No sign of help for Philippines from China's hospital ship
By GREG TORODE, ReutersNovember 15, 2013 6:57pm
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We waited a while before calling the attention of our readers to the non response by self proclaimed "good neighbor" (and island invader) China to the distress of the Philippines after the Typhoon's passage. We were about two days away from publishing our usual scathing editorial opinion of the Dragon when we noticed that the Reuters News Agency had also noticed the missing Dragon. We don't presume to be a news organization per se but we try to direct our visitors to reliable news sources for matters maritime. Mr.Torode of Reuters hits the nail on the head so we will provide you with a few quotes and a link to his full story. We would like to add one series of observations that he doesn't mention concerning the relative naval strength for humanitarian relief missions between China and those nations that are responding.
China has the world's largest Coast Guard at nearly 930 ships that rival our High and Medium endurance Coast Guard cutters. The U.S. Coast Guard has only dozens of ships in this size range. China has a navy of over 900 major combatant ships and auxiliaries. The total U.S. Navy is fewer than 300 ships. There is a lot of talk about how much of the Chinese total tonnage is dated or limited in capacity compared to just two U.S. navy air craft carrier tasks forces. We would like to point out that a comparison of fire power and mobility is not applicable when it comes to sea-lift capacity and on scene endurance. In the realm of humanitarian relief missions, a very traditional navy mission other than war "quantity has a quality all its own."
In short the Chinese navy was the closest to the scene, had the most capacity, had training for the mission and stayed in port. Now, would you like to guess how long they stay in port before resuming occupation of the Philippines offshore islands? The Dragon was a Confucian society before it was a single political party society, both are authoritarian systems. The Dragon has an authoritarian culture. Authoritarians can degenerate into outright thugs when they want something bad enough. The Dragon is a thug. Unless and until they abide by international law concerning the exclusive economic zones of their neighbors and drop their claims of a territorial sea that extends across international waters and to within sight of the beaches of the main Philippine islands they must be treated with the distrust accorded thugs. Interestingly, Japan, only a bit over six decades ago the bitter enemy of the Philippines and their cruel occupier was almost immediate in their naval delivery of humanitarian relief, and welcome. Indeed weeks prior, the Philippines made the unprecedented move of publicly approving of a Japanese naval build up because both nations are suffering Dragon infestation. For more detail of the non humanitarian treatment of the Philippines by their self proclaimed "good neighbor" and the self proclaimed regional leader, read Mr. Torode's assessment. .
FROM REUTERS:
"HONG KONG - While the navies of the United States and its allies rushed to the aid of the typhoon-hit Philippines, a state-of-the-art Chinese hospital ship has stayed at home and in doing so has become a symbol of China's tepid response to the crisis."
"Initially, China pledged $100,000 in aid to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan roared across central islands a week ago, and a further $100,000 through the Chinese Red Cross—figures dwarfed by multi-million dollar donations from countries and corporations around the world."
""It is a self-inflicted wound to Chinese influence and prestige," said Rory Medcalf, a security analyst at Australia's Lowy Institute."
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