In this thread, we will discuss PLA options for projecting air and naval power into the Indian Ocean and for protecting access to the vital shipping avenues in the Malacca and Sunda Straits.
well, the spratley islands are a lot closer to Vietnam and Philippines, so they have better claims to them. More importantly, most of the little rocks/reefs have already been claimed in the 70s and 80s. If China did not claim more islands, that's due to its own weakness.China indeed was patient in handling the SCS dispute.
She called for restraint and diplomatic solutions through dialogue.
but her plea fell on deaf ears, and Vietnam and the Philippines started reclaiming some islands and drilling for oil.
China saw what they did, and then began to teach them how to properly reclaim and build up artificial islands on a massive scale.
well, the spratley islands are a lot closer to Vietnam and Philippines, so they have better claims to them.
China only started expanding the size of its little islands after the 9 dash claim lost in the courts.
except no other surrounding countries have accepted those claims. Regardless of the weaknesses of other countries, China itself was also unable to physically control those islands. You can claim as many places as you want, but if you don't control it, then your claims won't be any stronger than other countries.No they don't! Since the Qing Dynasty, China continuously claims the Spratly , Paracel, Pratas Islands and Macclesfield banks (Nansha, Xisha, Dongsha and Zhongsha Qundao) as part of the chinese territory at a time when Vietnam was a french colony and Philippine doesn't even exist. Also is geographical proximity not a good indicator to have better claims.
Maybe looking like it would loose that case would be the right way to put it? At the end of the day, the island expansion projects were done for domination of SCS and for expanding their claims over the area (since now you have real islands instead of just rocks). Now, if they can settle these claims with Philippines and Indonesia and have their share of islands in SCS, America would have no leg to stand on in this dispute at all. Do you want China to continue arguing about a few rocks and exploration rights or do you want it to continue having its expanded islands + naval bases in friendly countries in SCS? The Chinese government and PLA really needs to think about this. USN isn't going away with its freedom of navigation trips to SCS or its attempts to add air base in Philippines as long as China does not resolve its disputes with its neighbors.No that is also not true, China started with the reclamation of the Islands 2014. The decision of the kangaroo court (PCA) was in July 2016, two years later!