Posted on 03/05/2019 9:56:21 PM PST by caww
Beijing has snatched another patch of the South China Sea, with its “militia” seizing control of a string of sandbars and denying fishermen access.
This island off the Philippines coast is significant. It’s a prosperous fishing spot. And it’s another potential territorial marker in the hotly contested international waterway...Now, China has physically staked its claim over the sandbars that surround it.
Filipino fishermen say they are being driven away from their traditional fishing grounds, by Chinese boats.
the Chinese Communist Party’s fishing ‘militia’ is pushing out its boundaries. Mayor Roberto del Mundo of Kalayaan, a Philippines Palawan town which administers Thitu Island, has told Inquirer.net that his fishermen are being elbowed out. Thitu Island itself is home to a Philippines slipway, jetty, runway and anchorage. But fishermen attempting to operate from there are being turned back as soon as they approach the nearest sandbar just 3km off the island’s coast. “It means they (the Chinese) think they own it because they refuse to leave. If they’re just really fishing, they can leave for Subi Reef and then come back, but they no longer leave,” Del Mundo said. “The presence of Chinese boats is now affecting our fishing activities. It wasn’t that way before. When our fishermen is about to get near Sandbar 3, that is really our fishing ground, a Chinese vessel would immediately come up to us to ward us off so we can’t come closer.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Thanks caww. Whaddaya know, China’s pullin’ some ****.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3731900/posts?page=13#13
China will have to be dealt with by all nations, and we will be at the forefront. They will never be the ultimate power they think they are destined to be, but they can cause much suffering before they get the message.
Sooner or later China is going to have to deal with a broken nose.
They’ve been laying the groundwork, as has Russia, for what we are seeing and are going to see, for some time now.
The reality is that Chinese culture, particularly under Communism, is one of suppressed creativity. This will kill them in the their quest for world dominance. That said, a lot of Chinese and a lot of people around the world may suffer before this happens. But it will happen.
Time to take them out as a lesson for the future. Hope Dutarte (sp) has the balls to do it.
This island-seizing aggression has got to be stopped now.
Duterte can’t do anything. Their military is poorly equipped and no match for China. I don’t think anyone will stand up to China to be honest and they will continue getting bolder and bolder.
Duterte is VERY Pro-Chinese. Rejected interest-free loans from Japan and South Korea in favor of Chinese loans with a crushingly high interest rate. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers are now in the Philippines to build projects. Not a good thing. See Nigeria, Sri Lanka etc.
He already sold-out the Philippines to China.
No, they've been stealing the envelope.
I wonder if the Philippines regret pushing the US military out 30 years ago.
The United States warned yesterday that any attack on Philippine security forces in the South China Sea would trigger a 67-year-old treaty requiring American troops to intervene.
“Any armed attack on Philippine forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea would trigger mutual defence obligations under Article 4 of our Mutual Defence Treaty,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a news briefing.
Mr Pompeo said the Philippines, as an island nation, “depends on free and unobstructed access to the seas”. “China’s island-building and military activities in the South China Sea threaten your sovereignty, security and therefore economic livelihood, as well as that of the US.”
more at link...
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/us-will-defend-philippines-in-south-china-sea-pompeo
And it already has an airstrip and a slip way.
What’s not to like?
“China’s Belt and Road initiative”
IMO, Once this transportation link is completed and operational China will use it as a reason to intervene in any country in between should instability threaten trade.
I can agree to that.....and they do have a way of ‘pushing’ those out of the way by oppression etc when they don’t want to deal with them, as we see happening in Western China. They use populations like we see Islam does via migration and otherwise.
Trade routes generally always ‘lock in’ nations...one way or another. Same with oil lines that ‘hardwire’ nations to one another.
I like the term you used of “suppressed creativity’. Although China’s good at smoke an mirrors as well as we see in N.Korea so often.
That term would say it well for the Uighur population in Western China. They have pretty much suppressed any possibility of them rising up.....getting them to open their homes for foreigners and focus the area into a tourist attraction is a good example ‘suppressed creativity’... Then they’ve heavily policed the area as well.
Yes I recall that.....we’ve assured the Philippines many times we have their backs. They do seem to need convincing often these days.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.