Posted on 07/12/2016 2:50:01 AM PDT by Dundee
China has no legal basis to claim “historic rights” to islands in the South China Sea, an international tribunal ruled on Tuesday in a bitter dispute that risks stoking further tensions in Southeast Asia.
“The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’,” the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a statement.
It has dealt a setback to Beijing that the US fears could intensify moves to establish its control by force.
How Beijing responds to the ruling in the case filed by US ally the Philippines could chart the course of global power relations in an increasingly dangerous hotspot. It comes as the US has ramped up its military presence in the region and could seek to marshal world opinion to pressure Beijing into complying with the verdict. A new Philippine leader who appears friendlier to Beijing could also influence the aftermath of the ruling....
Findings of the tribunal are binding on the parties, including China. But the court — without police or military forces or a system of sanctions at its disposal — can’t enforce its ruling, so its potential impact remains unclear.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
This won't happen if they want to have a 'friendlier' ...next President.
They won’t care. They will ignore it
Enter Duterte.
That's that then.
They can have California.
The Hague has no authority.
“The Hague has no authority.”
A bunch of elitists telling the world what to do. Their mouths are writing checks their butts can’t cash.
But 0bama will get us sucked into it before Christmas, and it will cost American lives and money.
The Chinese will militarily ignore it, but this knocks off any moral camouflage they tried to attach
As if China is in any mood to abide by some old Euro colonial masters who tell them where China’s territory is or isn’t.
How can you just up and build an island in the sea? I mean, what has the weather been like there for years? A tidal wave can up and wipe it out in minutes. It could happen.
Good
America now must make clear we will stand up to any Chinese aggression against the Philippians or any other our allies.
How many divisions has the Pope?
Just found themselves a shallow atoll and started dumping rocks on it.
How high is the wake of a Nimitz-class carrier at full speed?
The ruling is the death knell of the court
having no means to enforce the judgement, the court is shown to be a farce
>>The Hague has no authority.
Actually, they do. China signed and ratified the treaty placing them under the Hague’s boot-heel.
China will just ignore this. Like their pets, the Clintons, laws are for little peoples.
Not exactly, a treaty established the Permanent Court of Arbitration. If you signed the treaty, you agreed to be bound by its decisions. China did, so they normally would accept their judgement.
The Chicoms agreed to arbitration, if they renege then things get dangerous.
Since WWII we have had very few overt interstate wars. The Falklands, the Arab-Israeli Wars, and the Indo-Pakistani Wars come to mind, all of which were limited in scope or geography.
Most other major wars have either a thin veneer of "civil war" (Korea, Vietnam, multiple African Wars) and/or a thin veneer of international approval (Korea, Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan 2000s), or are legitimate internal conflicts.
If China effectively tells the court, and the world at large, to go pound sand they set themselves on a potential collision course against Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan. As well as two longstanding major U.S. interests: freedom of navigation (1/3 of global shipping) and the independence of the Philippines. (Obama thought he could appease the Chinese, but they see him as weak, so they keep ramping up the pressure.)
What keeps bothering me is why? and why now? China is a land animal, they are investing in both a blue water navy and an expensive and aggressive campaign to seize the South China Sea. This risks a general war in eastern Asia.
My fear is that the Chicoms think the alternative is worse. There are intense social, economic and political pressures at play in China. But as a mostly closed society, we cant see how they are interacting. My fear is that the Chicoms are turning to external expansion to vent internal pressures. China has spent most of the last three hundred years in a semi-constant state of civil war (the last being the Cultural Revolution, which was a weird, but IMHO a real civil war.) I admit this is speculation, but Obama's weakness has provided this opportunity to China.
Let the fun begin.
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