US navy to send destroyer within 24 hours to challenge China territorial claims.

a reply to: DerBeobachter

OH bulls##T.
WE haven't occupied SQUAT.
YOU had bases there ,WE rebuilt your country because YOU allowed some nutball to take over.
Is there an American flag flying over your capital over the rest ?
Are US troops patrolling your streets?
WE don't and haven't taken over the world.
THAT was a VNazi game NOW it's a banker's game and THAT is NOT America as EW are victims as citizens to the same oligarhchs.

a reply to: gps777

IT'S A FREE shipping route and WE are keeping it open.
We can't help it if YOU haven't got the gumption or the assets to help ,WE are used to it by now anyway.

There is so much ignorance on this thread. China did not and will not do sh## about this other than hand wring and write strongly worded letters. Anyone that thinks China will sink a USN ship over territory long in dispute with at least 3 other countries is so delusional they lose what little credibility they may have had.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Let's just go the appeasement route and let China do what they want. That's always worked in the past.

True zaphod. It s not like the chinese will keep building more and more islands till they can install ICBMs or anti air weapons grids liek they had in HANOI right?

I suspect this needs to lead to a cold war of Island building.

So this is escalating more to come USA is gonna keep at it!

a reply to: FormOfTheLord

This ends with Either a sunken ship or china losing face. The destroyer will next time get within 12 nm of the coastline of this new island. And"stop to make repairs"

ENgineer:captain wel b e on our way shortly.
Captain. Oh? Didnt you say th eengine was shot?
ENgineer. Oh..well could take weeks captain.
Captain: good man.

originally posted by: cavtrooper7
a reply to: gps777

IT'S A FREE shipping route and WE are keeping it open.
We can't help it if YOU haven't got the gumption or the assets to help ,WE are used to it by now anyway.

LOL

I`m a citizen of Australia as YOU are a citizen of the US, so drop the ACT as if YOU or I are doing or could do squat in what our governments do.

YOUR just sitting behind a computer chatting on the net as am I.

Oh that's right you were A WARROIR, now internet worrier as well.

China has been establishing these bases since 2013, that US and the surrounding countries have been aware of, but the US wait until these bases are made until they start poking?

The militaries navies and governments should have made their presence known much earlier, plus sort out the territorial disputes before it got to this stage.

a reply to: gps777

Yes China has been building them, but they only recently declared a 12 mile limit around them. Just as they only recently declared an ADIZ over the area, requiring permission to fly through.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hmm I didn`t know China had only recently made that decision.

Still though it was always going to be on the cards they would, they weren`t building a tourist resort.

a reply to: gps777

SO you are as equally informed about maritime law as you are about me...

originally posted by: gps777
China has been establishing these bases since 2013, that US and the surrounding countries have been aware of, but the US wait until these bases are made until they start poking?.

indeed.

a reply to: gps777

No they weren't, but they also recognize UN law, which doesn't allow for a 12 mile limit around man made islands.

a reply to: cavtrooper7

What the heck are you on about now?

I did not make anything personal toward you until you out of the blue, started directing toward my post which was a news clipping acting as though YOU are doing something about this situation and I`m not.

Drop it the act and attitude and chat, don`t start none won`t .....

a reply to: Zaphod58

Agreed, China is clearly in the wrong, never doubted it.

Sorting it out at this stage only makes it worse, as if there isn`t enough tensions going on around the world already.

originally posted by: DerBeobachter
So the US wants to open the next front?

Once upon the time, there was a little austrian lunatic racist here in europe, he tried the same thing...
He messed around with the whole world, opened one front after another, and in the end germany became occupied by the Allies, which all left us alone, except the US, that occupies us till today.

Who will occupy the USA after it´s failed attempt to rule the world?

Yes and the rest of world went down the appeasement road and made things worse. I can only imagine how many millions of lives would have been saved had other countries said NO to Hitler and his interpretation of international law.

China's actions are illegal. An EEZ is NOT sovereign territory. Artificial Islands are NOT sovereign territory. They do NOT have any sovereign sea territory attached to them.

UNCLOS

Article60

Artificial islands, installations and structures in the exclusive economic zone

1. In the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State shall have the exclusive right to construct and to authorize and regulate the construction, operation and use of:

(a) artificial islands;

(b) installations and structures for the purposes provided for in article 56 and other economic purposes;

(c) installations and structures which may interfere with the exercise of the rights of the coastal State in the zone.

2. The coastal State shall have exclusive jurisdiction over such artificial islands, installations and structures, including jurisdiction with regard to customs, fiscal, health, safety and immigration laws and regulations.

3. Due notice must be given of the construction of such artificial islands, installations or structures, and permanent means for giving warning of their presence must be maintained. Any installations or structures which are abandoned or disused shall be removed to ensure safety of navigation, taking into account any generally accepted international standards established in this regard by the competent international organization. Such removal shall also have due regard to fishing, the protection of the marine environment and the rights and duties of other States. Appropriate publicity shall be given to the depth, position and dimensions of any installations or structures not entirely removed.

4. The coastal State may, where necessary, establish reasonable safety zones around such artificial islands, installations and structures in which it may take appropriate measures to ensure the safety both of navigation and of the artificial islands, installations and structures.

5. The breadth of the safety zones shall be determined by the coastal State, taking into account applicable international standards. Such zones shall be designed to ensure that they are reasonably related to the nature and function of the artificial islands, installations or structures, and shall not exceed a distance of 500 metres around them, measured from each point of their outer edge, except as authorized by generally accepted international standards or as recommended by the competent international organization. Due notice shall be given of the extent of safety zones.

6. All ships must respect these safety zones and shall comply with generally accepted international standards regarding navigation in the vicinity of artificial islands, installations, structures and safety zones.

7. Artificial islands, installations and structures and the safety zones around them may not be established where interference may be caused to the use of recognized sea lanes essential to international navigation.

8. Artificial islands, installations and structures do not possess the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf.

Several countries in the area attempted to settle this as the convention requires:

Article59

Basis for the resolution of conflicts

regarding the attribution of rights and jurisdiction

in the exclusive economic zone

In cases where this Convention does not attribute rights or jurisdiction to the coastal State or to other States within the exclusive economic zone, and a conflict arises between the interests of the coastal State and any other State or States, the conflict should be resolved on the basis of equity and in the light of all the relevant circumstances, taking into account the respective importance of the interests involved to the parties as well as to the international community as a whole.

China threw a hissy fit and refused to participate. Most likely because they know their bs claims would be exposed as such and would lose.


Maybe china should stop acting like Nazi Germany.

"China will defends itself if necessary."
-Chinese military spokesman

This could goes south, real fast...

originally posted by: XcathdraChina's actions are illegal. An EEZ is NOT sovereign territory. Artificial Islands are NOT sovereign territory. They do NOT have any sovereign sea territory attached to them.

This is fundamentally true. However, the danger lies in viewing the communist Asians through a Western prism -- they're not like "us" and we cannot predict their reactions accurately.

Where the West should have drawn a line is when China began building those artificial islands-cum-military outposts, but through economic means. However, as we all know, the West is greedy and lazy and wants everything cheap! cheap! cheap!. As such, China's economic tentacles are now so deeply embedded in Western nations that it's too hard to start imposing economic reproach.

So, here we stand: at the veritable precipice of confrontation. Neither side can back down and China's resolve in its ideology is untested, but almost certainly fundamentalist. The Chinese economy is now in its predicted, inevitable downturn (euphemistically dubbed "restructuring") and communist regimes always divert the attention of the automaton masses towards nationalism when in times of potential domestic malaise; in order to avoid civil unrest -- arguably the system's only Achilles' heel.

Indeed a powder keg primed to go conflagrant.

China won't go beyond diplomatic action with this because they own 2 trillion dollars in US bonds, which will immediately be made worthless on any aggressive actions on their part.

Besides impeding trade ships from the countries in that area, maybe that is why the US is interested in China's island building in the South China Sea.

a reply to: odzeandennz

What allies do they have in the Pacific? Taiwan? No, obviously. South Korea? Nope. Australia? No. Japan? Not hardly. India? Eh, no. North Korea? Well, maybe that one...if that can be called an advantage. Right off the top of my head, I can't think of a one. Oh, wait... Russia? Right, like Russia wants China to be the top dog in Asia, just south of whatever resources are in Siberia.

There isn't a nation in the region that China hasn't attempted to bully at some point. Allies? Where?