US Proposes Halt to Provocative South China Sea Activities

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is proposing that China and other claimants to disputed territories in the South China Sea immediately halt provocative activities that have ratcheted up tensions in some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

In remarks to East Asian officials in Malaysia on Thursday, Kerry said a joint commitment to halting land reclamation projects and construction would lower tensions and risks for miscalculation. He said the step would also create space to finalize a binding code of conduct.

His comments were directed primarily at China, which has been engaged in massive reclamation projects in areas contested by its smaller neighbors. China has rejected outside interference in the disputes.

Kerry said the U.S. would not accept restrictions on navigation or overflights of the disputed territories.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-proposes-halt-provocative-south-china-sea-activities-32915383

[Sunlei]

1. They should flatten that fake island of sand, China has stolen the open sea territory from,

many smaller countries.

[christx30]

4. Creating fake land as part of a real estate swindle...

congratulations, China. You've become Lex Luthor.

[Recursion]

5. No, they've just become Dubai (nt)

[heaven05]

2. slowly it moves......

Last edited Thu Aug 6, 2015, 09:12 AM - Edit history (2)

on this the 70th anniversary of the nuclear devastation wreaked upon Hiroshima and over 100,000 of it citizens, not to mention american POW's held in that city. There were only 17 to 39 depending on whose records are looked at, but who I'm sure were looked at as acceptable collateral damage, I guess......

[7962]

3. And China will probably not even respond. nt

[bemildred]

6. China says has halted reclamation work in South China Sea

China has halted reclamation work in the South China Sea, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday, at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers where the disputed waters have taken center stage.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to speed up consultations on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, the foreign ministers ofChina and ASEAN member Thailand said on Wednesday.

“China has already stopped,” said Foreign Minister Wang Yi, when asked if China would temporarily halt reclamation work in the South China Sea. “Just take an aeroplane to take a look.”

http://atimes.com/2015/08/china-says-has-halted-reclamation-work-in-south-china-sea/

[november3rd]

7. This raises a QUESTION

What is the end game here?

China has three hundred nukes, we have almost three thousand. Any twenty of them would probably be enough to wipe out half the population of the world, if not everybody.

We have a dozen aircraft carriers. China has one.

The entire industrial base of our economy is now located in China.

As an authoritarian state-capitalist dictatorship, the Chinese Communist Party isn't quite an ally.

The only thing that's going to lower the tensions between our countries is if the Chinese government is replaced by a democratic republic (or else our system is replaced by an authoritarian state-capitalist regime.)

Until then, the tensions between us can only increase.