China Runs Rings Around Asean: That is why they want US help

This is how much of the of the South China Seas the Assoc. of South east Asian Nations will get!

                     While China says it remains committed to “peaceful development,” it will not compromise its “core interests.” These core interests include sovereignty over atolls in the South China Sea that are also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei. Countries contesting China’s claims will be dealt with assertively.

Beijing has been true to its word. In January, when the Philippines unilaterally challenged China’s expansive maritime claims at the United Nations, Beijing angrily refused to participate in the case, arguing that the dispute resolution body under the Law of the Sea had no jurisdiction to hear it. The Philippines’ case is not about who owns the islands but whether the nine-dash line that appears on official Chinese maps is compatible with the Law of the Sea. That line encompasses 80% of the South China Sea.

US hopes China and Japan can resolve island dispute as China says all China seas are hers

                                                            
* US hopes China and Japan can resolve island:Ties between the world's second- and third-biggest economies have been strained over the uninhabited islets, controlled by Japan but claimed by both countries. The isles are known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Aircraft and ships from the two countries have played cat-and-mouse in the vicinity of the islands, raising fears of conflict, perhaps sparked by an accident.


Speaking after a tour of the region, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel said the world did not want the spat to get out of hand. Global interest in economic stability, Russel told a news conference in Beijing, was "too strong for the world's second and third-largest economies to remain at odds.
    
 *China warns America: Beijing has warned the United States not to support China’s neighbours’ claims to disputed islands in the East and South China Seas, the government said on Friday.

Sino-Japanese ties have soured dramatically since Tokyo nationalised some of the Senkaku islands, which Beijing claims and calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea a year ago. China also claims almost all of the South China Sea including waters close to its neighbours’ coasts, and tensions with the Philippines and Vietnam have intensified in recent years.

US opposes coercive China action in island dispute: The United States says it's committed to defending Japan and opposes any coercive action by China to seize territory under Japanese control in the East China Sea. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. isn't taking a position in the dispute over the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

Japan and China have sparred over the uninhabited islands in recent years. Kerry's strong words of support Sunday for America's ally come just a day after he promised new levels of U.S.-Chinese cooperation on a host of problems, most notably North Korea's nuclear program.

Knowing the coercion has been going on for years and ratcheting up of late is Japan supposed to be heartened by that statement? Or China chastised? Just a week ago:

China to open disputed South China Sea islands to tourism: The plans to allow tourists to visit the Paracel Islands before the May Day holiday is the latest stage in Beijing's development of the territory, which has previously angered Vietnam and caused concern in Washington.

Vietnam and China have a longstanding territorial row over the Paracel Islands.Hanoi last month accused a Chinese vessel of firing on one of its fishing boats which had sailed in disputed waters in the area. The plan to allow cruise tours follows rapid development of infrastructure in a new city — Sansha — along with the establishment of an army garrison on one of the Paracels last year.

Inch by inch step by step slowly China's plan in the China sea's turns. Isn't this from inception coercion?

Beijing tells US to 'shut up' over South China Sea tensions

Protests in Vietnam as anger over China's 'bullying' grows: Hands off you Bastard neighbor

Analysis: China unveils oil offensive in South China Sea squabble, outside intervention not welcome

Analysis: China unveils oil offensive in South China Sea squabble: Beijing claims almost all the South China Sea, a body of water believed to hold rich reserves of oil and gas and which stretches from China to Indonesia and from Vietnam to the Philippines. Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia claim parts of it. Any conflict in the sea, one of the world's busiest trade routes, would have global repercussions given the $5 trillion in ship-borne trade carried on its waters each year. "The Chinese government's stance is clearer than ever ... They want to take on and develop this region," said an executive at a global oil major, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The Philippines put two disputed blocks on offer on Tuesday but only received three separate bids for exploration rights, an indication that there was little appetite to go up against China in the South China Sea. "China's view is that the little countries, like Vietnam and the Philippines, are increasingly stealing its resources and it must demonstrate it is serious about upholding its claims," said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

*Ministry of Defense: outside intervention not welcome: A military spokesman on Tuesday warned foreign countries to avoid interfering with territorial disputes between China and its neighbors regarding the South China Sea. On the eve of the 85th founding anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the Chinese government held an unprecedented press conference by inviting five senior officers with the PLA's four headquarters to meet the press. "We oppose any country outside the region intervening in these disputes," Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said on the sidelines of the conference.

"Any intervention by countries outside the region will complicate the problem and even deteriorate the situation," Geng said, calling for bilateral dialogue and negotiations to solve disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. The spokesman said disputes in the South China Sea mainly revolve around sovereignty and sea delimitation. "China will continue to seek appropriate solutions through bilateral negotiations and consultations with parties directly involved in the disputes," Geng said. Tensions have risen in the South China Sea, where China, Vietnam, the Philippines and other several countries in the region have made overlapping territorial claims over multiple islands.

Now we know why China would not sign the SouthEast China sea accord! They planned on breaking the accord and dramatically ratcheting up tensions by setting up a Government over the disputed Islands and seas so they would have an excuse to intervene militarily. 

*China Approves City Council, Military Base in Disputed Islands: China says it has formed a municipal council for a newly established city in a disputed part of the South China Sea, and has authorized the deployment of a military base in the area. In a report published Sunday, China's official Xinhua news agency says 1,100 residents of several islands known in Chinese as Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha have elected 45 deputies to a municipal people's congress. The islands are part of the new city called Sansha, and the council will be based on an island that China refers to as Yongxing, known in English as Woody Island.

Xinhua also says China's Central Military Commission has approved the formation of a Sansha garrison command responsible for “national defense” and “military operations.” The Chinese government declared the establishment of Sansha last month, saying its role is to administer the disputed Paracel and Spratly archipelagos and surrounding South China Sea waters, which are believed to hold oil and natural gas deposits. The islands are claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

*China dubs tiny island new city in sea claim bid: China's newest city is a tiny and remote island in the South China Sea, barely large enough to host a single airstrip. There is a post office, bank, supermarket and a hospital, but little else. Fresh water comes by freighter on a 13-hour journey from China's southernmost province.Beijing has created the city administration to oversee not only the rugged outpost but hundreds of thousands of square kilometers (miles) of water, aiming to strengthen its control over disputed - and potentially oil-rich - islands.A spokesman for the Philippines Foreign Ministry said Manila did not recognize the city or its jurisdiction. Vietnam said China's actions violated international law.

The city administration is on tiny Yongxing island, 350 kilometers (220 miles) southeast from China's tropical Hainan Island. The Cabinet approved Sansha last month to "consolidate administration" over the Paracel and Spratly island chains and the Macclesfield Bank, a large, completely submerged atoll that boasts rich fishing grounds that is also claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines. Vietnam and China both claim the Paracels, of which Yongxing, little more than half the size of Manhattan's Central Park, is part. The two countries along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim all or parts of the Spratlys.

This just raises the threat of conflict in the South China Sea. China's way of resolving the multi nation South China Sea issue is not just to lay claim to the whole of China Sea's but today token claim to them as being habitated by China therefore allowing China to militarily fight for them.

Highlights: Asean Summit Breaks Down Over South China Sea Disputes, Philippines says China warship is in its territory, a military aircraft spotted six other Chinese ships near the stricken vessel on Saturday. Japan's plan to buy the disputed Tiaoyutai island group provoked a Chinese live ammunition exercise. China will not sign the South China Sea code of conduct. China, Japan Face Off Near Disputed Islands. China, US seek to calm South China Sea tensions. Plus a recap of what led us to this point if need. If something interests you in this very long and convoluted issue just click on the link and read further!

Why won't China sign the South China Sea code of conduct? (+video) The agreement, raised at the Association of South East Asian Nations in Cambodia, would be the 10th covering essentially the same territorial dispute since the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The idea is that it would spell out what ships should do to avoid a clash but it wouldn't actually spell out how to resolve competing claims, according to regional news media.

Now we know why, This is just one more confrontation you can only see ending in war rather than Diplomacy and sharing the wealth!

The long run up to the China sea's conflict and the US and allies verse Russia and China competing naval muscle flexing I mean exercises

Being in a superior position puts one in a unique position of power and that power must be handled gracefully, with humility, responsibly, and not abused. That is something I taught all my sons and America under Bush did a lousy job of handling. I am a little worried that China too is getting a little too heavy handed and abusive with her new position of power and beginning to take what she wants instead of being content with what she has which is what I constantly lecture has to be the case if we are to have a future. The time when man and the planet could handle war and colonialism is over, period or else!

We are Taiwan's, Vietnam's, Australia's, and Japan's protectors. As China flex's their military muscles in the area we are not supposed to worry. Just what are we supposed to think they are going to do with their advanced weaponry, missiles, stealth aircraft, aircraft carriers and the like. Their threats are going to become more ominous until they cannot be ignored and it is too late. We have been here before. The world was not supposed to worry as Hitler built his arsenal and we know how that turned out.

Haven't we all been coerced by China and isn't it working up to now? China will go to war over this but will the US and the Asian allies we swore to protect?

 

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com