to consider. One wonders what General Douglas MacArthur might have said.
The Philippines rejected America and cozied up to the Chinese Communists. Now they see who they were jumping into bed with.
I lived in the Philippines as a military dependent for several years back in the late Sixties into the Seventies, and I really liked the country and its inhabitants. It saddened me greatly to see the falling out we had.
Hate to see it coming to this.
A lot of our ships in the Med are failing and cannot get back to the USA.
The Chinese are rapidly expanding their Navy and adding lots of brand new ships.
Biden’s handlers (Obama) have a great plan here.
On many levels the China/Philippines clash is quite different from the Russia/Ukraine one. Still, I’m not sure just what the proper American response should be.
But there’s one thing I’m quite sure of. Way, way better that Trump call the shots than Biden or Harris.
Nothing.
We pulled all our carrier groups out of the Pacific theater, China owns the waves over there now
Yeah...no.
“ But our ally is butting heads with China rather a lot lately:”
Chicoms attacking Philippines boats in Philippine territory is not “butting heads.”
I too have spent a lot of time in the PI.
I most remember how the US bases created entire cities based on prostitution, and the resulting destruction of PI society. Drunken revelry and prostitution.
That’s what got us thrown out...there was no other way to end it. It wasn’t all our fault, and it wasn’t all their fault. It evolved over 100 years and finally metastasized into a powerful destructive force.
That said, the PI is of ENORMOUS geo political value. And we have a long history with the people there. I’m glad to see the increase of goodwill and cooperation.
I just hope it doesn’t go back to what it was.
“A lot of our ships in the Med are failing and cannot get back to the USA.”
Source?
No what? We pulled out, our carriers are gone, to send to ME, Google it
Yes, of course. I am well aware of Olongapo and others.
But that is something that is seen all over the world in nearly every country around military bases. It is as timeless as the military.
I am not defending it. That is just how it is.
We have plenty of assets there. Bird farms aren’t needed.
I think perhaps you are thinking of the Army-owned vessels that were involved in that stupendously stupid, horrible, politically asinine, and wasteful endeavor involving the floating pier in Gaza?
I have heard those vessels are in poor condition, but I have heard nothing about US Navy vessels that approach that condition.
Agreed, the PI were a massively missed opportunity for the US all the way back to 1898. Instead of promoting independence, we took “The White Man’s Burden” route.
That’s the way I see it. If they are going to get us involved with this, a carrier would be a wasteful overkill.
We are going to get into an altercation with Communist China someday, I fear. This is just one of the ways that can happen.
But I also think that given what we saw in the book “Unrestricted Warfare” written by two PLA Colonels that appears to have been accepted as the best path by the CCP, they may also avoid open warfare. They view open warfare with the USA as a chump’s game.
In the book, they describe how it is better to build just enough military to make us bankrupt ourselves out of fear, while weakening or even toppling us by every other non-military means they can bring to bear.
What we see from the Ukraine war where inexpensive naval drones reach out and strike targets ~600 miles away, aircraft carriers may be little more than floating coffins.
Exactly.
Duarte is gone. Bongbong Marcos is the new President, and he wants to make amends with the USA, and supports a new alliance. He’s the son of the Ferdinand Marcos and loves America.
I say let’s bring back that old friendship.
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