
US calls for land reclamation 'halt' in South China Sea - FatalLogic
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32941829/
======
FatalLogic
This story has so many fascinating aspects to it:

Firstly, that coastal land territory, a kind of currency of nationhood, with
immense value, can just be created from nothing.

Next, that the faraway US is almost demanding that China stop, while most of
the APAC nations whose sphere of influence is being encroached upon,
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, seem to only make some barely audible sounds
of displeasure. Vietnam and the Philippines have raised more significant
objections, I think.

Of course, apart from those issues, there is also the interesting question of
the assumed rise of Chinese power, assumed weakening of US (and Western)
power.

~~~
bilbo0s
It goes a bit further than that though.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan have all been running
reclamation projects for some time in the very same disputed areas. The US now
decides, since China has started doing so, that China should stop ???

Why, on EARTH, did we not get out in front of this problem and put the smack
down on Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan when they initially started down
this road ???

It just makes our foreign policy look overtly transparent to third parties. I
mean, the average EU citizen or South American probably looks at that and
says... "Are you shitting me ???"

~~~
melling
Nah, it's not too difficult to understand why it's a problem now. Did you read
the article?

"China claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, resulting in
overlapping claims with its neighbours."

~~~
bilbo0s
???

The thing is ...

ALL of the claims overlap with the claims of neighbors. That's the entire
problem.

The claims of Vietnam overlap with the claims of Malaysia. The claims of the
Philippines overlap with Taiwanese claims. (In fact, Taiwan's official
position is that the entirety of the South China Sea falls under their
sovereignty.)

The fact is... this is a mess that we should have either refused to wade
into... or been unmistakeably strict in enforcing our view. This is no place
for waffling.

~~~
tzs
Did you look at the map in the article? China is overextending far beyond what
any of the other countries are attempting. In some places there almost isn't
any water left between the boundary of China's claim and the shores of the
other country!

------
atlantic
This is a dispute in which only the direct stakeholders (countries whose
territorial waters adjoin this area) or international institutions such as the
United Nations should get involved. That the US thinks it has the right to
barge in is actually the most worrying aspect of this whole situation.

~~~
thebmax
what's actually happening is the Chinese have started harassing neighboring
countries in an area 600 miles offshore China and within 100 miles from other
countries like Vietnam and other south East Asian countries. By harassing I
mean arresting fisherman, cutting seismic cables from oil exploration
companies and getting aggressive with any other ships. All these countries
want the U.S. to assist in protecting their sovereignty and are asking for
help. The UN won't help and no other sea power aside from the U.S. has the
ability to help. Look at a map of the red line area China is assuming control
over and you will see where some of these areas are. It would be like the U.S.
Building artificial islands 100 miles from Spain, building airstrips and
arresting any Spanish ships the come nearby. This is not US imperialism it is
Chinese expansionism and other countries are asking for our help. It's clear
the Chinese wants control of south east Asia and they are acting aggressively
to take it.

------
peterkelly
Building new land where none previously exists seems like the absolute least
harmful way of obtaining resources - the only bad part being that it's in a
part of the ocean subject to disputed ownership.

Compare that to the invasion of countries in the Middle East or the
overthrowing of democratically-elected governments. The US doesn't exactly
have the moral high ground here.

~~~
themodelplumber
Moral high ground or medium ground or low ground matters little when your
partners in the area are asking for your help right now, today. You've got to
do something, and the entire U.S. is part of that process.

------
sandstrom
Looking at the map, China's claim on these waters seems pretty wild. Sort of
like Portugal claiming ownership of parts of the Mediterranean Sea.

~~~
jacquesm
No wilder than Greece and Cyprus or the UK and the Falklands.

~~~
sandstrom
Interesting, I didn't know! Is it this red area you are referring to [Greek
claims]?

[http://www.guidopicchetti.it/Il%20CPPM%20di%20Pnt/News%20201...](http://www.guidopicchetti.it/Il%20CPPM%20di%20Pnt/News%202010/image/121006_UNEP_Med-1.jpg)

Though, that doesn't make it less wild :)

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JesperRavn
The US has engaged in half a dozen wars in the last two decades. It has
incited military coups in South America for the last century. It claims the
Northwest Passage through Canada is an international strait.

Big powers will try to exert dominance over smaller countries, both for the
material gain, and to show their power. China is much less aggressive than the
US, and yet gets much more attention.

~~~
themodelplumber
So China just gets to overrule every nation adjoining the Spratlys because you
think they are less aggressive than the US? Doesn't make sense.

~~~
JesperRavn
No I never said that. My point is that articles like this are written and
promoted for ulterior reasons. The right wing believe that the US must
maintain an iron grip on the world. Even left wing newspapers like the New
York Times have an anti-China bias, because they think that a battle between
superpowers is a healthier expression of outgroup-hatred than domestic racism.

------
jacquesm
Good thing we got NL finished before this became policy.

