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Admiral: U.S. ready to confront Beijing on South China Sea

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B

Blablurn

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The United States is ready to confront China should it continue its overreaching maritime claims in the South China Sea, the head of the U.S. Pacific fleet said on Wednesday, comments that threaten to escalate tensions between the two global rivals.

China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

The United States has called on China to respect the findings of the arbitration court in The Hague earlier this year which invalidated its vast territorial claims in the strategic waterway.

But Beijing continues to act in an "aggressive" manner, to which the United States stands ready to respond, Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in a speech in Sydney.

"We will not allow a shared domain to be closed down unilaterally no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea," he said. "We will cooperate when we can but we will be ready to confront when we must."

The comments threaten to stoke tensions between the United States and China, already heightened by President-elect Donald Trump's decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan's president on Dec. 2 that prompted a diplomatic protest from Beijing.

Asked about Harris's remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the situation in the South China Sea was currently stable, thanks to the hard work of China and others in the region.

"We hope the United States can abide by its promises on not taking sides on the sovereignty dispute in the South China Sea, respect the efforts of countries in the region to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea region and do more to promote peace and stability there," he told a daily news briefing.

The United States estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment.

In response, the United States has conducted a series of freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, the latest of which came in October.
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The patrols have angered Beijing, with a senior Chinese official in July warning the practice may end in "disaster".

Harris said it was a decision for the Australian government whether the U.S. ally should undertake its own freedom-of-navigation operations, but said the United States would continue with the practice.

"The U.S. fought its first war following our independence to ensure freedom of navigation," said Harris. "This is an enduring principle and one of the reasons our forces stand ready to fight tonight."

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Jacqueline Wong)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-usa-idUSKBN1430CJ
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It's about to get heated in the South China Sea.
 
C

ClosingADoor

Member
Someone needs to keep China in check or they'll roll all over that area. Although I doubt it will come down to more then just harsh words between the US and China for now.
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
ClosingADoor said:
Someone needs to keep China in check or they'll roll all over that area. Although I doubt it will come down to more then just harsh words between the US and China for now.
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.

China's statement about stability being because of them is laughable. The caused and continue to cause a lot of worry/frustration by arbitrarily claiming land that is not theirs and building weapons on those man made islands.
 
S

SliceSabre

Banned
Big words but all for show. No kind of true confrontation will ever happen between China and the US unless rich, powerful people suddenly decide to start hating money and power.
 
G

gdt

Member
SliceSabre said:
Big words but all for show. No kind of true confrontation will ever happen between China and the US unless rich, powerful people suddenly decide to start hating money and power.
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And that's a good thing. We can keep each other in check peacefully.




Well I hope so.
 
Auto_aim1

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
kayzai said:
What has the south China see have to do with the USA?
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$5 trillion worth of trade passes through it and China claims the whole of SCS belongs to them. It doesn't. They give some bullshit reason to justify it and a panel in the Hague rejected China's claims as well. They are now militarizing it. China's economy and military is quite strong now so they are testing the waters, and if the US does nothing, they'll try this in the Indian Ocean.
 
C

cartoon_soldier

Member
47knMg5.gif
 
Y

yanipheonu

Member
Is there some desperate reason China would need the extra land, a la Germany and Japan needing farmland in WWII? Or is China just being cheeky?
 
R

Razgriz-Specter

Member
yanipheonu said:
Is there some desperate reason China would need the extra land, a la Germany and Japan needing farmland in WWII? Or is China just being cheeky?
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Oil, etc
Claiming the land means they own more of the sea which is also extremely important.
A chinese Island basically gives them ownership of the water 10-20 miles around it.
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
yanipheonu said:
Is there some desperate reason China would need the extra land, a la Germany and Japan needing farmland in WWII? Or is China just being cheeky?
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China can claim exclusive rights to exploit resources found up to 200 miles away from any of their shorelines

1280px-Zonmar-en.svg.png


Basically, they've found a way to move their shorelines further out to sea.
 
C

ClosingADoor

Member
Enter The 36 Chambers said:
I just don't understand why America has to step in and put anyone in "check"
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Who else is going to do it?

America has interests and partners in the area and is the most fit to stand up to China. No single country in the region there can.

Unless the UN gets some power for circumstances like this - and good luck there with a Chinese veto of course - the major world powers need to keep each other in check.
 
P

PdotMichael

Banned
yanipheonu said:
Is there some desperate reason China would need the extra land, a la Germany and Japan needing farmland in WWII? Or is China just being cheeky?
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China has a gigantic coastline but is surrounded by other countries and the USA likes the option to contain China within the first island channel line.

Though that isn't going to happen anymore.
 
Thelonelykoopa

Thelonelykoopa

Member
ClosingADoor said:
China is clearly the one at fault though, going against international treaties. How does this make any sense:

_90356589_south_china_sea_spratlys.png


Any country pulling bullshit like this needs to be put in check a bit.
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It makes perfect sense for a country who wants to dominate trade in South East Asia and the deatablization of ASEAN is the icing on the cake.
 
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