To quote an important figure: "The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?”
China brings "maritime militia" to support illegal claim on Spratly Islands, with 220 vessels anchored in Whitsun Reef for several weeks. China claimed that they were there because they were taking shelter from high winds. China apparently has 187,000 fishing vessels, and the maritime militia ships are integrated with the fishing fleet to defend their claims of fishing rights in other nations' Economic Exclusive Zone. It would be impossible to remove these ships without risking war with China, which may be what China wants (a war with an inferior navy like the Philippines). Explained: Beijing's 'maritime militia' dominating the South China Sea - CNN
I have been following that story. The Filipinos are not going to take them on. That opportunity ended after Scarborough. They were pissed the US didn't come to their aid, but it's hard to risk starting a war over that. We keep doing the freedom of navigation exercises instead. No easy answer.
China's former #2 just took a dump on President Xi Jinping. He wrote a tribute to his mother, in which he wished the country had certain traits (like fairness and justice), and this was believed to be a criticism of Jinping's way of doing things. The opinion piece was quickly suppressed and censored. Xi Jinping: Did China's former Premier Wen Jiabao just subtly criticize the President? - CNN This is not the first time he's been censored. A while back, he was crazy enough to think that free speech was a good idea.
Hungary signs up for a new university built by China that includes mandatory indoctrination of Hungarian students in the Chinese point of view. "I would like to major in Chinese Brainwashing. Can I get a few whacks in on the Ughyur pinata?" Chinese university plan causes security concerns in Hungary Brainwashing the world, one country at a time.
Things might have been different if the Philippines had allowed the U.S. to continue to operate the naval base in Subic Bay. All because the Philippines wanted over $110 million a year for the U.S. to have a base (and protect them and their territorial waters) while the U.S. was willing to pay $36 million a year. Seems a bit greedy on the part of the Philippines (and Corazon Aquino) in retrospect, considering the fact that they received a major benefit from the base. Clark Air Force Base was abandoned at about the same time, after the eruption of Mt Pinatubo (1991).
this should be interesting Philippine foreign minister tells China to 'Get the F**k Out' over South China Sea dispute (msn.com) The Philippine foreign minister on Monday demanded in an expletive-laced Twitter message that China's vessels get out of disputed waters, the latest exchange in a war of words with Beijing over the South China Sea. The comments by Teodoro Locsin, known for blunt remarks, follow Manila's protests for what it calls the "illegal" presence of hundreds of Chinese boats inside the Philippines' 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). "China, my friend, how politely can I put it? Let me see... O...GET THE F**K OUT," Locsin tweeted on his personal account. "What are you doing to our friendship? You. Not us. We're trying. You. You're like an ugly oaf forcing your attentions on a handsome guy who wants to be a friend; not to father a Chinese province ..." Locsin said. Responding to a request for comment, a spokeswoman for the US State Department reiterated a March 28 statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying the US "stands with our ally, the Philippines, in the face of (China's) maritime militia pressure in the South China Sea." "As we have stated before, an armed attack against the Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, will trigger our obligations under the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty," the spokeswoman added.
I will also note that the TPP was largely intended to be a security pact rather than a trade pact and included increased US basing rights in the Philippines and especially Vietnam. There was no political support domestically from any party. It's hard to say whether Hillary would've tried to figure out a way to make some portion of it happened had she won, but it certainly was negated when she didn't. But the subsequent statement that we would not necessarily backup the security of Japan and South Korea was perhaps the strongest statement in favor of Chinese regional domination there has been. It was a return to Great Powers spheres of influence. Though we are trying to get back into the game now by reemphasizing The Quad, I even heard Niall Ferguson say this morning that Taiwan will be to the US what the Suez was to Britain, the final end of the expeditionary Empire and that we need to realize that and pull back now. The book 2034 tried to posit the same thing, that the US should not guarantee Pacific regional security from Chinese domination. I do recommend the book, though it had some problems overall in terms of military realism, even though it was authored by an admiral. I'm still not persuaded but I must admit it seems to be a common theme. It's the Economist cover story this week. I don't have a direct subscription but I want to the library. I may read it to see what they say since they bring a British perspective,
China is at it again. They have found a new island to develop/militarize, in Kiribati, a nation of 120,000 people in the middle of the Pacific (south of Hawaii). They have plans to upgrade the runway on the island, and construct a bridge. Kiribati has an economic exclusion zone of about 1,400 square miles of ocean. Exclusive: China plans to revive strategic Pacific airstrip, Kiribati lawmaker says
More China news: their space program will be taking a dump on planet earth in the next few days, with a 21-ton booster rocket falling out of the sky. It will be the largest thing to fall out of the sky in an uncontrolled fashion since 1990. Parts of high-speed, 21-ton Chinese rocket could crash land anywhere in the world over next week Which country or ocean will be the lucky recipient of a 21-ton gift of high-quality Chinese steel?
Hopefully it will land harmlessly in the ocean. That would ruin someone's day in a populated area....
Listened to the podcast - have not yet read the article “The fragile equilibrium that has kept the peace is really breaking down”—China and Taiwan
More about China's massive fishing fleet--they may be doing more than just fishing. China's fishing fleet may be front for international spying operation
China is ramping up a breeder reactor program that will allow it to match the U.S. nuclear arsenal by 2030. All other civilized nations gave up on breeder reactors (which take uranium and create weapons-grade plutonium) decades ago because uranium is expensive and no one needs that many nuclear weapons anyway. China Is Building Two Secret Nuclear Reactors. Scientists Are Worried.
What I'm wondering is if this is part of a long-term plan, or a reaction to the book "2034" in which the Chinese disable American fighter jets and the U.S. retaliates with a limited nuclear strike on a navy city. Maybe they think they can dissuade the U.S. from ever launching a nuclear strike against them (under any circumstances) if they have as many nukes as we do. We take out their coastal city, and they take out San Diego. It's hard to believe that Bill Clinton's foolish foreign and economic policies put them on this path they're on. They were on a very slow path to economic prosperity before Clinton decided that China needed to become a manufacturing nation while we became an innovation nation. Like NAFTA, it didn't work out so well for us.
Long before 2034, there were concerns about Chinese malware infecting military performance. And Clinton deserves criticism, but he didn't do anything that was not consensus across the political spectrum. The thought process was that opening up China economically would lead to political liberalization. And it still may. But it's also the case that you just can't keep down a country with their resources indefinitely. That can be more the recipe for destabilization than anything else. The two great wars of the last century were due to the desire to keep Germany as a second-class power in Europe even after the Prussian increase and Germany's growing economic power. Britain and France decided they were not going to help Germany move forward into the scale of European powers And keep them down. You see how that worked out