The Butchers of Beijing have clearly been promised “flexibility” by Obola.Translation...the Philippines,Vietnam and Thailand are fresh out of luck if they had fantasies of controlling any of the billions of barrels of oil in the South China Sea.
People don’t understand something:
If China takes one of all of the Senkaku Islands, that means there would still be totally uncontested Japanese islands nearby with long airfields —something militarily bad for retaining taken land.
Look up the Miyako Islands —there are almost 40,000 Japanese people living there, with airports totally capable of fielding the biggest PRC transports.
Many experts believe if China takes the Senkakus then they would ALSO have to take the Miyako Islands.
Some even say they’d have to take freaking OKINAWA.
You know what THAT means...
China deeply desires the ability exercised by the US & Great Britain, a true “Blue Water” Navy. Like the Soviet Union and its successor Russia, it is geographically stymied by choke points controlled by potential hostile nations. Japan controls from just below the Kamchatka Peninsula to Taiwan. Then you have the Philippine Islands leading to Indonesia, a literal ring around the China coastline.
Knowing the frustration of the Chinese leaders and their People Liberation Army Navy helps explain their desire to strike while Obama waffles! The South China Sea is a large basin with several CONSTRICTED exits but still an area with resources that China deeply desires to control! So making islands out of barely visible rocks and declaring 200 mile control radius is a good policy to the China Government.