Posted on 07/04/2012 3:55:53 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
MANILA: The Philippines yesterday said the deployment of US spy planes, suggested by President Benigno Aquino, was just one option to monitor the country’s territory, as China appealed for stability in the region.
“If they happen at all, they are surveillance flights, they are not meant to be provocative. There’s no offensive capability here,” said the president’s spokesman Ricky Carandang. China’s foreign ministry, in an embassy statement quoting spokesman Liu Weimin, called on all parties to maintain “peace and stability” in the South China Sea.
“We have noticed the reports,” the ministry spokesman was quoted as saying. “It is the hope of the Chinese side that peace and stability can be maintained... and parties concerned do things conducive to regional peace and stability,” the statement said. It did not specify the Philippines or the United States or mention the almost-three month long dispute between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
The Scarborough Shoal dispute began after Chinese government vessels blocked Philippine ships from arresting Chinese fishermen near the shoal on April 10.
Both countries have been pressing their respective claims to the area with the poorly-equipped Philippines seeking the support of its main defense ally, the United States.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighboring countries. The Philippines says the shoal is well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
The shoal sits about 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the western coast of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon.
Is it just me or do others feel that the tensions are rising all around the world to what seems like a boiling point? Everyone is getting touchy and since the “Great Satan” America is being run by wusses no one is afraid that their hand will be called no matter what stunt they pull. Maybe the Mayans knew something...like the fact that an “Obama” would come along and be put in charge. God save the Republic...and in addition “Da Woild”.
I think it's run-of-the-mill stuff. China's neighbors all want their territorial disputes with China resolved in their favor. But nobody actually wants to engage in an armed clash with China. Destroyed equipment is expensive to replace, and the Chinese obviously can take more punishment than any of the other claimants, because of China's economic and demographic heft.
In the background, each of the non-Chinese players figures that Uncle Sam will fight China in their behalf, so why get involved? From their perspective, the best of all possible worlds is for them to be able say to the Chinese that any conflict between the US and the PLA Navy is purely a matter of Uncle Sam being a busybody as usual, so the Chinese shouldn't sever trade relations with them or punish foreign businesses in China that are owned by their citizens.
I'm no isolationist, but we should be aware that a lot of these countries are deliberately keeping their defense expenditures low with the understanding that we will fight the Chinese in their behalf. In essence, we have signed up to provide military welfare for these wastrels. When the bill comes due, and the fighting starts, there's a non-zero possibility that our people will be taking casualties in their behalf while getting jeered from the sidelines by these countries, which will promptly declare their neutrality in the conflict.
Fair weather ally, hmm....I say our guys should all get free brothel passes.
Sorry...!
As to why the Chinese are throwing their weight around at this time, it’s not so much a matter of us being weak as the Chinese becoming stronger. They’ve spent three decades modernizing their military, and have now accumulated enough new equipment to feel confident about acquitting themselves reasonably well in any armed clash with a regional navy and perhaps even with the USN. I think we’ve been raised with the notion that any clash with China would be WWI and WWII rolled into one, but the reality is that most military clashes are limited ones. We fought China in Korea (People’s Volunteer Army) and Vietnam (PLAAF air defense units posted in North Vietnam), and both were limited wars. The Chinese have fought India and the Soviets in limited clashes. Any future clash with China would likely be limited as well. Whatever the issue at stake, no decision maker on either side is going to risk losing his capital in a nuclear exchange.
“Fair weather ally, hmm....I say our guys should all get free brothel passes.”
It’s not free but it’s close to heaven..it’s called Angeles City. ;)
Nature abhors a vacuum...
China claims territorial rights to everything in, on, or under all of the seas which border her. In summary, China claims everything up to the shoreline of the first chain of major islands surrounding her. So, it should not be surprising that those other countries might prefer a just bit more security and financial freedom, which is what those God-forsaken little shoals in the middle of the South China Sea really represent.
I might point out that it is rather hard to declare yourself neutral when the warheads are inbound. The U.S. Navy understand the A2/AD capability of the PLA. Based on openly-published sources, the plan is NOT to charge in and get all of our carrier task forces sunk. And, I rather doubt that the Republic of the Philippines has forgotten what its like to fight a major war on your own territory. Supporting them and others like them may be the only way we have of keeping China militarily and economically from gobbling up more than is in their easy grasp.
I fully understand the measure of blood that might entail. I have a teenager who plans on a career in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Respectfully yours,
China is patient. They can take one country at a time. No matter how small. N. Korea, Hong Kong, etc. Eventually they feel like they will control the whole world by owning only half the countries. Read The Art of War.
While the Spratleys may be claimed as Philippine territory, they are not a province of the country.
They are really more like a no-man’s island group, claimed by several countries.
In 1979, ham operators on what is called a DXpedition put one of the islands, Amboyna cay, on the air air as 1S1DX.
In the 80s, other attempts were made, one ending in tragedy
as a group of Germans were blown out of the water by a Vietnamese gunboat.
There have been numerous DXpeditions since.
Malaysians, using a Malaysian call sign have also operated from there.
If the Spratleys were truly Philippine territory, radio operations would have a “DU” prefix for a call sign.
I am not aware af any expeditions using a Philippine radio call sign.
I think China’s claim, however, is a bit of a stretch.
DE: W4EX on Cebu
I was a back-ender on an RC in 70 but was TDY to VN for that year’s storm and didn’t get to do the evac. I was disappointed.
That kind of depends. If a comprehensive trade embargo is imposed on them, the timeline will need to be sped up some. Just before our entry in WWII, Japan's expansion into Indochina was the trigger for the imposition of a trade embargo by the US, Britain and the Netherlands, which controlled the rest of East Asia not ruled by Vichy France and Portugal, at the time. That precipitated more-or-less simultaneous Japanese attacks against the Allied powers, including Pearl Harbor and the Philippine Islands (then an American possession). I expect a similar response from the Chinese against their immediate neighbors if a comprehensive trade embargo were imposed against them. Given the difficulties over the embargo on Iran, I think something similar against China would be hard to achieve, except in the event of the Chinese conquest and occupation of a neighboring country.
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