A new slant on RIMPAC Naval politics/The Fight To Control The South China Sea

[Jimbuna]

Not under Obamas watch and I suspect Clintons either but Trump....anything could happen.

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Not under Obamas watch and I suspect Clintons either but Trump....anything could happen.

China is not in love with Clinton:http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKCN0ZR2MN

In 2010, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provoked outrage in Beijing when she pushed the South China Sea to the top of the regional and U.S. security agendas.

Combined with her tough line on human rights and role in leading President Barack Obama's Asia "rebalancing", Clinton is well-known in China - but not well liked.

While presidential rival Donald Trump has irritated Beijing with comments such as comparing the U.S. trade deficit with China to rape, he is largely an unknown quantity, a person who even privately officials shrug their shoulders over.

"Clinton will be a difficult partner," one senior Chinese diplomatic source told Reuters, having just admitted to not knowing much about Trump or what he stands for.

[Aktungbby]

The Chinese government has previously accused the U.S. of overdramatizing the situation in the South China Sea as a pretext to build up defenses of the U.S. and its allies in the region.
The U.S. has denied those accusations, arguing earlier this year that China has heightened tension in the region by reclaiming more than 3,200 acres of land in parts of the South China Sea over the previous two years and using “coercive tactics short of armed conflict” to assert power in the region.
The U.S. regularly sends ships and surveillance aircraft through the South China Sea on what the Pentagon describes as “freedom-of-navigation operations,” designed to signal that the waters should remain open to all.
At times, those operations have led to tension with the Chinese military, which regularly intercepts U.S. planes and ships, sometimes in a way the Pentagon has deemed unsafe or unprofessional. But the Chinese seizure this week of U.S. equipment marks an escalation the U.S. military so far hasn’t seen.

The Bowditch was about to recover the glider when a Chinese Dalang III class Chinese warship approached within 500 yards of the Bowditch, launched a small vessel and snatched the drone out of the water, the Pentagon said. The Pentagon said the drone is known as an “ocean glider” and valued at approximately $150,000, one of many the U.S. Navy uses around the world to collect bathymetric data from the sea, along with data on the water’s salinity, temperature and current flow. Bright yellow and about 5 to 10 feet long, the drones often move slowly and autonomously to gather data about the ocean for weeks or months before U.S. Navy ships retrieve them. "The UUV was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea," one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It's a sovereign immune vessel, clearly marked in English not to be removed from the water - that it was U.S. property," the official said.
The boat brought the device back to the Chinese warship, which then headed away.
The Bowditch contacted the Chinese vessel by radio and demanded the return of the glider. The Chinese ship acknowledged the radio transmission but ignored the request to return it, the Pentagon said.
China’s Defense Ministry says it will return the U.S. Navy underwater drone it captured operating in international waters in the South China Sea, after it seized the device to ensure the “safe navigation of passing ships.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/12/17/china-returns-us-drone-after-explaining-seizure/95555610/ Shades of VP Dan Quail(he couldn't spell either)

"China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act," Trump said in an early morning tweet.
Trump originally misspelled “unprecedented” as "unpresidented" but later deleted the tweet and reposted.

Well we got our drone back....they need to confiscate his tweeter! his misuse of it has been...unpresidented

[mapuc]

Three question popped up in my head when I heard about this

1. Why did the Chinese steal this underwater drone ?
Could it be,
2. This drone came close to something which the Chinese didn't want others to see ?
or
3. They are just curious in how this drone is constructed and want to "borrow" some ideas

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Most likely reason is that they (Chinese) want to stamp their authority on an area that is being hotly contested.

[ikalugin]

On the positive note - we sighned some documents with Japan over Kurils, easing the tensions.

[mapuc]

Latest development

China is stepping up preparedness for a possible military conflict with the US as the Donald Trump presidency has increased the risk of hostilities breaking out, state media and military observers said.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplo...ry-conflict-us

Markus

[Jimbuna]

^ At the present time that contest would look like David v Goliath.

[ikalugin]

David won.

[Jimbuna]

Yes 'David'...a common enough name in the USA

[mapuc]

In this case both David and Goliath will lose the fight. As I understand, from reading and after have heard military expert, a war between two superpower-will generate only two losing countries.

And from these political expert on eastern/China
Politically and economically, China is the one who who would lose most in this, if there should be a war. Furthermore a third problem could be a problem for the regime in China if they lose a war-the People would probably make riots and other things like we saw in Argentina after the Falkland war.

The question is how far will China try to go in this diplomatically affair, will they back down if USA/Trump draw a line in the sand and say no further or will China try to test USA's decisiveness once again(here I'm thinking about Syria and Assad) ?

Or will none of them back down and use nuke if necessary ??

I hope not I hope they will find a peaceful solution.

Markus

[ikalugin]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Yes 'David'...a common enough name in the USA

Not bad, I assumed that "David" was PRC due to their obvious comparative weakness.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by ikalugin

Not bad, I assumed that "David" was PRC due to their obvious comparative weakness.

In the simplest terms.....PRC are currently no match for the USA.

[ikalugin]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

In the simplest terms.....PRC are currently no match for the USA.

This really depends for a scenario. Despite comparative weakness PRC can "win" (as in achieve their objectives within the planned time window) in a war, where US is a beligent.

[Jimbuna]

Well, let us hope the outcome is never put to the test....the current POTUS is yet to be fully understood/predictable on the worlds stage and the potential consequences could be very alarming.