What They Don't Want You To Know About The South China Sea Dispute

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By now, we've all heard about the Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling on the issue, right? And that's final, right? Settled? Sure? Down here, both sides of government are parroting lines formulated by the neo-cons in the USA who insist that no country will ever be permitted to rival the USA neither militarily nor economically. However, since the time that future Iraq War Criminals, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney & his under-secretary Paul Wolfowitz came up with this foreign policy doctrine in 1992 under the first Bush Administration, China has undergone one of the most massive transformations in history from enormous investment in nation-building infrastructure. On the other hand, the US of A has suffered a self-inflicted economic collapse under British - Influenced Free Trade combined with Wall Street's unchecked speculative looting of the physical economy. As of now, China's economy leaves the USA's for dead. The USA's response is military aggression, backed by the only thing it beats every other country at... military spending to the tune of $700 billion a year more than the next seven countries down the list of military spending combined. The Obama Administrations calls his aggression towards China "Asian Pivot". Combine this with the Bush-Cheney BMD encirclement of Russia & China, which Mr Obama continued (but denies it's containment), & you've got a recipe for disaster. Now comes the ruling initiated by the Previous Philippines President. Normally, the only cases adjudicated by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (hereafter, the PCA) at The Hague is where BOTH parties refer to it. Clearly, China did not, but instead insisted any dispute can be worked out between the two countries. This last President also let the USA open military bases in the Philippines, which contributed substantially to him losing the recent election. Fortunately, the new socialist President is down-playing the ruling & has stated his desire to co-operate with China. Actually, referring this case to the PCA was a direct violation of the Declaration of Conduct signed by all members of ASEAN - including both these countries, which compels any disputes to be settled by individual negotiation! Therefore, China is correct to totally reject the PCA ruling. If the USA were in a similar situation, it would also reject such a ruling, especially as it has refused to ratify the UN Convention on The Law of the Sea. My own country has been in violation of the same. China's official response to the ruling is that she fully supports freedom of navigation in the South China Sea for TRADE, which is almost 100% to or from China - China being no threat whatsoever to its own trade! So what is the USS John C Stennis doing there with its "Carrier Strike Group"? China strongly objected to this lot tooling around in the Eastern South China Sea for five days. Just google this lot to see what they can do & you will see why! Now, this "Carrier Strike Group" consists of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier together with two Aegis guided-missile Destroyers, one guided-missile Cruiser & a "Fast Combat Support" Supply Ship. This group carry enough manpower, firepower & air support to blockade every shipping lane there, board or sink every vessel & invade, occupy or bomb any island there for hundreds of square miles! THIS is the threat to "freedom of navigation"! Especially as the main purpose for Aegis Destroyers is to penetrate onshore defenses, knock out a target's nuclear first-strike capability, then deliver a nuke strike of their own. They're billed as a "missile defense system", but are just about the most offensive weapons on earth! If the shoe were on the other foot, how'd the USA handle this much firepower on their doorstep? Japan, Australia & the Philippine electorate don't want the USA in the Pacific at all. Isn't it time to "go home Yankee"?