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Complaining will serve the Philippines less well than cooperating with China.
Cooperation or submission, the line can be blurry.
Complaining will serve the Philippines less well than cooperating with China.
I find that to be a statement that simply wants to overlook certain facts in themselves. Reclaiming and building bases of the magnitude seen and with such speed is no doubt a process planned ahead. But to say when China executed the plans is not a response to others is glossing over that for years post ASEAN Code of Conduct, Vietnam has been playing the island building game. Let's not haggle about the scale vs China, point is the principle, especially if claimants such as Vietnam and the Philippines harped the "spirit of the code" to death in their rhetoric everywhere they went. Then we have the Philippines who have been trying to make examples of Chinese fishermen, even using the naval flagship. There are poachers and errant fishermen from all claimant countries in those waters but you be hard pressed to find any major protesting from the Philippines in regards to other violators. Unlike other claimants, the Philippines did not even field an ambassador in China for a while, much less conduct any tension reducing efforts such as CG-to-CG meets, or navy-to-navy, establish any fishing enforcement escalation protocols, or protocols for unplanned meets on the high seas. The Philippines' rather fumbled response to issues like the Manila hostage situation for HK or the PCG shooting of a Taiwanese fishermen only added fuel to the fire.
Coupled the above with developments in the ECS the last few years - the failure in my opinion of the US to prevent Japan from "nationalizing" Diaoyu/Senkaku which was a match to the powder keg and the even bigger blunder of not strategically being ambiguous on whether the US will step in to defend those islands. That ambiguity was a strength card for US policy in my opinion but that's been spent now. Anyway, so you have the Philippines chest thumping MDT this and MDT that. No dignified strategic planner in China is going to ignore all these developments and not formulate a response that would help strengthen and defend China's interests in the SCS against potential events.
There's little doubt China planned island and military base expansions years ago, and roll them out when conditions were right, nevertheless China's actions prior to recent assertiveness were unusually mild for a large power, and the contrast is even more striking.China will pursue what it deems necessary in its national interest. That is not the point of the contention. The issue that I was talking about is whether the massive reclamation is reactive or is simply pursuance of a national interest regardless of the actions of others. I have already explained why I believe is the latter and blaming the actions of the other claimants is simply PR cover.
Do you seriously think that China's reclamation program was a knee jerk reaction to the other claimants actions? The reclamation that China undertook was massive and would require years of planning and organisation of resources to put in place. If China wanted cover, it can always find one just like with its reclamation effort. The narrative that we see often in this forum that China was only responding to others is simply echoing China's official statement but devoid of substance.
Given what China is doing on the ground, I don't see why Hanoi and Manila should not pursue their own reclamation effort.
The planning and preparation for what the PRC had done and is doing in the SCS began long before the events you point to. They are not a catalyst, or did not provide a reason for China to do what is has done.I don't think China's reclamation program is in reaction to other claimants reclamation. For
But when one neighbor bring in outside muscles to try to intimidate others, it has cross the line. When Philippines tried to internationalize the dispute, by unilaterally filing claim in international court, drag in non-claimant military super power into the dispute, it crossed the line and provoked the strong Chinese reaction.
The planning and preparation for what the PRC had done and is doing in the SCS began long before the events you point to. They are not a catalyst, or did not provide a reason for China to do what is has done.
Shen, I work for the US Bureau of Reclamation. I know what kind of planning has to go into these types of projects.When did China start planning and preparation for the reclamation? You don't know, I don't know. Unless you can provide evidence to backup your claim.
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Shen, I work for the US Bureau of Reclamation. I know what kind of planning has to go into these types of projects.
You may not believe it...but I know what I am talking about.
Any such project of the scale being accomplished in the SCS...much less 6 or seven of them at once...requires years of preparation.
To each his own. Let people make up their own mind. I just present the facts.