China's SCS Strategy Thread
- Thread starter lilzz
- Start date
@Facm337 bro NO CONTEST, It will be a landslide!!!. Right now there are case file for Marcos disqualification, But it is too late, the opposition had been hoodwinked by Pres Duterte, His entry for VP race is a ruse, costing the opposition to spend their previous PESO on him. The withdrawal of Bong Go candidacy for President is part of plan that will lead to the official endorsement of BBM and Sara Duterte tandem by Duterte.
This is interesting but I struggle to see how this is illegal since sea floor surveying is not necessarily an economic activity.
It is because the survey can be used to find oil/natural gases. It is viewed as a precursor to moving in with extraction equipment.
This sounds "guilty until proven innocent".
I know, just telling it like it is. I wasn't trying to say it should be seen as illegal, but how it is viewed as an economic activity. My question is, "Why do they even care if they aren't using it? If China could use it, and you don't have even have the capacity to use it, why be so greedy with it"
Quote from the article:
That's the crux of it. Palau is a "Compact of Free Association" state with the US (in other words, a de-facto US colony with just enough puppetry to get past the decolonisation requirements baked in to UN trust territory status), and it's pretty likely the survey ship was doing survey work for PLAN marine cartography as part of looking to the future and the 2nd island chain. Marine catrographic data is one thing the PLAN really lacks that the US and Europe have an abundance of, and for their submarine fleet to be effective they desperately need to close that gap, especially in areas like the 1st and 2nd chains where conflict is more likely, and where the US currently enjoys a huge advantage in terms of seabed knowledge (they officially had half a century, and de-facto a full century to chart every corner of the Philippine archipelago, and under the CFA and defence relationship with Japan have ongoing rights to do so in the entire 2nd island chain).
As a result, innocent or not (and if it's a naval survey inside an EEZ, you'd need a bloody good lawyer to argue your way out of that one) the Americans will throw their toys out of the pram over it, as one of the few areas where they still enjoy an unquestionable advantage over the PLAN.
If the US can do it then why can't China? Especially in another countries EEZ.