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On this episode of China Uncensored: could China's new Islands lead to war with the US?
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I'm your host Chris Chappell.
I have a riddle for you. When is an Island
not an island?
Well it's not a freaking island
and can somebody just please tell China that before we end up at war with them?
The Pentagon announced this Tuesday that China is building up weapons on Islands in the South China Sea
and the US is not only sending their military to patrol the region.
US Defense Secretary Carter wants to give $425 million dollars to China's neighbors so they can beef up their own foots.
This is the South China Sea.
Five trillion dollars a year worth of shipping goes through it.
It's also a region rich in natural resources like gas and oil as well as fish.
And these are some of the countries that bordered.
There you can see China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.
And here's the part of the South China Sea that China claims belongs to them.
That’s the Nine Dashed line. Everything within it is Chinese territory.
Well that’s not technically true.
It depends on who you ask.
China thinks it's theirs but no one else on the planet think so.
So now China is building their rock-solid claim to the territory
by literally building their own rock-solid territory in the Spratly Islands.
This was the Fiery Cross Reef in 2014.
This is how it looks now.
Here’s part of the Gaven Reef in March 2014, August 2014 and January 2015.
And this is Mischief Reef two weeks ago.
Oh and isn't their mischief afoot?
Look at all those Chinese boats.
All in all, China has built up more than 3 square miles of land fill on top of various submerged reefs
the equivalent of sixty New York City blocks.
The crux of the matter is the UN Convention on the law of the sea.
According to the treaty, 12 miles off the coast of any country is their territorial waters.
Not only that but up to two hundred miles off the coast is part of that country's exclusive economic zone.
It gives that country special rights to explore and use any of the resources within up to two hundred miles.
Now you can see why China would want islands in the South China Sea.
So the question is what really is an Island?
Is dredging up a bunch of sand and piling on top of the submerged reef an island?
According to China, yes.
Everyone else is of the opinion that those aren’t Islands.
Fortunately thanks to bureaucracy (never thought I'd say that),
it turns out there is in fact definition of what constitutes an Island.
According to the UN Convention on the law of the sea, 'an island is a naturally formed area of land above the water at high tide'.
“Naturally” being the key word
but China thinks that the South China Sea as a pie up for grabs
and it's grabbing the biggest slice.
At the end of May the US sent a surveillance plane over the so-called Islands and were greeted with this message.
“This is the Chinese navy. This is the Chinese navy. Please go away quickly.”
It seems China is already treating these islands as part of their territory
trying to block other countries from coming near them.
Clearly Chinese regime does not care about the legality of what they're doing.
Sure they like laws when they’re to their benefit
they'll use the UN Convention to state their legal claim to the territory
and expect everyone else to follow but when the law gets in their way by saying these Islands aren’t actual territory
they’ll conveniently ignore that part.
So essentially they're sending the message: you don’t like us building these islands? Make us stop.
And if you don't make us stop, builders keepers losers weepers.
And what can the United States do?
Well on June 1st, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called for an immediate and lasting halt on the construction.
But he also said “We all know there's no military solution to the South China Sea disputes.”
So I'm sure the Chinese regime is really taking his words to heart.
Meanwhile in April, the US Military Commander for Asia, Admiral Samuel Locklear
said it's possible China can put radar and missile systems on these islands to enforce their claims.
But realistically, I'm sure neither the US nor China wants to literally open fire on each other.
After all the Chinese regime has already been waging a very effective cyber war against the State.
But here's what's scary. China's neighbors are pretty pissed.
The Philippine president has been comparing China to Nazi Germany.
The idea is that like Nazi Germany, China is testing the waters to see how far they can go before the West stops them.
Maybe the Philippines isn’t interested in seeing when that will happen.
Maybe they’ll take some of the all naval tech the US gave them and try to take matters into their own hands
and if they get sunk, (US has a mutual defense treaty with the Republic of the Philippines) and then we're all sunk.
What do you think of China's Island building in the South China Sea?
What do you think the US should do?
Leave your comments below and be sure to subscribe for more China Uncensored.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell. See you next time.