Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Hectors and Hypocrites in South China Sea

Star Online - U.S. Third Fleet expands East Asia role as tensions rise with China


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy's Third Fleet will send more ships to East Asia to operate outside its normal theatre alongside the Japan-based Seventh Fleet, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, a move that comes at a time of heightened tensions with China.

The Third Fleet's Pacific Surface Action Group, which includes the guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance and USS Momsen, was deployed to East Asia in April.

More Third Fleet vessels will be deployed in the region in the future, said a U.S. official who requested anonymity. He and a second official said the vessels would conduct a range of operations, but gave no details.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States.


Things are sure hotting up in the South China Sea with increased American military presence in the region. My guess is that the countries which are pleased with such an increased US naval activities in the SE China Sea would be the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and ironically Vietnam, the last being the USA most hated foe at one stage, and vice versa - proving that in international relationship and national interests there is no permanent friend or foe.



My Lai where about 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians, men, women, children and infants were massacred by US Army soldiers from the Company C of the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division

Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given a life sentence, but served only three and a half years under house arrest.

American justice system!





I'm not sure about Malaysia's stand on China's island-making activities - perhaps in this, Malaysia's ronggeng-ramvong-rumba diplomatic ambiguity, lies our nation's strength and astuteness in foreign relationship, which may lead to Malaysia's strategic benefits, though of course many of my readers would say the Malaysian government is stupid, sleeping or plain takut, wakakaka.

But then recall how our nation's leaders wisely kept us out of the Vietnam War while Thailand, Philippines, South Korea and (no choice for these two being members of ANZUS and SEATO) Australia and New Zealand foolishly went into Vietnam to eventually experience great pain in America's greatest defeat in war, and like the USA, losing their young men there.



The USA would tell you they are now ratcheting up their military presence in our local pond because they want to protect and ensure safe secure sea navigation in the South China Sea region through which zillions and zillions of shipping trade pass through annually.

The more likely effect of American increased involvement will bring about the exact opposite result, one of heightened tension in the region and increased potential for open conflict. But that's to be expected of America. Wherever its military is, along will surely come the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.



4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Death, Famine, War & Conquest

Thus China's island-making activities in the South China Sea is just another gnam gnam excuse for the USA to continue and consolidate on its encircling strategy of its current most feared foe, China.

In this new encircling policy of its archfoe, the USA has courted countries to support and enable its strategy such as, staring from the West, some of the former Soviet republic "-stan" states, India, Vietnam (ironically its once most hated enemy), and towards the East those already committed like Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Of course Australia is totally committed to whatever military involvement the USA might have been or may be in.

New Zealand and Thailand are wiser these days so they're quietly staying out,  much to the disgust of the USA.

But India has an inflated prideful pomposity in its new found near-superpower status, of course further enhanced with deliberate buttering up by the USA and Japan, the former with sales offer of F-15/16 fighter and maritime P-8A Poseidon aircraft, and nuclear and aircraft carrier technology, the latter with the ShinMaywa U-2 amphibious aircraft.

(India has ordered 18 Shinmaywa U-2 at a cost of US$1.65 billion)



P-8A Poseidon aircraft

Such has been India's orgasmic delight in its new international and alliance status and thus humongous prestige that it has seriously considered sending the Indian Navy fleet to patrol the South China Sea together with the USN and Japanese Navy.



ShinMaywa U-2 amphibious aircraft

When we consider that the South China Sea is hardly a region within India's sphere of immediate interest or strategic importance, we can only surmise it wants to flex and flaunt its new muscles among its new friends, the Americans and Japanese.



Indian Navy 

The Americans naturally want to draw in the rest of the ASEAN nations (Philippines, Vietnam and Sing are already in its camp) especially big Indonesia and of course our Malaysia. Hey man, once there were rumours the USN wanted to base its naval maritime P-8A Poseidon aircraft in Sabah.

Be that as it may, because the USA must always have an archfoe whether that was/is Russia, Vietnam or China or perhaps one day even Europe, there is no denying China on its part has been giving politico-military dysentery to the South China Sea littoral states, namely, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia.

The chief issue is not so much China's military presence per se though of course this factor cannot be avoided nor ignored, nor would it be just about possible Chinese threats to safe secure navigation along the regional shipping lanes.

It's about natural resources, namely, oil, gas, minerals and to some extent, the harvest from the sea. Yes mate, it's the economic aspects.





But the Yanks have cleverly exploited the fears as well as the self-interested greed of the regional nations into becoming its allies in its grand strategy of encircling and restricting the growth and influence of China, keeping those slitty eyed pigtailed Chinamen within the Indian ... er ... Chinese reservation, wakakaka. 

OK, at this point I have arrived at what I really want to blog about, namely, that the Philippines is not an innocent victim in the disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea as it wants the world to see, and on which the USA is promoting so - likewise for Vietnam.

Just ask some old-timers in the RMN (Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia) and they would tell you, that prior to the Chinese coming in recently with their incredible island-making ability, the Philippines and Vietnam were already jousting with Malaysia for control of several atolls, reefs and sandy shoals.



Mabuhay Malaysians, get the f**k out of our territory 

In one incident, while Malaysia was still studiously and meticulously pouring over the legal tomes on international laws to stake their official ownership of an island in the South China Sea in a proper legal way, wakakaka, as we Malaysians in earlier days were prone to do, the Vietnamese just quietly went on to one of the islands Malaysia had claimed, and swiftly but assertively established a strong military presence on that isle, presenting Malaysia with a fait accompli a la 'possession is nine-tenths of the law' (and f**k you Malaysians, so come and try to get me out, that is if you can, wakakaka).

Meanwhile, our nearby neighbours the Pinoy landed their marines on one of our islands on which Malaysia had already placed a concrete marker to signal our possession of it; those Pinoys gleefully, wilfully, undiplomatically and probably illegally, dynamited the concrete marker to smithereens and placed their base camp on that very sandy shoal, which was then guarded by heavily armed Pinoy marines, again presenting Malaysia with a fait accompli a la 'possession is nine-tenths of the law'.

Now, wasn't that action  by our so-called ASEAN neighbour plainly invasive as well as a blatant occupation of Malaysian marked territory?

Don't forget, this is a country which still harbours ambitious avaricious aggressive design on our state of Sabah. 



Pinoy marine on one of the islands 

My Uncle who was in the military told me the Pinoys at one time in the 70's were our most serious military concern on the sovereignty of our island territories in the South China Sea.

Ho ho ho, and then the bloody Chinese came along with their island-making equipment and a new dimension of occupancy of disputed territories, even on those submerged at high tides, came into being.

The Chinese swiftness and skillfulness in turning semi-submerged reefs into habitable islands complete with runways and even local post offices issuing stamps depicting the Chinese sovereignty over those newly created islands, caught everyone in the neighbourhood by surprise, not that Malaysia didn't make an island of its own during Mahathir's oil-enriched reign, wakakaka.

Yes, when the Viets crept silently onto one of Malaysia's islands as mentioned above to establish a strong military presence there, then-PM Mahathir leapt into action and invested considerable (hundreds of) millions into turning a rocky outcrop in the South China into a nice lil' island, now manned by the RMN.

I wonder which contractor developed that island for Mahathir? Wakakaka.



Gerak Khas 

Prior to that, there were horror stories about a few Gerak Khas soldiers, our Special Force commandos, who were stationed there to prevent Viets claiming another of our territories, but who had to brave the frightening wild raging storms of the South China Sea as they bunkered precariously in a metal container (shipping container?), equally precariously chained to that rocky outcrop, and battered furiously by the wild elements and gigantic waves near tsunamic proportions. I hope those brave pioneering Gerak Khas commandos were properly decorated and rewarded.

But I have to say, the rapidity with which the Chinese went about competing for islands in the South China Sea has been the stunning and critical factor. Now the Pinoys and Viets are wailing and crying like deprived brats when they themselves were once mini minor mischievous (original) clones of the Chinese grabbing territories in the regional sea.

Considering the Pinoys and Uncle Ho's men stole our islands, I haven't been all that sympathetic to them in their bellyaching victimhood bullshit. Give our islands back and we'll be more of a considerate sympathetic neighbour, wakakaka. You f**king lot of hypocrites.


3 comments:

  1. There are no good guys in this issue.
    But looking at the issues and the behaviour of various parties, there are varying shades of bad and badder.

    To me, the worst behaviour is the guy who has built, and is building entire military runways and islands anchored even to rocks which are underwater at high tide, and claiming the whole area around it as "their" territory.

    Add this to the "Nine-Dash Line" where they are claiming the entire sea, and militarising existing island installations, this marks a massive escalation of territorial avarice. No other country has done this.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line

    As for Malaysia's Dunno approach to the issue....
    Neutrality and ambiguity in policy made good sense when it was purely a matter of foreign policy positioning during the Cold War.

    When somebody whose nearest internationally recognised dry land is 1,600 kilometres away claims an area of sea 80 km off Bintulu , Sarawak, it is stupid and irresponsible to pretend Dunno. I'm not saying we need to get into an armed conflict.

    The RMN Chief Laksamana Do-Re-Mi lied saying the Chinese naval exercise was hundreds of kilometres away from James Shoal, when Xinhua's own website was trumpeting the positioning of China's territorial marker there. This guy was practically a traitor and a disgrace to his uniform.

    Some Chinese Malaysians have been completely unconcerned or even welcoming of China's territorial designs on Malaysian waters, on the basis of "Orang Kita". That is an idiotic and even possibly traitorous position.

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  2. YES, there are no good guys in this issue.

    But, there r ONLY political interests that young chiku countries r ill-afford to get involved!

    By all means, condemn that ’guy’ - who has built, and is building entire military runways and islands anchored even to rocks which are underwater at high tide, and claiming the whole area around it as "their" territory.

    But WHY must u blame the Chinese Malaysians WHO have been completely unconcerned or even welcoming of China's territorial designs on Malaysian waters, BASED on the basis of "Orang Kita"?

    Moreover, topped it with a label of an idiotic and even possibly traitorous position!

    First, on the sovereignty of all the claims, like it or not, China has the longest historical facts to back her claims many time over.

    The "Nine-Dash Line" was orchestrated & supported by the USofA, then, purely based on his political interests within the region & the in-reputable historical claims of China.

    Now this action backfires, due to the current ascension of the Chinese military might, USofA is changing tune to back the surrounding regional countries. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to define & enforce the 12 nautical miles "territorial waters" definition is been promoted as gospel for territory sovereign, forgetting it's ONLY covering a loosely defined Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) sans sovereignty right.

    In simple term, USofA is trying to re-create regional chaos to reinforce his monoSuperPower title in the South China Sea. This is the same game plan that USofA is playing NOW in the former Eastern Europe regions against the Russia.

    So, WHY should M’sia get involved by playing pawn?

    Didn’t u say it – ‘As for Malaysia's Dunno approach to the issue....
    Neutrality and ambiguity in policy made good sense when it was purely a matter of foreign policy positioning during the Cold War.’?

    Thus, ‘When somebody whose nearest internationally recognised dry land is 1,600 kilometres away claims an area of sea 80 km off Bintulu , Sarawak, it is stupid and irresponsible to pretend Dunno.’ THEN u must mentioning Diego Garcia also. & how far is Diego Garcia from the nearest dry land of USofA? & what's & how far back r the historical linkage.

    Similarly, can Majapahit claims Malacca as his territory right IFF he still exists today?

    Majapahit, today is history, while China has awaken!

    1of2

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  3. cont 2of2

    WRT that RMN Chief Laksamana Do-Re-Mi, suffice to mention that the continuous recent kidnappings happened around Tawau has proven solidly what caliber r him & his associates made of.

    One more thingy – M’sia claimage of James Shoal is ONLY a recent event, unlike the historical record presented by the Chinese Chinese.

    Take yr time to watch this documentary made by an American;

    https://youtu.be/CArcdVYulrQ

    Let me add, the claims of sovereignty around these ‘islands & rocks which are underwater at high tide’, is based on a spurious economic assumption that there r abundant hydrocarbon to be mined.

    This is a 50-50 presumption that’s pending further strong geological investigations.

    The ONLY mine that’s a sure bid is there r millions of tons of methane hydrate waiting to be released into the fragile earth atmosphere once geological works r been carried out in THOSE rocks!

    Go google what’s methane hydrate & what it CAN cause to the environment.

    Just so recently even the technologically advanced Japan has faced disasters in trying to tempt it within one of his island!

    The China expansion within those rocks is considered as a 70-30 on maritime military-hydrocarbon considerations.

    This is especially so when China is encouraging recent OneBeltOneRoute policy & she needs military bases oversea to supplement & protect her interests both economically & politically.

    WRT fishing right – don’t bid on it.

    The world fishing stocks r depleting faster than any one country willing to admit. Forbidding fishing around these ‘Rocks’, especially deep-sea bottom trawling SHOULD be strongly enforced to protect the regeneration of the already-weaken marine biodiversity.

    Finally, u sound like an academician that’s more race-based than fact base when u start to blame yr fellow M’sians who might be able to see further than yr ‘ketuanan’ len’s capability.

    Pariah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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