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Title: Should We Fight for the Spratlys?
Source:
VDare
URL Source: http://www.vdare.com/articles/should-we-fight-for-the-spratlys
Published: Oct 30, 2015
Author: Pat Buchanan
Post Date: 2015-10-30 11:45:46 by nativist nationalist
Keywords: None
Views: 3115
Comments: 48
Trailed by two Chinese warships, the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed inside the 12-nautical-mile limit of Subi Reef, a man-made island China claims as her national territory. Beijing protested. Says China: Subi Reef and the Spratly Island chain, in a South China Sea that carries half of the world’s seaborne trade, are as much ours as the Aleutians are yours. Beijing’s claim to the Spratlys is being contested by Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan. While Hanoi and Manila have occupied islets and built structures to back their claims, the Chinese have been more aggressive. They have occupied rocks and reefs with troops, dredged and expanded them into artificial islands, fortified them, put up radars and are building air strips and harbors. What the Chinese are about is easy to understand. Having feasted and grown fat on trade surpluses with the United States, the Chinese are translating their economic strength into military power and a new strategic assertiveness. They want to dominate East Asia and all the seas around it. We have been told our warships are unwelcome in the Yellow Sea and the Taiwan Strait. Beijing also claims the Senkakus that Japan occupies, which are covered by our mutual security treaty. And not only is the South China Sea one of the world’s crucial waterways, the fish within can feed nations and the floor below contains vast deposits of oil and gas. Who owns the islands in the South China Sea owns the sea. Moreover, our world has changed since Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons to defend Taiwan and the offshore islands of Quemoy and Matsu—and since Bill Clinton sent two U.S. carrier battle groups through the Taiwan Strait. Now we send a lone destroyer inside the 12-mile limit of a reef that, until recently, was under water at high tide. What China is doing is easily understandable. She is emulating the United States as we emerged to become an imperial power. After we drove Spain out of Cuba in 1898, we annexed Puerto Rico and the Hawaiian Islands, where America settlers had deposed the queen, took Wake and Guam, and annexed the Philippines. The subjugation of Filipino resistance required a three-year war and thousands of dead Marines. And the reaction of President McKinley when he heard our Asian squadron had seized the islands: “When we received the cable from Admiral Dewey telling of the taking of the Philippines I looked up their location on the globe. I could not have told where those darned islands were within 2,000 miles.” In 1944, General MacArthur, whose father had crushed the Filipino resistance, retook the islands from the Japanese who had occupied them after Pearl Harbor. At the end of the Cold War, however, Manila ordered the United States to get out of Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay naval base. We did as told. Now our Filipino friends want us back to confront China for them, as do the Vietnamese Communists in Hanoi. Before we get ourselves into the middle of their dispute, before we find ourselves in an air war or naval clash with China, we ought to ask ourselves a few questions. First, why is this our quarrel? We have no claim to any of the Spratly or Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. Yet, each of the claimants—Beijing, Taipei, Manila, Hanoi—seems to have maps going back decades and even centuries to support those claims. Besides freedom of the seas, what is our vital interest here? If these islands are Chinese territory, Beijing has the same right to build air and naval bases on them as we do in the Aleutians, Hawaii, Wake and Guam. What do we hope to accomplish by sailing U.S. warships into what China claims to be her territorial waters? While the ships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet are superior to those of the Chinese navy, China has more submarines, destroyers, frigates and missile boats, plus a vast inventory of ground-based missiles that can target warships at great distances. In an increasingly nationalist China, Xi Jinping could not survive a climbdown of China’s claims, or dismantlement of what Beijing has built in the South China Sea. President Xi no more appears to be a man to back down than does President Putin. Continued U.S. overflights or naval intrusion into the territorial waters of Chinese-claimed islands are certain to result in a violent clash, as happened near Hainan Island in 2001. Where would we go from there? China today is in trouble. She is feared and distrusted by her neighbors; her economy has lost its dynamism; and the Communist Party is riven by purges and rampant corruption. If we believe this will be the Second American Century, that time is on our side, that Chinese communism is a dead faith, we ought to avoid a clash and show our opposition to Beijing’s excesses, if need be, by imposing tariffs on all goods made in China. China’s oligarchs will understand that message. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 33.
#2. To: nativist nationalist (#0)
200,000 Filipinos dead are not worth mention of course. They are little brown people.
It scares me to think that somebody somewhere,most likely eastern Europe,thinks you are a learned man and a deep thinker. The reality is you are more of a junk 50 year old car with a 40 dollar paint job over the rust,and chrome paint over the rusty chrome bumpers. The vast majority of the 200,000 dead Filipinos,IF that number is even accurate,where killed by the Filipino insurgents the US Marines were there to put down. THAT is WHY they were there. The insurgents were the Moro's,and they were and are Muslims. The vast majority of the Filipino population were/are Catholics,and the Moros,like all "good Muslims" decided that "Gawd wanted them to kill all non-Muslims". Enter the USMC,and the end of the Moro uprising. IMHO,the straw that broke the Muslim back was when the Marines started pouring pig blood over the mass graves of the Moro's they killed in combat. An excellent strategy to use when fighting a Muslim enemy,and one we need to be using today. BTW,it was the Moro Uprising in the Philippines that led the US Military to abandon the revolvers and the 38 Special cartridge they had been using in favor of the 45 ACP cartridge. The Moro were attacking in mass while drugged to be fearless,and this drugged state made it hard to stop them when shot with a 38.
BTW,it was the Moro Uprising in the Philippines that led the US Military to abandon the revolvers and the 38 Special cartridge they had been using in favor of the 45 ACP cartridge. The Moro were attacking in mass while drugged to be fearless,and this drugged state made it hard to stop them when shot with a 38. Very astute presentation of history Pete. When I was at Ft Belvoir, I found a report in the library, written by a Capt & a senior NCO, recounting their experience with the Moro's in the Philippines. It was quite telling. I am sure the Ordnance Board took it, and other reports under consideration when they set out the specifications for the new pistol that they desired, the infamous 1911. I wish I had acquired a copy to bring home. And you are correct, when dealing the muzzies today, we should adopt some of the methods they used back then. Quite effective. Of course, Oblabula probably would not like it, but who cares.
Not me. BTW,has anybody ever seen him eating a pork chop,or a sausage biscuit?
Beef or Pork???
Looks like beef. A guy at work said he noticed Obolo did not wear his wedding ring during Ramadan. Apparently it is a time not to wear jewelry. Probably because jewelry starts with J-E-W.
Speaking of red beans and rice I haven't made any in quite sometime need to make some since cooler weather is here... Already have a pork shoulder thawed out to make some Chile Colorado so need to save some of it to make some Tasso for the red beans and rice. I make my own Tasso that way I can control the sweet, heat and smokiness to my liking...
There are no replies to Comment # 33. End Trace Mode for Comment # 33.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestThe subjugation of Filipino resistance required a three-year war and thousands of dead Marines.
#10. To: A Pole (#2)
(Edited)
200,000 Filipinos dead are not worth mention of course. They are little brown people
#21. To: sneakypete (#10)
" Moro uprising. IMHO,the straw that broke the Muslim back was when the Marines started pouring pig blood over the mass graves of the Moro's they killed in combat. An excellent strategy to use when fighting a Muslim enemy,and one we need to be using today.
#22. To: Stoner (#21)
And you are correct, when dealing the muzzies today, we should adopt some of the methods they used back then. Quite effective. Of course, Oblabula probably would not like it, but who cares.
#28. To: sneakypete (#22)
BTW,has anybody ever seen him eating a pork chop,or a sausage biscuit?
#29. To: CZ82 (#28)
#33. To: redleghunter, Chuck_Wagon, A K A Stone (#29)
Front view... Looks like cochon, red beans and rice with some collard greens to me...
Replies to Comment # 33.
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