China Gets Bigger

Now North Korea is sending missiles over Japan. I guess Trump’s tough talk isn’t scaring them and making them stop the missile show. China isn’t controlling the behavior of North Korea in fact China is claiming the South China Sea as their property under their domain. I thought that was supposed to be international waters? Does that mean they want to control Taiwan.  Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia? Russia has engulfed their influence over the Ukraine and Poland and have been hacking elections all over Europe and America’s election too. Putin has no opposition there. He sees to it that everyone is jailed or killed who dare to oppose him. Now China wants domination over other areas too.

China is a huge region that is emerging to be economically more powerful   than the United States. China is not flamboyant as Putin’s Russia is. The Chinese are patient but thorough. Since 2012 China’s new president has been taking a stand on climate change and commerce. China has now become the number 2 donor of troops around the world dedicated to peace keeping behind the United States who is the top donor of 10,000 troops worldwide dedicated to maintaining peace. With that dominance is a quest for domination by China. The South China Sea is the home of $5 trillion dollars in shipping commerce. How does the world get all that stuff if China claims the Sea there as their own and shuts down the shipping lanes? The world wants China to remain calm and happy.

The South China Sea is also home to 11 billion barrels of untapped oil. It is a region very valuable for many reasons. More than a half dozen countries have claims to the sea there. The United States pushes for the concept that it should be International Waters that everyone can profit from. Freedom of navigation is critical for commerce and security in the world. Now China has been challenging America in the sea. Since 2012 when the new guy was elected in China, he has been saying, “Islands in the South China Sea, since ancient times, are Chinese territory. We have the right to uphold our own territorial sovereignty and lawful and legitimate maritime rights and interests.” Does that mean the rest of the world has to ask China for permission to ship goods?

China is now claiming that they own nearly all of the South China Sea. All the islands, reefs, natural resources and navigable waters. China has been more aggressive in building man-made islands around the South China Sea. Why? To protect the region from others? China is a very rich country now and has the money to build whatever they want but do they have the right to simply claim parts of the earth as their own? Very valuable parts of the seas? Who would dare to oppose them any way.?China owns America with our very high loans to them. Our National Debt is in the trillions of dollars now. How can America afford to pay that back?

The man-made islands are becoming Chinese military bases. China can now afford to flex their muscles now to the world. No one who isn’t a Chinese citizen is allowed to be on those islands. Mischief Reef is one of the new islands. It has been developed to be several hundred acres of land now circling the sea. When will they stop? When the South China Sea becomes small enough access like a canal? Will international waters be reduced to a toll bridge? Planes are not allowed to fly over the islands. Chinese ships will threaten to shoot them down if they do not leave the area. The Chinese government claim that air and sea within 12 miles of the new man-made islands belong to them are restricted territory. Why? And why now?

Recently the United States has been increasing our military presence in the Philippines. Fishermen are being threatened in the Sea around their country as if China owns the fish too bordering the Philippines. China is now powerful enough to not tolerate anyone from getting too close to them. China’s logic is that what if they had a military presence in the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico. Would we tolerate that? Stay tuned for this one!