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US & China Square Off Over South China Sea
Topic Started: Jul 12 2012, 01:32 PM (27,749 Views)
Mckoyzzz
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US warns China not to attempt Crimea-style action in Asia
April 4, 2014 8:47am

WASHINGTON - China should not doubt the US commitment to defend its Asian allies and the prospect of economic retaliation should also discourage Beijing from using force to pursue territorial claims in Asia in the way Russia has in Crimea, a senior US official said on Thursday.

Daniel Russel, President Barack Obama's diplomatic point man for East Asia, said it was difficult to determine what China's intentions might be, but Russia's annexation of Crimea had heightened concerns among US allies in the region about the possibility of China using force to pursue its claims.

"The net effect is to put more pressure on China to demonstrate that it remains committed to the peaceful resolution of the problems," Russel, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Russel said the retaliatory sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States, the European Union and others should have a "chilling effect on anyone in China who might contemplate the Crimea annexation as a model."

This was especially so given the extent of China's economic interdependence with the United States and its Asia neighbors, Russel said.

Russel said that while the United States did not take a position on rival territorial claims in East Asia, China should be in no doubt about Washington's resolve to defend its allies if necessary.

"The president of the United States and the Obama administration is firmly committed to honoring our defense commitments to our allies," he said.

GMA
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Hong Nam
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Bought by China


Asia is showing us that islands are increasingly valuable and coveted as military assets. So, if old strategies and long-held habit, coupled with bureaucratic and political pressures, are actually biasing the U.S. against islands, the Pentagon must take steps to re-analyze the military value of islands and island basing - and then make darn sure that our assessments of island value are in-line with everybody else - because, in a growing number of places, those little pieces of coral or rock are "in demand" and considered to be well-worth fighting over.


America's Perilous Habit of Undervaluing Islands

As Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel heads off to Asia to urge resolution of some of Asia's island disputes, many Americans will continue to scratch their heads in wonder as to why several Asian countries are at loggerheads over some small, seemingly useless and unpopulated islands. We need to remember that, these days, islands are not just economic assets, valued solely for their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and under-seabed resources.

Islands are military assets with strategic and tactical value.


Some reasons why the U.S. has an anti-island bias:

1) Islands are administratively out of US favor.
2) Island bases offer few domestic political benefits.
3) Pentagon is primed for consolidation and minimization of the military's geographical footprint.
4) The Pentagon is biased towards mobile sensors/power projection assets.

"America is eager to hold onto whatever shipbuilding/floating naval assets we can, and that makes the Pentagon predisposed to dismiss, say, the idea of, say, using Thitu/Pag-asa Island as a tiny forward-based aircraft carrier or listening post. We prefer sending in a SSN or dispatching a CVN - 4.5 acres of floating U.S. sovereignty. And we do this despite acknowledging the fact that, in isolated areas, persistent presence is important and shared bases, outside the public eye, have worked quite well."

"Operations off, say, a rented 45-Hectare island in the South China Sea might offer some very interesting geopolitical and operational opportunities that wouldn't come from a brief DDG/LCS or CVN visit."

"We forget that most other countries don't have our floating arsenal, and, as such, must think harder about exploiting geography - for them, it may be far more cost-effective to use geography to house a missile base, a listening post or air wing than to develop carrier battle groups, subs or survivable combatants."

5) Washington has forgotten terraforming works.
6) Pentagon management of militarily-valuable island bases is fragmented.
7) Island vulnerability is being debated.


What does America's Anti-Island Bias Mean?

Is America risking miscalculation by undervaluing the military value of islands? You bet.

Primarily, the U.S. is at risk of underestimating the military value other countries put upon islands and island bases.

We also risk discounting entire important regions. Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan are all archipelagos, and they're all on the front lines of the Pacific Pivot. We should be right there with them, putting our well-worn (and likely locally unsuitable) Pentagon-grown "anti-island" biases aside to better understand just how these countries are approaching the problem of defending their island territories.



NextNavy


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AZKALS
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USS Blue Ridge Encounters Chinese Ships Near Disputed Scarborough Shoal


http://www.stripes.com/news/blue-ridge-encounters-chinese-ships-near-disputed-isle-1.282222

By Erik Slavin

Stars and Stripes
Published: May 9, 2014

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Blue Ridge-embarked helicopter photographed two Chinese navy ships May 5 near the site of a heavily contested shoal that has sparked a months-long standoff between China and the Philippines in 2012.The Navys photo release of two Chinese Navy ships near Scarborough Shoal sparked some online news outlets to label the encounter a confrontation, which 7th Fleet officials disputed Friday.USS Blue Ridge, the Japan based 7th Fleets flagship, transited without incident near the two ships, Navy officials said.All parties acted professionally, said 7th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. William Marks, who is embarked aboard Blue Ridge.

There wasn’t any communication [with the Chinese] due to both Blue Ridge and its helicopter being a safe distance away, Marks said.Hull numbers in the Navy photos indicate the Chinese ships were the destroyer Lanzhou and the frigate Hengshui.The visit near Scarborough was not a freedom of navigation operation, Marks said in response to a Stars and Stripes question.
Edited by MSantor, May 9 2014, 09:02 PM.


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gammy322
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China blames US for stoking tensions in S.China Sea
By: Reuters
May 9, 2014 6:23 PM

BEIJING - China's foreign ministry blamed the United States on Friday for stoking tensions in the disputed South China Sea by encouraging countries to engage in dangerous behavior, following an uptick in tensions between China and both the Philippines and Vietnam.

China this week accused Vietnam of intentionally colliding with its ships in the South China Sea after Vietnam asserted that Chinese vessels used water cannon and rammed eight of its vessels at the weekend near an oil rig.

The United States has called China's deployment of the rig "provocative and unhelpful" to security in the region, urging restraint on all sides.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeated that the waters the rig was operating in, around the Paracel Islands, were Chinese territory and that no other country had the right to interfere.


http://www.interaksyon.com/article/86444/china-blames-us-for-stoking-tensions-in-s-china-sea
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AZKALS
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2 Warships from China Continues to Patrol Around Panatag Shoal ...

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(Photo: US 7th Fleet Command)


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Mckoyzzz
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US, China spar again on disputed waters
Reuters
Posted at 05/13/2014


WASHINGTON/BEIJING - China hit back at the United States over the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday, after US Secretary of State John Kerry said recent Chinese moves in the resource-rich waters were "provocative."

<snipped>

"He (Kerry) said China's introduction of an oil rig and numerous government vessels in waters disputed with Vietnam was provocative," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, referring to a telephone call between Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in which North Korea was also discussed.

"He urged both sides to de-escalate tensions, ensure safe conduct by their vessels at sea, and resolve the dispute through peaceful means in accordance with international law."

China's foreign ministry said there certainly had been provocative moves in the South China Sea, but that China was not the guilty party and repeated that it was the United States' fault for encouraging such behaviour.

"We hope that the US side can carefully reflect - if they really hope for the Pacific Ocean to be peaceful, what kind of role do they actually want to play?" spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.

Hua said that Wang urged Kerry to "objectively and fairly" look at the South China Sea issue, and "act and speak cautiously".

China says that the South China Sea issue should be resolved via direct talks between the parties concerned, and has bristled at what it sees as unwarranted US interference.

China has also looked askance at the US "pivot" back to Asia, especially Washington's efforts to boost existing military links with Tokyo and Manila.

In separate remarks to visiting Singapore Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam, Kerry said the United States was deeply concerned by China's "aggressive act".

"We are particularly concerned - all nations that are engaged in navigation and traffic within the South China Sea, the East China Sea, are deeply concerned about this aggressive act," Kerry said in the Monday meeting.

"We want to see a code of conduct created; we want to see this resolved peacefully through the Law of the Sea, through arbitration, through any other means, but not direct confrontation and aggressive action," Kerry added, according to a transcript of his comments released by the State Department.

ABS-CBN
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Ayoshi
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US warns China its actions in sea disputes are straining relations (abs-cbnnews.com)
5/16/2014
Quote:
 
WASHINGTON - China's "provocative" actions in maritime disputes with its neighbors are straining ties with the United States, raising questions over how the world's two biggest economies can work together, a senior U.S. official said.

<snipped>

"This is raising some fundamental questions for us about China's long-term strategic intentions," the U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said Beijing's move appeared to fit a "pattern" of advancing territorial claims through coercion and intimidation.

"China's activities are straining the U.S.-China relationship because it raises questions about our ability to partner together in Asia or even bilaterally."





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PinoyAko
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Locklear: 'Winner-take-all' tack won't solve Asia rows
By: Agence France-Presse
May 23, 2014 3:42 PM
Quote:
 
Locklear also defended US efforts to build up security alliances in Asia, including with countries having territorial disputes with China, following criticism by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Locklear said these alliances, some going back to the end of World War II, had "generally underwritten security" in the region.
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Ayoshi
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Obama warns against 'aggression' in South China Sea [rappler.com]
May 29, 2014
Quote:
 
In a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy to US military cadets at West Point, Obama said that the United States should shun isolationism and that its military must be prepared for crises.

"Regional aggression that goes unchecked -- whether it's southern Ukraine, or the South China Sea, or anywhere else in the world -- will ultimately impact our allies, and could draw in our military," Obama said.

But Obama emphasized caution on any decision to use force and said: "American influence is always stronger when we lead by example."

"We can't try to resolve the problems in the South China Sea when we have refused to make sure that the Law of the Sea Convention is ratified by the United States -- despite the fact that our top military leaders say that the treaty advances our national security," Obama said, not naming China directly as he diverted from his prepared text.

"That's not leadership; that's retreat. That's not strength; that's weakness," Obama said.
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Hong Nam
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Obama warns against 'aggression' in South China Sea
Agence France-Presse
Thursday, May 29th, 2014


WEST POINT - President Barack Obama warned Wednesday that the United States was ready to respond to China's "aggression" toward its neighbors at sea but said Washington should lead by example by ratifying a key treaty.

In a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy to US military cadets at West Point, Obama said that the United States should shun isolationism and that its military must be prepared for crises.


Inquirer

So, are they finally going to ratify the UNCLOS ?


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