De
VS stelt de soevereiniteit en democratie van landen als de Filipijnen, Japan en
Taiwan 'te verdedigen*' tegen Chinese 'agressie', agressie die bestaat uit het
opspuiten van eilandjes in de Zuid-Chinese Zee, een zee die niet aan
de VS grenst, maar zoals de naam al doet vermoeden, wel aan China.......
Gezien
de grootschalige terreur die de VS verspreidt in bijvoorbeeld het
Midden-Oosten (waartoe men voor voor het gemak ook Afghanistan en
Libië rekent) en het feit dat de VS rond China en Rusland
meer dan 600 militaire bases hebben ingericht, is het bepaald niet
vreemd dat China een buffer rond haar land probeert in te richten. (een buffer rond Rusland werd door de uiterst agressieve VS met de NAVO aan de lijn, voor een groot deel afgebroken, dit volkomen tegen de eerder gemaakte afspraken met Gorbatsjov in.......)
Tel
daar de VS import heffingen op Chinees staal en aluminium bij op en je kan niets anders zien dan het begin van een handelsoorlog..... Het plaatje is
compleet: ook China moet zich onderwerpen aan de VS hegemonie, daar
het anders te maken krijgt met het leger van de VS........**
Het nieuwe budget voor de VS defensie, uh oorlogsvoering is hoger dan ooit tevoren, ondanks dat het Pentagon 11,5 biljoen over de laatste jaren niet kan verantwoorden...... (en niet goedgekeurd door het congres) Gezien dit enorme budget en het voorgaande, kan je niet anders concluderen dan dat het hier om een oorlogsbudget gaat, niet alleen voor de illegale oorlogen die de VS nog voert (Afghanistan, Irak en Syrië), maar vooral t.b.v. komende (illegale) oorlogen, die de 'neocons***' op hun verlanglijst hebben staan...... Deze neocons hebben in feite het Witte Huis overgenomen.....
De grote winnaar van dit alles? Het militair-industrieel complex!!
US Warship Infuriates China After Sailing Within 12 Miles of Disputed Island
March 26, 2018 at 10:17 pm
Written
by Darius
Shahtahmasebi
(ANTIMEDIA) — A
U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a “freedom of navigation”
operation on Friday, coming within 12 nautical miles of one of
China’s artificial islands, according to an
exclusive Reuters report.
Speaking
to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, U.S.
officials said the destroyer Mustin traveled close to Mischief Reef
in the Spratly Islands and carried out maneuvering operations.
Washington’s intention was to counter what it sees as China’s
attempts to limit the freedom of navigation in the strategically
located waters.
The
navigation reportedly infuriated Beijing, which still has territorial
disputes with its neighbors. As Reuters highlighted,
12 nautical miles is an internationally recognized territorial limit
and fits a recent pattern of U.S. navigational behavior. However, it
is highly likely that the U.S. purposely brought the ship as close as
possible, as it has become increasingly concerned that China’s
build-up in the area will eventually drive the U.S. out and make its
so-called free nautical movement non-existent.
According
to Reuters, the U.S. military believes its activities are
carried out under international law and relies on the fact that
American forces regularly operate in the region.
“We
conduct routine and regular freedom of navigation operations, as we
have done in the past and will continue to do in the
future,” Lieutenant
Commander Nicole Schwegman, a spokesperson for the U.S. Pacific
Fleet, said, as quoted by Reuters.
China’s
response to this latest move was to send two naval ships of its own
to identify the ships and warn the destroyer to leave. In turn, China
has vowed to accelerate its plans for the region in order to combat
the American presence.
“The
provocative behaviour by the U.S. side will only cause the Chinese
military to further strengthen building up defense abilities in all
areas,” a
Chinese Defense Ministry statement read.
Its
navy will also carry out combat drills in the South China Sea,
calling the development part of regular annual exercises.
This
is not the first time this year Washington has sent a warship to the
area, rattling China in the process. In January,
China vowed to take “necessary measures” to protect its
sovereignty after the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hopper came within 12
nautical miles of Huangyuan Island, which is subject to a rival claim
by the Philippines.
This
latest operation occurred just one day after Donald Trump signed a
presidential memorandum that will target $60 billion in Chinese goods
with tariffs following a 30-day consultation period that will begin
once the list of targeted Chinese goods is published. China already
warned against
this provocative move, urging the U.S. to step away from what it
termed as “the brink.”
The
move also follows the revelation that the Trump administration signed
the Taiwan
Travel Act into
law. The bill calls for increased high-level visits to Taiwan by U.S.
civilian and military leaders. Just last week, Anti-Media released
a report predicting
that the situation would quietly start to escalate with little more
than a blink from the media, which is busy debating gun control,
Facebook’s much-needed scrutiny, and anything else that doesn’t
involve a potential nuclear holocaust.
In
early February, President Trump said he planned
to nominate Admiral
Harry B. Harris Jr., the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, as
ambassador to Australia. Not long after, Harris was quick to
advise Congress to prepare for a war with China in the South China
Sea.
Australia
has recently been caught in a war of words of its own with China and
had plans to send a British
warship into
the South China Sea earlier this month, as well.
It
might sound simplistic, but Washington’s concern with the area and
rationale for risking an all-out confrontation is about one thing:
money. China’s use of the South China sea attracts approximately $5
trillion in ship-borne trade every year, according to Reuters.
All
that is preventing China from injecting itself into the rest of the
global market eastward through the Pacific Ocean is a chain of
islands known as the “first
island chain,” an
island chain that includes the Kuril Islands of Russia, the Japanese
archipelago, Taiwan, the northern Philippines, and Borneo. America
has blocked China through its control of these islands and with the
help of its allies on the ground, but this has recently started to
change.
Since August
last year,
China has had an incursion of its own into the area, flying bombers
and intelligence aircraft near these southern outlying islands of
Japan. Russia, a stalwart ally of China, is also looking to build
a naval base in the area even
though control of the islands in question continues to be a point of
dispute between Japan and Russia. It seems likely that Russia’s
military presence will only aid China’s regional ambitions — as
opposed to presenting a buffer to it — as the two nuclear powers
often view U.S. hegemony through the same lens. Further
complicating this issue, in February of this year,
2,000 Russian troops held military exercises on the Southern Kurils,
irking Japan in the process.
Clearly,
things are building up for a reason, though one would be hard-pressed
to find any mainstream media outlet that pays this story the amount
of coverage it deserves.
======================================
* 'Verdedigen', ofwel de VS is bezig haar sleutelposities in de regio van de Zuid-Chinese Zee uit te breiden..........
** Dit zet ten overvloede nog eens het belachelijke praatje van Heleen Mees in het juiste daglicht, deze neoliberale hufter weet niet waar ze over praat, als ze zegt dat Trump groot gelijk heeft met het instellen van importheffingen, immers een handelsoorlog eindigt meestal in een echte oorlog, zoals de geschiedenis ons leert..... Zie: 'Heleen Mees, Trump heeft gelijk met zijn handelsoorlog tegen China.........'
*** Neoconservatieven die verdomd veel gemeen hebben met het ijskoude, inhumane neoliberalisme.
Zie ook: 'NEOCONS ARE BACK WITH A BIG WAR BUDGET AND BIG WAR PLANS' (een column van Ron Paul, overgenomen van Stan van Houcke)
en: 'Noord-Korea en de VS: de planning van de VS om Rusland en China aan te vallen met kernraketten........'
en: 'Wereldoorlog III: is deze nog te ontwijken?'
en: 'John Bolton, nationaal veiligheidsadviseur, alsof de duivel zelf is benoemd........'
