Posted on 04/05/2019 9:27:07 AM PDT by blam
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte escalated his unusually confrontational rhetoric with China over the fate of a disputed South China Sea island on Thursday, warning Beijing that Philippine troops are prepared to conduct “suicide missions” if China does not back down.
“I will not plead or beg, but I am just telling you to lay off the Pagasa because I have soldiers their,” Duterte said in a speech on Thursday, using the common Filipino name for Thitu Island in the Spratly chain.
“If you touch it, that’s another story. Then I will tell my soldiers, ‘Prepare for suicide missions,’” Duterte warned the Chinese.
Duterte pulled his punch by clarifying that his musings about suicide missions were “not a warning but a word of advice to a friend,” as the South China Morning Post put it.
The Philippines lodged formal protests with China this week over a huge number of Chinese fishing boats swarming around the island, which as Duterte indicated hosts a small force of soldiers from the Philippines manning a small airfield. The waters around the island are frequented by Filipino fishermen, who complain the flotilla of largely inactive Chinese trawlers are blocking their access to favored fishing grounds.
The presence of Chinese coast guard and naval vessels in the flotilla, along with paramilitary “maritime militia” crews aboard the trawlers, led the Philippines to complain China is inexorably taking control of Thitu Island.
Duterte’s remarks could be taken as a blustery confession of impotence since he has repeatedly backed down from confronting China over disputed territory and stated that military resistance would be futile. Musing about suicide missions could be a way of throwing up his hands and trying to get attention from the international community. Also, Duterte has been criticized at home for taking a soft line...
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(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
you and what army, i guess...
Say that to the Soviets in Afghanistan.
You’d be surprised what locals who know the place can do.
They have a long history of making hell for outsiders.
I wouldn’t put it past them.
i just hope he has a willing army before he tries the counterattack
Look at Thitu island on a Google Earth. In normal Philippine style, it has some ramshackle huts and what looks like a dirt landing strip or possibly a dirt road.
Then look at the Chinese “islands” surrounding it on 3 sides - all concrete, super long runways, proper military bases, some even with destroyers at berth
‘tis true, in that part of the world, war can get very very vicious
What may be the largest oil reserve on the planet lies under the Spratley Islands, that’s why China and all the other dink countries over there are claiming ownership of worthless chunks of rock.
there’s a lot of vice in the picture... who’s been feeding China till fat started coming out of its gills? we may be seeing the answer in a mirror. and the world cannot stand up to a fool who is full of food.
We are basically watching the push of the new 21’st century almond-eyed nazis.
‘you and what army, i guess...’
I was thinking the same. I’m sure they have cannon fodder, but I doubt much more. Even our military, at this point, would likely get trounced by China, at least in their part of the planet.
We really have to deal with REALITY, whether we like it or not. The Chinese have access to EVERYTHING we’ve developed, through their spy network - and then they have their own weapons, of which we’re clueless to understand, or even comprehend.
Sucks to be Number 2 (or maybe Number 3), but acting like it’s still 1991 only lasts for so long.
Clarification: more natural gas than oil, perhaps. China wants it all, that’s why they’re claiming everything within the nine-dash line.
“....The Chinese have access to EVERYTHING we’ve developed, ....”
Though all the Chinese students, grad students & visiting profs in STEM fields at US institutions. But you say US colleges & institutions get IP (intellectual property) in what’s developed. Well yes they do but who enforces?!
Don’t need anything clandestine when you jus give it away!
because I have soldiers their,” Duterte said in a speech
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pretty sure he said “I have soldiers there”
threatening to commit (or have your boys commit) suicide is not the best approach
better to threaten to kill the enemy, instead
If the Philippine leadership had walking around sense they would offer the US a base at Subic Bay again and have the USN all about their vast numbers of islands. China will consider the Philippines a paper tiger and roll over them when and if they decide.
That’s my point. I’ve worked with 2 Chinese nationals in my career (and some of it was pretty advanced stuff). In one case, the guy wrote the code to a flight control system, based on everything he learned here from us...got sent back to China, and took the code, and everything related to it with him - we didn’t even have anything we could use in our project. We just looked at each other and figured out that we were scammed by this bunch.
In another instance we had another Chinese national working with us - got what he needed...but to this day, we don’t know whether or if he sent what he learned back home...but yea, why wouldn’t he? But in his defense, I guess, he was a very nice person (except to my immigrant wife, who could smell a mole 1000 miles away).
The bottom line is that it is MUCH MORE expensive and risky for this country to use people of questionable loyalty, than to use Americans - but US companies simply don’t give a shit regarding that.
Have seen all of that & heard similar stories many times more!
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