The Chinese military raise the stakes in the South China Sea by sending fighter jets to its man-made island. Dam The Thai discusses the possibility of the U.S., Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia and India joining hands to have the sea dispute internationalised.
Recent situations: China escalate their hawkish and aggressive actions
CHINA HAS been continuously and increasingly transforming reefs and rocks in contested waters in the South China Sea (or East Vietnam Sea) into residential habitation and military stronghold. China violated the rule of law and overrode the law of the sea by doing so. Though facing tough protest from neighboring countries and the international community, China not only stopped her illegal actions and left the waters as before, she but also intensified further her military presence by deploying air-to-surface missile on the disputed island in the East Sea of Vietnam (or the South China Sea). In a such intense atmosphere, China again ignored all the conventional rules and regulations by having an oil rig moved to the territorial sea.
China has been apparently executing a systematised invasion over the disputed territorial sea in the East Sea of Vietnam by changing illegally and coercively the status quo of the sea and turning it into a fait accompli. The accomplished fact now is that China after just two years since 2014 has built up successfully artificial islands available for human habitation augmented by a surface-to-air missile system on the contested waters, against any prevailing law and regulation of the sea.
Jets spotted on contested South China Sea island - VIDEO: New evidence of Chinese buildup in the South China Sea https://t.co/sb54RYqQQd
— Malcolm R. Rutledge (@RWingFighter) April 13, 2016
The reasons for those hawkish actions
The above act by Chinese authorities which challenged all the rational minds of the people in the world served well the multi-purposes for the totalitarian regime. Economically, the waters in the East Sea of Vietnam are naturally a region being extremely rich in maritime resources. Beside the vast ocean for fishing, the East Sea of Vietnam (South China Sea) encompass an estimation of up to around 11 billion of oil barrels and approximately 190 trillion of cubic feet of natural gas, not to mention annual trade volume worth about US$5.3 trillion passing through this sea.
Politically, the illegal invasion by Chinese military on the sea has been playing excellently an optimal role in diverting the Chinese people's attention from domestic political purges and social unrests to abroad. The Chinese people are being told by the authorities untrue stories and/or falsified data about their country's sovereignty over the disputed sea, without any historical foundations.
Socially, it seems that Chinese authorities are in the process of expanding strategically their "Lebensraum" both eastward and southward. With the country's recent abolition of one child policy, the whole population of China may well reach 1.5 billion by 2050, and may well jump to 1.8 billion by 2100 — eighty four more years from now with assumption that the growth rate during 2000 and 2050 shall be replicated for the period between 2050 and 2100. Without a really revolutionary answer for the puzzle of dwelling, seeking Lebensraum outside the mainland of China may be the ultimate solution.
China’s sandwalling upstages U.S. Navy in South China Sea https://t.co/orF5c2GPPH via @WSJ
— Hugo Debroise (@DebroiseH) April 13, 2016
Our immediate actions and medium to long term strategy to contain China
What should the international community do in this situation to contain the dangerous aggressiveness of the Chinese authorities?
The U.S., Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia and India should join hands to have the sea dispute internationalised. All the accomplished works already done illegally by China should be placed under control and management by a league of big powers, at least including the previously mentioned countries. This act of internationalisation shall aim to serve the purpose of safeguarding the freedom and safety of navigation in this still disputed sea. This act shall also secure the sovereignty integrity of all the involved countries and ensure the legitimacy of the rule of law in resolving the said dispute.
Once those military garrisons are managed internationally, there might need to think of establishing some museums to display and spread the greatness of Chinese cultures as well as other nations like Japan, India, etc. The idea of a Confucius Institute here may be a good fit, in order to show the significantly valuable teachings of the Great Master, Confucius, about the virtues of a good person living and behaving in society. For example, one outstanding virtue of a good people set by Confucius refers to "Ren", meaning benevolence or humanity, expressing the disinterested love, compassion and harmony in one's life towards others.
Regarding this virtue, Confucius used to say:
"As for the good man or “ren man”: wishing himself to be established, sees that others are established, and, wishing himself to be successful, sees that others are successful"
[Analects, Chapter 6, Verse 28 or Analects translated by A. Charles Muller, Chapter 6 Sentence 30.]
For the part of Japan, this country has a once in a thousand year strategic opportunity to protect herself from any foreign aggressiveness by assisting other ASEAN countries, like Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia under a newly revised peaceful Great Asia strategy, not the hawkish sort of the Second World War. The assistance should be a deliberate decades-long plan to train the local people in these countries to be able to self-produce complicated modern weaponry. When these countries are strong enough to confront and contain China in the south, they can protect themselves without calling for international help like the current situation. It may then, indirectly, assist Japan on the northern front.
For the dwelling solution in a hundred years, the Chinese authorities must act now for innovative methods to cultivate the deserts in the western part of the mainland to transform those into vast lands for habitation. It shall also stop the warlike acts of the Chinese authorities in the East Sea of Vietnam seeking a Lebensraum. If Chairman Xi Jin-Ping once can make this happen then he shall be remembered as a Ying-Ping (永平) chairman, meaning the Chairman of the Lasting Peace — not the Chairman of the Short-sighted Peace (近平) or the Chairman of No-Peace (不平).
China Warns Of World War 3 Unless The US Backs Down On South China Sea
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I usually like to disagree with Hugh White, but struggling on this one on the South China Sea: http://t.co/FjxTYVft6y
— John Blaxland (@JohnBlaxland1) June 9, 2015
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