Thread: China 'building runway in disputed South China Sea island'

You have to laugh at HoHo, he gets so excited about all his little nonsense that he forgets what bullshit he's already posted.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Originally Posted by Looper

Beijing's efforts to limit freedom of navigation

Care to list some examples of China's "limiting efforts" or it's fake news.

and....

Originally Posted by OhOh

Originally Posted by Looper

A US warship has sailed close to an artificial island built by China in the South China Sea,

The ameristani interloper was requested, allegedly, to politely fuck off.

"The latest US patrol was expected to exacerbate U.S.-China tensions that had eased since Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a summit at the U.S. leader's Florida resort last month, and sure enough, on Thursday morning, China's foreign ministry urged the US to stop such "procovative acts." According to Bloomberg, China Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that U.S. actions cause severe disruption to negotiation and dialogue over South China Sea. Additionally, Lu said the US warship, which China's navy tracker, was "trespassing" and warned it to "leave immediately" as the U.S. act "undermined Chinese sovereignty and security" and was very likely to "cause sea and air accidents."

Again, care to provide any proof that China is limiting any countries commercial ships passing through the area.

They are certainly trying to.

They should have their grasping sneaky scrawny chinky arses bombed off those 'islands' and then told to get back in their box

South China Sea: China calls USS Stethem warship 'a provocation'

Beijing has called the presence of a US warship near a disputed island in the South China Sea "a serious political and military provocation".



The USS Stethem sailed within the territorial limits of Triton Island, part of the Paracel Islands, claimed by China and others.

China responded by sending battleships and fighter jets to the island.

The incident happened just before leaders of the two countries were due to speak on the phone.

The US has repeatedly warned China against its occupation and aggressive reclamation of islands in disputed waters, but Beijing says it is within its sovereign rights to do so.

US President Donald Trump is due to speak to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a pre-arranged call on Monday.

Why is the South China Sea contentious?
Satellite photos 'show weapons' built on islands

What happened exactly?

In a statement late on Sunday, China's foreign ministry confirmed reports that the USS Stethem had entered waters claimed by China.

The warship had sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island as part of its "freedom of navigation" operations, according to news agencies and Fox News citing US defence officials.

UN rules dictate that any territory can claim the waters up to 12 nautical miles from its coast. The sailing of a US ship within those limits indicates the US does not recognise those territorial claims.
Media captionIn 2015, the BBC got a view of a new Chinese runway on Mischief Reef

Beijing said it would use "all necessary means to defend national sovereignty and security".

It also accused the US of "deliberately stirring up troubles" in the region as China and South East Asian neighbours have "cooled down and improved the situation".

The tiny island is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. China has been embroiled in maritime disputes with several of its regional neighbours in recent years.
Image copyright China News Service
Image caption Chinese tour groups have also visited the Paracels
Why did the US sail to the island?

The US conducts a programme called "freedom of navigation" which challenges "excessive claims" to the world's oceans and airspace.

It was developed to ensure all countries adhere to UN maritime rules.

The US State Department says the programme operates through diplomacy, "operational assertions" by the US military, and consultations with other governments.

The military operation is the second since Mr Trump took office. In May, the USS Dewey sailed less than 12 nautical miles from an artificial island built by China called Mischief Reef, which is part of the Spratly Islands.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis said a few days later that the US would not accept China's militarisation of man-made islands in the region.

In previous years, the US has conducted such operations against China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
What is the South China Sea dispute?

Rival countries have wrangled over territory in the South China Sea for centuries, but tension has steadily increased in recent years as Beijing has begun re-asserting its claims.

The area is a major shipping route, and a rich fishing ground, and is thought to have abundant oil and gas reserves.

The various islands and waters are claimed in part or in whole by Taiwan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Much of the conflict has been centred on two clusters of islands, the Paracels and Spratlys.

China claims the largest portion of territory, saying its rights go back centuries, and issued a map in 1947 detailing its claims.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has ramped up its territorial assertions, building artificial islands and military facilities on reefs while also carrying out naval patrols in disputed waters.

But China denies the accusations of militarisation, saying the facilities are for civilian and defence purposes.

South China Sea: China calls USS Stethem warship 'a provocation' - BBC News

Aint nobody scared of the thieving chinks.

In my personal experience, you raise your hand to them and they start whimpering.

That must be so reassuring for you that a show of force is not reflected back at you.

US bomber planes fly over East and South China Seas

The US has flown two bombers over East Asian waters, as tensions continue to run high in the region.



The B-1B Lancers took part in joint military drills with Japan in the East China Sea, the US Air Force said in a statement.

They then flew over the highly contentious South China Sea.

On Tuesday, North Korea test-fired a long-range missile some believe could reach Alaska, sparking concerns over its weapons capabilities.

A statement by the US Pacific Air Forces said the flights with Japan "demonstrate the solidarity between Japan and the US to defend against provocative and destabilising actions in the Pacific theatre".

Tuesday's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by North Korea sparked a warning from the US that it would use military force "if we must".

The US has been firing missiles into South Korean waters in joint ballistic missile drills in response to the missile test.
Media captionAmerica's UN ambassador Nikki Haley says the US is prepared to defend itself and its allies

Japan, which sent two F-15s for the joint drill, also has competing claims with China in the East China Sea.

How uninhabited islands soured China-Japan ties

After the joint flypast, which took place at night, the two bombers headed to the South China Sea to "exercise the rights of freedom of navigation", said the US statement.

They then returned to the US airbase in Guam.

China claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, which the US has challenged.

Last weekend a US warship sailed near one island sparking an angry response from Beijing.

Why is the South China Sea contentious?

What is Freedom of Navigation?

The US Freedom of Navigation programme challenges "excessive claims" to the world's oceans and airspace.

It was developed to promote international adherence to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In the past years, the US conducted Freedom of Navigation operations against China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

US bomber planes fly over East and South China Seas - BBC News


Maybe time to try a bit of stick with the slinky chinks and their duplicitous 2 faced shenanigans over the NK sanctions they keep talking about but never actually enforcing.

If they want to play funny buggers then maybe try taking some of their toys off them.

Originally Posted by Looper

The US Freedom of Navigation programme challenges "excessive claims" to the world's oceans and airspace. It was developed to promote international adherence to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. In the past years, the US conducted Freedom of Navigation operations against China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

When ameristan signs the UNCLOS agreement it may have some backing for it's illegal activities, until then it's childish showboating.

I wonder when the UNSC will announce it's list of countries "excessive claims" and issue a UNSC resolution to enable anybody to use force of arms to protect the children? Until then there is no legal cover for these acts of war.



In the past years ameristan has bombed, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Vietnam, Lao, Cambodia, Afghanistan ........ killing 100,00s of innocent civilians due to it's "excessive claims" of "doing good".

Has Duterte’s China engagement backfired?

The Philippine leader's decision to set aside last July's international arbitration win over Beijing's extensive claims in the South China Sea has allowed China to consolidate major strategic gains

When a special arbitral tribunal ruled last July 12 in favor of the Philippines over China regarding their territorial disputes in the South China Sea, many at the time thought the tribunal’s landmark ruling would stall if not stop Beijing’s growing militarization of the contested maritime area.

One year on, China continues its fast build-up unperturbed while the Philippines and other claimants to parts of the sea have come to realize there is no firm mechanism to enforce the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)-based verdict against China’s diplomatic intransigence and military might.

On the first anniversary of its landmark arbitration win, President Rodrigo Duterte, who has opted in his first year in power to engage rather than confront China on the issue, is under rising pressure to take a tougher stance. The pressure comes amid reports China’s build-up is tilting the crucial waterway’s strategic balance in its favor vis-a-vis rival claimants.


The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), a unit attached to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, recently revealed new satellite imagery showing China has installed new missile shelters, radar and communication facilities on three manmade islands at Fiery Cross Reef, Mischief Reef and Subi Reef, all nearby the Philippines.


Construction at Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands in a June 16, 2017 satellite image released by AMTI to Reuters on June 29, 2017.

AMTI claims that all three islands have since at least February hosted shelters with retractable roofs that have the potential to house missile launchers. The research also indicates China has installed large antennae on Mischief Reef that could be “connected to radars for any missile systems that might be housed there.”

With the recent build-up in the so-called “Big 3” features, “Beijing can now deploy military assets, including combat aircraft and mobile missile launchers, to the Spratly Islands at any time”, AMTI’s research said. The tribunal verdict notably ruled against China’s claim to the three reefs based on its recently built manmade islands on the features.

Beijing’s doctrine of “historic rights”, the foundation of the country’s expansive “nine-dashed-line” map that lays claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, is “incompatible” with international law since “there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or their resources”, the tribunal’s verdict said.

It also censured China’s massive reclamation and island-building activities in the Spratly Islands as incompatible with the obligations of UNCLOS member states, especially because they “inflicted irreparable harm to the maritime environment” as well as “destroyed evidence of natural condition of features” in the South China Sea.

The tribunal also criticized Beijing for violating “the Philippines’ sovereign rights’ to exploit its fisheries and hydrocarbon resources within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in accordance to international law.”

Crucially, it ruled that there are no naturally formed islands in the Spratlys that can generate their own EEZs, while the Philippines and China have no overlapping EEZs in need of delimitation.

By all counts, it was a clean-sweep legal victory for the Philippines, which was “final and binding” based on Article 296, as well as Article 11, of Annex VII of the UNCLOS.

In response, an enraged China engaged in a systematic campaign to delegitimize the tribunal and its judges, adopting a “three-nos” policy of non-participation, non-recognition, and non-compliance with the final verdict. At the time, Beijing dismissed the award as a “null and void” decision and “nothing more than a piece of paper.”

It also effectively managed to rally international support, including among certain allied Southeast Asian countries, to ignore the arbitration award. Aside from threatening to withdraw from the UNCLOS, which it ratified in 2006, China also proposed to set up its own international arbitration bodies against its supposedly Western-dominated counterparts.

Only Japan, the United States and Australia openly called upon China to comply with the ruling, emphasizing its finality and binding nature under law. Concerned about spiking tensions, however, the Barack Obama administration swiftly deployed then National Security Adviser Susan Rice to China to avoid a retaliatory dust up and calm the Asian giant’s nerves.

MORE Has Duterte's China engagement backfired? | Asia Times

Duterte got in bed with the devil, he'll have to deal with the consequences.

No interaction with the Chinese comes without a heavy price. They are the ultimate backstabbers.

Indonesia Renames South China Sea.

Asserting sovereignty, Indonesia renames part of South China Sea

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Indonesia Renames South China Sea.

Asserting sovereignty, Indonesia renames part of South China Sea

Good on them. In a square-off, one to one, the average Indonesian would knock seven shades of blue into the little yellow 'tards.

Originally Posted by misskit

When a special arbitral tribunal ruled

Unfortunately as an illegal decision, by the courts own rules, the decision is meaningless and only serves to contaminate the stuffed dustbin of ameristani meddling.

Originally Posted by misskit

no firm mechanism to enforce the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)-based verdict against China’s diplomatic intransigence and military might

There is no legal "verdict" to apply.

Originally Posted by misskit

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), a unit attached to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank,

Says it all.

Originally Posted by misskit

Only Japan, the United States and Australia openly called upon China to comply with the ruling

Confirmation that only three countries accepted the illegal "verdict". One unexceptional decaying empire and two of it's vassal states.

One wonders why the other 200+ countries, that contribute to world opinion, decided to accept that the "verdict" was illegal and worthless? Are they all vassals of China?

Hopefully a huge typhoon will come across and wash away a lot of the sand underneath those islands.

Originally Posted by Geezy

Good on them.

It is not theirs to rename. One should always obtain permission from London prior to changing any previously named and acceptably named parts of the ocean.

Would they defend it if China put lighthouses up in it?

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Hopefully a huge tsunami will come across and wash away a lot of the wealth underneath those declining empires of Lizzie, The City and Wallstreet.

A more accurate prediction, yes?

It is not theirs to rename.

You're seeing the light, OhNo. Finally. Of course the Chinese are not allowed to rename the shoals and reefs that belong to the Philippines in the West Philippines Sea.

Good to know, with some gentle coaxing you can right your previous delusions.

Well done sonnyboy!

The BBC alleges that China has "threatened" Vietnam.



"Vietnam has reportedly terminated a gas-drilling expedition in a disputed area of the South China Sea, following strong threats from China.

A source in the south-east Asian oil industry has told the BBC that the company behind the drilling, Repsol of Spain, was ordered to leave the area.

It comes only days after it had confirmed the existence of a major gas field.
Those reports have been corroborated by a Vietnamese diplomatic source.

According to the industry source, Repsol executives were told last week by the government in Hanoi that China had threatened to attack Vietnamese bases in the Spratly Islands if the drilling did not stop."

South China Sea: Vietnam halts drilling after 'China threats' - BBC News


An unnamed source, an unnamed diplomat, an unnamed oil company executive and an unnamed Vietnamese government official. It's probably a quiet word in somebodies ear. You know, diplomacy.
Maybe China needs to bomb a few Vietnamese cities to rubble.

That technique works so well for ameristan and it's vassals.


Another two articles regarding the same area.


https://www.economist.com/news/asia/...roubled-waters

With a map showing the Chinese name of the block (WAB-21. The Vietnamese call it 136-03:






Vietnam Makes Bold Move For Oil In Disputed South China Sea | OilPrice.com


"Vietnam has allowed a drillship in a contested part of the South China Sea, according to an industry consultant who spoke to the BBC.
The drillship, Deepsea Metro I, on contract to Talisman-Vietnam, a unit of Talisman Energy—which Spanish Repsol bought back in 2015—is drilling about 250 miles from the Vietnamese coast.
The move is a bold one, because the block where Deepsea Metro I is drilling—called Block 136-03 by Vietnam and Wan-an Bei 21 by China—has already been leased to a company by Beijing – Hong Kong-based Brightoil, which has close ties to the Chinese government. Over the last three years, Hanoi denied Talisman-Vietnam a license to drill in the block in a bid to avoid antagonizing China, but it seems things have since changed."

^Why are there 10 dashes in The-9-Dash-Line?

Originally Posted by Looper

Why are there 10 dashes in The-9-Dash-Line?

Depends on who you ask...Wiki:

The Nine-Dash Line—at various times also referred to as the "10-dash line" and the "11-dash line"—refers to the demarcation line used initially by the government of the Republic of China (ROC / Taiwan) and subsequently also by the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), for their claims of the major part of the South China Sea.[1][2] The contested area in the South China Sea includes the Paracel Islands,[3] the Spratly Islands,[4][5] and various other areas including the Pratas Islands, the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal. The claim encompasses the area of Chinese land reclamation known as the "great wall of sand".[6][7][8][9]

An early map showing a U-shaped eleven-dash line was published in the then Republic of China on 1 December 1947.[10] Two of the dashes in the Gulf of Tonkin were later removed at the behest of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, reducing the total to nine.[11] Subsequent editions added a dash to the other end of the line, extending it into the East China Sea.[12]

Despite having made the vague claim public in 1947, China had not (as of 2014) filed a formal and specifically defined claim to the area within the dashes.[13] China added a tenth-dash line to the east of Taiwan island in 2013 as a part of its official sovereignty claim to the disputed territories in the South China Sea.[12][14][15]

On 12 July 2016, an arbitral tribunal in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that China has no legal basis to claim "historic rights" within its nine-dash line in a case brought by the Philippines. The tribunal judged that there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or resources within the Nine-Dash Line. The ruling was rejected by the Chinese government.[16]

RFA: How The Eleven-Dash Line Became a Nine-Dash Line, And Other Stories

What about the Philippines territorial claims? Don't they have any?? [Looking at OhOh's map...See last paragraph in above Wiki quote]

Originally Posted by Looper

^Why are there 10 dashes in The-9-Dash-Line?

The Chinese have a 43 dash line map as well. It does include North and South America though. They are keeping some powder dry.

Luckily for Australians the fierce Vikings made them stop at Newfoundland. Otherwise Europe and hence all it's colonies would be speaking mandarin or some such tongue.