On Tuesday, a US Coast Guard admiral criticized China’s activity in the South China Sea as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was in Beijing to meet with high-level Chinese officials.
Rear Adm. Andrew Sugimoto, deputy commander of the US Coast Guard Pacific Area, said that the US “stands” with the Philippines in the South China Sea, where Chinese and Philippine vessels continue to have frequent tense encounters despite efforts to cool tensions.
Sugimoto’s comments came after Chinese and Philippine vessels collided near the disputed Sabina Shoal twice within a week. On Monday, the Chinese and Philippine coast guards had another confrontation near the shoal, which is part of the Spratly Islands.
Beijing and Manila traded blame for the collisions, and the US has taken the Philippines’ side. Sugimoto said the US “unequivocally” condemns China for allegedly ramming the Philippine vessels.
“China wants to be seen as a member of the world that has its set of rules and enforces it. But whenever they do things like ramming or water-cannoning unarmed vessels, it does not appear to be so,” Sugimoto said.
The US has vowed that the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty applies to attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, which means the US is pledging to intervene if the dispute turns hot. Sugimoto said the US Coast Guard, which has increased its presence in waters near China in recent years, would “stand” with the Philippines if the treaty is invoked.
Over in Beijing, Sullivan began two days of talks with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat. The Biden administration has taken a hard line on China and has framed its talks with the Chinese government as a way to “manage” the relationship rather than improve ties, and no breakthroughs are expected to be made.
“President Biden has been very clear in his conversations with President Xi that he is committed to managing this important relationship responsibly,” Sullivan told Wang before the talks began.
Wang noted the rocky state of US-China relations and said his goal is to move forward with “healthy and stable” ties. “The key is to keep the overall direction of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” he said.
Sane Americans may ask: "Why is the US Coast Guard involved in provoking war with China instead of guarding American waters"?
No "Sane Americans" are left my friend.
We're policing the American Empire. A better question is why isn't the Chinese Navy conducting drills off the coast of New Jersey?
""Chinese and Philippine vessels collided near the disputed Sabina Shoal twice within a week.""
morons. that is literally hilarious
Spy, Please xxxplain. As hilarious as Sisyphus?
hilarious that 2 3rd world ships would run into each other as if they were Keystone Cops. twice even.
I see, said the blind man.
Exactly! This is funny. Except that our top diplimay finds it so important as to intervene on behalf of our friend. Who apparently cannot handle this incident!
The South China Sea is to China what the Caribbean Sea is to us. No nuclear arsenals in either. Taiwan is the analog of Cuba. I bet that a president Harris will continue to dick dangerously with China.
US slams, threatens, sanctions, invades, sponsors color revolutions, sponsors proxy wars. occupies, steals resources, overthrows, undermines, …………………, and BLAH BLAH BLAH…….
What do I perceive in the way of a trend? ans: an overbearing, overweight, flabby, verbose, obnoxious bully.
Questions?
Yes, Washington outrage would be more telling were it not for their own constant, ubiquitous and gross violations.
Exactly.
Yes:
How is that worse than China?
worse because the US pretends to be "a force for good" whilst China makes no bones about their authoritarianism
Ah, that counts for something!
Is this a question or a statement?
Both I guess
"US Slams China on South China Sea as Sullivan Visits Beijing." Is that supposed to be that funny? …As funny as "Sullivan Visits Beijing?" …Okay, my family is correct. I don't know what's funny anymore.
“China wants to be seen as a member of the world that has its set of rules and enforces it. But whenever they do things like ramming or water-cannoning unarmed vessels, it does not appear to be so,” Sugimoto said.
Talk about out of touch. If only China could be more like the US.
The question is, who do Blinken and Sullivan report to? We know damn well it's not Joe Robinette Biden. And definitely not after he was deposed in the democrat coup. Who is actually running this regime?
The Spratly Islands are far from China, and China has no right to them. Yet they claim the waters outside the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. They go toward Philippine coast guard boats at high speeds, which caused a collision recently. They surround vessels and attack them with high-pressure water cannons.
Anyone who condemns Washington policy in other regions, and Ukraine policy toward Donbass, but supports China about the Spratly Islands because "Washington is on the other side of the issue!" and without even knowing where on the map the islands are, is a hypocrite. Just as much of an ignorant fanatic as those who show knee-jerk support for Washington's foreign policy, only in the other direction.
Anthropomorphic interpretation of institutional behavior (even while helpfully keeping the focus on cui bono?) ties our hands–see what I did there? We think of institutions as having agency and hands, think of "we the public" as having a collective mind, sentiments and agency. None of these exist yet we operate symbolically as though they do, leading our thinking and discourse into absurdist simplicity, into expecting common decency to factor into the calculus somehow.
US government policy has been horrifying since its founding, ultimately killing tens of millions overseas in the modern era after killing tens of millions of native people. The governments of China and Russia both have, in their past, instituted policies that killed tens of millions of their own people. Are we supposed to conclude all governments are psychopathic, mass homicidal monstrosities, given means, motive and opportunity? If so, how can we emotionally tolerate honest conversation about nations and their governments? How can we "see" what's happening if we're very largely emotional creatures whose process of cognition is largely (like 98%, according to neuroscience) unconscious?
Thank Bernays for propaganda because that's where it fits into this mess. Countering propaganda entails countering anthropomorphic everything with respect to the operations of institutions. The short answer is, yes, they are all psychopathic, but it's our task, each of us and all of us, to work to prevent their acquisition of our trust and faith by constantly reminding each other and ourselves "they" are not human and cannot be healed, reformed or otherwise made to cooperate. Our perpetual task is their functional containment and structural transparency to public inquiry.
This is where our money goes. Questioning China on fishing problems with neighbors in South China Sea. South China Sea. In the meantime Phillipines is in touch with China chatting about their mutual problems. But no— Philippines are apparently not adult enough to handle fishing disputes aming some hotheaded fisherman.