By This is like the US claiming sovereignty over the entire Gulf of Mexico or Japan claiming the entire Sea of Japan, which both scenarios are utterly ridiculous, which is how the world should view this latest Chinese land grab:
The Chinese military declared Friday that China had “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea but insisted it would continue to allow others to freely navigate one of the busiest waterways in the world.
The statement by the People’s Liberation Army seemed designed to reiterate China’s claims to the entire 1.3 million-square-mile waterway while calming concerns in Washington and Asian capitals that its policy toward the region had suddenly become significantly more aggressive.
“China has indisputable sovereignty of the South Sea, and China has sufficient historical and legal backing” to support its claims, Senior Col. Geng Yansheng, a Ministry of Defense spokesman, told reporters Friday during a visit to an engineering unit on the outskirts of Beijing.
But he added, “We will, in accordance with the demands of international law, respect the freedom of the passage of ships or aircraft from relevant countries.”
Geng’s remarks were in reaction to a push last week by the United States, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries tochallenge China’s claims to the whole sea.
In Hanoi on July 23, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a regional security forum that it was in the United States’ “national interest” that freedom of navigation be maintained in the sea. Clinton also challenged China’s claims to the whole sea, through which half of all shipped merchant tonnage passes each year.
U.S. and Asian officials have said that Vietnam and the United States spearheaded the push in part over concerns that China’s navy has become increasingly aggressive in the sea, seizing fishing boats and arresting sailors from other countries. Some exchanges of gunfire have also occurred in recent months, Asian officials said. [Washington Post]
Read the rest at the link, but One Free Korea has a great posting on the current state of the Chinese government that I recommend everyone checkout.
3:07 pm on July 31st, 2010 1
Haha so it begins. The United States won't do anything for fear of a war they couldn't win with China. China is going to be a bully now expect more of these skirmishes. China is going to dominate the far east. If Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan the Philippines don't do anything we can expect to see China has a unmatched power. We need a strong leader in the White House China isn't playing around anymore, they didn't switch to democracy. Time to boycott Chinese goods. We are basically funding their military through buying their stupid products. The fall of free Asian countries will be next.
3:20 pm on July 31st, 2010 2
If Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines and other countries don’t do anything we can expect to see China as a unmatched power in the region.
We need a strong leader in the White House. China isn’t playing around anymore, they didn’t switch to democracy and are actively hurting free nations.
edit- grammar.
The future doesn't look bright.
4:08 pm on July 31st, 2010 3
Are foreign policy with Red China has been a disaster. The people on the left thought that by being nice that the Red Chinese would change & the business people on the right thought that with economic freedom(capitalism) that it would lead to political freedom. Both are clearly wrong. The Soviets claimed sovereignty(maybe the Russians still do, I don't know) over the Black Sea & regularly protested everytime Nato Naval vessels entered the Black Sea. We need to get government spending under control, quit borrowing money from Red China. We also need to have tariffs & other incentives to bring back manufacturing back to The US. We need to strengthen our alliances with Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, & the Philippines.
6:57 pm on July 31st, 2010 4
Why don't we add Korea to the 'Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, & the Philippines' list while we are at it. Or is the ROK-US alliance already so solid that it requires no mentioning anymore?
7:17 pm on July 31st, 2010 5
Hmm well I meant those who Claim the South China Sea. Of course I meant South Korea, but I meant that countries who claim the oil in the sea.
10:15 pm on July 31st, 2010 6
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by GIKorea and Joseph J. Steinberg, Joseph J. Steinberg. Joseph J. Steinberg said: RT @GIKorea: New blog post: China Claims Sovereignty Over South China Sea http://rokdrop.com/2010/07/31/china-claims-sovereignty-over-so … [...]
6:51 am on August 1st, 2010 7
The Chinese jjankke's are getting bolder and bolder…
But they still haven't learned how to take a shower, shampoo their hair, and brush their teeth.
7:06 am on August 1st, 2010 8
Our war against North Vietnam wasn't very smart policy, was it?
11:14 am on August 1st, 2010 9
K, the article was about Red China claiming the South China Sea. Since the Korean Peninsula is northeast of this area by hundreds of miles then Korea has nothing to do with the article. Of course the ROK is a valuable ally of the US. If Red China was to claim the Yellow Sea, the Korean Bay, or the Sea of Japan then Korea & Red China might get into it. Glans, I would say that the WAY that the Vietnam war was fought was stupid, with one hand tied behind our backs which was the same way that the Korean war was fought. We should have learned our lesson after the Korean war. We could have turned that whole country into one big parking lot. General Curtis LeMay USAF said that he wanted to bomb the communist back into the stone age.
1:13 pm on August 1st, 2010 10
But you also mentioned Japan, who has only as much interest in South China Sea as Korea does. So why mention just one and not the other?
1:20 pm on August 1st, 2010 11
Tom Langley, a parking lot on China's border wouldn't do much to contain its ambitions. If we had been friendly to Vietnam as a whole, and statyed out of its internal conflict, it would have been better able to defend its islands, and it would be better able to help us now.
1:20 pm on August 1st, 2010 12
K, good point.
1:39 pm on August 1st, 2010 13
Glans Vietnam at that time was not whole, there were two countries, North Vietnam which was allied with the communist bloc & South Vietnam which was allied with the west. If we were sitting on top of that parking lot right next to Red China I believe that it would have been an incentive for Red China not to be as assertive with its neighbors as it is becoming now. North Vietnam & South Vietnam were two separate countries as North Korea & South Korea are today. Our motives in Vietnam were noble in my opinion, there was nothing wrong morally with trying to protect the freedom of the people of South Vietnam(SV was certainly not as free as the US but compared to NV they were much freer. Of course now we have to deal with the reality that is. I think Vietnam wants us to remain in SEA as you know they actually fought with Red China.
8:51 pm on August 2nd, 2010 14
Indisputable sovereignty? They neither have sovereignty nor is their claim undisputed.
7:24 pm on August 4th, 2010 15
The obvious answers? Allow Japan to rearm and give nukes to Taiwan.