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You see posts against American foreign policy and assume I'm anti America.
What started dis ballyhoo anywho?...
How an oil rig sparked anti-China riots in Vietnam
Mon May 19, 2014 ~ China evacuates thousands of nationals from Vietnam amid territorial dispute; Protests erupted after China's state oil company sent a rig to disputed territory; Vietnam says the rig site is on its continental shelf and within its Exclusive Economic Zone; China says the rig will be there until mid-August, has sent ships to guard the site
When China's state-owned oil company dispatched an oil rig to a contested area of the South China Sea it flicked a match on a long-smoldering dispute with its communist neighbor Vietnam. Analysts say Beijing must have known the move would elicit some reaction, but it clearly didn't predict having to evacuate thousands of Chinese nationals desperate to put some distance between them and violent Vietnamese protests. "The whole episode seems to reek of miscalculation, perhaps by both sides, but it demonstrates how volatile how this region can be," said Alexander Neill, Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Asia (IISS).
At issue is the positioning of an oil rig in waters claimed by both China and Vietnam. Vietnam claims the rig's presence is "illegal" while China says it has every right to drill, and has castigated the Vietnamese government for failing to ensure the safety of its nationals. To understand the issue, it's vital to look at the exact position of the rig.
Where is the rig?
Location of HD-981
In early May, Beijing announced the HD-981 rig would be parked at sea for exploratory work until mid-August. Owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the rig is anchored in Lot 143, about 120 nautical miles east of Vietnam's Ly Son Island and 180 nautical miles from China's Hainan Island, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Analysis co-authored by CSIS experts said China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs appears to be basing its right to be there on the assumption that one of the Paracel Islands, which it claims as its own, is 17 miles north, allowing it to claim its own continental shelf in the region. China calls the contested Paracel Islands the Xisha Islands, while in Vietnam they're known as the Hoang Sa Islands.
Vietnam says the rig site is clearly on its continental shelf, and moreover is in its Exclusive Economic Zone. Hanoi has demanded that China remove the offending rig, escort vessels from the region and hold talks to settle the issue. The Chinese rig was escorted to the region by naval vessels and fighter jets, drawing Vietnamese boats to the area and raising tensions at sea. The Vietnamese have accused Chinese vessels of ramming and blasting its boats with water cannon. The Chinese say any conflict was provoked by Vietnamese harassment.
Clashes on land
And there you have it, a local dispute between two countries and shit all to do with anyone else -.
What started dis ballyhoo anywho?...
How an oil rig sparked anti-China riots in Vietnam
Mon May 19, 2014 ~ China evacuates thousands of nationals from Vietnam amid territorial dispute; Protests erupted after China's state oil company sent a rig to disputed territory; Vietnam says the rig site is on its continental shelf and within its Exclusive Economic Zone; China says the rig will be there until mid-August, has sent ships to guard the site
When China's state-owned oil company dispatched an oil rig to a contested area of the South China Sea it flicked a match on a long-smoldering dispute with its communist neighbor Vietnam. Analysts say Beijing must have known the move would elicit some reaction, but it clearly didn't predict having to evacuate thousands of Chinese nationals desperate to put some distance between them and violent Vietnamese protests. "The whole episode seems to reek of miscalculation, perhaps by both sides, but it demonstrates how volatile how this region can be," said Alexander Neill, Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Asia (IISS).
At issue is the positioning of an oil rig in waters claimed by both China and Vietnam. Vietnam claims the rig's presence is "illegal" while China says it has every right to drill, and has castigated the Vietnamese government for failing to ensure the safety of its nationals. To understand the issue, it's vital to look at the exact position of the rig.
Where is the rig?
Location of HD-981
In early May, Beijing announced the HD-981 rig would be parked at sea for exploratory work until mid-August. Owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the rig is anchored in Lot 143, about 120 nautical miles east of Vietnam's Ly Son Island and 180 nautical miles from China's Hainan Island, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Analysis co-authored by CSIS experts said China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs appears to be basing its right to be there on the assumption that one of the Paracel Islands, which it claims as its own, is 17 miles north, allowing it to claim its own continental shelf in the region. China calls the contested Paracel Islands the Xisha Islands, while in Vietnam they're known as the Hoang Sa Islands.
Vietnam says the rig site is clearly on its continental shelf, and moreover is in its Exclusive Economic Zone. Hanoi has demanded that China remove the offending rig, escort vessels from the region and hold talks to settle the issue. The Chinese rig was escorted to the region by naval vessels and fighter jets, drawing Vietnamese boats to the area and raising tensions at sea. The Vietnamese have accused Chinese vessels of ramming and blasting its boats with water cannon. The Chinese say any conflict was provoked by Vietnamese harassment.
Clashes on land
And there you have it, a local dispute between two countries and shit all to do with anyone else - unless you happen to have an especially nasty foreign policy, based on spending as much on armaments as you can get away with.
American politicians have used this one since WWII ended.
Wrap the conflict in the American flag, tell the gullible tax payers how it's all about defending America and off you go.
An all new, very expensive, and very dangerous cold war.
Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the Chief of Naval Operations, said he hopes the U.S. Navy will be able to expand cooperation with India once its new government takes its place. Speaking Monday at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Greenert said the growing military-to-military dialogue with China is beginning to show results, especially in the South China Sea, where maritime tensions between China and its neighbors are on the rise.
He said China was among the Asia-Pacific powers that joined the United States last month in adopting a Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) during a meeting in Qingdao. "They have had situations where they (Chinas navy) have intervened on our behalf, where one of our ships was being approached by a non-navy Chinese ship and being kind of harassed, and the commander of the [Chinese] warship said, Ive spoken with this guy (U.S. ship commander), hes on constant course and speed, get out of the way, and actually positioned himself [between the ships]. And, there are a few examples of this. We are starting to shape events. We have got to manage our way through this, in my opinion, through this East China Sea and South China Sea [tensions]. Were not leaving. They know that. They would be the leadership of the Chinese navy. We believe that we have to manage our way through this," said Greenert.
The nuclear-powered aircraft supercarrier USS George Washington is escorted into a navy port in Busan, South Korea
The Philippines and Vietnam are among the nations that have territorial disputes with China. During President Obamas Asia trip last month, the United States signed a 10-year security agreement with Manila. Greenert said navy-to-navy interoperability with the Philippines today is reasonably good, but how the two countries build on that, he said, is a matter of discussion and could involve a status of forces-type agreement (SOFA). The U.S. Navy has also requested more port calls in Vietnam. Greenert also said he would like to see more cooperation with Hanoi in a deliberate manner.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the admiral also expressed the hope the United States could renew a strategic partnership with India, a relationship he said the two navies once enjoyed. Stable mil-to-mil relations are there, theyve been there with India. We need to improve our communications and our interoperability. Currently, we do exercise with the Indian navy. Its a lot of humanitarian assistance, search-and-rescue, [and] medical. But, my goal would be to get back to where we were in the mid-2000s. We were doing very comprehensive events in an exercise called Malabar, which is an annual exercise we have with the Indian navy. We were doing carrier operations together, very, very complex, integrating air wings, and I think it would be great if we could get back to that level, said Greenert.
Greenert said with the new Indian leadership coming to power, perhaps they would be willing to have a greater presence in the western Pacific. He said it will depend on what the political ramifications are and where they are willing to go. The chief of naval operations said the Navy is fully committed to the Asia rebalance. Today, 51 of the Navys 289 ships are deployed in the Asia-Pacific region, and that presence will grow to 58 ships next year and 67 by 2020. Greenert says 23 nations are to take part in Rim of Pacific war game exercises off Hawaii, running June 26 to August 1, involving hundreds of aircraft, 40 warships and 25,000 military personnel, including army and navy forces from China for the first time.
US Navy ?Shaping Events? in South China Sea
China's official Xinhua news agency says two ships left the central Vietnamese port of Vung Ang on Monday carrying 900 passenger each. The report says two more ships with a capacity of 1,000 passengers will leave later Monday. Hundreds of other Chinese nationals crossed the border into Cambodia last week. The violence, rare in communist-run Vietnam, erupted after the state-run China energy company CNOOC towed a deep water oil rig to waters near the Paracel Islands claimed to be in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
A ship carrying Chinese workers leaves Vung Ang port, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam,
Dozens of Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean factories were damaged or looted before police started restoring order late last week. On Sunday, Vietnamese police broke up a planned protest outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi. The few demonstrators who turned up were quickly surrounded by police.
Philippines tensions
Meanwhile, Philippine President Benigno Aquino is accusing Beijing of violating a non-binding South China Sea agreement by undertaking what appears to be a land reclamation project on a disputed reef. Aquino told reporters in Manila Monday that China is violating the 2002 Declaration of Conduct, which calls for all parties to refrain from building new structures until territorial disputes are resolved.
He said the incident shows the need to all parties to negotiate a legally binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Vietnam and the Philippines, signed the non-binding declaration in 2002. China has overlapping maritime territorial disputes with ASEAN nations Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia.
China Evacuates Thousands from Vietnam
"And short of war with the United States, they can become -- they can rise to the level of having operational control, tactical control of the waterways and airways in the South China Sea, which today, involves about $5.3 trillion of trade, over a billion of which -- over a trillion of which is destined for the United States. "There are enormous I.T. infrastructure in the...undersea cables in the South China Sea. It's a principle shipping lane, as we've discussed. "And I think that, again, short of war with the United States, China will exercise de facto control of the South China Sea, if they are -- if they continue to outfit the bases that they've reclaimed there."
Harris said China, in the past few years, has reclaimed almost 3,000 acres of land from the South China Sea, turning many of the islands into military bases. "I am of the opinion that they are militarizing the South China Sea," Harris said. "And when they add their advanced fighters to Woody Island, and when -- up in the Paracels -- and when they put their advanced missile systems on the Paracels, and when they build three 10,000-foot runways in the Spratlys on the basis that they've reclaimed -- when they do all of that, they're changing the operational landscape in the South China Sea. "So, that is what has changed. The United States and our patrols -- military patrols, air and maritime in the South China Sea haven't really changed. We have a consistent presence in the Western Pacific, and we have had that for decades. So, I would say it's China that has changed its behavior."
Harris said the U.S. will continue to "exercise our rights of freedom of navigation in international waters and airspace, and encourage others -- encourage that like-minded network of nations to do the same. "And I think we must use diplomacy to influence China. And finally, we have to ensure that we continue to modernize that (U.S. military) force, in order to go back to the first element of maintaining a credible combat power." "But you're not stopping China from militarizing these islands," a reporter told Harris. "Well, you'd have to ask China why they're not stopping," Harris responded. "I mean, the military component is just one tool in the -- in the tool chest that our national leadership has, so, you know, I think we're doing what we have to do in the military sense. "There are -- there are many other components of national power that can be and probably will be brought to bear in this."
Harris noted that the U.S. maintains a continuous presence of naval ships in the South China Sea and flies regular surveillance patrols in the region as well. "So, we're there all the time, I would say." "We must exercise our freedom of navigation, or we risk losing it."
Pacific Commander: China Heading Toward Operational, Tactical Control of Major U.S. Trade Route
A senior Pentagon official, Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the Navy's Pacific Command, said that the US will make more forays in the South China Sea. "We will be doing them more, and we'll be doing them with greater complexity in the future and ... we'll fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," Admiral Harris told a House Armed Services Committee hearing. "We must continue to operate in the South China Sea to demonstrate that that water space and the air above it (are) international," Harris said.
The admiral was asked what more could be done to deter militarization. He said the US could deploy more naval assets, although there were significant "fiscal, diplomatic and political hurdles" in the way of stationing a second aircraft carrier group in the region. "We could consider putting another (attack) submarine out there. We could put additional destroyers forward. ... There are a lot of things we could do, short of putting a full carrier strike group in the Western Pacific." China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. The US assertiveness comes a day after the Chinese national defense ministry claimed that the country's construction on the islands in the South China Sea was for civilian purposes and denied that it was aiming military takeover of the region.
The Chinese ministry said that the US is the root of "militarizing the South China Sea". It said that the US was strengthening military deployment, flexing muscles, making provocations by sending fleets and aircraft, as well as launching well-targeted "joint military drills ". The latest war of words between China and the US over South China Sea came after satellite imagery obtained by the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative and DigitalGlobe showed China may be building an anti-stealth radar system on an artificial island in the middle of the South China Sea.
A military-grade system there would be useful in detecting stealth aircraft in the contentious and contested area. The imagery also shows that China has built or is building two radar towers, a lighthouse, a communications tower, bunker, and quay for the docking of supply ships. On Tuesday, Harris said China was "changing the operational landscape" in the South China Sea by deploying missiles and radar as part of an effort to militarily dominate East Asia. He said that Beijing was "clearly militarizing the South China Sea. ... You'd have to believe in a flat Earth to think otherwise".
US planning to increase operations in South China Sea
China says its Pacific neighbour should be "smoothing" its economic and trade relations rather than concentrating on a dramatic build-up in arms and making remarks critical of China. Australia on Thursday announced it was increasing the size of its defence forces to 62,000, the largest ever in peace time. The army is acquiring new long-range rocket systems and the Royal Australian Navy will double its submarine fleet from 6 to twelve. “This White Paper is a plan to deliver a more potent, agile and engaged Australian Defence Force that is ready to respond whenever our interests are threatened or our help is needed,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Thursday.
Australia will spend nearly half-a-trillion dollars in the next decade, a significant upgrade. “The growth in the capability of China’s military forces is the most significant example of regional military modernisation,” the White Paper published on Thursday said. “We can expect greater uncertainty in Australia’s strategic environment,” it added. China, while concerned at the military build-up was particularly concerned at remarks concerning the South China Sea dispute. "China expresses serious concern about Australia's remarks on the South China Sea in its White Paper," a spokesman for the Chinese Defence Ministry said at a press conference on Thursday. "Australia should treasure the smooth development of the China-Australia relationship." "The military alliance between Australia and the US should disregard cold war thinking," said the defence official.
Li Jie, a research analyst at the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), described Australia's military build-up and attitude to China as a "dangerous regional trend." "Australia has been encouraged, seduced and threatened into a military build-up by the United States," he told The Australian Financial Review. "Australia should try to maintain a good economic and trade relationship with China .... its military expenditure will not bring any benefit to Australia either strategically or economically." "The white paper reveals the likelihood of a strengthened alliance between the US, Japan and Australia," he said. "What's the point of the Australian government spending so much taxpayer's money." "Australia can get a good economic return from China but only promises from the US," Li said
Wang Zhenyu, from the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank attached to the Foreign Ministry, told the AFR the Australian moves could damage the country. "Australia's security architecture in the region is at odds with its economic architecture," he said. "I think China would be concerned about this large increase in Australia's defence budget."
China accuses Australia of being seduced by US
