Keeping a low profile does not necessarily mean indifference
Troubled waters in South China Sea
The waters of the South China Sea are troubled. The latest weeks have not been that quiet in that geopolitical ... ... fact been building up its own
maritime militia
, which patrols the area around Hainan, the Spratly and the Paracel Islands. China believes this to be a covert operation in order to spy on the Chinese military infrastructure and ships.
Ivan Timofeev:
...
... Xi will have to reassess what the Trump presidency means for Chinese interests in East Asia, particularly North Korea and the South China Sea," Australian military analyst Alan Dupont suggested, as cited by the New York Times.
Malaysian geopolitical ... ... has the upper hand in its dealings with the United States," Maavak believes.
"If the intention was to intimidate China over North Korea's nuclear sabre-rattling, then Beijing will likely raise the stakes by providing an additional ...
A Legal Imbroglio in the South China Sea
A more concise version of this article was published as a CCTV Panview Oped.
The rhetorical war between the China and the United States over the South China Sea dispute is increasing in tempo and magnitude by the week. The US is wasting no time, resource and effort in sponsoring seminars, talks and think tank confabs to drive a wedge between China and other ...
... diplomatic rhetoric. It took decades for Malaysia to resolve a territorial dispute with both Indonesia (Ligatan and Sipadan Islands) and Singapore (Pedra Branca).
It's not just China that is laying claim to contested waters or islands in the South China Sea. Many ASEAN nations have similar disputes among themselves. But again, the Western media mendaciously depicts these disputes as a China vs ASEAN affair.
Panview: Can we expect ASEAN to play a larger diplomatic role in the Asia-Pacific region? What is the future of the Asia-Pacific region?
Maavak: Southeast Asia is a colorful tapestry weaved by aeons of indigenous cultures as well as civilizational strands from China and India. By virtue of being bridges between both ...
... Asian allies question is like the NATO nuclear umbrella question. It will always remain hypothetical. It is not just unanswered. It is unanswerable.
Sophisticated defense analysts recognize this. Thus, most contemporary policy punditry on a potential Asia-Pacific conflict focuses on what has come to be called an "anti-access / area-denial" (A2/AD) scenario. The
supposed threat
is that China would use a combination of land-based missiles, new island bases, and an expanded PLA Navy to deny American and allied forces access to the South China Sea.
This sounds quite ominous in the abstract but quite silly in the specifics. China closing the South China Sea would be like Russia closing the Bosporus and the Baltic. It would be similar to cutting off your nose to spite your face. Pundits ...
