China-US naval confrontation imminent in South China seas

no smoking

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Chinese maritime police will have no jurisdiction in these waters. Best they can do is support anti-piracy ops.
Unfortunately, they have been there excuting their juridiction for years.

If you had any doubts about that, USS Lassen just cleared them for you.
Now, you speak as if you are the president of America. Unfortunately you are not.
 

no smoking

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this island is a easy target

this island is nothing compared to the u.s carrier group

if u.s sends 5 super carrier then china is in great trouble.
sorry even a single carrier group is enough for you.

cheers...
If they really send 1 or even 5 "super carrier", Chinese will laugh their ass off. What can these "super carriors" do? Bombing those islands?

long live U.S (daddy of you all.)
Or preferred daddy of India?
 

bose

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If they really send 1 or even 5 "super carrier", Chinese will laugh their ass off. What can these "super carriors" do? Bombing those islands?
They just proved that those Islands are disputed !!

Or preferred daddy of India?
You must not forget how USA saved your ASS in WW-2 ... else China today would have been a colony of Japan...
 

The enlightened

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Unfortunately, they have been there excuting their juridiction for years.
Sweet Dreams.
Now, you speak as if you are the president of America. Unfortunately you are not.
You don't need POTUS to explain basic International Law. You would probably want a CCP signed journal to read all about it but that's irrelevant for the free world.
 

Kshatriya87

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...h-China-Sea-incident/articleshow/49603699.cms

European Union sides with United States on South China Sea incident

BRUSSELS: The European Union sided with Washington on Friday over a US-Chinese patrolling incident in the South China Sea, in a move that may affect Brussels' discussions with Beijing at next week's Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of foreign affairs ministers.

On Tuesday, a US warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of one of Beijing's man-made islands in the contested Spratly archipelago, triggering a sharp reaction from China.

"The US are exercising their freedom of navigation," a senior EU official said at a briefing, chiming with the US line.

A US Navy spokesman had said that the patrol was part of the US freedom of navigation operations meant to "protect the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law".

The EU is concerned about Beijing's plans to build new islands in contested waters, the EU official said, a statement that may be welcomed by other Asian nations opposing China's claims to almost the entire South China Sea.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei contest China's sovereignty over parts of one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

"Whilst not taking a position on claims, the EU is committed to a maritime order based upon the principles of international law, in particular as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the law of the Sea (UNCLOS)," an EU foreign affairs spokesman said in a statement.

The EU has been nursing relations with Beijing, hoping to attract Chinese funds to relaunch the bloc's sluggish economy and has been negotiating a bilateral investment and trade deal. In defiance of Washington, EU governments have also decided to join the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

European and Asian foreign affairs ministers gather in Luxembourg next week for ASEM, a regular event that brings together all 28 EU countries and 21 Asian nations, including China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
 

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http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/chinas-supersonic-ship-killer-is-making-us-navys-job-harder-1238385

China's Supersonic Ship Killer is Making US Navy's Job Harder

Hong Kong: Increased interactions between the Chinese and U.S. Navy in the contested South China Sea risk becoming more complicated by the increasingly sophisticated missiles being carried by submarines.

A new report to Congress assessing a Chinese submarine-launched missile known as the YJ-18 highlights the danger, noting the missile accelerates to supersonic speed just before hitting its target, making it harder for a crew to defend their ship.


Defense chiefs from several countries in Southeast Asia have warned in recent months of the danger of undersea "clutter" as countries build up submarine fleets and the United States challenges China over its claim to a large swath of the South China Sea. This week's U.S. patrol inside the 12-nautical mile zone that China claims around its man-made islands in the waters saw the USS Lassen shadowed by two Chinese naval vessels.

The YJ-18 missile can cruise at about 600 miles an hour, or just under the speed of sound, only a few meters above the surface of the sea and then, about 20 nautical miles from its target, accelerate to as much as three times the speed of sound, according to an Oct. 28 report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

"The supersonic speed makes it harder to hit with on-board guns," according to Larry Wortzel, a member of the commission. "It also makes it a faster target for radars."

The YJ-18's speed and long range, as well as its wide deployment "could have serious implications for the ability of U.S. Navy surface ships to operate freely in the Western Pacific" in the event of a conflict, the commission found.

Its report came just days after the U.S. warship entered the 12-mile zone around the reefs that China's turned into man- made islands, one of which may soon be equipped with an airstrip capable of handling the military's largest aircraft. By passing so close, the U.S. was showing it doesn't recognize that the feature qualifies for a territorial zone under international law.

Provocative actions by the U.S. may bring serious tensions between the two militaries and may even result in skirmishes, China's navy commander Wu Shengli told U.S. Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson on a conference call Thursday, according to the Chinese navy's microblog.

The waters are a vital thoroughfare for the global economy, hosting $5 trillion of international shipping a year. China claims more than 80 percent of the sea, vying with five rival claimants, including Vietnam and Philippines.

The Office of Naval Intelligence said in its April report on the People's Liberation Army Navy that China had started to deploy its newest missile, but didn't give precise details on its range. The Commission said the YJ-18 can travel about 290 nautical miles, more than 14 times as much as its predecessor, the YJ-82. It cited media reports and other unclassified sources.

The report does however contain some potentially good news for U.S. naval commanders.

China's command and control infrastructure may be insufficient to generate the targeting information needed to take advantage of the YJ-18's range. Also, the command and control system itself may be vulnerable to countermeasures such as electromagnetic warfare operations, making it difficult for the PLA to track ships and employ the missiles.

The YJ-18 should not be confused with the so-called "carrier killer" DF-21 anti-ship ballistic missile, which was paraded during China's commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II. The DF-21, which would target aircraft carriers, would be fired from land-based mobile launchers. The YJ-18 could impede the progress of a carrier group, the commission report said.

The commission was created by the U.S. Congress in 2000 to investigate and submit an annual report on the national security implications of trade with China.
 

Kshatriya87

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http://newamericamedia.org/2015/10/xi-to-visit-hanoi-amid-rising-tension-in-south-china-sea.php

Xi to Visit Hanoi Amid Rising Tension in South China Sea

The long expected visit to Vietnam by the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has been confirmed by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry despite rising tensions in the South China Sea.

It said he would visit Hanoi on November 5-6.

Some had speculated that the visit might not go ahead because of the growing confrontation over territory in the disputed waters.


It will be the first visit to Vietnam by Xi Jinping since he became President of China and Secretary-General of the Chinese Communist Party.

Vietnamese leaders have directly challenged the legality of China’s recent moves to develop once partially submerged reefs in the Spratly islands into potential military bases.

They have, however, been cautious in their response to the recent American move to physically challenge China’s position in the South China Sea.
 

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http://www.business-standard.com/ar...th-china-sea-hamid-ansari-115110200805_1.html

India, Indonesia share similar positions on South China Sea: Hamid Ansari

Jakarta, Nov. 2 (ANI): Vice President M. Hamid Ansari has said that India and Indonesia shared several global and regional issues, including climate change, maritime security and freedom of seas.

"We share similar positions on several global and regional issues including climate change and maritime security and freedom of seas in the South China Sea," he said while addressing a joint press conference with Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta.

China has been going out of the way to consolidate its dominance in South China Sea. However, this effort is vehemently and systematically opposed by all countries which believe that they have a stake in the Sea.

The issue has long been strain on relations in the region, with China's claim to most of the South China Sea objected to by the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and Brunei.

India too recently sought to give teeth to its 'Act East' policy and asked the parties involved in South China Sea dispute to learn from the successful arbitration of India's maritime territorial dispute with Bangladesh under United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

India and the US issued a joint strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean region, affirming the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over-flight in the South China Sea.

According to foreign news agency report, Manila had filed the case in 2013 to seek a ruling on its right to exploit the South China Sea waters in its 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, according to the foreign news agency, had rejected Beijing's claim that the disputes were about territorial sovereignty and said additional hearings would be held to decide the merits of the Philippines' argument.

China has boycotted the proceedings and rejects the court's authority in the case. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, dismissing claims to parts of it from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
 

Kshatriya87

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http://www.citizen.co.za/afp_feed_article/us-to-keep-operating-in-south-china-sea/

US to keep operating in South China Sea

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Tuesday told his Chinese counterpart Chang Wanquan that the American military would continue to operate in the South China Sea.


Kuala Lumpur (AFP)
With tensions still simmering after a US naval vessel sailed close to artificial islands China is building in the disputed waters, the pair met for about 40 minutes on the sidelines of a regional defence meeting.

“(Carter) once again reaffirmed that the United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” a senior US defence official said after the two defence chiefs met in Kuala Lumpur.

“And he clearly made the case that the South China Sea would not be an exception.”

Carter’s comments came hours after his top US admiral in the Pacific region, Harry Harris, gave a speech in Beijing in which he told China that the US military would continue to sail “wherever” international law allows.

Carter also discussed Washington’s concerns over alleged Chinese cyber-attacks.

In a meeting that was “business-like and cordial”, Chang reiterated Beijing’s position that the islets are sovereign Chinese territory and its displeasure with the guided missile destroyer USS Lassen’s presence.

The ship last week sailed within 12 nautical miles of at least one of the land formations China claims in the disputed Spratly Islands.

“They made it clear that they don’t like these measures,” a second defence official said. “But there was none of the fiery rhetoric that you may have seen in media from other officials.”

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter attends the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defence Ministers’ meeting in Subang on November 3, 2015

The officials said China described a “bottom line”, below which it would defend the islands.

But Carter and the US delegation saw this as open to interpretation and not an ultimatum that would deter future US sailings in the contested region.

Their talks took place in Kuala Lumpur at a meeting for defence ministers from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The ASEAN defence chiefs are to formally sit down Wednesday with Carter, Chang and their counterparts from Russia, Australia and elsewhere in the region as part of a broader annual dialogue.

Carter’s Malaysia visit is part of an eight-day trip to the Asia-Pacific region.

– Asia-Pacific ‘rebalance’ –


AFP / Adrian Leung
Disputed claims in the South China Sea
Officially, Carter’s mission is intended to help push the next phase of Washington’s foreign policy “rebalance” to the region.

But a recurrent theme of the trip has been China’s construction of artificial islands.

In Beijing, Harris’s speech at the Stanford Center at Peking University provoked an angry reaction.

Chinese officials rebuked Harris, who heads the US Pacific Command, with the People’s Liberation Army chief of general staff Fang Fenghui telling him it had “created a disharmonious atmosphere for our meeting and this is very regretful”.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington’s call for Beijing to stop militarising the South China Sea while itself sending warships was “a typical manifestation of hypocrisy and hegemonism.”

Washington says it takes no position on sovereignty disputes in the region and the sail-by was intended to protect freedom of navigation under international law, which it sees as potentially threatened by China’s activities.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the South China Sea on the basis of a segmented line that first appeared on Chinese maps in the 1940s.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the sea.

Washington has repeatedly said it does not recognise Beijing’s claims to territorial zones around the artificial islands it has built.


AFP/File / Ted Aljibe
Philippine Marines simulate a beach landing exercise as part of their annual joint naval exercises with US Marines in Ternate, Cavite province, west of Manila on October 8, 2015
The contretemps comes as the world’s two largest military powers work to keep their cool over the troubled waters.

However, conciliatory gestures were tucked behind the rhetoric. Carter accepted an invitation to visit Beijing in the spring, and Harris praised US-China ties.

Carter and Chang also noted the importance of military-to-military dialogue.

Two days after the USS Lassen’s voyage, the chief of US naval operations spoke with his Chinese counterpart via video.

US officials said the call between Admiral John Richardson and Admiral Wu Shengli, who commands the Chinese navy, was “professional and productive”.

But China’s official Xinhua news agency paraphrased Wu as warning his counterpart of the risk of “a serious situation between frontline forces… or even a minor incident that could spark conflict”.

Beijing’s response to the USS Lassen sailing appears to have been carefully calibrated, with authorities expressing outrage, summoning US ambassador Max Baucus to protest, and saying they monitored and warned away the vessel — but without physically intervening.

China’s position on the islands is leading many countries in the region “to want to intensify their security cooperation with the United States”, Carter said on Sunday.
 

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http://www.dailysabah.com/asia/2015...wo-boats-to-vietnam-to-patrol-south-china-sea

Japan donates two boats to Vietnam to patrol South China Sea

Japan has sent two boats to Vietnam to be used as patrol boats amid China's recent demonstrations of force in the South China Sea.

Kyodo News reported Tuesday that the Japanese government had provided two second-hand fishing boats to the Vietnamese coast guard to strengthen the country's law enforcement capability.

China continues to defend its maritime boundary claims in the South China Sea in response to United States warships sailing near the Spratly Islands -- where it has reportedly constructed two artificial islands on Subi and Mischief reefs.

China's military released photos late Sunday that show fighter jets flying over the sea near Vietnamese waters.

Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines have also laid claims to areas of the Spratly archipelago.

The donated vessels form part of an aid deal signed between Japan and Vietnam in Aug. 2014.

They were delivered to Danang, a city on Vietnam's east coast, to be refurbished as patrol boats.

The aid-in-kind deal provided for the delivery of six vessels to the Vietnamese side, with two remaining to be delivered, Kyodo News reported.

The U.S. and Japan have expressed alarm at China's maritime expansion, which they suspect is aimed at extending its military reach, while the Philippines -- which calls the area the West Philippine Sea -- has taken the quarrel to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in The Hague.

Japan will reportedly assist Vietnam with additional vessels under a separate agreement signed in Sept. 2014.
 

Kshatriya87

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http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/28/asia/china-south-china-sea-disputes-explainer/

Showdown in the South China Sea

CNN)Dotted with small islands, reefs and shoals, the South China Sea is home to a messy territorial dispute that pits multiple countries against each other.

China's "nine-dash line" -- its claimed territorial waters that extend hundreds of miles to the south and east of its island province of Hainan -- abut its neighbors' claims and, in some cases, encroach upon them.

Tensions have ratcheted up as China has reclaimed some 2,000 acres of land in a massive dredging operation, turning sandbars into islands equipped with airfields, ports and lighthouses.

On Tuesday, China said it warned and tracked the U.S.S. Lassen, a destroyer, as it came close to five of its artificial islands in the South China Sea's contested waters.

Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to the United States, told CNN Tuesday that the U.S. patrol was "a very serious provocation, politically and militarily."

Who claims what?

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all dispute sovereignty of several island chains and nearby waters in the South China Sea -- with rival claims to the Chinese interpretation.

To the north, in the East China Sea, China is also locked in territorial disputes with Japan and South Korea.

China is actually relatively late to the party when it comes to occupying territory in the Spratlys, which Beijing calls the Nansha islands.

Taiwan first occupied an island in the archipelago after World War II, and the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia followed suit, and all have built outposts and airstrips on their claimed territory, according to Mira Rapp-Hooper, a Senior Fellow in Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

The Philippines, which lies geographically closest to the Spratlys, has troops stationed in the area.

China started its occupation of reefs and islands in the area in the late 1980s.

Vietnam also disputes China's administration of the Paracel islands -- and last year saw tensions surge as its northern neighbor installed exploratory oil rigs in the region.

What's China been building?




It has reclaimed 2,000 acres in less than two years -- more than eight square kilometers, or around 90 football fields.

In September, during his trip to Washington, President Xi Jinping said China wouldn't "militarize" the islands but is building three airstrips that analysts believe will be able to accommodate bombers, according to satellite images analyzed by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In June, China's foreign ministry said it would soon complete the controversial land reclamation.

However, it also added that it planned to build facilities on the artificial islands it has created and these would perform several tasks -- including military defense.

How has the U.S. responded?

The U.S. government takes no position on the territorial disputes in the South China Sea but it has called for an immediate end to land reclamation.

It also sails and flies its assets in the vicinity of the reclaimed islands, citing international law and freedom of movement.

In May, it flew over the islands, triggering repeated warnings from the Chinese navy and on Tuesday raised the stakes by sending the Lassen to within 12 nautical miles of the reclamations.



Chinese military confronts U.S. spy plane 06:20
"We will fly, sail and operate anywhere in the world that international law allows," a U.S. defense official told CNN following the latest U.S. sortie into the disputed zone.

"U.S. Freedom of Navigation operations are global in scope and executed against a wide range of excessive maritime claims, irrespective of the coastal state advancing the excessive claim," the official added.

And while it is currently China that is protesting the U.S. Navy's maneuvers, according to Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, the U.S. has used these operations to contest claims made by nearly all the countries surrounding the South China Sea, meaning not just China but also the Philippines -- a treaty ally -- as well as Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

What does international law say?

According to Poling, international maritime law doesn't accord 12 nautical miles of "territorial waters" to artificial islands -- only natural features visible at high tide.

This was the principle being tested by the U.S. Navy when it went within 12 miles of Subi Reef on Tuesday. It called the patrol a "Freedom of Navigation" operation.

Before China's recent land reclamation, both Subi and Mischief reefs were submerged at high tide, while a sandbar was visible at high tide at Fiery Cross Reef, which could make its legal status more ambiguous, he added.

What's at stake here?
The area is potentially rich in natural resources and some areas, particularly around the Malaysian coast and off Vietnam have proven oil and gas fields with billions of barrels of oil and equivalent.

While unexplored, much of the disputed area around the Spratlys is believed to be potentially rich in oil and other natural resources,

It's also about China's position within the region and globally, maintaining control over islands that it claims is its "indisputable sovereign territories," as Chinese officials say.

The current posturing in the area has led to heightened tensions between the world's preeminent military powers, and in May Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell told CNN that the confrontation indicates there is "absolutely" a risk of the U.S. and China going to war sometime in the future.
 

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http://www.ibtimes.com/south-china-...very-quarter-press-freedom-navigation-2166075

US To Conduct Two Patrols Every Quarter To Press 'Freedom Of Navigation'

The U.S. Navy plans to make at least two trips per quarter close to parts of the South China Sea that China claims as its own, to "remind" China the U.S. believes there should be freedom of navigation there, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified U.S. defense official. The statement comes a week after the USS Lassen made such a trip, the first since 2012, drawing a protest from China.

"That's the right amount to make it regular but not a constant poke in the eye," Reuters reported the unidentified official as saying on Monday. "It meets the intent to regularly exercise our rights under international law and remind the Chinese and others about our view."

There will be more trips like the Lassen's, Reuters reported U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes as saying at an event on Monday. He didn't specify how many trips or how often they would occur.

"That's our interest there ... It's to demonstrate that we will uphold the principle of freedom of navigation," Reuters reported Rhodes as saying.

The U.S. said the Lassen's trip was part of the so-called Freedom of Navigation Operations, or FONOPs, it conducts around the world.

On Monday, Malaysia expressed concern that the situation could "spiral to something bigger," the same day South Korea said the sea lanes should be kept open. Last week, Indonesian President Joko Widodo called for restraint.

Tensions have heightened since China asserted its claims over most of the South China Sea, including stepping up island-building "reclamation" activities and constructing airstrips and other facilities in disputed areas in the past year. Days after the Lassen's trip last week, an international arbitration court said it had jurisdiction to rule over a dispute between China and the Philippines, which China rejects.
 

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-sea-and-one-seriously-expensive-gas-station/

Invisible new Syrian rebel army, playing chicken in the South China Sea, and one seriously expensive gas station

INVISIBLE NEW SYRIAN REBEL ARMY. The Obama administration has a new initiative afoot to fight the Islamic State, but before you can fund new rebels, you have to find them. The New York Times reports that the Syrian Democratic Forces doesn’t exist save for in name only: Its fighting power is minimal, its numbers are few, and any heft it has comes mainly from the Kurds – which is not going to sit so well with Turkish allies.

CHINESE CHICKEN. The U.S. Navy is planning to send more ships within 12 nautical miles of China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea, Reuters reports. An unnamed official told the news service that the patrols will take place about twice per quarter – in order to make it a regular occurrence, but not an outright provocation. The United States disputes China’s claims to sovereignty over the waters around the islands, and is demonstrating that by sailing ships through those spaces as they would any international waters. But in these situations, provocation is in the eye of the beholder – and China’s naval commander has said there could be a “minor incident that sparks war,” Reuters reported last week.

SERIOUSLY EXPENSIVE GAS STATION. Cost overruns in wartime spending are nothing new. But this one rises to the level of eye-popping, and potentially even criminal: $43 million for a gas station, almost 140 times as much as the price tag it probably should carry. The Washington Post takes a look at what might have led to this enormous price tag – and the political backlash over it.
 

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korea-calls-for-south-china-sea-rights-1446461006
South Korea Calls for South China Sea Rights
Defense minister in Seoul makes his nation’s strongest remarks yet in support of freedom of navigation

SEOUL—South Korea’s defense minister called for freedom of the seas and the skies in the South China Sea, in the strongest public remarks by a South Korean official over a recent spat between the U.S. and China over the contested waters.

The remarks by South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo, made at a news briefing with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, came at the end of a flurry of meetings in Seoul involving leaders of Japan, China and South Korea.

“It is our stance that freedom of navigation and freedom of flight should be ensured in this area, and that any conflicts be resolved according to relevant agreements and established international norms,” Mr. Han said.

The remarks, though guarded, add momentum to the U.S.’s cause as it seeks to rally opposition to Beijing’s attempts to build islets to bolster its disputed territorial claims. Last week, a South Korean presidential official urged the dispute to be settled peacefully, in the first comments since a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands claimed by China.

Beijing has sought to limit the issue to the U.S. and China, and South Korean officials appeared eager to avoid the topic as they hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Seoul for a trilateral summit with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

“I wonder what Japan has to do with the South China Sea,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Seoul on Saturday.

South Korea has been playing a delicate balancing act between its traditional ally, the U.S., and its powerful neighbor, China. Ms. Park has been making a concerted effort to build ties with Beijing, appearing at a military parade in Tiananmen Square in September alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Ash Carter was likely leveraging the Koreans to say something while the Chinese are here,” said John Delury, an associate professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, who noted that Mr. Han’s remarks came just as the Chinese premier was flying back to Beijing. “The Americans are trying to get the Koreans to carry water on issues that are farther afield.”

During Mr. Carter’s two-day sojourn in South Korea, which came as the trilateral summit was under way, U.S. officials discussed a wide range of defense-related matters with their South Korean counterparts.

South Korea has a small territorial dispute of its own with China. Both countries claim a submerged rock in the Yellow Sea, known internationally as the Socotra Rock, and called Suyan Rock by China and Ieodo by South Korea.

Mr. Carter’s trip to South Korea, which included a visit to the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea, also raised questions about the transfer of “operational control” of thousands of American combat forces stationed in South Korea to Seoul in the event of war on the Korea peninsula.

On Monday, officials on both sides said that progress had been made on the issue.

Currently, the U.S. is committed to commanding both American and South Korean troops in the event of war with North Korea, a legacy dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean War.

In 2006, South Korea’s government first called for Seoul to regain wartime control of South Korean troops. Washington agreed and a plan was formed to complete the transfer by 2012. But successive conservative governments in South Korea have delayed the transfer in response to their concerns about North Korea’s growing military threat.

The South Koreans haven’t appeared to be eager for transfer, analysts and U.S. military officials say privately, and they say such a transfer could take another three years.

South Korea’s military said it needed more time to develop its intelligence and its counter artillery capabilities, among others, before it could do so.

Mr. Han, the South Korean defense minister, defended his country’s gradual acceptance of the task, saying any nation depends on the collective defense of its allies.

“If you look into global trends in terms of national security, many countries conduct their self-defense in cooperation with regional and global partners.”

On Monday, Mr. Carter cited the South Koreans’ need to still develop intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and counter artillery capabilities before they could assume control. He said the South was developing those abilities.

“It’s simply because in the past, the United States carried out those tasks because we were planning to have [operational control],” Mr. Carter said following meetings with South Korean officials.

Earlier Monday, the two sides also agreed on a plan to share more information and develop joint cyber capabilities.
 

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/02/us-navy-south-china-sea-patrols

US navy plans more patrols of South China Sea to 'remind' Chinese of rights

The US navy plans to conduct patrols within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands in the South China Sea about twice a quarter to remind China and other countries about US rights under international law, a US defense official said on Monday.

“We’re going to come down to about twice a quarter or a little more than that,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about navy operational plans.

“That’s the right amount to make it regular but not a constant poke in the eye. It meets the intent to regularly exercise our rights under international law and remind the Chinese and others about our view,” the official said.

On Monday Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser, said there would be more demonstrations of the US military’s commitment to the right to freely navigate in the region.

“That’s our interest there … It’s to demonstrate that we will uphold the principle of freedom of navigation,” Rhodes told an event hosted by the Defense One media outlet.

Rhodes’s comments came a week after a US guided-missile destroyer sailed close to one of Beijing’s man-made islands in the South China Sea last week.

China’s naval commander last week told his US counterpart that a minor incident could spark war in the South China Sea if the United States did not stop its “provocative acts” in the disputed waterway.

The USS Lassen’s patrol was the most significant US challenge yet to the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit China claims around artificial islands it has built in the Spratly Islands archipelago.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5tn of world trade transits every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan all have rival claims.

Rhodes said the goal in the dispute was to come to a diplomatic framework to resolve these issues.

Vice-Admiral John Aquilino, US deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans and strategies, declined to comment about when the next patrols would take place.

“We do operations like that all the time around the world. That will continue for us,” he told Reuters after his remarks at the same conference. “We’ll just keep going.“

The defense secretary, Ash Carter, may visit a US navy ship during his upcoming visit to Asia, but is not expected to be on board during any navy freedom of navigation operations, the US defense official said.
 

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/asia-u-...to-reach-south-china-sea-agreement-1446605460

Asia, U.S. Defense Ministers Fail to Reach South China Sea Agreement

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—A diplomatic impasse over territorial disputes in the South China Sea soured a high-level Asian defense summit in Malaysia on Wednesday, as U.S. officials confirmed there would be no agreement to cap the talks.

Organizers of the summit of defense ministers—including those from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, the U.S. and six other countries in the Asia-Pacific region—confirmed that a lunchtime ceremony at which defense leaders were due to set out their shared vision of regional security by issuing a joint statement has been canceled.

ENLARGE
The ministers failed to reach an agreement “because the Chinese lobbied to keep any reference to the South China Sea out of the final joint declaration,” according to a senior U.S. defense official. “Understandably a number of Asean countries‎felt that was inappropriate.”

China’s defense ministry said Beijing “regretted” that the defense ministers’ meeting had not produced a joint statement. China had reached a consensus on a statement with Malaysia, which holds the rotating chairmanship of Asean, and with other Asean members, the ministry said on its website.

“But some particular countries from outside the region, regardless of the existing consensus, attempted to force content that was not part of this meeting’s discussions to be squeezed into the ‘joint statement’,” the ministry said.

Sensitivity over the South China Sea disputes is at an all-time high, with a U.S. warship having last week sailed close to an artificial Chinese islet in the disputed Spratly Islands to assert the right to freedom of navigation there. Beijing condemned the move as provocative.

The Chinese government also reacted angrily to a ruling by a United Nations-backed tribunal in the Netherlands last week that it has jurisdiction over a case brought by the Philippines against Beijing seeking to have China’s actions in the South China Sea ruled as unlawful. China has refused to take part in the arbitration process.

Against such a contentious backdrop, the deadlock at this week’s Asean Defense Ministers Meeting Plus, or ADMM Plus, summit is hardly surprising, said Richard Javad Heydarian, a regional-security expert at De La Salle University in Manila.

“China’s position is essentially to block any discussion of the South China Sea disputes, and it clearly pulled some strings to block any final statement on its destabilizing behavior in the region,” Mr. Heydarian said. Asean wants to tackle China over its actions in the region, but doesn’t want to push the Chinese so far that they quit the 18-nation defense group in protest, he said.

The issuing of joint statements used to be a formality at Asean summits, but disagreements over how to handle the South China Sea disputes, which involve China and Asean members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, have made this a contentious process in recent years.

Even so, Asean has only failed to issue a joint statement once before, when a 2012 Asean summit in Cambodia ended in acrimony over the group’s conflicted approach to the South China Sea.

A similar failure was narrowly avoided at an Asean security summit in Kuala Lumpur in August, when a joint communiqué was issued more than a day late after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assured delegates that Chinese reclamation work at seven locations in the South China Sea had come to an end. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responded by calling a halt to all activities in disputed areas, including construction work on reclaimed islets.

However, satellite imagery has shown that Chinese reclamation work had continued until at least September, while construction activity on the seven man-made islets has also advanced, according to Gregory Poling, a Southeast Asian security expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think tank which tracks developments in the South China Sea.

U.S. officials accompanying Defense Secretary Ash Carter at the ADMM Plus summit said there had been no agreement on language that would urge all South China Sea claimants to refrain from any actions that might be deemed provocative in disputed areas.

Having failed to agree on such language, American officials here said they would rather have no statement of unity than one that didn't squarely address the issue.

A U.S. official said it “reflects the divide China’s reclamation and militarization in the South China Sea has caused in the region.”

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein highlighted the dilemma which Asean faces on Tuesday. He said Malaysia supports the freedom of navigation operation conducted by the U.S. last week, but lamented the fact that the “the geopolitical considerations of the major powers”—namely China and the U.S.—were raising the stakes in the South China Sea.
 
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If China cannot defend these islands they should not dream of ever getting Taiwan back


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http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...-south-china-sea/story-fni0xs63-1227595627067

Beijing details historic claim to South China Sea

POTSHERDS and obscure publications: These are at the heart of a detailed list of ‘historical evidence’ being used to justify Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over the entire South China Sea.

The China Daily timeline infographic, republished by Chinese news service Xinhuanet, reaches back as far as the 21st century BC, claiming pearls, shells and turtles from the South China Sea had been presented as tribute to the rulers of the Zhou Dynasty.

Han Dynasty pottery shards dating from 206BC were found on Taiping Island (in the Spratley chain), the graphic claims, while documents dating from as early as 280AD refer to a sea known as “Zhanghai” being mapped and patrolled.

The collection of nine panels goes on to list a series of obscure modern international publications as recognising China’s claims, as well as a selection of 1960s and 70s Vietnamese reference books using Chinese names for some islands and uninhabited reefs and shoals between the two nations.

Source: China Daily

Source: China Daily

But China’s ‘nine-dash line’ territorial map also makes a grab for waters also claimed by Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.

China insists this contentious boundary is based on historical right: Beijing asserts China was the first to name, explore and use the disputed Spratley and Paracel islands at the heart of rising international tensions in the South China Sea.
 

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...s-in-South-China-Sea/articleshow/49652837.cms?

Delhi purposefully riles Beijing as tension mounts in South China Sea

NEW DELHI: As tension mounts in the South China Sea (SCS), where the US just sent a guided-missile destroyer to challenge China's fanciful 9-dashed line claim, India is showing it is open to not only aggressively seeking freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the region but also ensuring disputes are resolved in keeping with international laws.

Top government officials here said it was "on purpose" that India mentioned the South China Sea also as West Philippine Sea after foreign minister Sushma Swaraj's recent meeting with her counterpart from the Philippines, secretary of foreign affairs Albert F Del Rosario. It was the Philippines which insisted that South China Sea be referred to also as West Philippine Sea in the joint statement issued after the meeting.

The two leaders recently co-chaired the third India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation. The joint statement issued also referred to South China Sea as West Philippine Sea, the name which Manila has been using only for the past 4-5 years to challenge Beijing's claims over 90 per cent of South China Sea waters, including the Spratly island chain near the Philippines.

This was the first time that India referred to South China Sea also as West Philippine Sea in any official document. It is significant for India that 60 per cent of India's seaborne trade passes through Malacca Strait which opens into the South China Sea. According to government sources here, India is also concerned about China's expanding naval presence in the Indian Ocean region and the fact that Beijing is looking to acquire a base for its navy in Djibouti, located strategically on the horn of Africa.

While PM Narendra Modi did not allude to this issue in his meeting last week with Djibouti President Ismail Guelleh, the government remains concerned about how a base in Djibouti could allow China to operate more freely in Indian Ocean, nullifying the advantage of geography to India in overseeing some of world's busiest shipping lanes.

In the meeting with Swaraj, while he thanked India for goodwill visits by Indian naval ships, Rosario also emphasized that it was high time India started to 'act east and go east' with more such visits by the Indian navy.

In fact, it was during PM Narendra Modi's summit meet with President Obama last year in September when the NDA government seemed to suggest a subtle shift in India's position over South China Sea by mentioning for the first time, in a joint India-US statement, the need for freedom of navigation and overflight in the region. Until then India had refrained from bringing up the issue publicly in any bilateral exchange with the US.

In the meeting with Rosario, India also called for settlement of all disputes by peaceful means and for refraining from the threat or use of force, in accordance with universal principles of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS. While China has ignored proceedings at the international arbitration court in the Hague, which Manila approached, saying UNCLOS was not applicable in South China Sea, Beijing has used the same UNCLOS to stake claim over Senkaku/ Diaoyu islands in East China Sea.

India's decision to follow the ruling of international arbitration in its own maritime dispute with Bangladesh seems to have given it the moral right to pitch for similar arbitration in South China Sea disputes. In the joint statement, the Philippines recognized the steps taken by India to solve its maritime boundary with Bangladesh, through arbitration at the Permanent Court of Arbitration "and its acceptance of the ruling as an example of peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS by the International Court."
 

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