US Rhetoric Over South China Sea Militarization Far From Reality

On November 21, during the East Asia Summit, President Barack Obama addressed the South China Sea dispute and appealed to the region’s leaders saying that “for the sake of regional stability, the claims should halt reclamation, construction and militarization in disputed areas.”
Obama and his Defense Secretary Ashton Carter have repeatedly warned China not to militarize the Spratly islands in the South China Sea but China has retorted such claims stating that it is the United States that is militarizing the region.

Following these accusations, Mark J. Valencia in his article for the publication The Diplomat, looked at the broader term of militarization noting that the term which means “to give a military character to or to adapt for military use” suggests that the claimants to and occupiers of Spratly features – China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam – “militarized them” years ago.

“Indeed, all have stationed military personnel there and built airstrips and harbors that can and have accommodated military aircraft and vessels,” wrote Valencia.

So it seems that the US has such rhetoric only towards China and accuses it of militarization without specifying what does that mean exactly?

Besides, the US – unlike China – already has military “places” if not bases in Southeast Asia, in its military allies the Philippines and Thailand, and more recently in Malaysia and Singapore for its Poseidon sub-hunters and electronic warfare platforms.

The author asks what is China doing that has the US so agitated and apparently willing to face another military conflict in Asia.

China has built new features in the area and constructed airstrips and ports that can accommodate military aircraft and naval vessels. It does not deny that its military will use the facilities on the features it has built upon.

“Japan who is US ally can deploy troops and missile to the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyutai area if it does that is it militarizing the East China Sea?” Valencia wrote.

Perhaps the US is only “crying wolf” to scare the Southeast Asian countries into its political and military embrace. If so, this is a dangerous tactic.

The author wrote that what is clear is that ‘militarization’ means different things to different nations. Countries that accuse others of it should define specifically what they mean. The US should specify what it is that China is doing.

“Or is it like China’s “reclamation” and construction activities: only a matter of degree and of concern basically because it is China that is doing it?” concluded the author.

Why US, China Could Reach Point of No Return

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20151222/1032153513/us-china-militarization-south-china-sea-accusation.html#ixzz3wNZ3oEgl

China Claims Sovereignty Over South China Sea Island

03.01.2016 © REUTERS/ CSIS/Digital Globe

China has rejected Vietnam’s protest against a Chinese test flight to a contested island in the South China Sea, saying it falls within the nation’s sovereignty.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Vietnam accused China on Saturday of violating its sovereignty after China flew a civil aircraft to a newly-built airfield in a part of the Spratly archipelago that Vietnam claims as its own.

"The Chinese government conducted a test flight to the airport with a civil aircraft in order to test whether or not the facilities on it meet the standards for civil aviation," China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said late Saturday.

She stressed that this activity "falls completely within China’s sovereignty" and called Beijing’s rights for the islands and waters around them indisputable.

"The Chinese side will not accept the unfounded accusation from the Vietnamese side," Hua Chunying concluded.

China has been in a dispute with several other nations over the Spratly Islands, known as Nansha Islands in China. They are a group of more than 750 islands and reefs, lying on important commercial shipping lanes and believed to hold significant oil and gas reserves.

Beijing has been constructing artificial islands in the area, claiming sovereignty over the land and the 12-nautical-mile zone surrounding them.


Read more: http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160103/1032622516/south-china-sea-vietnam.html#ixzz3wNWnXvNs

ספינת מלחמה סינית אספה מהמים ב- 15.12.16 כלי שיט צולל בלתי מאויש (כצב"מ) אמריקאי בים סין הדרומית. האירוע עורר מתיחות דיפלומטית בין וושינגטון ובייג'ינג והאמריקאים דורשים את החזרת הכלי. התפישה הסינית היא ראשונה מסוגה, על פי הידוע והיא אירעה 50 או 100 מייל מהחוף של האיים הפיליפינים (תלוי באתר המדווח). הפדיחה האמריקאית התרחשה בעת שספינת האם של הכצב"מ USNS Bowditch, שהיא ספינת מחקר אוקיאנוגרפי, עמדה למשות את הכלי מן המים. סירה סינית שהורדה מכלי שיט צבאי סיני שעקב אחרי ה- Bowditch התקרבה לכצב"מ ומשתה אותו מהמים, למרות המחאות שהאמריקאים השמיעו בקשר (מן הסתם בערוץ 16 הבינלאומי). האמריקאים טענו שהכצב"מ שלהם עסק בפעילות צבאית חוקית במי ים סין הדרומית וכי הוא מסומן בבירור ככלי אמריקאי. יש הרואים בפעילות הסינית איתות לממשל טראמפ הממשמש ובא, שלאחרונה רמז על שינוי במדיניות האמריקאית כלפי טאייוואן.
לא נמסרו פרטים מדויקים על סוג הכצב"מ, אולם על פי הדיווחים יתכן שמדובר בכלי מסוג המכונה "דאון גלים" (Wave Glider), המסוגל לנוע בים לאורך זמן ולטווח ארוך, כשהוא שואב אנרגיה מתנועת הגלים ומקרני השמש.

דיווח ב- CNBC
דיווח ב- Guardian




USNS Bowditch

כאן יִרְוֶה לוֹ מִשֶּׁפַע וָאֹשֶׁר בֶּן-עֲרָב, בֶּן-נַצֶּרֶת וּבְנִי (ז. ז'בוטינסקי, 1930)