China says South China Sea island building to finish soon

[webfact]

China says South China Sea island building to finish soon

BEIJING (AP) — China will complete land reclamation projects on its disputed South China Sea territorial claims as planned within "upcoming days," the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

However, in a sign that developments were far from over, a statement posted to the ministry's website said China would follow up by building infrastructure to carry out functions ranging from maritime search and rescue to environmental conservation and scientific research.

"It is learned from relevant Chinese competent departments that, as planned, the land reclamation project of China's construction on some stationed islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands will be completed in the upcoming days," the statement said, using the Chinese term for the Spratly islands, which lie at the heart of the South China Sea territorial dispute.

Apart from satisfying defense goals, it said the main purpose of such projects was civilian in nature and not targeted at any third parties. It said the projects fell within the scope of Chinese sovereignty and were "lawful, reasonable and justified," while causing no harm to the marine environment.

The statement said the projects "do not affect the freedom of navigation and overflight enjoyed by all countries in accordance with international law in the South China Sea."

That will likely be scrutinized by the U.S. military following an incident last month during which a U.S. Navy plane flying near one of the reclaimed islands was repeatedly challenged by the Chinese military and told to leave the area.

The reclamation work has sharply increased tensions with the United States, and Vietnam and other countries in the region which fear China will use the artificial islands as military bases and to assert control over navigation in the South China Sea.

According to the U.S., Beijing's building program on reefs and atolls now totals more than 2,000 acres (800 hectares).

Most recently, U.S. officials said that China had placed two motorized artillery vehicles on one of its reclamation sites, but they have now been removed.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-16

[daoyai]

I have never wished a supertyphoon to hit an island but in this case...

[Publicus]

The United States just chopped Beijing's SCS salami in half and fed it to the dogs.

The week before last SecDef Ashton Carter in Singapore told the CCP Boyz in Beijing to quit their island building on reefs and now, yesterday in fact, the Boyz have suddenly said they're just about finished.

Because SecState Kerry and the White House have had to focus on Ukraine/Putin, Syria/ISIS, Netanyahu/Iran, the Boyz in Beijing had thought they could slip this one through the cracks, but the White House put SecDef Carter on 'em.

In other words, the cat sprung back and sent the stunned mouse scurrying off into its hole. The mouse hadn't had this happen for more than 60 years so it's rather off balance now and working hard to smarten up.

China also doesn't want the issue to overshadow President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington in September.

Tuesday's statement was "a form of crisis management, intended to reduce speculation and lower tensions," said Zhao Kejin, an international relations expert at Beijing's Qinghua University.

"It's better to squelch problems before his (Xi's) visit, since there are more important things to be dealt with," Zhao said.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jun/15/china-says-south-china-sea-island-building-to/

Yes, the Chinese from their dictators to their ordinary people need to learn, recognize, respect, they are living in the 21st century going forward, not in the 12th century going backward. This is an excellent pre-primer of instruction but it's certain that as slow as the Chinese are, more along this line will be required as we go forward.

[ggt]

Shame on those Chinese...they did not get US approval before starting their building project in the South CHINA Sea...

Oh well, better to just do it...then say "so sorry" later!

[wabothai]

and notorious for not telling the truth.

[pmugghc]

Shame on those Chinese...they did not get US approval before starting their building project in the South CHINA Sea...

Oh well, better to just do it...then say "so sorry" later!

Are you seriously defending China's territorial claims around the South China Sea using their 9-dash line??

Are you suggesting that the US is claiming these reefs/islands?

Should India then claim all of the INDIAN ocean?

Edited June 16, 2015 by pmugghc

[Publicus]

Shame on those Chinese...they did not get US approval before starting their building project in the South CHINA Sea...

Oh well, better to just do it...then say "so sorry" later!

The Dictators in Beijing are quitting expanded reclamation so accept the fact because everyone in the region is against Beijing on this, the G-7 oppose it, the EU oppose it, the UN says the ILOS needs to be observed and the US has sent its premier warship the supercarrier Ronald Reagan to the South China Sea.

US sends top warship to Asia Pacific

15 Jun 2015

NEWS | WRITERs: CHANANTHORN KAMJAN AND WASSANA NANUAM

The Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan CVN 76 will soon replace the carrier USS George Washington CVN 73 as the US Navy's forward deployed carrier at Yokosuka, Japan. (US Navy photo) The Reagan will be the flagship of Carrier Strike Group Five in the South China Sea consisting of four strike groups of aircraft, seven destroyers, two missile cruisers and 4 attack submarines.

ha ha...the South CHINA Sea . What if Mexico declared sovereignty over 80% of the Gulf of MEXICO??? It's the silliest inane statement that could be made on the SCS issues and it is simply vacuous.

The name South China Sea was given by Western mariners in the 17th century and it went onto maps made in China too by both Westerns in China and by the Chinese dynasties themselves. There's a move afoot to change the name to the Southeast Asia Sea given 131,000 km touch on Asean countries while only 2,800 km touch on China.

https://www.change.org/p/change-the-name-south-china-sea-to-southeast-asia-sea

The PRChinese have a lotta huge bucks involved in Xi Jinping's scheduled official state visit to Washington in September, so the US decision on the timing of its SCS actions is a smart strategic measure in economics, militarily, diplomatically.

The CCP Boyz in Beijing are a gang of klutzes.

[PeCeDe]

Certainly not taking China's side on this but how'd you think if China was to go park one of their Chinese aircraft carriers just outside the territorial waters of Hawaii or San Francisco? Better think quick 'cause it's coming. Quite frankly I'm not surprised at China at all.

[Publicus]

^{Certainly not taking China's side on this but how'd you think if China was to go park one of their Chinese aircraft carriers just outside the territorial waters of Hawaii or San Francisco? Better think quick 'cause it's coming. Quite frankly I'm not surprised at China at all.}

Fantasy.

Walmart won't allow it.

Not good for business.

[PeCeDe]

^{Certainly not taking China's side on this but how'd you think if China was to go park one of their Chinese aircraft carriers just outside the territorial waters of Hawaii or San Francisco? Better think quick 'cause it's coming. Quite frankly I'm not surprised at China at all.}

Fantasy.

Walmart won't allow it.

Not good for business.

You have a way with words,.. be they ever so few... love it!

[Credo]

The US isn't the one pulling the strings, the Philippines are. The islands are disputed and they are not disputed by the US. If the Philippines want to attack they will have the full and complete backing of the US, as agreed to. A military confrontation with China is a big, big deal and is not to be taken lightly. There is much more to be lost than to be gained. It's not about who is stronger.

Russia is waiting for a chance to play it's cards. China is upping the ante and the region is a powder keg, when you add North Korea to the mix. There are a lot of old scores to be settled.

The Philippines should in theory, have the backing of all of ASEAN, although Thailand is not known for showing much backbone, if they are to be judged by history.

[steelepulse]

China has no sovereign right to these islands, but hey, possession is 9/10's of the law, right" Oh so they think..............

[Publicus]

The US isn't the one pulling the strings, the Philippines are. The islands are disputed and they are not disputed by the US. If the Philippines want to attack they will have the full and complete backing of the US, as agreed to. A military confrontation with China is a big, big deal and is not to be taken lightly. There is much more to be lost than to be gained. It's not about who is stronger.

Russia is waiting for a chance to play it's cards. China is upping the ante and the region is a powder keg, when you add North Korea to the mix. There are a lot of old scores to be settled.

The Philippines should in theory, have the backing of all of ASEAN, although Thailand is not known for showing much backbone, if they are to be judged by history.

Whoa, hold the horses there!

The Philippines as a mutual defense treaty ally of the US can't go around launching military adventures and have the US to rush in to support it. That's not the terms of a mutual defense treaty. There's nothing automatic about it.

Washington does not support or oppose any SCS sovereignty claims of any country.

The United States is firm that the ILOS does not confer sovereignty on reefs, rocks, islets and the like. A rock has a 500 meter "safe zone" as does a built up reef such as Fiery Reef and that's it. No territorial 3-mile limit, no territorial 12-mile limit, no 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone, no Air Defense Identification Zone...no nuthin'.

When early last month the CCP Boyz landed two mobile PLA artillery vehicles (missiles) on Fiery Reef the Pentagon sounded general quarters for the SCS which brings the US Navy and the rest of us to where we are today.

The US has supported the Asean SCS Code of Conduct since it was first adopted in 2002 and Washington supports the the 2012 expansion of the COC that the Boyz in Beijing have been willfully obstructing since 2012

The Boyz need to accept the Asean COC for mutual development of SCS resources cooperatively and peacefully. Since 2013 Asean countries have been arming themselves increasingly each year now approaching $50 billion of total arms purchases by the Phils, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Brunei, submarines being number one and coast guard vessels number two.

The SCS interests of the United States are real and they are now immediate......

The United States has a deep interest in the South China Sea. It is not just its geostrategic importance as the center through which a third of world trade passes in a region that accounts for over a third of global economic output. The more important point is that China’s actions in the South China Sea — including invasive patrols and encroachments into waters of other claimants, the seizure of features, and vast land reclamation activities — undermine America’s interest in a free, stable and secure Asia-Pacific.

Some of the other claimants have taken or are taking efforts to fortify their claims, but Beijing’s actions dwarf them considerably. Chinese behavior is a threat to rules and norms governing maritime boundaries and resources, freedom of navigation, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. As U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel put it, “the South China Sea is not about rocks; it’s about rules.”

It also negatively affects U.S. allies and partners which are one of the key foundations for America’s presence in the Asia-Pacific. Lastly, the South China Sea is an important test case for how the world and its only superpower can deal with the more troubling aspects of a fast-rising China while preserving the other dimensions of their ties with Beijing.

http://thediplomat.com/2015/05/the-case-for-a-bolder-us-south-china-sea-policy/

[sdanielmcev]

Well, since the current administration has been so soft on foreign affairs, except for kowtowing to Islamic countries, China will thumb its' nose at any U.S. military action. No other country in the region, except maybe Japan, can do anything militarily. The islands will be finished, there'll be some whining, nothing will be done, and China will get its' oil.

[Publicus]

Well, since the current administration has been so soft on foreign affairs, except for kowtowing to Islamic countries, China will thumb its' nose at any U.S. military action. No other country in the region, except maybe Japan, can do anything militarily. The islands will be finished, there'll be some whining, nothing will be done, and China will get its' oil.

And here I'd thought I wuz reading Xinhua.

[ddavidovsky]

It won't be the end of the building, but the Chinese have already achieved through stealth what war and diplomacy would not. These islands and the sea around them are now de facto Chinese territory. To avoid confrontation this should have been prevented before it happened but everyone was asleep at the wheel. The world is left blinking, with no idea what to do. The west, in particular, is non-plussed at the unimaginable crust and industry shown by the Chinese under a tropical sun that, as former colonialists, was once their own speciality. They snoozed, they lose. It's the law of history.

[Publicus]

The CCP Dictators in Beijing have backed off because everyone is against them throughout the region and globally. That's awfully dumb, to do stuff forcefully that turns everyone against you, and the Dictators in Beijing are simply another communist klatch of klutzes.

The Boyz already are having serious problems with their grandiose design of an overland Silk Road via six overland "Road" routes across Asia to Europe, and India isn't cooperating with the maritime Silk Road "Belt" because of the CCP String of Pearls of ports and military bases in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan to coastal Iran that surround India not to mention the constant and increasing presence of the PLA Navy in the Indian Ocean. Thailand has already said an emphatic no to the Boyz Kra Canal dream nightmare that would sever the South from the country but Beijing keeps on talking as if it were a done deal.

Asean has made clear it is with the United States, Australia, Japan when the SCS shooting starts and others such as India will join as well. The Boyz in Beijing are ham handed 12th century Chinese autocrats magnified by 21st century Chinese Communist ideology and dogmas. The United States is familiar with Chinese ways and experienced in communist mindsets and empires.

Yes, the Dictators in Beijing should have been stopped at Scarborough Shoals in 2012 as the Philippines tried to do with US logistics support only, however, finding out that was an insufficient approach, the US has now put itself into the SCS directly and decisively.

Correct, this isn't over yet, not by a long shot. After Xi's visit to Washington in Sept we'll see what might happen but the risks to Xi and the CCP remain great then too.

The Boyz face a huge task now to patch things over with their victims proposed partners along the still stalled Silk "Belt and Road" routes. Russia is moving additional forces into former Soviet republics to check the Boyz Silk Road ambitions and the stan countries are looking to Russia for protection, a balance there. Putin thinks the "Silk Belt and Road:" are a great idea as long as he's in charge west of the PRChina to Europe, which is a non-starter in Beijing.

And as for Europe, here's a reaction from the European Council on Foreign Relations...:

China’s silk road to nowhere?

Since 2013, China has been hyping its New Silk Road project. It launched a massive public relations campaign – which even held out the prospect of “Silk Road Tourism” – to turn the idea of a global transportation network into an incentive to cooperate with China and an expression of an Asian “community of destiny”. But China will face huge challenges in making the New Silk Road a reality. One of the places where China had begun re-construction of ancient Silk Road links early on is Pakistan. But after decades, progress has been limited. Despite China’s commitment to the Silk Road project, it’s not clear that it is going anywhere.

http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_chinas_silk_road_to_nowhere3025

Indeed, the Boyz of Beijing global circus has only just begun and the lion tamer has only just arrived at the scene. The time will come to round up the clowns and send 'em home.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Publicus

[LawrenceChee]

Good thing the Chinese have been finishing most of what it has said it will do

Pretty different compared with a lot of western superpowers who have claimed to help ASEAN and so far have built nothing much to crow about

Fundamental difference between Asians and most western cultures ...while most western cultures excel in talking and posting comments , Asians have been building & working and making money every day