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Obama Won't Back Down After Chinese Threat, Sends U.S. Warships To Contested Islands In "Matter Of Days"
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. Here’s WSJ:
The U.S. determination to challenge China with patrols near Chinese-built islands in the South China Sea will test Xi Jinping’s recent pledge that Beijing doesn’t intend to “militarize” the islands, an announcement that took U.S. officials by surprise.
The Chinese leader made the commitment during a news conference with President Barack Obama at the White House late last month, though he left it unclear how the pledge would affect China’s activities in the disputed area of the South China Sea.
If Mr. Xi’s goal was to discourage the U.S. from conducting patrols near the artificial islands, he doesn’t appear to have succeeded. After months of debate in the U.S. government, there is now a consensus that the U.S. Navy should send ships or aircraft within 12 nautical miles of the artificial islands to challenge China’s territorial claims there, according to people familiar with internal discussions.
A U.S. official confirmed Sunday that a decision had been made to conduct such patrols but said it was unclear when that might happen or where exactly. “It’s just a matter of time when it happens,” the official said. Another U.S. official indicated that the operation could come within days.
The question now is whether China will respond to such operations by reining in its plans to develop the islands or backing away from the commitment not to militarize them, pointing to the U.S. patrols as a provocation.
Anyone who knows anything about how China generally prefers to respond in situations like these knows that Beijing will almost certainly call any US naval presence a "provocation" and they'll be exactly right. After all, there's something rather ironic about claiming that China is in the process of militarizing the South China Sea and then deciding that the best way to de-escalate the situation is to sail warships to the area. Here's WSJ again:
The Pacific Fleet has been ready to conduct “freedom of navigation operations,” or Fonops, around China’s artificial islands for months after being asked to draw up options by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter earlier this year. The decision to begin the patrols appears to have been delayed to avoid disrupting the summit, people familiar with internal discussions say.
“A U.S. Fonop gives China an opportunity to assert that the United States is the country ‘militarizing’ the South China Sea and, if China chooses, such a Fonop provides a rationale for China to further militarize or develop the features it occupies,” said Taylor Fravel, an expert on the Chinese military at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
So in reality, the real question is this: now that Russia has moved to effectively reclaim the Mid-East from US influence, and now that China is in the process of using its island building efforts to establish what we've called a kind of Sino-Monroe Doctrine, how long will it be before someone actually challenges the US military by shooting down a plane in the desert or firing on a ship in the Spratlys just to test Washington's resolve?
* * *
Finally here again, as a reminder, are the satellite images which demonstrate the extent to which Beijing is "changing the landscape", so to speak, in the South China Sea.
Subi:
Fiery Cross:
Mischief:
»
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Think of this as the logical outcme of Admiral Mahan's plan to extend US naval power westward across the Pacific in the late 1800's-early 1900's. Expansion has been checked by China's economic power allowing them to build the military and naval forces needed to accomplish that.
But with China's economy swirling around the crapper bowl, how long can they keep this up? Is this some game on the part of Warshington to play economic 'chicken', and see if our moribund economy can outlast theirs?
You forgot this island:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Diegogarcia.jpg
Oops. The US took that one. My bad.
Wasn't that a show, "Where In The World Is Diego Garcia?"
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.[
classic quotation - YEAH we know who!! hahhahahahaha!!
LOL!
I know U know that I know U know who said that!
A bottle of your favorite rummy for you...
"The danger of the USA's threats of movement into what China now considers its territorial waters, is what will they do if China will call its bluff. "
I think it would be stupid for these two Superpowers to start trading live fire. But ... ships ramming each other, ships colliding, 25-foot dents in the hull - that is a distinct possibility. WONDER what kind of ship the USN will send into that sort of face-off?
South China sea belongs to China from long before. During the world war 2, Japan occupied China, the whole China became chaos and break into pieces. South China Sea was under the country of Japan at that time. China asked the Soviet Union for help. The Soviet Union forced China to divide north china into two countries (Outer Mongolia and inner Mongolia now inside China). Soviet Union had accepted a lot of land from China as gift too. The Soviet Union and USA helped China drove Japan out….
After the WWII, Cairo Declaration was signed on December 1, 1943 by the United States, Britain, and China, the Potsdam Declaration of July 1945 reiterates that the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out. On August 15 that same year, the Japanese Emperor announceannounced Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and its unconditional surrender to the Allies.
December 9, 1947 China with the help of Americans China took American military ship to take over the ownership of South China Sea Islands from Japan. At that time all countries admitted South China Sea ,which once was colony of Japan was back to China after the WWII. Chiang Kai-shek signed those documents about the right of South China sea. You can find the document in old newspaper and maps.
But US ignored the treaty and rewarded the islands to Japan by signing San Francisco treaty with Japan in 1951 without China's consent, which is illegal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iLDrYIEF8w
Diaoyu Islands: The Truth 720P (a Hollywood director's own story)
That's all very well but look at the map.
Whatever oil there is there could probably be gotten out at the same cost by joint ventures, so this is clearly a territorial adventure.
I'm all for China taking more of role in world events including military, but they just seem to have an odd sense or where and when.
So basicallythe Jews don't want ww3 on their doorstep so they shift it to the East.
Fucking great
It's amazing how you brainwashed leftists think that 13 million Jews in the world have so much power.
Unbelievable.
RIGHT-WINGERS, not Leftists. Leftists for the most part are pawns of the Liberal Jews. And well-educated enough to know that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a forgery. Wingnuts, being fifty years behind the times, are still blaming the Rothschilds. They don't realize that the one thing Hitler DID accomplish, was to reduce the power of the Rothschild family and substitute the Rockefellers as the main behind-the-scenes Anglo-American financial power-brokers.
Hey, that's a nice pup you have there.
. . . . it’s not entirely clear why anyone should necessarily care if Beijing wants to build “sand castles” in the middle of the ocean . . .
Tyler and the gang can't really be this obtuse can they? The reason "anyone" (i.e. the USA) cares about China building "sand castles" in the middle of the ocean is because that area of the middle of no-where happens to lie over some really rich sources of natural gas and crude oil. The USA is just being consistent with their ongoing policy of trying to control all of the petroleum resources around the world that they possibly can - and if they can't control those resources they will try their damnedest to prevent anyone else from accessing them, if at all possible.
If Obama is stupid enough to send ships into China's declared territorial waters in these areas, despite being warned by China not to do so (in no uncertain terms), he deserves to have those ships blown out of the water. Unfortunately, if that were to happen a lot of innocent sailors would lose their lives . . . . and I definitely don't want to see that happen. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail . . .
The USA warmongers provoking more war? Well, yes, that is what we do, we are not afraid of ww3 with China and Russia. We are exceptional and the rest of the world is dispensable.
wont these islands tip over if the chinese build airports on them...?
Well, well, what a conundrum. Either the U.S. accepts a unilateral movement of China's borders several hundred miles eastward, or . . . we had better go to TOTAL WAR, right away, before China gets strong enough to successfully fight back. If it's not already too late.
The situation does play to the U.S.' favorite military technique. The man-made islands have no foreign or civilian indigenous populations; they are solely government outposts. An act of war would be uncomplicated by collateral damage, and they are small enough and fragile enough to probably be wiped back to rock by sustained bombardment. The U.S. could attack using planes based in the Phillipines, so no new bases are needed. The Chinese have nukes, but no delivery systems practically capable of retaliating on the U.S. mainland. Overall, a decisive strike at this point with no restraints, might set the Chinese rise to power back another fifty years.
But of course, we would lose ALL of our cheap Chinese manufactured goods overnight. Half of our new TTP "partners" would disavow any relations with us out of fear of Chinese retaliation. The Phillipines would probably be flattened. And many more countries would be forced to choose between trade with China, or with us . . . and would probably not choose us.
Nasty decision. But sending a few ships to show the flag and stir up trouble in the Spratley's, rather than making a decisive move? THE STOOOOPID, IT BURRRRRNS. Commit completely, or STAY OUT. He who teases tigers ends up as dinner.
Let me make a predictions. That US fleets? WILL NOT COME CLOSE TO TERRITORIAL WATERS!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_boundary#Zones
Don't confuse territorial waters with Exclusize Economic Zones (EEZ). You can "tresspass" on EEZ waters.
And even IF US carriers want to go close to that territorial waters? All china has to do? mined those coastal waters. China produced a non-magnetic sea floor buried type seamines. Would be fun to watch US fleets bottom hull pierced by this mines.
Or launch ASM/Shkval torpedoes to US fleets from this.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/25/us-usa-china-submarines-idUSKB...
Or this,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-cEunmqXM8
(That's what military called terminal's maneuvering warhead. Even if US use lasers? A hypersonic warhead creates plasma around its warhead. That plasma? Would just absord any laser thrown at it. Don't understand? Ask your physic's friends. If you have any)
If you think that YT video is just some silly chinese simulation? Read this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-carrier-killer-missile-test-proves...
If you think, that missile is just experimental? Look at this:
http://mashable.com/2015/09/03/china-carrier-killer-missile/
(Look at the date of the article)
So, i'll just wait what kind of US stupidity would be put upon chinese face.
HAHA.. HAHAHA.. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....
CabalA$$LickerLiarDemonicObama wants to sanction China
And nothing can stop this Bastard
(Real reason: AIIB, NDB)
OK, those reefs were nowhere near any place that would make sense for China to lay territorial claims to them.
The only nations that I can see in that neighbourhood are Vietnam, Malaysia and Philippines.
Sorry, but in this particular conflict China needs to fuck off.
He's whipping his angry inch out.
Who thinks this sudden challenge in the south China Sea might be a direct result of the recent events in Syria? Yes Russia has directly intervened to ensure its interests in the ME but China had also pledged its support to "fight terrorism" there as well.
Russia isn't going to budge out of the ME now. However China might begin to second guess its pledge to "fight terrorism" in the ME if it feels its economic and political interests in the south China Sea need a little extra support in light of the developments described in this article.
Then there's this......
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e92_1430491962
China welcomes US to use Chinese facilities in South China Sea for humanitarian purposes