Japan - US- West headed for a military confrontation - dispute in the South China Sea and Spratly Islands?
Confrontation in the South China Sea | World Affairs Journal
Spratly Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spratly Islands dispute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Japan accuses Chinese navy vessels of using weapons radar on ship | World | News | National Post
Sansha City Raises Threat of Conflict in South China Sea | TIME.com
Lost at Sea - By James Kraska | Foreign Policy
Few modern treaties have generated more domestic controversy for less reason than the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. By codifying generous rights and freedoms of navigation throughout the world's oceans, the treaty promotes global trade, economic prosperity, and naval mobility. It is a commonsense guide to 71 percent of the Earth's surface, and for that reason it has been accepted by 161 nations, including Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom. But not the United States
'Indisputable': China stakes claim to South China Sea
China Makes New Claims Over Territorial Waters
It contains oil and gas fields; some Chinese analysts have dubbed it "Asia's Persian Gulf" for its potential oil wealth and its fractiousness. It is particularly inflammatory because China's government is repudiating its non-binding 2002 agreement with its South-East Asian neighbours to solve territorial disputes through peaceful negotiation.
Why is China doing this? Because it needs to, according to one of its top naval officials. Rear-Admiral Zhang Huachen, deputy commander of the East Sea Fleet, told The Straits Times: "With the expansion of the country's economic interests, the navy wants to better protect the country's transportation routes and the safety of our major sea lanes."
Walter Russell Mead, of the Council on Foreign Relations, is unconvinced: "It's sterile in terms of China's trade ambitions; what commerce does it protect? China needs the flow of energy and raw materials from all over the world."
Second, it has waged more aggressive patrols and naval exercises to give operational meaning to the new doctrine. In April, for instance, a 10-ship fleet sailed beyond the First Island Chain, an exercise of unprecedented scale for China. Third, it continues apace to build capability, including an underground submarine base on Hainan Island, and an aircraft carrier battle group, due to be deployed in the next few years.
With its economy thriving and its capabilities growing, Beijing is no longer biding its time but acting to assert itself.
Global Politician - China's Manifest Destiny: Immigration and Land Claims Against Russia
China's Immediate Needs
The temptation to seize the Russian Far East and Siberia may be too much for China to resist, since the region would offer the country an opportunity to achieve increased energy autonomy and replace its own depleted natural resources. Many coal mines in China have become exhausted with further exploration an expensive and time consuming alternative. China also imports more oil than it produces -- a significant barrier for a country of its size with designs for regional dominance and global influence.
Taken collectively, these developments have forced China to identify and secure reliable sources of energy and raw materials globally [i.e., Africa, South America and North America] and within its Asian periphery.
Leadership: This Indian Land Is Chinese Land
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-10/16/content_11419189.htm
BEIJING - Chinese protesters vented anger against Japan Saturday when they took to the streets to assert China's claim to sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.
China builds lighthouse to back East China Sea claim | Reuters
Global Politician - China's Manifest Destiny: Immigration and Land Claims Against Russia
History of Mistrust and Suspicion
In the 19th century, China reluctantly ceded control of the Far East and Siberia to Russia. During the past 50 years, however, Chinese territorial claims to the area have steadily increased. Chinese communist founder Mao Zedong and leader Deng Xiaoping both publicly asserted that the Russian cities of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk were Chinese. Some Chinese historians have claimed that the current China-Russia boarders are unfair and that Russia "stole" the Far East by force.
The Chinese view this region [Siberia] historically as their territory, said Larisa Zabroskaya, an Asia expert. Moreover, Russia's Far East population increasingly identifies itself with the east - looking to South Korea, Japan and China for guidance on matters of governance and culture. As a result, the region has become less connected to Moscow and the ideals of "Euro Asia."
http://www.international-relations.com/wbeurasia/Siberia-2008.pdf
China's naval coming-of-age - The Globe and Mail
For now, the U.S. still rules the Pacific. But while China's own surface fleet may not be able to challenge that for several years, if not decades, it has already developed a weapon that could at least force the carrier fleet to give the country's coast a wider berth: advanced surface-to-sea missiles, dubbed “carrier-busters” because of their supposed ability to sink the giant ships. And after years of focusing on defending its coast and preparing for a potential war over Taiwan, China's navy now talks of “far-sea defence.”
Confrontation in the South China Sea | World Affairs Journal
Spratly Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spratly Islands dispute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Japan accuses Chinese navy vessels of using weapons radar on ship | World | News | National Post
Sansha City Raises Threat of Conflict in South China Sea | TIME.com
Lost at Sea - By James Kraska | Foreign Policy
Few modern treaties have generated more domestic controversy for less reason than the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. By codifying generous rights and freedoms of navigation throughout the world's oceans, the treaty promotes global trade, economic prosperity, and naval mobility. It is a commonsense guide to 71 percent of the Earth's surface, and for that reason it has been accepted by 161 nations, including Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom. But not the United States
'Indisputable': China stakes claim to South China Sea
China Makes New Claims Over Territorial Waters
It contains oil and gas fields; some Chinese analysts have dubbed it "Asia's Persian Gulf" for its potential oil wealth and its fractiousness. It is particularly inflammatory because China's government is repudiating its non-binding 2002 agreement with its South-East Asian neighbours to solve territorial disputes through peaceful negotiation.
Why is China doing this? Because it needs to, according to one of its top naval officials. Rear-Admiral Zhang Huachen, deputy commander of the East Sea Fleet, told The Straits Times: "With the expansion of the country's economic interests, the navy wants to better protect the country's transportation routes and the safety of our major sea lanes."
Walter Russell Mead, of the Council on Foreign Relations, is unconvinced: "It's sterile in terms of China's trade ambitions; what commerce does it protect? China needs the flow of energy and raw materials from all over the world."
Second, it has waged more aggressive patrols and naval exercises to give operational meaning to the new doctrine. In April, for instance, a 10-ship fleet sailed beyond the First Island Chain, an exercise of unprecedented scale for China. Third, it continues apace to build capability, including an underground submarine base on Hainan Island, and an aircraft carrier battle group, due to be deployed in the next few years.
With its economy thriving and its capabilities growing, Beijing is no longer biding its time but acting to assert itself.
Global Politician - China's Manifest Destiny: Immigration and Land Claims Against Russia
China's Immediate Needs
The temptation to seize the Russian Far East and Siberia may be too much for China to resist, since the region would offer the country an opportunity to achieve increased energy autonomy and replace its own depleted natural resources. Many coal mines in China have become exhausted with further exploration an expensive and time consuming alternative. China also imports more oil than it produces -- a significant barrier for a country of its size with designs for regional dominance and global influence.
Taken collectively, these developments have forced China to identify and secure reliable sources of energy and raw materials globally [i.e., Africa, South America and North America] and within its Asian periphery.
Leadership: This Indian Land Is Chinese Land
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-10/16/content_11419189.htm
BEIJING - Chinese protesters vented anger against Japan Saturday when they took to the streets to assert China's claim to sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.
China builds lighthouse to back East China Sea claim | Reuters
Global Politician - China's Manifest Destiny: Immigration and Land Claims Against Russia
History of Mistrust and Suspicion
In the 19th century, China reluctantly ceded control of the Far East and Siberia to Russia. During the past 50 years, however, Chinese territorial claims to the area have steadily increased. Chinese communist founder Mao Zedong and leader Deng Xiaoping both publicly asserted that the Russian cities of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk were Chinese. Some Chinese historians have claimed that the current China-Russia boarders are unfair and that Russia "stole" the Far East by force.
The Chinese view this region [Siberia] historically as their territory, said Larisa Zabroskaya, an Asia expert. Moreover, Russia's Far East population increasingly identifies itself with the east - looking to South Korea, Japan and China for guidance on matters of governance and culture. As a result, the region has become less connected to Moscow and the ideals of "Euro Asia."
http://www.international-relations.com/wbeurasia/Siberia-2008.pdf
China's naval coming-of-age - The Globe and Mail
For now, the U.S. still rules the Pacific. But while China's own surface fleet may not be able to challenge that for several years, if not decades, it has already developed a weapon that could at least force the carrier fleet to give the country's coast a wider berth: advanced surface-to-sea missiles, dubbed “carrier-busters” because of their supposed ability to sink the giant ships. And after years of focusing on defending its coast and preparing for a potential war over Taiwan, China's navy now talks of “far-sea defence.”