US ship tells China: We’re here
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:25:00 08/09/2010
Filed Under: Spratlys, Military, Foreign affairs & international relations, Nuclear Policies, Diplomacy, Conflicts (general)
ABOARD THE USS GEORGE Washington—Cold War enemies the
United States and Vietnam demonstrated their blossoming military relations on Sunday as a US nuclear supercarrier floated in waters off the Southeast Asian nation’s coast—sending a message that China is not the region’s only big player.
The supercarrier’s visit comes 35 years after the Vietnam War as the United States and Vietnam are cozying up in a number of areas, from negotiating a controversial deal to share civilian nuclear fuel and technology to agreeing that China needs to work with its neighbors to resolve territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The USS George Washington’s stop is officially billed as a commemoration of last month’s 15th anniversary of normalized diplomatic relations between the former foes.
But the timing also
reflects Washington’s heightened interest in maintaining security and stability in the Asia-Pacific region amid tensions following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which killed 46 sailors. North Korea has been blamed for the attack, but has vehemently denied any involvement.
Last month during an Asian security meeting in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also angered China by unexpectedly calling on the communist powerhouse to resolve territorial claims with neighboring Southeast Asian countries over islands in the South China Sea.
Disputed Spratlys
China claims the entire sea and the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands over which it exercises complete sovereignty.
But Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the
Philippines also have staked claims on all or some of the territory, which straddles vital shipping lanes, important fishing grounds and is believed rich in oil and natural gas reserves.
Clinton announced that the United States had a national interest in seeing the claims resolved.
“
The problem is that China has now committed herself, publicly, to sovereignty of the South China Sea and to push that back, if only to the status of a claim that is not enforced, is going to be very difficult,” said Arthur Waldron, an international relations specialist at the University of Pennsylvania.
“So we are playing catch up, reminding the Chinese that we have not collapsed into post-great powerdom, and that we have other friends in the region.”
Balance of power
Vietnam has long been vocal about the issue, protesting China’s plans to bring tourists to the islands and most recently seismic studies conducted near the Paracels. Last month, China also held naval drills in the South China Sea.
“Vietnam does not support containing China, but like most other ASEAN members would like to see each major power offset the other,” Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra, said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“Quite simply, these are not too subtle signals that Vietnam wants the United States to stay engaged in the region to balance China.”
Formidable beast
The
USS George Washington is a formidable beast rippling with muscle. A permanent resident of the Pacific based in Japan, the supercarrier is a floating city that can carry up to 70 aircraft, more than 5,000 sailors and aviators and about 1.8 million kilograms of bombs.
It lurked on Sunday in waters off the central coast of Danang, Vietnam’s jumping off point for the disputed islands.
The supercarrier came to Vietnam following four days of high-profile military exercises last month with South Korea aimed at showing solidarity following the sinking of the 1,200-ton Cheonan navy ship. The drills enraged Pyongyang and drew repeated criticism from its Chinese ally.
A Chinese newspaper ran a front-page story last week strongly hinting that China also is not happy about reports that Vietnam and the United States are negotiating a civilian nuclear fuel and technology deal that could allow Vietnam to enrich uranium on its own soil.
‘No-enrichment’ pledge
US state department spokesperson P.J. Crowley said China had not been consulted about the talks, but he would not discuss the specifics of the enrichment provision.
Congressional aides have said the agreement will likely not contain a no-enrichment pledge, which the US promotes as the “gold standard” for civilian nuclear cooperation accords to ensure materials are not being used to build a nuclear weapon.
Vietnam has denied having any plans to enrich uranium on its own soil.
The aircraft carrier’s visit is particularly symbolic as it floats off the coast of central Danang, once the site of a bustling US military base during the Vietnam War, which ended April 30, 1975, when northern communist forces seized control of the US-backed capital of South Vietnam, reuniting the country.
Some 58,000 Americans and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese were killed during the war.
Relations have thrived since the former foes shook hands in 1995. The United States is Vietnam’s top export market and Americans are the country’s No. 1 foreign investor. Two-way trade reached $15.4 billion in 2009.
Military ties have also grown since the first US warship ship visited Ho Chi Minh City in 2003, including high-level defense talks and training.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...hina-Were-here
US urged to bolster RP defense against China over territorial dispute
Philstar.com - Tuesday, August 10
WASHINGTON –
The United States should consider leasing big-ticket military hardware to the Philippines to give it the capability to defend its sovereign territory against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, a former head of the US Pacific Fleet said.
Retired Navy Adm. James Lyons, in a commentary in the editorial pages of The Washington Times, said the US should consider leasing
a squadron of F-16 along with T-38 supersonic trainers, an aircraft for maritime patrol, and two FFG-7 guided-missile frigates to provide a recognized capability to enforce the Philippines’ offshore territorial claims.
Since the election of President Aquino,
US analysts and foreign policy experts have called for a more robust US military assistance to the Philippines to counter “China’s aggressive action in the South China Sea.”
In his commentary on Monday, Lyons said former President Arroyo, in return for billions of dollars poured into the Philippines, provided unfettered access to China and signed 65 *****eral agreements with it, including an oil exploration undertaking in 2004 shrouded in controversy as it may have conceded territorial waters to the Chinese.
He said after the US left the Philippines in 1991, China unilaterally declared sovereignty over various disputed islands in the South China Sea, and started building an air and naval base on Woody Island in the Paracel Island chain and new facilities in the Spratly Island chain.
Lyons said that in 1995, China built a facility on Mischief Reef, which is clearly recognized to be in the Philippine economic zone. And last year, a retired People’s Liberation Army deputy chief of the general staff called for the construction of a formal air and naval base on Mischief Reef.
Lyons said such a base would allow the PLA to place naval, air and missile forces astride the Palawan Strait, one of the key strategic sea lanes in the Western Pacific. This, he said, poses a military threat to the Philippines and the security of the sea-lanes through which much of the world’s trade passes.
He said that for the past 15 years,
US policy on this issue has been adrift and Washington has failed to confront Beijing over its illegal actions in any meaningful way.
However, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at a July meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Hanoi, signaled a change in the US position by directly confronting China.
Clinton said conflicting claims over contested South China Sea areas should be resolved through regional discussions and solutions instead of on a one-on-one basis as preferred by China.
Lyons said now that
President Barack Obama’s administration has directly challenged China, the US should expand its relations with ASEAN “by building on our Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines.”
The US should negotiate a commercial agreement for access to logistic support facilities in Subic Bay.
“The new Philippine president will come under intense pressure from China to prevent any expansion of US activities. However, neither we nor the new Philippine government should be deterred by Chinese bluster from doing what is right,” Lyons said. -
By Jose Katigbak / STAR Washington Bureau
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Bisan pag muingon ta na ang U.S naa jud national interests with it's plans of intervention from the growing tensions arising from the dispute, we're lucky that we are not POWERLESS on the face of China's military might. We already trusted the United States to an extent of having a common or mutual defense treaty with it.
China's aggressive mode on expanding to the Spratly's to even our claimed territories poses a great military threat to our sovereignty as a nation. They're getting too near our borders building airstrips and bases along the disputed islands.
I for one am thankful that the United States finally steps up and would keep the balance of power of nations. We will no longer be rendered incapable of resisting Chinese pressure and aggression with the help of the United States and hopefully the rest of the WEST.
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Unsay may opinion nato about sa gibuhat sa U.S? Is it justifying and rightful or just another way of containing China?
I've said my part............ now it's your turn..........
US signals to China: We are here
Originally Posted by peewee_toot
bad move sa US. for sure naa na pud mo gawas nga emit nga ship.
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