Are we nearing an actual war with China?

[Samson]

I never had crabs, I hear they can be quite annoying.

It takes one to know one.

 

[waltky]

We gonna have to defend Vietnam again??...

China accuses Vietnam in South China Sea row
10 June 2011 - Both China and the US have increased naval drills in the Asian region

China has accused Vietnam of "gravely violating" its sovereignty in an escalating row over disputed waters in the South China Sea. Beijing said Vietnam had endangered Chinese sailors' lives and warned it to stop "all invasive activities". It follows an accusation by Vietnam that a Chinese fishing boat rammed cables from an oil exploration vessel inside its exclusive economic zone. China is engaged in maritime border disputes with several countries. The South China Sea includes important shipping routes and may contain rich oil and gas deposits. The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have rival claims in the area; China's claim is by far the largest. The US has also expressed concern about China's rising naval ambitions.

Escalating dispute

China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Chinese fishing boats were chased away by armed Vietnamese ships on Thursday. He said that during the incident the fishing net of one of the Chinese boats became tangled with the cables of a Vietnamese oil exploring vessel which continued to drag the Chinese vessel for more than an hour before the net had to be cut. China insists the Vietnamese vessel was operating illegally in the area. "By conducting unlawful oil and gas surveys in seas around the Wanan Bank of the Spratly archipelago and by driving out a Chinese fishing vessel, Vietnam has gravely violated China's sovereignty and maritime rights," said Mr Hong.

"China demands that Vietnam cease all violations," he said, adding that Vietnam should "not take actions that would complicate and expand the dispute". Beijing's strong-worded statement followed Vietnam's accusation that a Chinese fishing boat had "intentionally rammed" the exploration cables of a Vietnamese boat - the second such incident in two weeks. That vessel, chartered by state energy giant PetroVietnam, was conducting a seismic survey inside its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone on Thursday, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga.

She described the "premeditated and carefully calculated" attack as part of China's attempts to control disputed waters. "This is unacceptable to Vietnam," she said, adding that her colleagues had met Chinese embassy officials "to express our opposition to such acts". On Thursday, hackers from both countries planted patriotic messages on hundreds of websites, including government sites. It follows anti-China protests by hundreds of Vietnamese over the weekend.

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US urges peaceful end to South China Sea tensions
10 June`11 WASHINGTON — The United States is "troubled" by tensions triggered by a maritime border dispute in the South China Sea, US officials said Friday, calling for a "peaceful" resolution to the crisis.

"We've been troubled by some of these reports about the South China Sea and believe they only serve to raise tensions and don't help with the peace and security of the region," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. "We support a collaborative diplomatic process... and call on all claimants to conform all of their claims, both land and maritime, to international law." He said the United States and the international community at large share an interest in maintaining maritime security in the region, citing freedom of navigation, economic development and respect for international law.

Beijing says it is committed to peace in the South China Sea, but its more assertive maritime posture has caused concern among regional nations. Tensions between China and Vietnam are at their highest level in years after Hanoi accused Chinese marine surveillance vessels of cutting the exploration cables of an oil survey ship in May inside its exclusive economic zone in the maritime waters. On Thursday, Vietnam alleged a similar incident in the zone, saying a Chinese fishing boat rammed the cables of another oil survey ship in its waters.

Beijing countered by warning Vietnam to halt all activities that it says violate its sovereignty in disputed South China Sea waters. The two countries have long-standing disputes over the potentially oil-rich Paracel and Spratly archipelagos and surrounding sea. Tensions have also risen this year between China and the Philippines, another claimant to the Spratly islands, where Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also say they have a stake. Vietnam's navy on Friday announced it will hold a live-fire drill in the South China Sea next week.

"We don't support anything that adds to raising the current level of tension; we don't think it's helpful," Toner said. "What there needs to be is a collaborative diplomatic process, a peaceful process, to resolve various territorial disputes and otherwise," he added. "Shows of force, other gestures like that, just I think raise tensions." US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned last weekend that clashes may erupt in the South China Sea unless nations with conflicting territorial claims adopt a mechanism to settle disputes peacefully.

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[Harry Dresden]

That's why I write here. You will NOT be allowed to stay stupid.

well then why did you not remind them once again....90% of Republicans are White?......and only 6% of Scientists are Republicans.......come on Dean your slipping....

 

[FiscalSanity]

Anyone that thinks the Chinese are going to invade the US needs to share whatever it is they've been taking. I don't care how big the Chinese army is, they aren't going to be coming ashore when they haven't got any way to get them here. There is only ONE country that has the air and sea lift capacity to move large numbers of troops anywhere in the world, and thats us. The Chinese don't have anywhere near the capacity to move or supply their army much beyond their own borders, so they aren't going to be going anywhere far from home anytime soon.

 

[Dr Grump]

- Not enough poor rural people to continue to low cost favorable trade relatioship
t

In China??

There are still over 800 million peasants....

 

[waltky]

Another treaty about to get us involved in another crazy Asian war...

Manila involves US in China spat
Fri, Jun 24, 2011 - SPRATLYS STRIFE:The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said that a 1951 treaty requires the US to help defend Philippine forces if they come under attack

US forces are obliged to help defend Philippine troops, ships or aircraft under a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty if they come under attack in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, Philippine officials said, citing past US assurances. The potentially oil and gas-rich Spratly Islands have long been regarded as one of Asia’s possible flash points for conflict. China, the Philippines and Vietnam have been trading barbs and diplomatic protests recently over overlapping territorial claims to the islands, reigniting tensions. Complicating the issue is the role the US could play in resolving the disputes. A Mutual Defense Treaty signed by US and Philippine officials on Aug. 30, 1951, calls on each country to help defend the other against an external attack by an aggressor in their territories or in the Pacific region.

Amid renewed tensions in the Spratlys, questions have emerged whether the treaty would apply if ill-equipped Philippine forces come under attack in the islands, all of which are claimed by China. Parts also are claimed by Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in a policy paper that the treaty requires Washington to help defend Philippine forces if they come under attack in the Spratly Islands, citing US diplomatic dispatches that defined the Pacific region under the treaty as including the South China Sea. The South China Sea was not specifically mentioned in the pact. A copy of the policy paper was seen on Wednesday.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario also said in a recent interview that US officials have made clear that Washington would respond should Philippine forces come under attack in the South China Sea. Del Rosario said by telephone from Washington that he would discuss the Spratly disputes, along with issues related to the 1951 defense treaty and other regional security concerns with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when they met yesterday. The US embassy in Manila declined to discuss details of when the pact would apply.

“As a strategic ally, the United States honors our Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines,” said Alan Holst, acting public affairs officer at the embassy. “We will not engage in discussion of hypothetical scenarios.” The defense treaty, which came into force in 1952, defined an attack as an armed assault on “the metropolitan territory of the parties” or their “armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.” While the US has a policy of not interfering in territorial disputes, the Philippine paper said: “It may be construed that any attack on our vessels, armed forces or aircraft in the Spratlys would make the treaty applicable and accordingly obligate the US to act to meet the common dangers.”

China has urged the US to stay out of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, saying they should be resolved through bilateral negotiations. On Wednesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai warned that Washington risks getting drawn into a conflict should tensions in the region escalate further. Washington views the sea lanes in the area as strategically important.

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US Congress: A friend to Taiwan
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 - During the past weeks, US Congress has become more assertive on Taiwan policy. On May 26, a record 45 senators wrote a letter to US President Barack Obama urging him to “act swiftly and provide Taiwan with the F-16C/D aircraft that are critical to meeting our obligations pursuant to the TRA [Taiwan Relations Act] and to preserving peace and security in the Taiwan Strait.”

Yesterday, the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on US policy toward Taiwan, examining developments over the past few years and looking toward the future. This closer scrutiny is good. At pivotal moments in history, Congress has played a key role in shaping US policy toward Taiwan and its people. In early 1979, after the administration of then-US president Jimmy Carter had severed diplomatic relations with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Congress stepped in and drafted the TRA, which stipulates that peace and security in the Taiwan Strait and a peaceful resolution to Taiwan’s future are key elements of US policy.

A few years later, in the early and mid-1980s, Congress again played a key role: This time in Taiwan’s transition to democracy. Then-senators Ted Kennedy and Claiborne Pell, together with representatives Steven Solarz and Jim Leach, held frequent hearings and made statements urging the KMT to lift martial law and establish a multiparty political system. This happened in 1986 and 1987, after which Taiwan made its momentous transition to a fully democratic political system. The first elections for all seats of the Legislative Yuan took place in 1992 and the first presidential elections by popular vote in 1996.

During the years of former president Lee Teng-hui, Congress yet again played a key role, this time in convincing the administration of former US president Bill Clinton to allow Lee to visit his alma mater, Cornell University. As chairman of the board of the American Institute in Taiwan it was my honor to welcome Lee to Cornell. In the aftermath of the Cornell visit, China started to rattle its saber and launched missiles against Taiwan, which led to the Taiwan Strait Crisis in the spring of 1996 and necessitated the sending of two US carrier battle groups into the area around Taiwan.

Regrettably, the Clinton administration drew the wrong conclusions from the chain of events and started to make conciliatory gestures toward the People’s Republic of China, culminating in the infamous “three noes” pronounced during Clinton’s June 1998 visit to Beijing: “We have a ‘one China’ policy that we don’t support a ‘one China, one Taiwan’ policy or a ‘two Chinas’ policy. We don’t support Taiwan independence, and we don’t support Taiwanese membership in international organizations that require statehood.” Congress was quick to rebut Clinton, saying that the new formulation was a major change of policy which was not in keeping with the TRA: The Senate passed SCR-107, affirming US commitments to Taiwan, by a vote of 92 to zero, while the House passed a similar measure, HCR 301, by an equally overwhelming vote of 390 to 1.

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[Mr Natural]

The only way we'd go to ear with China is if they cut off their supply of cheap labor.

The corporatists in this county would freak out if they had to go back to paying real life wages and start pissing in the ears of congress to go fuck those slimy Chinks up.

 

[waltky]

Spratly Islands dispute to be handled by diplomacy...

US Senate deplores China action in South China Sea
Jun 28, 2011, WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Monday unanimously approved a resolution that "deplores the use of force" by Chinese vessels in territorial disputes in the strategic and resource-rich South China Sea.

Tensions there have escalated in recent weeks, with the Philippines and Vietnam alarmed at what they say are increasingly aggressive actions by Beijing in disputed waters. The symbolic resolution "deplores the use of force by naval and maritime security vessels from China in the South China Sea" and urges a "multilateral, peaceful process to resolve these disputes." China has in the past rejected calls for multilateral talks on the South China Sea disputes, insisting on one-on-one contacts with other claimants. The senate measure also "supports the continuation of operations by the United States Armed Forces in support of freedom of navigation rights in international waters and air space in the South China Sea."

Lawmakers reaffirmed "strong support" for the "peaceful resolution" of maritime territorial disputes there and urges all party to the feuds to "refrain from threatening force or using force to assert territorial claims." Several recent incidents have put the security spotlight on the South China Sea, a strategic and potentially oil-rich area where China has sometimes overlapping disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. Recently, Vietnam carried out live-fire drills and the Philippines ordered the deployment of its naval flagship after accusing China of aggressive actions.

The United States on Saturday called for China to lower tensions through dialogue as they held talks on frictions in Southeast Asia. Senior US official Kurt Campbell said he assured China during the talks in Hawaii that the United States welcomed a strong role for Beijing, which has warned Washington against involvement in the intensifying disputes. "We want tensions to subside. We have a strong interest in the maintenance in peace and stability, and we are seeking a dialogue among all of the key players," said Campbell, assistant secretary of state of East Asian and Pacific affairs.

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China, Vietnam vow to cool South China Sea tensions
Jun 26, 2011, China and Vietnam pledged to resolve a row over the strategic South China Sea, state media said on Sunday, in a bid to ease tensions that prompted accusations of Chinese bullying in the region.

The apparent olive branch between the testy neighbours came as the United States and Philippines readied for joint naval exercises in the face of Chinese actions and after the US called for Beijing to help lower the temperature. Several recent incidents have put the security spotlight on the South China Sea, a strategic and potentially oil-rich area where China has sometimes overlapping disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. Recently, Vietnam carried out live-fire drills and the Philippines ordered the deployment of its naval flagship after accusing China of aggressive actions. Representatives of China and Vietnam met in Beijing for weekend talks and agreed to resolve their maritime territorial disputes "peacefully", China's Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

They pledged to reach a "peaceful resolution of the maritime dispute between the two countries through negotiations and friendly consultations," it said. The joint vow was made in a meeting Saturday between Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo, China's senior foreign-policy official, and Vietnamese vice foreign minister Ho Xuan Son. They agreed to take measures to "safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea", work toward an agreement on addressing maritime disputes and seek speedy implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. The latter is a pact signed in 2002 between China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to prevent conflict until the myriad territorial disputes are resolved. However, the report gave no details on specific steps to be taken or a timetable.

The United States on Saturday called for China to lower tensions through dialogue as they held talks on frictions in Southeast Asia. Senior US official Kurt Campbell said he assured China during the talks in Hawaii that the United States welcomed a strong role for Beijing, which has warned Washington against involvement in the intensifying disputes. "We want tensions to subside. We have a strong interest in the maintenance in peace and stability, and we are seeking a dialogue among all of the key players," said Campbell, assistant secretary of state of East Asian and Pacific affairs. China has in the past rejected calls for multi-lateral talks on the South China Sea disputes, insisting on one-on-one contacts with other claimants. Vietnam has accused Chinese ships of recently ramming an oil survey ship and cutting the exploration cables of another.

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