HOW FAR WILL THE DRAGON SWIM? ARE WE CONFRONTED YET?
Philippine President Benigno Aquino stated today (Monday July 2, 2012) that he may ask the United States for assistance with surveillance over flights of the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The Philippines and China had been in a stand off near the Scarborough Shoal for much of last month when an approaching storm gave both sides a safety rationale for pulling their naval, coast guard, and fisheries enforcement armed vessels from a disputed area of the collection of small islands and large rocks known as Scarborough Shoal. China claims the region which is clearly, in our opinion, in the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone. (EEZ) (The area is located about 147 miles off of the Island coastline of Philippine Luzon and is much more distant from any Chinese land mass.). The Philippines is confident enough in their claim to be willing to submit the claim to an international tribunal. But China demands a "bilateral solution". China's "bilateral solution" appears to be on the order of "Hey! I've got this gun pointed at your head and I want something you have". In our immediately previous blog on this swimming dragon we provided the below hyperlink to a video that illustrates just how fast China can turn a machine gun on unarmed sailors of nations the Dragon views as powerless or friendless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2ZrFphSmchttp:
The Phillipines are not powerless nor friendless but the Dragon is far more powerful as was illustrated in our last blog in the below hyperlinked Philippine produced video describing the comparative military strength of the two nations now locked in a territorial dispute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ZuX4TPD-k&feature=related
The Philippines have described their legal case in the previously posted (June 25, 2012 in this blog) video. The hyperlink is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBL8DsqZ6jM&feature=fvwrel
By contrast China doesn't appear interested in presenting a
legal claim, but continues to call for what it terms a "bilateral
solution" which appears to mean that the Philippines is
to agree to whatever China says. In the middle of all this the Philippines, a long time ally of United States, has asked for American assistance with surveillance overflights of the area by P3C Orion air craft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2ZrFphSmchttp:
The Phillipines are not powerless nor friendless but the Dragon is far more powerful as was illustrated in our last blog in the below hyperlinked Philippine produced video describing the comparative military strength of the two nations now locked in a territorial dispute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ZuX4TPD-k&feature=related
The Philippines have described their legal case in the previously posted (June 25, 2012 in this blog) video. The hyperlink is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBL8DsqZ6jM&feature=fvwrel
By contrast China doesn't appear interested in presenting a
legal claim, but continues to call for what it terms a "bilateral
solution" which appears to mean that the Philippines is
to agree to whatever China says. In the middle of all this the Philippines, a long time ally of United States, has asked for American assistance with surveillance overflights of the area by P3C Orion air craft.
The U.S. has declared neutrality on the issue and China has issued a warning to all non party states to keep out of the area and the issue. This declaration by the Dragon looks to us as an attempt to isolate the weaker Philippines in order to be in a
better position to dictate terms. China said last week that it
had already begun "combat ready patrols" in order to
maintain their claim. China has declared that it is
"vehemently opposed" to the Philippine law described in the
linked video above. Below is hyperlink to some English language regional news coverage of the warning.
The United States is very interested in
greater access to Philippine air bases. Such access was one
of the carrots held out by the Philippines to the United States
in exchange for the requested surveillance support. The
support requested by our ally amounts to protected "innocent
passage activity" under international law. But the Dragon, as
illustrated in the first hyper linked video of the Dragon's mass
assassination of unarmed Vietnamese sailors sometimes
shoots first and considers consequences later. Our P3C
Orions could wind up being the trip wire to armed dispute in
the South China Sea. The South China sea is potentially the
hottest military flash point in Asia but it appears to be under
reported by our general media. American Admiralty Books
continues to suggest to all of our readers to pay more
attention to this region and its maritime conflicts. Below is a hyperlink to short video general view of the overall subject.
the South China Sea. The South China sea is potentially the
hottest military flash point in Asia but it appears to be under
reported by our general media. American Admiralty Books
continues to suggest to all of our readers to pay more
attention to this region and its maritime conflicts. Below is a hyperlink to short video general view of the overall subject.
The area appears so troublesome that it is changing our outlook on our own corporate mission. We basically review publications in
the maritime field and publish informed opinion. We are not
basically a news organization. But the situation in the South
China Sea is so rapidly changing that we think we will have to
start at least a service that organizes and describes existing
competent maritime news services and hyperlinks them to
you. Look for some of our "How far Will The Dragon Swim
series to move to a "news source section " in the near future.
We are watching the Dragon and urge you to do the same,
we will try to provide better tools for you shortly.
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