US naval operations in the South China Sea are built primarily around needling China. China has built up a number of islands and claims ownership of them. The US insists China doesn’t own them, and also that they’re not really islands, so the USS Decatur, a guided-missile destroyer, was sent to sail past one of the islands, as a way to thumbing their nose at Chinese claims.
That doesn’t work for China, who sent one of their own destroyers to intercept the American ship, which was just 12 nautical miles off the Spratly Islands. China called the US ship’s presence a “threat” and said the Chinese ship was sent there to tell them to leave.
US officials are now furious as well, both because they intend to keep sailing past those islands to spite China, and because they say China’s ship was “unsafe” in getting so close to them, forcing the USS Decatur to move to prevent a collision.
US officials tend to over-emphasize the “unsafe” operations of anyone confronting US warships, especially pushed when tensions are mounting, as the US-China tensions have been in recent weeks.
Two destroyers 45 yards from one another is close, but not unnavigable. China’s ship forced the US ship to turn, which was the whole point of the interception, to chase the USS Decatur out of what China considers their territorial waters.
Generally, a ship passing 12 miles from a small island would barely be noticed, and China has previously ignored such operations. The Pentagon, however, have emphasized that they are explicitly flouting Chinese territorial claims with such sail-bys, and China apparently felt obliged to respond.
If some American corporation build-up some islands right off the Florida coast – you damned right it would be considered “Our Property”.
Sometimes I think that I probably mirror what clear thinking Germans felt during the Nazi reign – “How the Hell did we let these jerks get in charge?”
“Venetian Islands” near Miami.
http://www.thekleerteam.com/megatemplate/uploads/rteul_images/10182013347184878.png
what clear thinking Germans felt during the Nazi reign – “How the Hell did we let these jerks get in charge?”
Sir: Instead of Attacking Other Countries for Democratic Rule; Very Simple, This time Americans’ Attacked Home.
China has no choice. The international standard for sovereignty over these geographic features requires a state to demonstrate effective occupation or continuous administration and control. So China must defend its sovereignty or lose it. “The Chinese military will resolutely perform its defense duties and continue to take all necessary measures to safeguard our sovereignty and the regional peace and stability,” Wu said.
By the way, the US has such “geographic features” also. Here’s one: Kingman Reef is a largely submerged, uninhabited triangular shaped reef, 9.5 nautical miles (18 kilometers) east-west and 5 nmi (9 km) north-south, located in the North Pacific Ocean, roughly halfway between the Hawaiian Islands and American Samoa. Kingman Reef has the status of an unincorporated territory of the United States, administered from Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Department of Interior. –wiki
So these US naval provocations at heart have nothing to do with “freedom of navigation.” They are all about challenging China’s sovereignty claims of islands and other geographic features in the South China Sea. The US attempts to cover its nefarious activities by calling the target China territories “disputed territories.” Then since they are “disputed” there are no “territorial waters” and the US is free to sail its military ships near them, is the US strategy. That challenges China’s sovereignty and causes China to act.
Dear Sir: You are trying to tell The Most Smartest President Trump, do you think He will Understand it?
Hon. President Trump can fight with All or even Destroy America but Can Never Never Ever Stand Up to His Real Masters, i.e., “Zionist Israel”.