In the latest indication yet that the US military intends to challenge China’s claims to a series of islands in the South China Sea, Pentagon officials are saying today that direct naval and aerial patrols over the islands are likely the “next step.”
The islands, near the Spratly chain, are unquestionably China’s, since the islands are man-made and were created by the Chinese themselves.
The Obama Administration has made challenging Chinese claims in the South China Sea such a go-to policy, however, that they are deciding to challenge China over islands that couldn’t possibly belong to anyone else.
And as the administration overtly tries to pick a fight with China over these islands, the State Department is mocking the new islands as “sandcastles,” and claiming China is “eroding regional trust and undermining investor confidence.” To that end, officials warn it could “lead to conflict.”
Brilliant. Let's extend the US success in Iraq the world over!!!
And here I am thinking that radical Islam was a threat….ok, construction start on my bunker in a month.
"The islands, near the Spratly chain, are unquestionably China’s, since the islands are man-made and were created by the Chinese themselves."
Non sequitur. If I sneak into your back yard and build a tree house, it isn't "unquestionably mine." Since the tree belongs to you, my construction was illicit and forfeit.
I'm not saying that the island's AREN'T China's, of course. Just that the question of whether or not they are China's is not answered by the fact that China built them. If the underlying territorial substrate belongs to someone else, things built on that substrate by trespassers become the legitimate owner's property, not the trespasser's.
So, tell me, why does the US think they have a say in this? It's not our concern – except to poke the Chinese into doing something the US can then claim as provocative and dangerous to US hegemony. This is how bullies act when they start to realize that their power is diminishing and they no longer frighten the others on the playground.
The position of all of those countries, including the US and Japan, is that there is one China, and Taiwan is part of it. Furthermore, China and Taiwan's claims are identical against all of the others. The only time Taiwan gets honorable mention as a country is when it's used in this islands dispute context.
The military needs a proper threat to justify its R&D expenditures; China is a far better threat than a bunch of head-chopping lunatics for that purpose. Politicians need to look tough to gain street creed; there is nothing safer and more reliable than bashing the Chinese to earn votes since 1989. The Chinese too, are more assertive now than they had been 10-20 years ago, as are the other claimants, because positions have hardened on all sides since the US "pivot" to the region. All of which contribute to tension.
What is less comprehensible is why the MSM continues to stick to the one-sided government narrative, never questioning the assertion that Chinese claims are illegitimate – while giving everyone else a pass.
Is it that hard to look up Wikipedia or do some basic background reading? For instance, every single article on the subject continues to lump Taiwan together with the other claimants, when there is a huge section in the Wikipedia article explaining why the Chinese and Taiwanese positions are very much aligned on this specific subject – in fact, they are expressions of the exact same historical and legal claims! The only way that anyone could fail to see that China and Taiwan are de facto allies in this is if he/she never understood the true connection between China and Taiwan in the first place.
The failure of the MSM to do do their homework on this subject, which informs and perpetuates the simplistic anti-China view that most Americans have adopted on this and other subjects, is as egregious as any pro-war reporting done between 2001 and 2003. How many times can we say "we've been lied to war" before we realize where the real problem is – our perpetual gullibility?
And just what exactly is the US going to do about it? Get in a shooting war with China? Impose sanctions and get their sycophants to do the same (we see how well that worked with Russia) ?
The Us is in no position to dictate anything to anyone