by Pepe Escobar for Sputnik News
The South China Sea is and will continue to be the ultimate geopolitical flashpoint of the young 21st century – way ahead of the Middle East or Russia’s western borderlands. No less than the future of Asia – as well as the East-West balance of power – is at stake.
To understand the Big Picture, we need to go back to 1890 when Alfred Mahan, then president of the US Naval College, wrote the seminal The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783. Mahan’s central thesis is that the US should go global in search of new markets, and protect these new trade routes through a network of naval bases.
That is the embryo of the US Empire of Bases – which de facto started after the Spanish-American war, over a century ago, when the US graduated to Pacific power status by annexing the Philippines, Hawaii and Guam.
Western – American and European — colonialism is strictly responsible for the current, incendiary sovereignty battle in the South China Sea. It’s the West that came up with most land borders – and maritime borders — of these states.The roll call is quite impressive. Philippines and Indonesia were divided by Spain and Portugal in 1529. The division between Malaysia and Indonesia is owed to the British and the Dutch in 1842. The border between China and Vietnam was imposed to the Chinese by the French in 1887. The Philippines’s borders were concocted by the US and Spain in 1898. The border between Philippines and Malaysia was drawn by the US and the Brits in 1930.
We are talking about borders between different colonial possessions – and that implies intractable problems from the start, subsequently inherited by post-colonial nations. And to think that it had all started as a loose configuration. The best anthropological studies (Bill Solheim’s, for instance) define the semi-nomadic communities who really traveled and traded across the South China Sea from time immemorial as the Nusantao – an Austronesian compound word for “south island” and “people”.
The Nusantao were not a defined ethnic group; rather a maritime internet. Over the centuries, they had many key hubs, from the coastline between central Vietnam and Hong Kong to the Mekong Delta. They were not attached to any “state”, and the notion of “borders” didn’t even exist.Only by the late 19th century the Westphalian system managed to freeze the South China Sea inside an immovable framework. Which brings us to why China is so sensitive about its borders; because they are directly linked to the “century of humiliation” – when internal Chinese corruption and weakness allowed Western barbarians to take possession of Chinese land.
Tension in the nine-dash line
The eminent Chinese geographer Bai Meichu was a fierce nationalist who drew his own version of what was called the “Chinese National Humiliation Map”. In 1936 he published a map including a “U-shaped line” gobbling up the South China Sea all the way down to James Shoal, which is 1,500 km south of China but only over 100 km off Borneo. Scores of maps copied Meichu’s. Most included the Spratly Islands, but not James Shoal.
The crucial fact is that Bai was the man who actually invented the “nine-dash line”, promoted by the Chinese government – then not yet Communist – as the letter of the law in terms of “historic” Chinese claims over islands in the South China Sea.
Everything stopped when Japan invaded China in 1937. Japan had occupied Taiwan way back in 1895. Now imagine Americans surrendering to the Japanese in the Philippines in 1942. That meant virtually the entire coastline of the South China Sea being controlled by a single empire for the fist time in history. The South China Sea had become a Japanese lake.
Not for long; only until 1945. The Japanese did occupy Woody Island in the Paracels and Itu Aba (today Taiping) in the Spratlys. After the end of WWII and the US nuclear-bombing Japan, the Philippines became independent in 1946; the Spratlys immediately were declared Filipino territory.In 1947 the Chinese went on overdrive to recover all the Paracels from colonial power France. In parallel, all the islands in the South China Sea got Chinese names. James Shoal was downgraded from a sandbank into a reef (it’s actually underwater; still Beijing sees is as the southernmost point of Chinese territory.)
In December 1947 all the islands were placed under the control of Hainan (itself an island in southern China.) New maps — based on Meichu’s — followed, but now with Chinese names for the islands (or reefs, or shoals). The key problem is that no one explained the meaning of the dashes (which were originally eleven.)
So in June 1947 the Republic of China claimed everything within the line – while proclaiming itself open to negotiate definitive maritime borders with other nations later on. But, for the moment, no borders; that was the birth of the much-maligned “strategic ambiguity” of the South China Sea that lasts to this day.
“Red” China adopted all the maps — and all the decisions. Yet the final maritime border between China and Vietnam, for instance, was decided only in 1999. In 2009 China included a map of the “U-shaped” or “nine-dash line” in a presentation to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf; that was the first time the line officially showed up on an international level.
No wonder other Southeast Asian players were furious. That was the apex of the millennia-old transition from the “maritime internet” of semi-nomadic peoples to the Westphalian system. The post-modern “war” for the South China Sea was on.
Gunboat freedom
In 2013 the Philippines – prodded by the US and Japan – decided to take its case about Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) in the South China Sea to be judged according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Both China and Philippines ratified UNCLOS. The US did not. The Philippines aimed for UNCLOS – not “historical rights”, as the Chinese wanted — to decide what is an island, what is a rock, and who is entitled to claim territorial rights (and thus EEZs) in these surrounding waters.UNCLOS itself is the result of years of fierce legal battles. Still, key nations – including BRICS members China, India and Brazil, but also, significantly, Vietnam and Malaysia – have been struggling to change an absolutely key provision, making it mandatory for foreign warships to seek permission before sailing through their EEZs.
And here we plunge in truly, deeply troubled waters; the notion of “freedom of navigation”.
For the American empire, “freedom of navigation”, from the West Coast of the US to Asia – through the Pacific, the South China Sea, the Malacca Strait and the Indian Ocean – is strictly subordinated to military strategy. Imagine if one day EEZs would be closed to the US Navy – or if “authorization” would have to be demanded every time; the Empire of Bases would lose “access” to…its own bases.
Add to it trademark Pentagon paranoia; what if a “hostile power” decided to block the global trade on which the US economy depends? (even though the premise — China contemplating such a move — is ludicrous). The Pentagon actually pursues a Freedom of Navigation (FON) program. For all practical purposes, it’s 21st century gunboat diplomacy, as in those aircraft carriers showboating on and off in the South China Sea.The Holy Grail, as far as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is concerned, is to come up with a Code of Conduct to solve all maritime conflicts between Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and China. This has been dragging on for years now because mostly the Philippines wanted to frame the Chinese under a set of binding rules but was only ready to talk until all ten ASEAN members had agreed on them first.
Beijing’s strategy is the opposite; bilateral discussions to emphasize its formidable leverage. Thus China assuring the support of Cambodia – quite visible early this week when Cambodia prevented a condemnation of China regarding the South China Sea at a key summit in Laos; China and ASEAN settled for “self-restraint.”
Watch Hillary pivoting
In 2011 the US State Department was absolutely terrified with the planned Obama administration withdrawals from both Iraq and Afghanistan; what would happen to superpower projection? That ended in November 2011, when then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton coined the by now famous “pivot to Asia”.
“Six lines of action” were embedded in the “pivot”. Four of these Clinton nicked from a 2009 report by the Washington think tank CSIS; reinvigorating alliances; cultivating relationships with emerging powers; developing relationships with regional multilateral bodies; and working closely with South East Asian countries on economic issues. Clinton added two more: broad-based military presence in Asia, and the promotion of democracy and human rights.
It was clear from the start – and not only across the global South — that cutting across the rhetorical fog the “pivot” was code for a military offensive to contain China. Even more seriously, this was the geopolitical moment when a South East Asian dispute over maritime territory intersected with the across-the-globe confrontation between the hegemon and a “peer competitor”.
What Clinton meant by “engaging emerging powers” was, in her own words, “join us in shaping and participating in a rules-based regional and global order”. This is code for rules coined by the hegemon – as in the whole apparatus of the Washington consensus.
No wonder the South China Sea is immensely strategic, as American hegemony intimately depends on ruling the waves (remember Mahan). That’s the core of the US National Military Strategy. The South China Sea is the crucial link connecting the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and ultimately Europe.And so we finally discover Rosebud — the ultimate South China Sea “secret”. China under Clinton’s “rule-based regional and global order” effectively means that China must obey and keep the South China Sea open to the US Navy.
That spells out inevitable escalation further on down the sea lanes. China, slowly but surely, is developing an array of sophisticated weapons which could ultimately “deny” the South China Sea to the US Navy, as the Beltway is very much aware.
What makes it even more serious is that we’re talking about irreconcilable imperatives. Beijing characterizes itself as an anti-imperialist power; and that necessarily includes recovering national territories usurped by colonial powers allied with internal Chinese traitors (those islands that The Hague has ruled are no more than “rocks” or even “low-tide elevations”).
The US, for its part, is all about Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny. As it stands, more than Russia’s western borderlands, the Baltics or “Syraq”, this is where the hegemon “rules” are really being contested. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. That’ll be the day when the US Navy is “denied” from the South China Sea; and that’ll be the end of its imperial hegemony.
China must relax, even if the South China sea route ever gets blockaded, China can still get all their supplies through or even from Russia.
China must learn to live in harmony with its neighbors. Granted, the USA is not China’s neighbor. But China must cultivate friendship and understanding with their neighbors like Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Within a few years the US will be no threat.
“””China must learn to live in harmony with its neighbors”””
Typically insincere imperialist talk.
The South China Sea *was* peaceful until the U.S. stirred it up.
If peace should be in danger of breaking out again, we can be sure the Americans will do their damndest to ruin it.
Uh?
They export to the whole world? They get their energy from the middle east..
If they are cut off, they have no energy and no means to ship their products.
What are you on about? The US threatens their livelihood and you talk about “relax”, live in harmony with neighbors? (Which is EXACTLY what they’re doing). You don’t think their neighbors may be playing a double game with the US do you? These are asians…
No – no relaxation! The US is too far gone with its delusional state. Bringing that country to heel asap is critical – and this is a great place to assist that process. Otherwise this will all drag on for far too long with the on-going damage to people and cultures.
PS to my last comment. This is either troll talk or utter stupidity and ignorance.
Ok. China, don’t relax. Instead protect your interests properly and sink every US naval vessel in the South China sea. Now this is troll talk and utter stupidity and ignorance.
The South China sea does not only belong to China. One of China’s neighbors is Vietnam. The same country who kicked the US out of their country. Vietnam has in previous years kicked China out of their country also, perhaps multiple times. Vietnam deserves its share of the South China sea. Yes the Philippines is strongly in the US camp, but the winds of change are blowing strongly with their new president. Malaysia has issues with China, for historic reasons. Indonesia I don’t know about.
All China has to do is build its strength and wait for the US to make the first move, if the US ever does. The US will threaten all the time, but direct engagement is another matter. Meanwhile let trade continue, bring in the gold and the $$$. “To win without fighting is best” Sun Tsu
But China’s continuous sabre rattling in the South China sea does have the benefit of keeping the US in 2 minds. Can it fight Russia in Eastern Europe and China in the South China sea at the same time? Never.
President Hilary Clinton may certainly give it a go.
That ‘Pivot to Asia’ isn’t just for show.
That is the embryo of the US Empire of Bases – which de facto started after the Spanish-American war, over a century ago…
Wrong!
Started with that incident 1893 USS Boston, ironic since scene of original independence battles like Concorde & Lexington, contingent of marines aboard in one of Hawaii’s harbors just decided to take possession of it. de facto coup, overthrowing their monarchy.
So that was almost 5 years before 1898.
What did the US do about this? The congress passed a law July 7 1898 officially annexing it.
Interesting (and educational) to draw comparisons here. When the US deposes the local ruling group, and annexes their domain, well, that’s OK. When Russia re-absorbs an existing Russian territory, at the request of the vast majority of the locals, then that’s NOT OK – “Russian Aggression”, followed by “Russian Expansionism” and the usual “The Russians are Coming” clap trap.
The problem will be that US “Interests” (overt or covert) will NOT give up territory and / or influence voluntarily, so no matter how China / Russia / “NATO” spin it, any significant rebalancing will have to be a violent exercise, unless the US experiences some internal catastrophe that results in their becoming impotent, and therefore irrelevant.
Hawaii is not legally a state!
By Michael Rivero
Most folks have heard that Hawaii is a state, one of the United States of America. Most people, including those who live in Hawaii, accept that statement as a fact.
The truth is that each and every step along Hawaii’s path from sovereign and independent nation, to annexed territory, to state, was done in violation of laws and treaties then in effect, without regard to the wishes of the Hawaiian people. Many people, including President Grover Cleveland, opposed the annexation of Hawaii.
Hawaii’s government was overthrown on Jan. 17, 1893, by a relatively small group of men, most of them American by birth or heritage, who seized control of the Islands with the backing of American troops sent ashore from a warship in Honolulu Harbor. To this “superior force of the United States of America,” Queen Lili`uokalani yielded her throne, under protest, in order to avoid bloodshed, trusting that the United States government would right the wrong that had been done to her and the Hawaiian people.
Who were this group of American men and why did they overthrow the government?
Sugar!
Sugar was by far the principal support of the islands, and profits and prosperity hinged on favorable treaties with the United States, Hawaiian sugar’s chief market, creating powerful economic ties. The plantation owners were, for the most part, the descendents of the original missionary families who had brought religion to the islands in the wake of the whaling ships. As ownership of private property came to the islands, the missionary families wound up owning a great deal of it!
But the United States had, in 1826, recognized Hawaii as a sovereign nation in its own right, and imposed the usual import tariffs on sugar coming from the islands. This cut into the profits of the sugar plantations. Indeed, being American citizens themselves, the plantation owners were rankled by the fact that the US government actually made more profit from their sugar then the plantation owners themselves did! To evade the tariff, it became necessary to the plantation owners that Hawaii cease being a separate and sovereign nation.
In 1887, during the reign of Lili`uokalani’ s brother, King Kalakaua, a group of planters and businessmen, seeking to control the kingdom politically as well as economically, formed a secret organization, the Hawaiian League. Membership (probably never over 400, compared to the 40,000 Native Hawaiians in the kingdom) was predominantly American, led by Lorrin A. Thurston, a lawyer and missionary grandson.
Their goal, for now, was to “reform” the monarchy. But what was “reform” to the Americans was treason to the people of Hawaii, who loved and respected their monarchs.
continuation here:
(the article continues to 1993 signing of United States Public Law 103-150 by Bill Clinton, which acknowledged the illegal actions committed by the United States in the overthrow of the legitimate government of Hawaii, and also that the Hawaiian people never surrendered their sovereignty.
and to 1999 conformation by the United Nations that the plebiscite vote that led to Hawaii’s statehood [in 1959] was in violation of article 73 of the United Nations’ charter. The Hawaii statehood vote, under treaty then in effect, was illegal and non-binding. (The same is true of the Alaska plebiscite).)
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/HAWAII/hawaii.php#axzz40UXYCkOx
Big Island Video News Illegal Occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfU1gZQaLNQ
I appreciate the comment, Rivero long quote, and links, Anonymous at 6:40 UTC.
I just returned from there. And my family has a certain Hawaii connection, regarding a commercial sailing ship, formerly owned by the queen of Hawaii, and used to transport sugar to the mainland.
The most imperialist impulses of the US armed forces reside in the US Navy, heavily influenced by Eastern Establishment Anglophiles from Wall Street to “the banker’s CIA.”.
A better tradition to adhere to than “Hail Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!” ( see video of Brit singer with striking resemblance to Victoria Nuland singing the imperialist song here: https://youtu.be/rB5Nbp_gmgQ ) for Americans that know any history, or care to, would be the Lincoln strategic concept of outflanking imperial sea power with artificial rivers…..not just canals but as Lincoln himself put it: “girding the globe with ribbons of steel” …………i.e railroads, ie New Silk Road.
Which idea quickly led to the emergence of industrial Germany, from a backward agricultural collection of feudal pricipalities, and to the Transiberian Railroad, among other positive developments for mankind.
The imperial response? Assassinations and wars, and making Americans the most brainwashed slaves on earth.
“Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!
Britons never will be slaves.”
Au contraire, James Thompson (the poem’s author). Since the victory of the Venetian Party over the networks of Shakespeare, Marlow and others, The British system has been Venetian, based on sea power, banking, and mind control, including the Venetian run religious wars in Europe, conducted to destroy the ecumenical, cultural and scientific effects of the Florentine Renaissance. And the essence of that Venetian, British system is slavery, including that of it’s own loyal “subjects” and their dumb American neocon-brainwashed cousins.
Same essential struggle today.
That’s a sad history and shows what comes of trusting missionaries, but Hawaii is hardly going to vote for secession.
There’s possibly not much support for Hawaiian independence even among the legitimate natives themselves.
Wrong again! It started with the ‘opening’ of Japan by the Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1853-54!
I was wondering on what basis does Mr. Escobar claim that:
“The South China Sea is and will continue to be the ultimate geopolitical flashpoint of the young 21st century – way ahead of the Middle East or Russia’s western borderlands” ?
I personally do not see this geopolitical flash-point “way ahead” of what is going on near Russia and in the Middle-East……
…..is this a kind of bias from Mr. Escobar since he is specialized in the China-US conflict ?
We have multiple wars and actors in the Middle-East, with Russia being threatened and played with by the US, and God knows what will happen after the US elections, and Putin warning Western journalists of a possible nuclear confrontation with NATO……
…..I cannot believe that the situation in the South China Sea is way ahead of the situation in the Middle-East and Russia…
I agree with you, Pepe’s been with the Asia Times for many years and that explains this view. The recent mobilization of Russia’s Southern Military District, and the increasingly insane NATO policies in Europe are FAR more threatening.
On one hand, you have two countries with the largest trade relationship in history. One of which has never started a war. And on the other hand, there’s Europe which has been at war most of the last 1,000 years and where they’re increasingly cutting trade by sanctions.
The Pacific’s almost a joke by comparison. I predict that the U.S. is going to find much less enthusiasm from ASEAN countries for confrontation. Those countries are growing exponentially and have a lot to loose. Not so the Baltic countries – their economies are a perfect breeding ground for manipulation by foriegn powers.
China is ‘doable’ insofar as being weaker than Russia, and an effective way to attack Russia is to attack her allies, of which China is one of the foremost.
The Ukraine is certainly a flashpoint, but Europe/NATO is more or less securely imperialized, whereas Asian nations with the exception of Japan and South Korea are relatively independent of both the United States and China.
Recall that the beginning of the end of Cold War I was the reconciliation of China to the United States in 1972.
The South China Sea was from old the start of the ‘Maritime Spice, Silk, Tea, Porcelain Road’ to the Middle East and Europe, besides being the theater of an intense trade in spices, sandalwood, gold. In reverse, it was the ‘Opium Sea Road’ to China.
It was in the imaginary of Medieval Europe the location of the ‘Terrestrial Paradise’, of the Prester John, of the Eldorado. There is common knowledge that the ‘Great Geographical Discoveries’ of the 15-16th Centuries have been in fact a scramble for the control of the sources of spices and for penetration of China. Arabs, Indians, Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, English, French and the most disruptive of all, the WASP, all vied for these precious trophies.
It is increasingly certain that the ‘mysterious’ Shangrila, Shambhala, Sambhala, Sanfotsi, is to be looked for in this area. A very similar cultural horizon links the shores of the maritime cauldron which is the SCS, expressed in the Mahayana form of Buddhism.
Not to mention that these places were the origin of ceramics and metalurgy.
For those interested in the Nusantao people evoked by Pepe a good start would be sambali.blogspot.com
Very ineresting, thanks.
The really silly thing about this fiasco is that the trade, i.e. the majority, (over 60%) of the cargo transiting the South China Sea is between the USA & China.
Countries with that much trade going to ‘hot’ war would be the first time in history. Imagine tens of thousands of 50,000+ tons freighters having to reverse course.
Check with your local logistic specialist and he’ll tell you trillions of dollars would be lost the first hour of the conflict. The second a war’s declared, ‘force majeur’ goes into effect and ALL that trade is uninsured.
Well, ‘It ain’t going to happen.’ That trade benefits the Orgs that control the world’s politics much more than it benefits us.
That won’t keep the MIC’s interests from trying, of course.
Interests would be the word.
If competing domestic American elites become divided between those greatly empowered by China trade, and those who are not, then war is a possibility to weaken the China-dependent one.
That’s in addition to the China-oriented traders getting greedy and demanding too much of China.
Westphalian system. Seems to me that Pepe Escobar has no idea what the peace treaty in Westphalia was about? It was not about borders. It was about peoples rights,. It’s considered the basis of inter-govenmental treaties. The basis of international law.
The Westphalian system established the three principles – the inviolable nature of state sovereignty, the legal equality of states, and non-intervention by states in the international affairs of states. Before that, international affairs were very much more anything-goes rule-of-the-jungle between kingdoms and empires and pockets of nationalities between them or contained therein.
The system is so-named from the Westphalian Peace Treaties (1646–1648) which settled the Thirty Years War between Protestants and Catholics to assert one over the other as the Holy Roman Empire in Germany, and attempts by the Spanish in the Eighty Years War to re-establish imperial control over the Dutch Republic. The Holy Roman Empire broke up into independent states and the independence of the Dutch Republic was recognized.
The abandonment of old imperial imperatives in favor of smaller but well defined self-managing parcels of people and geography was so effective it became a model for the rest of Europe, hence the name ‘Westphalian system’.
Naturally the burgeoning colonial empires of Europe were affected, and they began redrawing their cuts of the global pie into large geographic swathes called nation states.
However, unlike the Europeans, most non-European states had little power to assert their genuine statehood. The largest and most powerful brown nations that might form the basis of natural Westphalian states were often deliberately marginalized to favour colonial occupation. Nor was it within the political language of some to have borders and identify as distinct peoples within rigidly defined geographies (like the Nusantao).
So, Pepe is correct.
Oh, sorry, the third Westphalian principle should have read “non-intervention in the internal affairs of states”.
Obviously states non-intervening in the international affairs of other states isn’t any kind of principle of international relations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalian_sovereignty
The MSM was generally mum about the visit of Susan Rice to Beijing.
“BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) — As U.S. President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice wrapped up her visit to China on Wednesday, emphasis on cooperation from both sides sends a positive sign for bilateral ties.
Though coming hot on the heels of the South China Sea arbitration tribunal on July 12, Rice made no direct mention of the issue in her opening remarks when meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping…
China-U.S. ties are the most consequential bilateral relations in the world, as Rice said during her meeting with Xi. The two countries, as the world’s two largest economies, cannot afford confrontations or distractions.
It is encouraging that the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stressed the importance of turning the page over the South China Sea dispute and initiating negotiations and talks among the claimants when meeting with the press in Manila on Wednesday.”
@http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-07/29/c_135547781.htm
“Rice is the highest-ranking American official to visit the Middle Kingdom since the release of the ruling from the international tribunal this month.
Taken literally, her statements are good to hear in Chinese ears but Liu Youfa, the former vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said that there is more to it than appeasing the government.
“Rice’s remarks sent a signal to some Asian countries that the U.S.-China relations are not only about the South China Sea. It is also a warning that these countries’ plan to take advantage of conflicts between the U.S. and China to seek their interests is unsustainable and shortsighted,” Liu noted”.
Read more: http://en.yibada.com/articles/146006/20160728/us-natl-security-advisor-susan-rice-to-chinese-president-xi-jinping-obama-seeks-stable-ties-with-china.htm#ixzz4Fm3TM5nL
Thanks for a very timely write-up on South China Sea (SCS). I have couple of points to say on the ongoing South China Sea issue:
(1) Chinese empire and its suzerainty in 1800 AD indeed covered entire east Asia (except Japan), half of central Asia, South China Sea and much of the areas which are now controlled by ‘countries’ (as Pepe described here, boundaries of such states have been drawn by the imperial/colonial west European powers). 11-Dash (or 9-Dash line) boundary was not imagination of geographer Bai Meichu – Chinese empire had well defined boundary, administration and well-organized methodology of historical record keeping. Song and Yuan emperors carried out survey of the seas around Chinese mainland (seven centuries before modern International Law took form with the manipulation of AngloZionist cabal); Ming emperors had large naval forces, Admiral Zheng He undertook multiple trade voyages in 15th century, one of which had more than 300 ships (largest of which was more than 300 feet length) and he covered south-east Asia, south Asia, west Asia, east Africa regions. From 1840 till 1949 when PRC and Taiwan emerged after WWII, Chinese empire (and hence, government) was under the shadow of European imperialist powers, due to which it effectively lost much of its land and water bodies. Moreover, when Kuomintang government of Taiwan claimed entire South China Sea around 1947 (after Japan’s surrender in 1945 WWII), USA did not raise objections because Taiwan government was follower of AngloZionist camp.
(2) China is not the first country to construct base in the SCS region. Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia created security outposts on some islands of Paracel about two decades back. Apart from trade routes in SCS, there is an important economic aspect which all south-east Asian countries are eyeing – undersea exploration of oil and gas. It is being touted that SCS has very substantial amount of hydrocarbon deposits. How could Vietnam government forget that, in 1958 the then PM Pham Van Dong officially acknowledged Chinese sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratlys through a diplomatic note written to the then PM of China Zhou Enlai ?
(3) Treaty of Paris between Spain and USA in 1898 delimited Philippines territory to lie east of 118° which is even contained in the Philippines Constitution of 1935. How can Philippines claim the Scarborough Shoal now? The entire episode itself is a USA sponsored farce started after 1995. UNCLOS can’t have jurisdiction over territorial sovereignty of China which was present in the Shoal. Unilateral declaration of Philippino President Gloria Arroyo around 2010 that, Scarborough Shoal and part of Spratly Islands are Philippine territory is to create new disputes and war in SCS which culminated in USA’s ‘pivot to Asia’ 2 years back.
(4) USA, Israel and NATO countries are the biggest violators of international rulings – there are dozens of such cases. Since USA is not even a signatory of UNCLOS, how can USA play a role in a dispute that has its basis in the UNCLOS ? USA has so many disputes with its neighbour Canada where USA refused to follow exclusive economic zone concept of UNCLOS. Why USA has not accepted the ruling on Chagos Islands (Diego Garcia) ? How come UK exercise its control over Falkland islands which is integral to Argentina ? Israel never bothered to stop its encroachment of Palestinian land even after so many UN rulings.
Having noted the above points, i wish to also remind the readers/commenters that, this is not to suggest that China should rebuild its empire. In fact, if each of the successor countries of erstwhile great multi-ethnic empires/civilizations like China (Chinese empire), Russia (Russian empire), India (Indian empire), Turkey (Ottoman empire) now start promoting an agenda of bringing back the ‘old glory’ of its empire when the empire was at its peak strength (Qing empire around 1800), Russia (Tsar empire around 1900), India (Mughal empire around 1700), Turkey (Ottoman empire around 1700) then there will be overlapping claims on land/water bodies that will include even an entire ‘country’ that came into existence post-WW II world till 2000. To avoid such utter disorder in the overall Eurasian political environments, I believe, the great civilizational countries like China, Russia, India should strive to keep their core boundary intact, and coordinate with neighbouring countries to share land/water bodies which are disputed. Thus, Russian territories should actually include Belarus, east and south Ukraine, Moldova, while Chinese territories should actually include Taiwan, two-third of Paracel islands, two-third of Spratly islands, south Tibet. Even if it sounds sacrilegious, in my opinion, Chinese leadership should conclude treaties with Vietnam offering them one-third of the Paracel and Spratly islands to bring Vietnam within the Eurasian Resistance fold . Similarly, Russian leadership should bring east and south Ukraine under its control (promoting multiple Donbas like autonomous regions, even if USSR was dissolved in 1991) simply leaving the west Ukraine to rot on its own or let them join Poland and Hungary. Every civilian and political leader in the Eurasian landmass has a moral duty to ensure that international laws don’t become synonymous with wishes of the AngloZionsit cabal.
In 1434, Gavin Menzies offers a stunning reappraisal of history, presenting compelling new evidence on the European Renaissance, tracing its roots to China
In this provocative, highly readable history, Gavin Menzies makes the startling argument that China provided the spark that set the Renaissance ablaze. Based on years of research, this marvellous history argues that a Chinese fleet, official ambassadors of the emperor, arrived in Tuscany in 1434, where they met with Pope Eugenius IV in Florence. The delegation presented the pope with a wealth of knowledge, from a diverse range of fields: geography (including world maps that the author believes were passed on to Christopher Columbus), astronomy, mathematics, art, printing, architecture, steel manufacturing, civil engineering, military weaponry, surveying, cartography, genetics, and more. This gift of knowledge sparked the inventiveness of the Renaissance, including da Vinci’s mechanical creations, the Copernican revolution, Galileo’s discoveries, and more.
http://www.gavinmenzies.net/china/1434-2/
Anonymous on July 30, at 4:44 am UTC,
Thanks for information on book by Gavin Menzies.
However, the most authoritative writing on Chinese civilization and science-technology is by Joseph Needham – he compiled, I think, 25-volumes on that subject, some of his assistants published abridged 5-volume set on Needham’s work.
http://en.ria.ru/asia/20160729/1043770186/b-1-guam.html
As the Obama Administration continues to shift the focus of the Pentagon to the Pacific regions, the US plans to station long-range bombers in Guam, roughly 2,000 miles from the South China Sea.
For the first time in nearly 10 years, the Air Force will deploy a squadron of long-range B-1 Lancer bombers to Guam, a US territory in Micronesia. The aircraft will be flown from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota next month, and the air wing will be accompanied by 300 airmen.
B-52s ancient, subsonic, huge RCS as big as 10 metal farm sheds, falling out of the sky or crashing.
The scenario mentioned below is absolutely bizarre. Australia depends on Singaporean super-refineries for the bulk of its fuel, meaning that, if there is a conflagration in the South China Sea (the
subject of your article) then, according to the author of the report, Australia is going to run out of liquid fuels in a matter of 20 days or so.
Serious shit, no doubt, and I am not happy about it.
You may well access the report yourselves, ro if you give me an email address to send it to, I will do so.
Gary Oraniuk
Geelong
Victoria, Australia.
See extract of Report here (even the author says: “This is scary!!!):
Running on empty: Australia’s dependence on imported fossil fuels
By Sophie Vorrath on 24 February 2014
Australia’s dependence on traditional and imported liquid fuel sources and transport technologies is putting our national security – and very way of life – at risk, a new study has found. Yet Australia continues to ignore alternative fuel strategies, that could include more renewable energy and electric vehicles.
An NRMA-commissioned report on the nation’s liquid fuel security, released on Monday, warns that Australia’s severely declining oil refining industry, and increasing demand for liquid fuels, could result in a scenario in 2030 where it has less than 20 days worth of fuel in reserve, and 100 per cent imported liquid fuel dependency.
The report says there are potential scenarios that could put the daily lives of Australians at risk, yet “there is no plan to stop our dependency growing to 100% or to halt the further decline of our fuel security.”
The report, written by retired Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn, finds that Australia’s dependence on imported liquid fuel and oil for transport has grown from around 60 per cent in 2000 to 90 per cent today, with no plan or public government policy to stop this blowing out to 100 per cent.
Such a lack of capacity, says Blackburn, “puts at risk our national security and lifestyle should there be a major event that impacts our liquid fuel supply chain.”
A confrontation in the Asia-Pacific region, for example, could see Australians suffer food shortages, a lack of adequate access to medical services or pharmaceutical supplies, an inability get to work and, if the problem lasts for more than a few weeks, no work to go to. “It is that serious,” says the report.
Titled Australia’s Liquid Fuel Security, the report recommends a comprehensive, national response that addresses both demand and supply sides of the liquid fuel delivery chain, including increased focus on the technologies and energy sources used and alternative fuel supply.
“when internal Chinese corruption and weakness allowed Western barbarians to take possession of Chinese land”
It is IDENTICAL to the State of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) in the late First Millennium when Local Aristocrats carved for themselves from little to bigger Domains. (In the end there were 7 statelets within the former Byzantium) and the Greatest ASSETS, Islands and Ports (see what Modern Greece sold off), were SOLD OFF to the Venetians and Genovese (Modern Bankers).
I would say that the old guard and Indonesian military are re-positioning themselves by releasing the Golem of intolerance. I think they see the huge economic potential of being the new US stalwart ally in South East Asia now that the Philippines is bought by China. The economic benefit of becoming the main shipping hub to North Asia from the Indian Ocean through the Wallace line and the potential of a new Singapore being built in Indonesia is very attractive, given that the Malacca strait will become but one rout and South China sea will be controlled by China. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Military comes back completely like in Thailand or at the very least they will wring huge concessions from Jokawi to shore up their economic position in the new suddenly strategically important Indonesia. Having sold its Northern port Australia has made a shortsighted strategic move as the center of refueling transport for shipping moves South towards our continent.