A game of chicken between countries over some worthless islands.
China is flexing it’s muscles.
-——China is flexing it’s muscles.-——
I prefer to believe that China is testing the mettle of a pacifist coward
They are not worthless. The ocean around them is oil rich.
>>A game of chicken between countries over some worthless islands.<<
Not so worthless. Both China and Japan know there is needed energy underneath the ocean floor.
Japan imports the majority of their oil, China’s thirst for oil has grown double digits as their economy continues to mature.
It’s all about the oil and gas.
Venturer, It isn’t only about ‘some worthless islands’ but control of the sea and air lanes that cross the East China Sea. this is a huge area between China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. It is an area of 482,000 square miles. Here is the area in dispute: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_China_Sea
It is also the claiming of ownership of an area that is beyond the internationally agreed 12 mile limit. Imagine if the USA said, “We own the entire Gulf of Mexico and countries could not send aircraft or ships into its area without out our permission.
And tie this into their claims of ownership of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. a group of islands closer to the Philippines than China.
They have a centuries-old blood feud, they'll fight over anything... and while the islands are not important, it is the massive oil and natural gas fields beneath them that matter... and Japan is (wisely) flexing as well, and hopefully they use the coming war as an excuse to change their Constitution. 60+ years of letting the US be their primary defense is enough. Let them take on China without our boys being put in the middle.
Not worthless. OIL and lots of it!
China is flexing it’s muscles.
The islands themselves are not the prize; the wealth of the sea and under the seabed around them are the prize.
They aren’t worthless at all.
That is a huge untapped oil/energy field right there and whoever owns them owns that.