China's SCS Strategy Thread

[advill]

Will Tillerston the about to be appointed Secretary of State carry out his verbal threat of NOT allowing the PLA-N into China's claimed territories in the South China Sea? Is "Mad Dog" Mike, the new Defence Secretary willing to risk a war with China over the South China Sea? This Trump Cabinet like the President himself appears to be sending contradictory signals. As of now, America appears to be heading towards aggressive self-interest trade and security policies, unlike previous US Administrations. China and Asia wait for clarifications, and any US aggressive actions can expect forceful Chinese rebuttals/actions. No one wins if there are hostilities, and would be disastrous for all Parties. Hopefully it's only like Trump's past variety shows - all sound and fury. Time will tell. On the other hand China and ASEAN & others (India, EU, Africa, Latin America etc.) will carry on with trade cooperation like RCEP, One Belt One Road, AIIB, & leave US to its own devices if does not want to cooperate with the other nations of the world.

 

[B.I.B.]

Well there is talk of including China now that the US is out. Would that kind of deal be good for China or do you think China would sign on just for the chance to beat out the US and take a not so great deal?

Australia and NZ already have a Free Trade Agreement with China, so there would be little gain there. For Australia and NZ the big prize was U.S. followed by Canada and Japan. Australia is making noises about non participation and if Japan Canada pulled out, there is little incentive for us to stay when striking up individual trade agreements might be more. preferable.Meanwhile I think China would have some sort of trade deals with her neighbors as part of the one belt one road proposals....no?

 

[mr.bean]

and don't forget Obama care. that is going to be gone for sure. it looks as if Trump will move fast. we never had an American President like him before so it's going to be NOT BORING! when i see Trump's face on tv, i'm so glad it's not Crooked Hillary.

 

[Iron Man]

and don't forget Obama care. that is going to be gone for sure. it looks as if Trump will move fast. we never had an American President like him before so it's going to be NOT BORING! when i see Trump's face on tv, i'm so glad it's not Crooked Hillary.

The Orange One is not any better, having stocked his cabinet with the likes of Secretary of State Tillerson the Exxon Mobil CEO who wants to LITERALLY ban China from its SCS bases, Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin the Goldman Sachs banker, Secretary of Defense James Mattis who said this about China: "I mean hell, that’s where we’re going [China] eventually anyway. Might as well train like we fight", Attorney General Jeff Sessions who was denied a judgeship because of his racist views. And of course his chief strategist Steve Bannon was the executive chair of the alt right racist website Breitbart. The Orange One has invited the foxes into the henhouse and all we can do is watch and marvel at the times we live in.

 

[Jura The idiot]

now I read Spicer South China Sea Comments Draw Negative Beijing Response

White House spokesman Sean Spicer’s comments Monday on the South China Sea prompted a response from Beijing, again warning the U.S. not to meddle in the overlapping territorial disputes in the region.

China has “indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha [Spratlty] Islands and the adjacent waters,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.
“The United States is not a party to the South China Sea disputes. We urge the U.S. side to respect the facts and be prudent in words and actions to avoid causing disruptions to peace and stability of the South China Sea.”

Over the last several years, China has mounted a campaign to create artificial islands to host airfields and other installations near regional rivals in support of expansive territorial claims. Recently, the Chinese have armed the facilities with defensive weapons that have further inflamed regional tensions.

On Monday, Spicer said the U.S. would protect American interests in the region but raised questions as to the status of islands in the South China Sea.

“I think the U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there. So it’s a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and are not part of China proper then yeah we’re going to make sure we defend international territories from being taken over by one country,” he said on Monday.

Spicer’s comments are more moderate than those of Trump secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson, who told the Senate on Jan. 11 the U.S. could use military power to block Chinese access to the string of artificial islands Beijing has built in the Spratlys off of the Philippines.

While both sets of remarks have caused confusion in the Western Pacific, the Trump view of the South China Sea won’t be far off from the Obama administration, James Kraska, a professor of international law, oceans law and policy at the U.S. Naval War College’s Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, told USNI News.

The U.S. will continue to recognize the

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of the international tribunal that determined the claims China made in the South China Sea were largely void.

“My view is that they mean to say that the United States is not going to acquiesce to maritime zones created by artificial islands. In this respect, they are continuing the previous administration’s policy of viewing the arbitration as ‘final and binding’ on the parties, as well as a guide for U.S. policy,” he said.
”The bottom line is that the South China Sea is a vast open waterway. I understand the U.S. administration as saying that no matter what China had done or will do to the features therein, that freedom of navigation and overflight are legally unaffected. I believe that this position is also legally correct.”

Since 2015, the U.S. has challenged China’s extensive claims in the region via a campaign of freedom of navigation operations –

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.

From the Pentagon’s perspective, the U.S. stance to the South China Sea has remained unchanged.

“The United States does not take a position on the question of territorial sovereignty, but we do take a position on whether maritime claims accord with the international law of the sea, as well as the manner in which countries pursue such claims,” a Defense Department spokesman told USNI News on Monday.
“The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate in the South China Sea wherever international law allows, in the same way that we operate everywhere else around the world. This will not change.”

it's USNI News

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[Blackstone]

now I read Spicer South China Sea Comments Draw Negative Beijing Response

it's USNI News

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China could put much of the global handwringing to rest by 1) its Foreign Ministry formally and officially announcing China only claims the land features and normal territorial waters (12mi/3mi/500m) around them with regards to the SCS, and 2) ditch the 9-dash line in passports and official maps. After that, the only disputes are among the five current nations, and it removes excuses for outside interlocutors to insert themselves.

 

[solarz]

China could put much of the global handwringing to rest by 1) its Foreign Ministry formally and officially announcing China only claims the land features and normal territorial waters (12mi/3mi/500m) around them with regards to the SCS, and 2) ditch the 9-dash line in passports and official maps. After that, the only disputes are among the five current nations, and it removes excuses for outside interlocutors to insert themselves.

ALL official Chinese proclamations about the SCS issue refer to China's land features in the SCS. The Americans simply ignore it in their propaganda.

 

[Blackstone]

ALL official Chinese proclamations about the SCS issue refer to China's land features in the SCS. The Americans simply ignore it in their propaganda.

The 9-dash line is still on PRC passports and maps. That also needs to go.

 

[Air Force Brat]

and don't forget Obama care. that is going to be gone for sure. it looks as if Trump will move fast. we never had an American President like him before so it's going to be NOT BORING! when i see Trump's face on tv, i'm so glad it's not Crooked Hillary.

Me too Bub, and I for one am glad there is a "Man of the House"!, let those chicks get out and march and get that out of their system, I've got 7 daughters, I appreciate women's issues, and I'd much rather hang out with pretty chicks than any guys I know, cept maybe my "baby brother Dan" and "you guys!".

I'm sure China is a little edgy here, I'm hoping everybody understands everybody else, and I'm hoping everybody keeps their KOOL! its gonna take a lot of kool, and no doubt at some point some of us will get a little testy??? if I'm out of hand, please send me a PM, and I'll try to do the same for you???

 

[Equation]

The 9-dash line is still on PRC passports and maps. That also needs to go.

No it doesn't. The only one's making the drama out of it are the good ole boys and their precious status quo with whatever "allies" they bought left.