MikeLigalig.com

by Agence France Presse

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Saturday that clashes may erupt in the South China Sea unless nations with conflicting territorial claims adopt a mechanism to settle disputes peacefully.

“There are increasing concerns. I think we should not lose any time in trying to strengthen these mechanisms that I’ve been talking about for dealing with competing claims in the South China Sea,” he said.

“I fear that without rules of the road, without agreed approaches to deal with these problems, that there will be clashes. I think that serves nobody’s interests,” Gates told a security conference in Singapore, before flying to Kabul.

The islands at the center of the long-running dispute are the Paracel archipelago and the more southerly Spratlys, both potentially resource-rich outcrops that straddle strategic shipping lanes.

China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have laid claim to overlapping sections of the territories.

This will probably fuel an arms race in the region.

Quote from: Lorenzo on June 07, 2011, 12:21:30 AM
This will probably fuel an arms race in the region.

Ug mao ni ang GIHUWAT sa US! 

Quote from: bol-anon quo nyur! on June 07, 2011, 12:30:52 AM
Ug mao ni ang GIHUWAT sa US! 

You're right, Nong. Global strategic policy; the United States will take advantage of this to re-strengthen and re-position its hegemony in the Pacific. But I'm just worried because no one has ever seen China fully unfurl her military might in full view before.

The last time China went to war with major powers were on 2 occasions:

1. Korean War
   -- where China sent over 2 million men to support North Korea and pushed the UN Forces, including Americans, back to the 38th parallel. And Forced the allies to sue for peace.

2. China-India Border War of 1962.
   -- China's Red Guard took the Indian position and sweeped across the plain deep inside India. Forcing the Indians to sue for peace. China's PLA were 50 miles away from the perimeter of India's capital, New Delhi.


yikes!

During the late 1980s, China and Vietnam had a naval clash over the Spratlys. China's PLAAN (People's Liberation Army Armed Navy) completely wiped out a Vietnamese naval battle group. And killed the surviving Vietnamese navy and marine troopers.


China, which always sent Chinese fishing boats to the Philippine Seas, were subject to Philippine Coast Guard enforcement. I remember my dad telling me how the Philippine Navy would ram Chinese fishing ships and sink them. But that was when the United States had its military presence in Subic and a large air force presence in Clark.


Could China's military rise be a pretext for American Military Re-involvement in the Philippines? So far, I think America already has a little base in Basilan/ Jolo.

Nehru, the Indian political leader during the 1960s believed in old notion of "HINDI-CHINI BHAI BHAI" , which means, "Indian-Chinese Brotherhood". This changed when China sent the full force of the PLA to take Indian-held areas that China claimed were hers 'historically' as the Chinese did not believe in the British MacMahon Line, which was drawn to identify the border of British India.

The Indian Army was so badly routed and beaten that it suffered thousands of casualties compared to China's couple hundred casualties. This disastrous war, which India still sees as an embarassment today, is the reason for the increased Indian Air Patrol on its northern border between Pakistan and China.

When Zhou Enlai was sent to New Delhi to accept the Indian terms for unilateral cease-fire, Nehru was so hated by the Indian people that it cost him his political status.

The Indians , a regional power in South Asia, considers China as an obstacle in the region. Incidentally, China is a strategic ally and partner of Pakistan, the archnemesis of the Republic of India.

It was China who gave Pakistan the technology to develop its own nuclear weapons program.

Interesting eh?