De Chinese expansie(drift)

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Navy chief flags concerns over South China Sea

Dit soort berichten vooral NIET vergeten door te sturen naar Den Haag.

[Lex]

Navy chief flags concerns over South China Sea

India's senior-most military commander on Thursday flagged concerns over the situation in the South China Sea, at a time when China's aggressive posturing in the resource-rich waters has shifted global attention to the Asia-Pacific region.

Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Virma, who heads the chiefs of staff committee, said the developments unfolding in South China Sea would have major implications not only for the countries in the region but for the entire world.

Verma was delivering the keynote address at a seminar organised by well-known defence think tank, United Service Institution of India.

China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan have competing claims to parts of the South China Sea --- a crucial international trade route.

Verma said the potential for conflict in the South China Sea and the instability on the Korean Peninsula had raised awareness about inadequacies in mechanisms to resolve possible crises. "We are seeing certain edginess in the relations between the countries of this region," Verma said.

He said stakeholders in the region must brain storm on the structure of security architecture that would promote peace and stability. "Readymade solutions do not exist and that it may not be feasible to borrow an existing arrangement functioning in another region to be applied in the Asia-Pacific," Verma said, batting for multilateral cooperative mechanisms.

Hindustan Times,
20:09 IST(17/11/2011)

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

India sees China as 'de facto competitor'

Updated: 2011-11-10 07:56

By Hu Yinan (China Daily)

BEIJING - Recent bold moves regarding India's armed forces have political rather than military objectives, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said.

India's repositioning of its national security strategy has led to the country "starting to treat China as a de facto competitor", it said in a commentary on Wednesday.

"China has always adhered to the principle of 'peaceful rise'. But this has been misinterpreted by some countries as a 'rising threat'," it said.

The response came a week after the Indian Ministry of Defense announced its biggest expansion package to date, a $13 billion military modernization plan.

Within five years, the project is set to deploy 90,000 more soldiers and raise four new divisions along India's border with China, the largest such mobilization since the Sino-Indian border clashes of 1962.

The Indian military is also in the final phase of choosing between two fighter jets in what is said to be the world's largest defense deal. For months, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the French Dassault Rafale aircraft have been competing for an Indian Air Force contract that is now worth more than $20 billion - almost double the original estimate.

These moves followed the Indian government's decision in October to deploy Brahmos cruise missiles against China, the first time it has taken such a step with offensive tactical missiles.

India is also pushing for its first joint air force and naval exercises with Japan, which Indian Defense Minister A K Antony revealed during his visit to Japan last week.

On Monday, a senior former Indian diplomat said India, as a potential "positive balancer" in East Asia, wants to see a strong Japan in the context of China's rise.

A strong Japan would play a positive role in maintaining the strategic balance in the region, former Indian ambassador to Japan Hemant Krishan Singh said in New Delhi at a discussion on the US-Japan alliance.

During the same discussion, Sheila A. Smith, a senior fellow with the US-based Council on Foreign Relations, said Japan's "strategic discomfort" has been growing amid the rise of China in recent years.

The discussion was held just weeks ahead of a proposed trilateral dialogue involving India, US and Japan that experts said was aimed at keeping China in check.

The trilateral dialogue, to be held by the year's end, will discuss regional issues, the US State Department said last week.

China has not commented on the matter.

"The West's vigilance and confinement of China's rise are increasing. One of its means is to take advantage of China's conflicts and issues with its neighboring countries, and instigate and radicalize issues to exhaust China's energy, resources and strategic projection," said Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

China should "take it easy" when outsiders feel uneasy about its growth and role in regional as well as global affairs, said Feng Yujun, head of Russian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

China should not only remain alert of actions taken by parties to contain its rise, but also actively adjust its strategy and focus on improving its relations with neighboring countries instead of the big powers, said Jin Yinan, head of the Strategic Research Institute at National Defense University.

India and China are slated to become the world's largest trading partners by 2030, according to estimates by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.

But analysts say India's increasingly assertive approaches, acting as a counterweight to the rise of China, are reshaping the Asian strategic landscape.

"This is largely projected as a response to India's threat perceptions of China," wrote M K Bhadrakumar, a former career diplomat who served as India's ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan, in the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Washington, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns last week hailed India's "Look East" policy as becoming an "Act East" policy. "India's rise will reshape the international system," he said.

Kim R. Holmes, vice-president of the Heritage Foundation and former US assistant secretary of state, said closer India-US ties are the natural result of a rising China.

"I believe that growing strategic challenges presented by a rising China and continuing threats from terrorism in the region will inevitably drive the US and India to cooperate more closely on defense and other key sectors like space, maritime security and nuclear nonproliferation," he said.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2011-11/10/content_14068834.htm

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

China: Laten we met Taiwan herenigen

Goed idee. Schrijf vrije verkiezingen uit in China en comformeer je aan de Taiwanese samenleving zodat vervolgens in een referendum in beide landen het groene licht voor een hereniging gevraagd kan worden. 

Briljant idee... nu de rest van de wereld nog! 

[KapiteinRob]

China: Laten we met Taiwan herenigen

Goed idee. Schrijf vrije verkiezingen uit in China en comformeer je aan de Taiwanese samenleving zodat vervolgens in een referendum in beide landen het groene licht voor een hereniging gevraagd kan worden. 

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

China: Laten we met Taiwan herenigen

Taiwan moet maar weer eenworden met China, zo heeft Chinese president Hu Jintao vandaag opgeroepen. Hij sprak de woorden in een rede ter ere van de honderdste verjaardag van de revolutie die het 2000 jaar oude Chinese keizerrijk van de Qing-dynastie tot een einde bracht.

Sinds de opstand die op 10 oktober 1911 uitbrak, is Taiwan in parktijk onafhankelijk. Beijing accepteert dat echter niet. Hu zei zondag dat "de geschiedenis sinds de val van de Qing-dynastie aantoont dat het leiderschap van de Chinese Communistische Partij moet worden gehandhaafd om tot de grote renaissance van de Chinese natie te komen".

http://www.spitsnieuws.nl/archives/buitenland/2011/10/china-laten-we-met-taiwan-herenigen

Niets nieuws onder de zon... maar deze oproep (alweer) draagt niet bij tot rust in de regio.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Dergelijke artikelen zijn niet veelzeggend. Toch laat het de spanning in de regio verder stijgen. Mogelijk tot een niveau dat achteraf niemand had gewild.

Precies,

Het gevolg is: nervositeit... en met gezonde spanning is niets mis.... maar in de minder gezonde variant kan dat leiden ruzies.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Tensions continue to mount in South China Sea

By Joseph Santolan
6 October 2011

Geopolitical tensions have continued to mount over the disputed waters of the South China Sea since the conclusion of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bali during July.



At the ASEAN gathering, rival claimants to the region signed a document entitled "Guidelines on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea." It was heralded by the mainstream press as a step toward the peaceful resolution of conflicting claims and away from the escalating rhetoric of confrontation. The declaration was a hollow document, founded on abstract declarations of friendship and existing consensus.



Since July, a confrontation has occurred between Chinese and Indian naval ships in the South China Sea. India has concluded a joint oil exploration agreement with Vietnam. Vietnam has signed a deal for joint marine patrols with Indonesia, and the Philippines has made a similar deal with Japan. State-run Chinese newspapers have decried these arrangements and denounced the machinations of the United States in the region.



In late July, an Indian amphibious assault vessel was sailing from the Vietnamese city of Nha Trang to the deep-water harbor of Cam Ranh Bay when a Chinese naval official warned the ship over radio that it was entering Chinese waters. The Indian ship ignored the warnings and continued its course.



The ship was part of the Indian fleet that has been deployed at the $US2 billion facilities being constructed by New Delhi on the Andaman Islands, guarding the Bay of Bengal and monitoring the western end of the Straits of Malacca—a vital sea lane and strategic naval choke point.



In the aftermath of this confrontation, the Indian state-run oil company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Vietnam's Petrovietnam signed a deal to purchase BP's stake in oil and gas development in the waters off the coast of Vietnam. The Chinese state-run People's Daily denounced the joint deal as an infringement on Chinese sovereignty.



On September 16, China demanded that the Indian and Vietnamese governments stop their joint oil venture in blocks 127 and 128, which it claimed were in Chinese territorial waters. ONGC and Petrovietnam have ignored the Chinese demands.



Two days earlier, on September 13 and 14, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited Indonesian President Yudhoyono in Jakarta and initiated an agreement to "establish joint patrols in the sea area and lines of communication between our two countries."



Of the claimants to the South China Sea, Indonesia has historically been among the least aggressive in the assertion of its sovereign claims and the most open to the acknowledgement of Chinese rights to the waters. That it would conclude an agreement to jointly patrol the region at the eastern mouth of the Straits of Malacca with Vietnam, an aggressively anti-China claimant, is a significant shift in Indonesian foreign policy.



During the past two months, Philippine President Aquino has travelled to China, the United States and Japan. In the beginning of September, Aquino brought a delegation of over 200 leading Filipino businessmen to China where he met with political and business leaders over several days. He returned to the Philippines with commitments from Chinese corporations to invest $13 billion in Philippine infrastructure in the next year and $60 billion in the next five. The subject of the South China Sea was barely touched upon, and when it was raised it was covered over with the trite statement that the sea was becoming a zone of amity, friendship and cooperation.



On September 18, Aquino visited Washington. He brought a small delegation with him. When he returned to the Philippines he spoke proudly of the business deal he had concluded. US soft drink manufacturers had agreed to purchase $100 million in coconuts from the Philippines. What was less trumpeted in the press, but of far greater significance, was an arrangement for the Philippines to purchase two Hamilton class naval cutters and several helicopters.



These deals highlight the tenuous balancing act between China and the United States in which each Southeast Asian country is currently engaged. The massive influx of investment from China is dwarfing that coming from the United States. The foreign policy of Southeast Asian nations teeters uncertainly between the rising economic power of China and the political and military might of the United States.



From September 25 to 28, in the wake of his trip to the United States, Aquino visited Japan and concluded an agreement similar to that between Indonesia and Vietnam, for the joint marine patrolling of the disputed waters of the South China Sea. Aquino brought to the proposal the explicit support of the United States.



A People's Daily editorial on September 26 denounced the Aquino administration's shifting allegiances. "Just three weeks ago during his visit to China, Aquino stressed his desire for peaceful dialogue over territorial disputes ... Backed by the US, the Philippines now tries to involve more regional players like Japan to collectively check China. But such efforts will be fruitless ... The Philippines does not have the willpower to sacrifice its relationship with China and become involved in an armed standoff."



The Chinese government is serving warning that it will not continue to tolerate what has been standard practice throughout the region until now—concluding massive economic deals with China and then engaging in political and military machinations against China with the backing of the United States.



A comment in China's Global Times entitled "Time to teach those around the South China Sea a lesson" was published on September 29. The Global Times commentry represents certain sections of the Chinese military and is often aggressive in tone. This comment, however, was a sharp escalation, even for the Global Times.



The article stated: "It is probably the right time for us to reason, think ahead and strike first before things gradually run out of hand. It seems all the countries around the area are preparing for an arms race ... It's very amusing to see some of the countries vow to threaten or even confront China with force just because the US announced that it has 'returned to Asia'."





"We shouldn't waste the opportunity," the commentry continued, "to launch some tiny-scale battles that could deter provocateurs from going further ... Punishment should be restricted only to the Philippines and Vietnam, who have been acting extremely aggressively these days."



The commentry dismissed the idea that a first strike against the Philippines and Vietnam would occasion reprisals from the United States. "US pressure in the South China Sea should not be taken seriously, at least for now given the war on terror in the Middle East and elsewhere is still plaguing it hard."



The United States government played a key role in the Vietnamese opening of Cam Ranh Bay, where the confrontation between India and China occurred. President Aquino's visit to Washington was arranged by the Obama administration immediately after his visit to China was announced. The deal between Japan and the Philippines was struck at the instigation and with the backing of the United States.



As Washington engages in political and military machinations throughout the region surrounding China, the Chinese response is becoming increasingly strident.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/oct2011/scse-o06.shtml

[Ace1]

Chinese analyst calls for war in South China Sea

'SEA OF FIRE':Long Tao wrote that Beijing should strike the Philippines and Vietnam, the two 'noisiest troublemakers,' to strike fear into other claimants

By J. Michael Cole  /  Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reaffirmed Taiwan's sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea and called on all claimants to peacefully resolve the impasse.

The comments came after an editorial published in the Chinese-language edition of the Chinese Communist Party-run Global Times called on the Beijing government to declare war on Vietnam and the Philippines, two countries that have been proactive in defending their claims over the islets.

The op-ed, titled "A good time to take military action in the South China Sea," was penned by Long Tao (龍韜), a strategic analyst at the non-governmental China Energy Fund Committee and also at Zhejiang University's Non-Traditional Security and Peace Development Research Center.

"Do not worry about small-scale wars; it is the best way to release the potential of war. Play a few small battles and big battles can be avoided," Long wrote, adding that military action should be focused on striking the Philippines and Vietnam, "the two noisiest troublemakers," to achieve the effect of killing one chicken to scare the monkeys.

Through military action, he wrote, China could transform the South China Sea into "a sea of fire," an act made possible by the fact that "of the more than 1,000 oil rigs and four airfields on the Spratly Islands, none belongs to China."

On the risks of military action inviting intervention by the international community, the author took an optimistic note.

"The US has not withdrawn from the war on terrorism and the Middle East ... so it cannot afford to open a second front in the South China Sea," he wrote, adding that the "decisive shot" by Russia in the Caspian Sea in 2008 served as a model. "[Military] action by a big country in the international arena may result in initial shock, but in the long run, regional stability can be achieved through great power strategic reconciliation."

Taiwan, along with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and China, claims sovereignty over archipelagos in the area, which are believed to have rich oil and natural gas resources.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) said the ministry would not comment on Chinese media reports.

However, Chang reiterated the government's position that the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Macclesfield Islands, Pratas Islands and nearby waters were part of Taiwan's territory and territorial waters, and called on claimants to peacefully resolve disputes surrounding the region through negotiation and dialogue.

Taiwan has always upheld the principle of shelving sovereignty disputes and jointly exploring resources based on the principle and spirit of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, he said.

Taiwan does not recognize any resolution reached without its participation and has called for a multilateral mechanism for countries in the region to participate in discussions to seek peaceful development of the region, he added.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/09/30/2003514541

[Elzenga]

Kwam ik tegen...uit 2005...maar nog steeds actueel. Interessante aspecten en aangedragen strategieën. Maritieme oriëntatie Europa wordt ook hier bepleit. Ook duidelijk waar Europa tekort dreigt te schieten en welhaast een inhaalslag zal moeten maken..

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/06/how-we-would-fight-china/3959/2/

vond ik ook interessant stukje...Chinees handelen verklaarbaar zonder directe vijandige intenties.
"This is wholly legitimate. China's rulers may not be democrats in the literal sense, but they are seeking a liberated First World lifestyle for many of their 1.3 billion people—and doing so requires that they safeguard sea-lanes for the transport of energy resources from the Middle East and elsewhere. Naturally, they do not trust the United States and India to do this for them. Given the stakes, and given what history teaches us about the conflicts that emerge when great powers all pursue legitimate interests, the result is likely to be the defining military conflict of the twenty-first century: if not a big war with China, then a series of Cold War—style standoffs that stretch out over years and decades."

[KapiteinRob]

DEN HAAG WORDT EENS WAKKER

De ontwikkelingen in de wereld gaan momenteel met een sneltreinvaart. En onze veiligsheidsverzekering ertegen is in de omgekeerd evenredige modus. Heel goed, Den Haag. Bezuinig lekker door op defensie, smijt maar door met OSW-gelden en laat uiteindelijk de shitzooi die ons kan raken maar weer opruimen door anderen. Bv. door de door velen verguisde transatlantische broeders........

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

We hebben ook Pampus nog.... Waar we voor kunnen gaan liggen. 

Ik za een aantal afschrikwekkende badeenden mee nemen....  :crazy:

[KapiteinRob]

We hebben ook Pampus nog.... Waar we voor kunnen gaan liggen. 

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Oorlogstaal vanuit China richting de Verenigde Staten.

Oorlogstaal vanuit China richting de Verenigde Staten. In een opiniestuk in een onder auspiciën van de Chinese Communistische Partij uitgegeven krant roept een strategisch analist van het China Energy Fund Committee op om "de VS en haar vriendjes in de Zuid-Chinese Zee (kaart) eens een lesje te leren". Volgens deze analist "provoceren de VS met hun aanwezigheid in de oliesector aldaar en stoken ze landen in de regio op tegen China. Een beperkte oorlog tegen Vietnam en de Filipijnen moet de VS op haar plek zetten. De honderden olieplatforms in de Zuid-Chinese Zee (waarvan er geen één van China is) moeten allemaal platgebrand worden zodat de Westerse invloed verdwijnt. Lang genoeg heeft de Chinese olifant irritante muggen geduld, maar nu is het tijd om hard uit te halen".

Deze ongebruikelijke teksten die onder goedkeuring van de Chinese Communistische Partij gisteren naar buiten zijn gebracht hebben direct effect in de regio. Taiwan heeft haar soevereiniteit bij monde van het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken nog eens herbevestigd. Het wachten is op de volgende stap vanuit Beijing: fluit het 'haar' strategisch analist terug of laat het bewust de schrikreactie voortduren? Het oorlogszuchtige opiniestuk van gisteren staat niet op zich zelf. Eerder deze maand botste China en India ook over olie- en gaswinning in het Vietnamese deel van de Zuid-Chinese Zee. Vooralsnog lijkt het erop dat de Amerikaanse journalist Robert Kaplan op termijn gelijk krijgt in zijn voorspelling dat de 21ste eeuw gekenmerkt zal worden door conflicten tussen China en de Verenigde Staten. Alleen hield Kaplan, toen hij in 2006 deze theorie ontvouwde, waarschijnlijk geen rekening met het effect van de huidige economische crisis op de Amerikaanse slagkracht?

http://sargasso.nl/archief/2011/09/30/oorlogstaal-in-de-zuid-chinese-zee/

Gelukkig hebben wij de VS, hoge duinen, een afsluitdijk, de grens met Duitsland en Belgie... het fort waddeneilanden, geen enkele international handelsbelangen en verplichtingen, geen behoefte aan gond,-voedingsstoffen en olie...

Wij zitten helemaal goed!

DEN HAAG WORDT EENS WAKKER

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Oorlogstaal vanuit China richting de Verenigde Staten.

Oorlogstaal vanuit China richting de Verenigde Staten. In een opiniestuk in een onder auspiciën van de Chinese Communistische Partij uitgegeven krant roept een strategisch analist van het China Energy Fund Committee op om "de VS en haar vriendjes in de Zuid-Chinese Zee (kaart) eens een lesje te leren". Volgens deze analist "provoceren de VS met hun aanwezigheid in de oliesector aldaar en stoken ze landen in de regio op tegen China. Een beperkte oorlog tegen Vietnam en de Filipijnen moet de VS op haar plek zetten. De honderden olieplatforms in de Zuid-Chinese Zee (waarvan er geen één van China is) moeten allemaal platgebrand worden zodat de Westerse invloed verdwijnt. Lang genoeg heeft de Chinese olifant irritante muggen geduld, maar nu is het tijd om hard uit te halen".

Deze ongebruikelijke teksten die onder goedkeuring van de Chinese Communistische Partij gisteren naar buiten zijn gebracht hebben direct effect in de regio. Taiwan heeft haar soevereiniteit bij monde van het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken nog eens herbevestigd. Het wachten is op de volgende stap vanuit Beijing: fluit het 'haar' strategisch analist terug of laat het bewust de schrikreactie voortduren? Het oorlogszuchtige opiniestuk van gisteren staat niet op zich zelf. Eerder deze maand botste China en India ook over olie- en gaswinning in het Vietnamese deel van de Zuid-Chinese Zee. Vooralsnog lijkt het erop dat de Amerikaanse journalist Robert Kaplan op termijn gelijk krijgt in zijn voorspelling dat de 21ste eeuw gekenmerkt zal worden door conflicten tussen China en de Verenigde Staten. Alleen hield Kaplan, toen hij in 2006 deze theorie ontvouwde, waarschijnlijk geen rekening met het effect van de huidige economische crisis op de Amerikaanse slagkracht?

http://sargasso.nl/archief/2011/09/30/oorlogstaal-in-de-zuid-chinese-zee/