Some people are now worried that Beijing is itching for a limited war to consolidate her West Philippine Sea claims... i tend to agree... but Beijing is also looking for a war that she is guaranteed to win...
And that is only possible if Uncle Sam is guaranteed not to intervene... because despite the much-ballyhoed modernization the PLAN has recently undergone, it would lose all of its blue-water capability within a day (maybe even less) in an all-out conventional war against the US Navy... and Beijing knows that only perfectly too well...
As to the appetite of the US of A for war... just bear in mind that the US Military Establishment has been on a consistent war footing since 1941... that's 74 years and still counting... by contrast, the People's Republic of China is only 66 years old... and has never fought a blue-water war against a major power in her entire existence...
Peersonally, i feel sad at all this Beijing fear-mongering in the Philippine media... i have never seen such a high level of inferiority complex in a country with a population of more than 100 million people... probably because they don't know much about the history of SE Asia...
For the record... the first and last time a military force based in China (i am stating it this way because it was the Mongol rulers of China who actually orchestrated the invasion) tried to invade SE Asia in the 13th Century... it ended in total humiliation for the invaders...
Will history repeat itself?
West Philippine Sea
ReplyDeleteThe Spratlys are ours as per the Treaty of Washington
http://westphilippineseablog.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-spratlys-are-ours-as-per-treaty-of.html
The Treaty of Washington of 1900 (the Treaty) was signed on November 7, 1900, and came into effect on March 23, 1901, when the Treaty ratifications were exchanged. The Treaty sought to remove any ground of misunderstanding growing out of the interpretation of Article III of the 1898 Treaty of Paris by clarifying the specifics of territories relinquished to the US by Spain.
In consideration for certain explicit statement of relinquishments documented in the Treaty, the US agreed to pay to Spain the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) within six (6) months after the exchange of Treaty ratifications. (Wikipedia)
News had just recently came out that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) discovered that, under the explicit terms of the Treaty, the Spratlys are, in fact, part of the territories ceded by Spain to the US under the Treaty of Paris. The GRP will present this newly-discovered information to UNCLOS as additional evidence to support her claim over the Spratlys (as well as other territories within her 200-mile EEZ).
This is a very major development on the Spratlys disputes.
The Philippines now have a legal basis to claim the entire Spratlys. And the islands of the Spratlys can now be used as baselines to measure the territorial sea and EEZ boundaries of the Philippines.
More importantly, the US is now legally a former owner of the Spratlys, and the Spratlys are now legally part of the territories donated by the US to the GRP in 1946.
Should any third party (e.g. China) attempt to dispossess the GRP of such donation, the US will now have the legal basis to intervene.
With the full might of the US Military Establishment, if necessary.
CHINA must not change the World History of who owns the Spratlys Islands due to their GREED. In the name of PEACE China must leave the West Philippine Sea...
It is Really Ours the West Philippine Sea not China.
This is a very major development on the Spratlys disputes.
The Philippines now have a legal basis to claim the entire Spratlys. And the islands of the Spratlys can now be used as baselines to measure the territorial sea and EEZ boundaries of the Philippines.
The Treaty of Washington of 1900 (the Treaty) was signed on November 7, 1900, and came into effect on March 23, 1901, when the Treaty ratifications were exchanged.