China Says Military Will "Stand Up And Use Force" If US Sends Warships To Islands

Zero Hedge ^ | 10-15-2016 | Tyler Durden

[blam]

Tyler Durden
10/15/2015

Earlier this week, US officials indicated that they are set to go through with a plan to sail warships around China’s man-made islands in the Spratlys.

“It’s just a matter of time when it happens,” one government source told WSJ.

Over the course of the last six months, we’ve seen China’s land reclamation efforts go from oddity, to spectacle, to alleged “provocation”, to excuse for war as Washington feels compelled to come to the aid of its allies in the South Pacific who cried foul after it became apparent that this was no “normal” dredging effort.

In short, China has created some 3,000 acres of new sovereign territory and the US claims Beijing is effectively trying to redraw maritime boundaries on the way to establishing new military outposts. For its part, China denies the allegations and has responded with a peculiar mix of veiled threats (tweaking the wording of its official maritime strategy), not-so-veiled threats (telling a US spy plane with a CNN crew on board to “go now”), and humorous propaganda (a series of pictures from Fiery Cross depicting women, puppies, and gardens).

Despite efforts to de-escalate the matter when Xi visited the US this month, Beijing looks set to draw a line in the sand (no pun intended) when it comes to allowing the US to sail warships near the islands. Here’s AFP with more:

(snip)

[Mariner]

"Coast Watch"

Coast Watch is not offensive in nature.

But it could support offensive operations,

Nay, I think the Chines built a bridge too far here. I think it hubris on their part.

Certainly, certainly they know they cannot defend their excursion and were betting the US would not respond.

[UCANSEE2]

Certainly, certainly they know they cannot defend their excursion and were betting the US would not respond

Well, the fat lady hasn't sung, so the outcome of the bet is in question.