Seas fill with tension over China's moves (Meanwhile, Southeast Asia grovels before the Chinese)

Asahi Shimbun ^ | October 2, 2010 | Asahi Shimbun

[Zhang Fei]

The nations of ASEAN are competing to see which of them can do a lower grovel before the Chinese leviathan. The question arises - if they're not prepared to even make a statement opposing China's claims to the South China Sea, for fear of compromising their interests in China, why is Uncle Sam getting involved in their behalf? Remember LBJ's well-known quote - "We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves"?

[egannacht]

Imperialism is human not western.

[dljordan]

“We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves”?

We’re just building up for another round of the ‘Great Game’. Get your flag ready.

[expatguy]

"The nations of ASEAN are competing to see which of them can do a lower grovel before the Chinese leviathan."

Disgusting.

Not one SE Asian nation has groveled before China on this issue nor will they and if China knows what is best then they will keep their nose out of SE Asia.

[Zhang Fei]

Disgusting. Not one SE Asian nation has groveled before China on this issue nor will they and if China knows what is best then they will keep their nose out of SE Asia.

Read the article and you may change your mind. What's disgusting is that China has taken over the entire South China Sea and is fishing in ASEAN waters without ASEAN lifting a finger. Here's the relevant passage:

But concerns among ASEAN members about directly confronting their close neighbor China have watered down U.S. efforts.

On Sept. 24, U.S. President Barack Obama held a 90-minute meeting with the 10 leaders of the ASEAN nations in New York, mainly to discuss the situation in the South China Sea.

However, in the joint statement released after that meeting, the term "South China Sea" that the United States had included in the draft had been deleted.

Three days earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu issued a veiled threat: "We will express our gravest concerns about any statement regarding the South China Sea."

The question then arises - if these people won't even issue a statement criticizing China, what are we doing potentially putting our boys in harm's way? We're making a bigger stink about this than they are, and it's not our territory that's at stake.

[Zhang Fei]

We’re just building up for another round of the ‘Great Game’. Get your flag ready.

It's looking more and more like a walkover for the Chinese every day. The Chinese never did this kind of stuff when we had Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines. Looks like when the Filipinos kicked Uncle Sam out back in the early 90's, they screwed not only themselves, but the rest of Southeast Asia as well.

[DWar]

China can do whatever it wants:
1) 1.3 billion people (and growing)
2) The 2nd largest (and growing) economy in the world
3) Dictators with a history of and willingness to ethnically cleanse any land they occupy in the name of national xenophobia
4) Growing wealth, strength and influence everywhere
5) An opponent willing only to talk and unwilling to compete in anything meaningfully.

The major beginning will be the taking of Taiwan before Obama leaves office. What will zero do? Nothing.

The United States once had a vision of Manifest Destiny.
So do today’s Chinese.

[patriot preacher]

I have a suggestion for Japan and our other friends in East and Southeast Asia — particularly Taiwan and South Korea. You might think about secret collaborations NOW to put together tactical nuclear weapons deterrent capabilities.

The United States will not be a reliable ally in a very short time, either because we have undependable leadership (as is currently the case), because we have been run into the ground economically and politically by self destructive leadership (which seems to be the way we are going unless that changes quickly) OR we are trying to rebuild capabilities but are over-committed at home or in other theaters. In any case, reliance on the US is not a safe bet anymore for your survival, much less your prosperity. And China wants to swallow you like a tiger wants a little baby rabbit...

[Dick Vomer]

I'm just glad the Navy put this

in charge of our Carrier Task Force in this area. She's an English major and commanded some relief operations during Katrina.

[hinckley buzzard]

There is no power in Asia which can resist the growing hegemony of China. Only the US has the juice to make a billion pieces of filth act like civilized people. Trouble is, we have a degenerate traitor for a president who has a desire to cripple America.

I see a Bad Moon arising.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

Had to go to http://nafhq.org/articles/Bullhorns/Bullhorn71%20050410.htm and scroll down to Flag Officer Assignments to find her.

I can't believe that with the other recently appointed flag officers, she is the one put in charge of something important. Not that she isn't competent at what she does or isn't tough (I'll bet she is) but I think that most if not all of the other guys would be better to lead the task force if the situation got hot.

She sure does look like one of the guys. With that silly boy haircut she looks better with her cap on in my opinion.

Why lesbians have to have a man's haircut instead of a short and sassy feminine cut that would enhance their appearance, I'll never know...

http://nafhq.org/articles/Bullhorns/Bullhorn71 050410.htm

Rear Admiral Nora W. Tyson

[neverdem]

Vietnam has made no secret of its opposition to what it calls Chinese hegemony in the South China Sea. Last December it ordered six Russian submarines in a deal worth $2 billion or more; two months later another $1 billion was spent on 12 Russian fighter jets. Malaysia might be less vocal about its China anxiety, but its decision to base its new Scorpène-class subs on the island of Borneo, with its strategic outlook over the South China Sea, speaks volumes. (See pictures of China-Vietnam border war in 1979.)

There are two main beneficiaries of China's muscle-flexing: The first, of course, are weapons manufacturers. The second is the U.S. Last month the U.S.S. George Washington, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, cruised into Vietnamese waters to mark the 15th anniversary of normalization of relations between two once warring nations. It also sent a signal to Beijing that Vietnam is seeking closer military ties with the U.S., whose Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits Hanoi next month. Even as Southeast Asia seeks a modus vivendi with China because of its growing wealth and might, the region is signaling to Washington that the U.S. remains needed as a counterweight and honest broker.

If the Chicoms want trouble with the Vietnamese, I don't doubt that the Vietnamese will have any problem with fighting. Claiming rights that cover about two thirds of their coastline, 12 degrees north latitude, is not friendly. The Paracel Islands appear closer to Vietnam than the island of Hainan. It's about 1000 miles across the South China Sea to the Philippines from Vietnam, IIRC.

[lentulusgracchus]

...why is Uncle Sam getting involved in their behalf?

A little issue called "freedom of the seas", which is still the lifeblood of international trade.

Own the right to preclude or exclude foreign bottoms from all or part of the world's oceans, and that is the equivalent of a choke-hold on all trade.

[lentulusgracchus]

Looks like when the Filipinos kicked Uncle Sam out back in the early 90's, they screwed not only themselves, but the rest of Southeast Asia as well.

Asahi has of course their own POV on this, and I thought I heard the grumble of an axe being ground in the background somewhere, but they are explicit in saying that the Chinese would definitely like to take over the Philippines and Okinawa and the Ryukyu/Senkaku chains.

As in, boots on the ground and Mandarin in the schools.

[lentulusgracchus]

The United States once had a vision of Manifest Destiny. So do today’s Chinese.

So does Ozero.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

This rapidly looming global war, brought to you by Wal*mart and “free trade”.

[kanawa]

Ring on her left hand which I recall from my dating days means better left alone.
She's married.

[lentulusgracchus]

Here we go with freedom of the seas again ..... glad we haven't signed the UN-bastardized Law of the Seas Treaty (LOST).

[Screaming_Gerbil]

Ring on her left hand which I recall from my dating days means better left alone.
She's married.

Oh My God! I totally missed that!

Thanks for pointing that out.

I guess it could be just for show (the ring or the man she is married to) but will be fair and give her the benefit of the doubt that she is a married heterosexual woman who just looks masculine and prefers a short boyish hairstyle.

And to top it off... I consider myself something of an expert with gender presentation / gender nonconformity issues (Please don't ask)...

And then something like this happens and I make a comment on her appearance (gender presentation) and then wind up looking totally stupid because I apparently am just as gender biased as everyone else...

Well, just goes to show that you can't assume just because a woman is not beautiful and has a short haircut they are a lesbian...

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks neverdem. China will get too deep into imperial expansion, and be bled to death in those adventures as well as by its own restive Muzzie population, and we need to be ready to help (and I don’t mean help China).