South China Sea News & Discussions, incl Spratly Islands News

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Sandhi Yudha

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
ManilaBoy said:
China's new territorial claim was 'REJECTED' by the Philippines, the area is called Reed Bank which is rich in gas deposits and is only 80 kilometers from the province of Palawan but is not located in the disputed Spratlys Islands...

Philippines rejects new Chinese territorial claim - Yahoo! News
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Ridiculous....an area claiming which is clearly in the 200km EEZ of the Philipines... Just 80 km from the nearest Philippines coast and around 800 km (10x !)from the nearest Chinese coast....
 
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ManilaBoy

Banned Member
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Sandhi Yudha said:
Ridiculous....an area claiming which is clearly in the 200km EEZ of the Philipines... Just 80 km from the nearest Philippines coast and around 800 km (10x !)from the nearest Chinese coast....
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Extremely Ridiculous indeed, any other nations would have responded the same way to China's claim which is preposterous...
 
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legoboy

New Member
What was the point of China putting claims on these areas?

They know there isn't a worlds chance they are going to get that area so I was wondering what the true meaning behind it was. Was it to put pressure on the Phillipines or something?
 
Sampanviking

Sampanviking

Banned Member
Its all about who controls the narrative.
Or to put it in more simple form, a little guy is stuck between two big ones.
One big guy says to the little guy "Pick up that box and put it over there otherwise I will hit you"

The other big guy says to the little guy "That's my box, touch it and I will hit you"

Who is the little guy most afraid of?
 
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dragonfire

New Member
The matter was recently discussed between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo and Indian PM Manmohan Singh in their meeting on the sidelines of the Asean summit. The Premier brought forth the issue and the PM responded that "Issues of sovereignty should be resolved according to international laws and practice"
 
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Global Scree

New Member
India - Proxy player?

Kalasag said:
What's not to understand here? Did I imply there was any Indian base now or if there was surely going to be one in the future? Please reread the statement.

First of all, India isn't even a player in the South China Sea, but IF AND ONLY IF they had an air presence, it would prove to be a big thorn to China's South China Sea policy. And yes, I know that Chinese presence is great enough in countries like Myanmar and Pakistan so it would be logical to assume India is countering this move by developing closer ties with Vietnam.
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India has in fact been awarded whole blocks of SCS oil, which china have since unsuccessfully contested. On top of which there are provisions for mutual assistance in extraction, so part Indian rigs. India may not be a direct player in the SCS but it has as much of a vested interest as the United States of America. In fact they recently announced tri-lateral China centric talks with Japan & the US in Washington.

EDIT~ seems my first ten posts cannot contain links.
 
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Pathfinder-X

Tribal Warlord
Verified Defense Pro
ManilaBoy said:
China's President Hu Jintao recently made an announcement urging the PLAN to be prepared for military combat due to the esclating regional maritime disputes over the SCS and a US campaign to assert itself as a Pacific Power...

China's Hu urges navy to prepare for combat - Yahoo! News
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Chinese leaders have been telling the military to prepare for war since the formation of PRC. Even former president Jiang told the military to prepare for war, eventhough absolutely nothing happened during his term. I think this line just got overplayed because of the sensitivities surrounding South China Sea issue.
 
ngatimozart

ngatimozart

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Staff member
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Global Scree said:
India has in fact been awarded whole blocks of SCS oil, which china have since unsuccessfully contested. On top of which there are provisions for mutual assistance in extraction, so part Indian rigs. India may not be a direct player in the SCS but it has as much of a vested interest as the United States of America. In fact they recently announced tri-lateral China centric talks with Japan & the US in Washington.

EDIT~ seems my first ten posts cannot contain links.
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Who or what entity awarded India blocks of South China Sea oil? India has no legal or resource rights there. I have some doubts about the veracity of your post.
 
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Global Scree

New Member
ngatimozart said:
Who or what entity awarded India blocks of South China Sea oil? India has no legal or resource rights there. I have some doubts about the veracity of your post.
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The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) made a deal with Vietnamese firms to exploit oil and gas in two offshore South China Sea oil blocks, it was finalised in september. while i cannot link to sources, google should get you various news articles relating to it.
 
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Global Scree

New Member
ngatimozart said:
Who or what entity awarded India blocks of South China Sea oil? India has no legal or resource rights there. I have some doubts about the veracity of your post.
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Petro Vietnam has entered into a joint venture with India’s ONGC to develop Blocks 127 and 128 after ONGC bought BP’s assets in the project in 2006.

sorry for the double post.
 
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ngatimozart

ngatimozart

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Staff member
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Global Scree said:
Petro Vietnam has entered into a joint venture with India’s ONGC to develop Blocks 127 and 128 after ONGC bought BP’s assets in the project in 2006.

sorry for the double post.
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Ok thanks. Just wanted some clarification because there is a big difference between a nation - state and a company. Beijing will still have to be careful about asserting its claims in the SCS. Going by memory there are certain international conventions that have to be adhered to.such as the UNCLOS.
 
ngatimozart

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
W82DIE said:
They are just trying to annoy China since it is bigger than both of them...
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Are you trying to annoy the mods? They get cranky when they see one liners and they might not like the remark either. Might pay you to have a quick read of the rules mate. Apart from that welcome and look forward to your considered contributions. Politics is a strict no no. That really gets the mods wound up.
 
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just4me

New Member
It'll be too unfortunate for China to be assertive or aggressive just because it's bigger, it has much to loss when it comes to war. The smaller countries have bigger and more powerfull allies in the west and they are ready to take some flimsy excusses to teach China a Lesson.
 
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Global Scree

New Member
ngatimozart said:
Ok thanks. Just wanted some clarification because there is a big difference between a nation - state and a company. Beijing will still have to be careful about asserting its claims in the SCS. Going by memory there are certain international conventions that have to be adhered to.such as the UNCLOS.
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yes UNCLOS III does govern what legally belongs to each country such that...

"Internationally defined Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ’s). // The EEZ’s are defined by UN provisions made at the United Nations Conference on the Law Of the Sea III (UNCLOS III) in 1973. The provisions stipulate that any country has exclusive right to any resources up to 200 nautical miles off of the coastal baseline, with borders extended out perpendicular to the baseline at national coastal borders. These boundaries were initially set out to regulate fishing disputes however they do become relevant when considering another potentially valuable resource. Furthermore in 1994 Part XI established the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to regulate any seabed exploration outside of EEZ’s."

(pulled from an article I wrote)

although all nations involved in the South China Sea dispute have signed and ratified UNCLOS, all seek to claim more. The Vietnamese in fact also claim about 85-90% of the SCS as their own.

ONGC is 74% state owned and provides 30% of India's crude oil demand. It is the most profitable Indian corporation on the planet.

By proxy the Indian state are involved.
 
Sandhi Yudha

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
Hopefully its just to prevent to give China too much freedom around the Spratly Islands... and nothing more....
U.S. Navy may station ships in Singapore, Philippines



By Andrea Shalal-Esa and Eveline Danubrata

WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE | Fri Dec 16, 2011 2:54am EST

WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy said it would station several new coastal combat ships in Singapore and perhaps in the Philippines in coming years, moves likely to fuel China's fears of being encircled and pressured in the South China Sea dispute.

Regional defense analysts said the ships were small, but agreed the symbolism of the moves, which come after Washington announced it was increasing its engagement in Asia, would upset Beijing.

Last month the United States and Australia announced plans to deepen the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, with 2,500 U.S. Marines operating out of a de facto base in Darwin in northern Australia.

In coming years, the U.S. Navy will increasingly focus on the strategic "maritime crossroads" of the Asia-Pacific region, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert wrote in the December issue of Proceedings, published by the U.S. Naval Institute.

He said the navy planned to "station several of our newest littoral combat ships at Singapore's naval facility," in addition to the plans announced by President Barack Obama for marines to be based in Darwin from next year.

"This will help the navy sustain its global forward posture with what may be a smaller number of ships and aircraft than today," he wrote.

Littoral combat ships are shallow draft vessels that operate in coastal waters and can counter coastal mines, quiet diesel submarines and small, fast, armed boats.

"If we put this into context, it's a fairly small scale of deployment and the combat ships are relatively small vessels," said Euan Graham, senior fellow in the Maritime Security Program at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

"Encirclement is a phrase that does come up in Chinese debate about the U.S. strategy. They won't be happy about it, but there's nothing much that they can do to stop it."

Greenert wrote the ships would focus on the South China Sea, conducting operations to counter piracy and trafficking, both of which are endemic in the area.

"Similarly, 2025 may see P-8A Poseidon aircraft or unmanned broad area maritime surveillance aerial vehicles periodically deploy to the Philippines or Thailand to help those nations with maritime domain awareness."

One source briefed on navy plans said there has also been discussion about stationing ships in the Philippines.
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Complete article at : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011...US+/+Top+News)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
 
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STURM

Well-Known Member
Sandhi Yudha said:
Hopefully its just to prevent to give China too much freedom around the Spratly Islands... and nothing more....
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My opinion is that it's just a case of jumping the gun and is politically driven. Though such a move will be a huge comfort to the Philippines and in private will also be welcomed by other ASEAN countries, It might have the reverse effect and lead to China being more ''proactive'' in the Spratleys.

An interesting article...

Eric Margolis
 
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colay

New Member
STURM said:
My opinion is that it's just a case of jumping the gun and is politically driven. Though such a move will be a huge comfort to the Philippines and in private will also be welcomed by other ASEAN countries, It might have the reverse effect and lead to China being more ''proactive'' in the Spratleys.

An interesting article...

Eric Margolis
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Its not just a symbolic gesture though. Any ships the US deploy are going to be networked nodes in the overall joint force structure. This move forms part of an overall response to initiatives to contest continued US access in the region. They will extend situational awareness and may trigger a scale up of forces to respond appropriately. They will provide a venue for building closer security ties with the nations in the region.
 
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