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[Abounder]

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines released yesterday several photographs showing different stages of reclamation work being done by the Chinese on Mabini (Johnson South) Reef, apparently in preparation for the construction of an airstrip.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the photos were gathered from Philippine intelligence sources, and blasted Beijing for violating the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and international law for its destabilizing move.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/05/16/1323659/photos-reveal-stages-china-reclamation-reef

Call an airstrike if this is old.

Anyway the saber rattling continues in the east. Hopefully cooler heads prevail in the long run, in the meantime RIP reef

 

[otapnam]

Its like battlefield 4 come to life

 

[Pathos]

Its like battlefield 4 come to life

That means the situation should really be unstable for the months to come

 

[antonz]

2nd move by China with them moving an oil rig into Vietnamese waters to drill.

The US did such a great job of telling Putin off that China has decided to join the club

 

[EulaCapra]

Goddamn, that's a (was) pretty sight. Shitty move.

 

[Enthus]

The US did such a great job of telling Putin off that China has decided to join the club

Yup. Fuck China and all that, but let's not forget most of these weaker nations rely on western powers to deal with diplomacy like this.

 

[elty]

I think Vietnam has lots of oil platform in the disputed area as well.

 

[Megalosaro]

2nd move by China with them moving an oil rig into Vietnamese waters to drill.

The US did such a great job of telling Putin off that China has decided to join the club

China has been infringing in other territories for some time. Why do you think japan got so pissed about the senkaku islands and is now reintrepreting article 9. Not to mention they've basically shadow colonized africa.

 

[otapnam]

That means the situation should really be unstable for the months to come

 

[LQX]

2nd move by China with them moving an oil rig into Vietnamese waters to drill.

The US did such a great job of telling Putin off that China has decided to join the club

Why is this more a US problem than a Vietnamese?

 

[envi123]

Chinese fishermen were also caught poaching endangered sea turtles in Philippine territory a few days ago.

 

[cardinalmind]

That's why I don't trust dealing with the Chinese government. Our country's (Philippines) solution to this was to conduct war games with the US and giving the US a new base for them to conduct their operations. I've read in the news that one of the proposed bases is near here, in the province of Palawan which is the nearest to these conflict islands. We can't do much but to rely on our Mutual Defence Pact with the US and bring China to the international courts. Since we have a small budget for everything and corruption draining our country's coffers we can't risk having a war with a much bigger country.

 

[Abounder]

Apparently China is building oil rigs in waters that the French promised them but Vietnam never really agreed to. As a result Vietnamese citizens sparked anti-Chinese riots at Chinese factory workers that spiraled out of control to the point of injuring 100+ Chinese and burning down Chinese factories, and China has responded by sending more ships to the contested waters and to evacuate all Chinese in the area. Both sides are doubling-down. What's also interesting to note is that protest is illegal in Vietnam but this one was still initially authorized by Vietnamese officials until chaos took over.

That region seems like it'll only get more unstable in the near future due to economic pressures and more:

Hong Kong (CNN) -- China has evacuated more than 3,000 of its citizens from Vietnam and is sending ships to retrieve more of them after deadly anti-Chinese violence erupted last week over a territorial dispute between the two countries.
---

Protests spin out of control

Vietnamese authorities initially allowed protests, which are usually forbidden in the country, to take place over the Chinese move. But after the unrest spiraled lethally out of control, the government tried to rein in its angry citizens.

On Saturday, the government sent out a series of text messages to cell-phone users saying Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was urging people "not to participate in illegal protests that cause public disorder and harm social safety."

Chinese officials have repeatedly called on Vietnam to take action over the riots, protect Chinese citizens and help victims.

Vietnamese authorities have arrested hundreds of suspects and started legal proceedings against several of them, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA reported Saturday, citing Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang.

He described the attacks as regrettable, saying dozens of police officers were injured as they tried to bring the situation under control.


Ships clash at sea

But out in the South China Sea, neither side appears to be showing any sign of backing down over the territorial dispute that sparked the violence.

VNA on Saturday accused China of continuing to show "its aggressiveness by sending more military ships" to the area around the oil rig. Vietnam has demanded that China immediately withdraw the rig from the disputed waters.

The news agency cited Nguyen Van Trung, an official at the Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Department, as saying that China had 119 ships in the area on Saturday morning, including warships, coast guard vessels and fishing boats.

Some of the ships were provoking the Vietnamese vessels by ramming them and firing water cannons at them, he said.

'We are not afraid of trouble'

China, for its part, has continued to accuse Vietnamese ships of similar acts, saying they are trying to disrupt the oil rig's drilling operation. It has declared a three-mile exclusion zone around the rig, which is operated by the state-owned oil and gas company CNOOC.

"We do not make trouble, but we are not afraid of trouble," Gen. Fang Fenghui, the chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), said Thursday during a visit to the United States.

"In matters of territory, our attitude is firm. We won't give an inch," Fang said after meeting U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.

More @ http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/18/world/asia/vietnam-china-tensions/index.html

 

[lupinko]

Ninoy III should know it's time for Dagat Ahas.

That mission in FM3 and Talim from Soulcalibur are the only times I've ever seen the country repped besides Pacquiao in boxing games or Batista to some extent or any other MMA fighter like Munoz or Vera.

 

[Darkangel]

China is definitely going to be trouble in the future.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

China is definitely going to be trouble in the future.

They're trouble now.

 

[StayDead]

China is definitely going to be trouble in the future.

China will go through the process that every country who has money seems to go through (especially the UK and America) and they'll do what they can to get more money through various means.

It'll only cause trouble for developing/poorer countries.

 

[Dark Octave]

This is how WWIII sparks.

 

[Madness]

China is definitely going to be trouble in the future.

If anything, this is only going to speed up their inevitable fall as well. Despite their attempts at industrializing their economy, they are still a manufacture based nation dependent on foreign investment and capital.

Otherwise, China has few to no allies, no forward operating bases, and limited power projection. They are virtually encircled by nations they are increasingly being hostile too. The only problem is that the west allows this. They can sanction China to shit tomorrow, but they won't because they love the massive profits they're making on Chinese manufactured goods, and they love that China uses a ton of money to buy up debt and bonds.

Either way, this will all come to a head soon. Japan, India, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines etc.

 

[darkwing]

don't think anyone can stop China from doing things like these

 

[StayDead]

China has little to no reason to want to go to war with anyone, the western media still paints a picture of china as some kind of military crazed nation like soviet Russia/China was, but now they're more open to the west with both trade and culture than ever before. I would be very surprised if they threw that all away now. They've benefitted from it too much.

 

[Kurdel]

It'll only cause trouble for developing/poorer countries.

It depends. From what I've read Chinese companies also offer diverse infrastructure constructon as part of natural ressource deals. Of course when Western corporations want the ressources, they build their mines and roads, but the chinese also offer things that benefit the locals in a concrete way.

Not a Chinese defense force, and obviously this is a "sphere of influence" effort on China's part, but I really like the approach.

 

[Hermii]

Stronger nations will always bully weaker nations if its beneficial to them and they think they can get away with it.

 

[StayDead]

It depends. From what I've read Chinese companies also offer diverse infrastructure constructon as part of natural ressource deals. Of course when Western corporations want the ressources, they build their mines and roads, but the chinese also offer things that benefit the locals in a concrete way.

Not a Chinese defense force, and obviously this is a "sphere of influence" effort on China's part, but I really like the approach.

Well that's perfect then. What I meant to say was the only people it could possibly cause trouble for. I honestly don't think China are as bad as media/fiction/history make them out to be. I think the western media especially puts them in a very bad light as they offer a system which isn't entirely based on the wealth of corporations that somewhat works.

China certainly has it's problems, but it's certainly not as bad as they make it look.

 

[Liha]

It depends. From what I've read Chinese companies also offer diverse infrastructure constructon as part of natural ressource deals. Of course when Western corporations want the ressources, they build their mines and roads, but the chinese also offer things that benefit the locals in a concrete way.

Not a Chinese defense force, and obviously this is a "sphere of influence" effort on China's part, but I really like the approach.

They do this because Africa will be a great partner and customer in 10 - 20years and it's much better than development aid.

 

[East Lake]

It depends. From what I've read Chinese companies also offer diverse infrastructure constructon as part of natural ressource deals. Of course when Western corporations want the ressources, they build their mines and roads, but the chinese also offer things that benefit the locals in a concrete way.

Not a Chinese defense force, and obviously this is a "sphere of influence" effort on China's part, but I really like the approach.

It honestly doesn't look that much different in the article to me. Even at the end there's sort of an admittance that there's a propaganda campaign being fed to the Africans.

 

[MysticX]

If anything, this is only going to speed up their inevitable fall as well. Despite their attempts at industrializing their economy, they are still a manufacture based nation dependent on foreign investment and capital.

Otherwise, China has few to no allies, no forward operating bases, and limited power projection. They are virtually encircled by nations they are increasingly being hostile too. The only problem is that the west allows this. They can sanction China to shit tomorrow, but they won't because they love the massive profits they're making on Chinese manufactured goods, and they love that China uses a ton of money to buy up debt and bonds.

Either way, this will all come to a head soon. Japan, India, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines etc.

does india have a grudge towards china? I´m just trying to figure india out whether they are "western" ally or "eastern" ally, and I thought they hate britain and therefore were camping with the eastern allies?

 

[magenta]

does india have a grudge towards china? I´m just trying to figure india out whether they are "western" ally or "eastern" ally, and I thought they hate britain and therefore were camping with the eastern allies?

No historical diffences but I do believe they see each other currently as rivals. India is more closer to the US as Pakistan is more closer to China.

Large number of PLA troops have been spotted at the China-Vietnam border. We could be seeing the change from peaceful rising China to one that will try to throw its weight around to achieve its own goals.

 

[jerry1594]

China has been infringing in other territories for some time. Why do you think japan got so pissed about the senkaku islands and is now reintrepreting article 9. Not to mention they've basically shadow colonized africa.

Well shit, better than De Beers having a warlords enslave kids to work in the mines.

does india have a grudge towards china? I´m just trying to figure india out whether they are "western" ally or "eastern" ally, and I thought they hate britain and therefore were camping with the eastern allies?

China and Pakistan are cool, and India has a border dispute with China, so they aren't on very good terms, but India isn't all the friendly with the US either. It's Israel's biggest ally in the region and most pro-Israel country in the world though.

 

[GTP_Daverytimes]

don't think anyone can stop China from doing things like these

They should try it in the East China sea and see how it goes for them,

 

[Makai]

No historical diffences but I do believe they see each other currently as rivals. India is more closer to the US as Pakistan is more closer to China.

Large number of PLA troops have been spotted at the China-Vietnam border. We could be seeing the change from peaceful rising China to one that will try to throw its weight around to achieve its own goals.

What goals?

 

[magenta]

What goals?

Its a case by case basis but this time China wants to enforce their terroritory claims over Vietnam and the Philippines. If they win over Vietnam they get an oilfield which is obviously valuable.

 

[Madness]

does india have a grudge towards china? I´m just trying to figure india out whether they are "western" ally or "eastern" ally, and I thought they hate britain and therefore were camping with the eastern allies?

China has a grudge towards India. They never accepted Britain's demarcation lines, plus their invasion of Tibet and the exile of the Dalai Lama into India has long caused problems. China was forced to accept Sikkim as Indian territory when a high ranking Buddhist leader fled from Tibet and the Chinese knew they could do nothing about it.

Their biggest issue, is the same issue China has with every other country, they want to have as much land as possible. China feels whatever land they had at the height of their dynasty is theirs, and so China contests India's claim over the state of Arunachal Pradesh or what they call southern Tibet. All the while, they hold a piece of Kashmir land they call Aksai Chin which China and India fought a small war over in 1962.

The biggest issues now are that China funds Pakistani development in disputed Kashmir. It would be like India helping Japan develop and build military bases in the Senkaku/Daioyu Islands that are disputed. Plus, India is wary of China building naval bases for countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and those are seen as an attempt to encircle India which largely holds naval sway in the Indian Ocean.

The US tends to exploit these tensions and India is often thought of as a way to contain China. Having a stronger US allied nation to challenge rising Chinese dominance in the area. However, India-US relations are perhaps at their lowest point since the cold war. They were massively improved under Bush, but have deteriorated under the Obama leadership. The biggest problem was that maid scandal a few months back. Plus, the new election of a nationalistic and somewhat anti-Britain and anti-US leader will push India back towards Russia and countries like Israel. India has never liked how much military hardware and money has gone to Pakistan.

As for China, the biggest problem for them is Japan looking to counter lost influence to China by focusing on India.

 

[surrealist]

Its like battlefield 4 come to life

God forbid if China has scout helicopters with engineers constantly repairing.

 

[genjiZERO]

China has little to no reason to want to go to war with anyone, the western media still paints a picture of china as some kind of military crazed nation like soviet Russia/China was, but now they're more open to the west with both trade and culture than ever before. I would be very surprised if they threw that all away now. They've benefitted from it too much.

They why are they so antagonistic with their neighbors?

 

[Sirpopopop]

China has a grudge towards India. They never accepted Britain's demarcation lines, plus their invasion of Tibet and the exile of the Dalai Lama into India has long caused problems. China was forced to accept Sikkim as Indian territory when a high ranking Buddhist leader fled from Tibet and the Chinese knew they could do nothing about it.

Their biggest issue, is the same issue China has with every other country, they want to have as much land as possible. China feels whatever land they had at the height of their dynasty is theirs, and so China contests India's claim over the state of Arunachal Pradesh or what they call southern Tibet. All the while, they hold a piece of Kashmir land they call Aksai Chin which China and India fought a small war over in 1962.

The biggest issues now are that China funds Pakistani development in disputed Kashmir. It would be like India helping Japan develop and build military bases in the Senkaku/Daioyu Islands that are disputed. Plus, India is wary of China building naval bases for countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and those are seen as an attempt to encircle India which largely holds naval sway in the Indian Ocean.

The US tends to exploit these tensions and India is often thought of as a way to contain China. Having a stronger US allied nation to challenge rising Chinese dominance in the area. However, India-US relations are perhaps at their lowest point since the cold war. They were massively improved under Bush, but have deteriorated under the Obama leadership. The biggest problem was that maid scandal a few months back. Plus, the new election of a nationalistic and somewhat anti-Britain and anti-US leader will push India back towards Russia and countries like Israel. India has never liked how much military hardware and money has gone to Pakistan.

As for China, the biggest problem for them is Japan looking to counter lost influence to China by focusing on India.

From my understanding, U.S.-India relations were great between Obama and Manmohan Singh.

Plus, you forget to mention that it was the Bush administration who banned Modi from entering the U.S. As far as I'm concerned that's a great decision, considering the incident for which he was banned (the Gujurat riots, which were essentially a state sponsored act of ethnic cleansing against Muslims). I would still stay frosty with his ass until he proves he's not going to be a bigoted fuckwad. I have slim hopes on that account.

You also forget to mention that the way Bharara handled the maid crisis was warranted. That maid was paid slave wages by the Indian 'diplomat.' She also was not covered by diplomatic immunity so she needed to abide by our rules.