
China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea - roc123
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_8701/index.html
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veidr
I've watched with fascination as the Japanese Senkaku islands slowly and
gradually came to be labeled 'disputed' in the western media, after China's
recent claims.

It seems like China has figured out a way to hack the media (the free media
outside of China, I mean -- the government there obviously has root on Chinese
TV and newspapers).

Japanese ownership of this territory is basically as settled under
international law as anything of this nature can be; the islands have been
held by Japan since the 1800s, then controlled by the USA for a time after it
defeated Japan in WWII, and eventually returned to Japan along with the return
of Okinawa.[1]

But after China's slow and steady media campaign, it has somehow become widely
reported as 'disputed territory'. (Which it is in a meaningless and pedantic
sense only.)

This island-building is another hack, and maybe a clever one. Killing 70
Vietnamese soldiers in the military action in the 1980s to seize a submerged
reef didn't make China look good at all.

But perhaps by building new 'islands' to buttress its aggressive and
expansionist claims to the territorial waters of other nations, we may end up
seeing the western media in ten years uncritically reporting that "China,
which has 9 islands in the disputed waters, insists that it is merely
defending its territory..."

Which is very important, because none of the countries whose territories China
is going after -- not even Japan -- would do well in a straight up military
conflict. The Philippines only hope is American protection. So the way China's
aggression is covered in the western media is actually very important.

Interesting times.

[1]: [http://csis.org/publication/japan-chair-platform-senkaku-
isl...](http://csis.org/publication/japan-chair-platform-senkaku-islands-and-
international-law)

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Jack000
the claims on the South China sea are patently ridiculous, but I don't think
it can be compared with the senkaku islands. From what I've read China
actually did have better claim over those islands prior to 1884 and
immediately after WWII, but didn't assert those claims because well.. the
islands were worthless. Now that they've found oil they want to roll back the
clock.

I think there is a fundamental cultural difference in the way the west and
China views the dispute. To the west if you found a piece of land and lived
there for 100 years, it's yours - that's how the US was founded after all. But
to China it's just the latest in a series of conflicts with Japan going back
hundreds of years.

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GFK_of_xmaspast
"To the west if you found a piece of land and lived there for 100 years, it's
yours - that's how the US was founded after all"

You, uh, do realize that every piece of land in the US was found first by
people who were already living there?

~~~
scarmig
Technically speaking, those same people didn't live there too long once
colonizers and the US government arrived.

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adventured
Every time I see discussion about the nine dash line, I can't help but wonder
how it can seem sane to anybody that China should have the water rights to an
area ~600 km south of what is blatantly Vietnam's coastal waters (and the
southern tip of their land) and just barely north of Malaysia's physical
territory.

I know the correct answer is: China doesn't care, and isn't concerned with
reason when it comes to the nine dash line. It still boggles my mind.

There is no valid Chinese claim on those waters, there is only who has the
military power to dictate terms.

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anigbrowl
To quote a Chinese official from a few years ago 'Vietnam is a small country
and China is a big country and that is just a fact.'

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melling
So, what you are saying is that every time we buy something that's "Made in
China", we are fueling the next major military power, which in turn will lead
to a major conflict in the area?

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anigbrowl
I meant it more as a summary of China's strategic philosophy, which seems to
be that the weak must inevitably give way to the strong. I don't know about a
major military conflict, but China certainly seems to to be adopting a
more...experimental posture.

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melling
Weak is a relative term, right? Vietnam is "weak". How about the other
countries in the region? Japan? Russia?

I don't think it's called experimental when you flex your military muscle.

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anigbrowl
Other countries in the South China sea are mostly weak too, other than Japan.
The big factor is the United States, due to its treaty relations with other
countries in the area like Philippines, Japan and Taiwan. But you know that.

I'm calling it experimental because they seem to be exploring their options
rather than seeking head-on confrontation in the manner of Putin - I get the
sense that China is not sure of its strategic position and is probing to see
whether it could establish a 'new normal' without actual conflict. But that's
just a hunch on my part, I have no special insight.

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Dolimiter
When did this type of website design become acceptable?

I'm starting to see it more and more.

It reminds me of when "Multimedia CD-ROMs" first appeared circa mid-1990s,
where flashy interfaces were ranked much higher than useability.

Please stop it. Give me a webpage with text, and images that I can enlarge
when clicked. Thank you.

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gambiting
I for one disagree completely. I think this is great and I really liked the
videos, they added depth to the article.

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knowaveragejoe
Same, though I think perhaps the ideal solution is somewhere in the middle. If
built with it in mind, the page should gracefully degrade to something more
basic, where the videos are all optional. I can see how this would put strain
on mobile devices(as another comment responding to the parent pointed out)

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dublinben
None of the videos even loaded for me, so I guess that's graceful degradation
right there.

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mje__
Fascinating article. I also really enjoyed the presentation - the mix of
writing, video and images worked well together. This is the first time I've
seen the "BBC Magazine", and the experience is great.

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onethree
on mobile (android), it was absolutely awful, every few scrolls it took over
my screen and started automatically playing a video. if i wanted to watch the
video in your article, i would press play, don't force it upon me

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westiseast
The software they used (shorthand.com) says it's in private beta - I'm sure
they'd appreciate feedback. Otherwise on a laptop it was fantastic.

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anigbrowl
That's just wild. The Economist has been covering this territorial dispute in
detail for the last couple of years, worth keeping up with if you are
interested in the subject.

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ellysetaylor21
It is more than 800 nautical miles from the Chinese coast and yet Beijing
claims that this submerged reef is an integral part of Chinese territory.

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kissickas
I get that environmental concerns don't affect anything here, but are any of
these coral reefs? Or are they just areas with shallow water?

~~~
BrandonMarc
They're all coral reefs.

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sixQuarks
I don't like where this is all going. I've seen too often how seemingly
trivial things can lead to all-out wars.

Thanks to Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has spent a lot of treasure. The
population doesn't have the desire for more war. Now Russia and China are
seeing how far they can push. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like we're seeing
the beginnings of things that lead to a major war between Russia & China on
one side, and the US on the other.

The Fermi paradox is a reminder that we are living in very dangerous times
right now.

~~~
afterburner
Now? Nuclear World War has been a possibility for 60 years now. And 60 years
ago the US was actually fighting China.

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shangxiao
Yes but the threat of a nuclear war has been considerably low for the past 20
years. Now we have generations of people not knowing what it was like to live
under the threat of nuclear annihilation.

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adventured
Not to mention the world keeps acquiring more nuclear powers (India, Pakistan,
N. Korea), rather than reducing them.

Likely more will come on board in the next decade. Such as Saudi Arabia,
Brazil, and so on. I would expect another country or two to go nuclear in Asia
in response to China's mighty military.

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matthewwiese
Very interesting article with good reporting, love the mix of video, text, and
images. Great design for a page layout too imo, the BBC seem to have taken
cues from Medium.

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cpursley
Politics aside, what an environmental disaster.

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bwilliams18
This is a shitty remake of a NYTimes article:
[http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/10/27/south-
china-s...](http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/10/27/south-china-sea/)

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sp332
It can't be a remake, this was written by the BBC's own Tokyo correspondent
who was in the boat.

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ck2
China is going to pull a Putin with "just try to stop us".

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laoshuni
A nice and neutral report by British, Japanese, etc

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pankajdoharey
South China Sea Has oil , and china will do anything to take over the area.
China has been making claims of Arunachal Pradesh India for years, since it
has high concentration of gas and shale oil deposits.

