Chinese vessel sinks Filipino fishing boat an flees

[Arizona Kid]

On 6/13/2019 at 10:52 PM, Heeb said:

From Wikipedia:

1987	The People's Republic of China (PRC) conducted naval patrols in the Spratly Islands and established a permanent base.[where?]
1988	PRC warships and Vietnamese transport ships clashed at the South Johnson Reef. Over 70 Vietnamese were killed and two Vietnamese transport ships were sunk. The PRC gained control of some of the Spratly reefs.
1994	The People's Republic of China, Malaysia, and the Philippines sign the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). History as a legal basis is now not accepted.
1995	The Philippine government revealed that a PRC military structure was being built at the Mischief Reef. Philippine President Fidel Ramos ordered increased patrols of the Philippine-controlled areas; the incident lead to numerous arrests of Chinese fishermen and naval clashes with PLAN vessels.

If not for the Philippine government (magnificent 12) we would still be there, I remember their demands for us staying there were preposterous, they wanted service members stationed there to pay Philippine taxes, use the Philippine mail system instead of FPO and also do away with the SOFA agreement which kept a lot of falsley accused sailors and marines out of local jails including myself.

 

Finally someone who remembers that it wasn't the magnificent 12..but the greedy 12 who kicked out the US bases. Now they will pay the price and then come begging when the bullying is too much for them to handle.

[Dave Hounddriver]

5 hours ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

some Philippine officials have called a "hit-and-run" incident.

They may be projecting their own feelings onto the Chinese.  It is common for Filipinos to hit and run, so perhaps they feel that others must be doing the same.

[Dave Hounddriver]

On 6/13/2019 at 12:32 PM, Mark Berkowitz said:

Would China still be doing this sh*t if the US still had military bases in the Philippines?

Would the USA still be maintaining its base at Guantanamo if the Soviets sent a war fleet of 25 ships to Cuba?  Yep, they did in the 1960s.  So why assume that China would not do the same?  They do not back down easily.  The Chinese appear to have as much national pride as the Americans.

I am not saying who would kick who's ass if it came to a confrontation. I am suggesting that China is unlikely to back down from such a challenge.  

[scott h]

38 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

It is common for Filipinos to hit and run,

I am siding with the Chinese on this one, the Philippines is claiming rules of the sea, whelp they don't obey the laws of the road, what makes us think they can drive a boat any better 

[scott h]

33 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

They do not back down easily.

No they don't (and this would probably be a topic by itself) But I view the WFS island take over as a defensive measure by the Chinese, an outer band of early warning stations if you will. The Chinese have always, always taken a long view of things. If we look at history the Chinese have never engaged in an offensive war they only fight when they feel threatened. They have never looked to expand their borders, they would rather control their destiny through economic influence. One of the reasons why westerners have such a hard time understanding the Chinese is that they are still have an imperial, middle kingdom mind set that's 3000 years old. The emperor has just been replaced by the central committee. They frankly don't thing other countries are worth the effort to conquer, only how those "barbarian" countries can advance or maintain their current system. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

40 minutes ago, scott h said:

They have never looked to expand their borders,

Technically, I agree with you.  But they cover a lot of territory inside their borders.  This from the China Daily Mail back in 2013:

Quote

 

The total area of China’s claims on other countries exceeds the size of modern China itself, but Beijing refuses to budge on its claims.

(Go to the link to see the parts of 23 countries that China claims)

 

 

[scott h]

6 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

but Beijing refuses to budge on its claims.

fascinating, I really found that they listed the dynasty in which the claim was based. I would wager that they will just sit back and wait for those "disputed" areas beg to be allowed to join the greater china. Wont happen in our lifetimes, the writing is on the wall IMHO