Chinese officials issued a statement warning that the US is “inciting confrontation” in the South China Sea with various threats, including threats to impose sanctions against Chinese officials over island claims.
China is one of several countries with competing claims in the South China Sea. In all cases, the US backs other nations over China, and in cases where China isn’t involved, they urge all sides to work things out equitably.
The State Department now says “nothing’s off the table” on the South China Sea, including imposing new sanctions against Chinese officials over the claims to islands. There is believed to be substantial oil off-shore, which is why the US wants nations who don’t have the ability to exploit it, i.e. not China, to own those islands.
Chinese officials are threatening retaliatory sanctions against the US, and intend to maintain their claims on the islands, whether or not it means continued rising tensions with the US.
… China dropping billions building sandcastles on sandspits that global warming will sink in fifty years, is from a geostrategic point of view, possibly a good thing to encourage.
Sanctions, though, probably hurts the U.S. more than China in the long run.
The sandcastles are likely to last a lot longer than the floating coffins.
ROFLOL!
Military spending is so out of touch with reality.
Over the last hundred years sanctions have always been imposed by nations much more powerful than the target country. But the US and China are equal in status. When sanctions fail, and no compromise possible, the next step is war. The lesson of two world wars has not taught how to avoid a third.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
We should prepare to have our butts kicked by China–deservedly so, and none to soon. No one likes an arrogant bully.
China will back down and remove their particle board buildings from those atolls. Their Navy is on a par with or maybe slightly better than Pakistans. Certainly their untrained sailors cannot even begin to engage our highly skilled personnel and up to date carriers.
The US is a paper tiger thou armchair warrior. When was the last time the US won any conflict?? China would man handle the US and has the fire power and smarts to do so. I do wish that the “so-called” patriots pushing American hegemony would realize that all bets are off. China is a superpower who would crush the US especially in their backyard.
We would board their ships and take on all those 5’5″ Chinese sailors who were forced into serving or be sent to the Uyghur concentration camps to help dispose of bodies.
Yawn. Nothing will happen, just more fuel burning so the petro-dollar can stay inflated.
China needs to understand that the gangsters have declared war on China and all these sanctions and harsh language, are only foreplay.
Next foreplay phase will be to threaten friends and allies (vassals and puppets ) to get behind the US sanction policy on China…like with Russia.
China needs to take its silk gloves off.
China and Russia also needs to make their defense alliance official, speed up their energy, defense cooperations and commerce trade to a maximum….not just the 200 billion goal, but far beyond.
China and Russia`s dream to become friends with the west and be treated as equals, will never happen, it is and has always been an illusion.