A nice and neutral report by British, Japanese, etc
China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
11–20 of 147 posts
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#12Every time I see discussion about the nine dash line, I can't help but wonder how it can seem sane to anybody that China should have the water rights to an area ~600 km south of what is blatantly Vietnam's coastal waters (and the southern tip of their land) and just barely north of Malaysia's physical territory. I know the correct answer is: China doesn't care, and isn't concerned with reason when it comes to the nin…
Territorial claims is NOT base on distance.Is Hawaii to far to be a state of the us?
Does the US claim all the ocean between the west coast and Hawaii? No, because it's too far from land.
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#13Every time I see discussion about the nine dash line, I can't help but wonder how it can seem sane to anybody that China should have the water rights to an area ~600 km south of what is blatantly Vietnam's coastal waters (and the southern tip of their land) and just barely north of Malaysia's physical territory. I know the correct answer is: China doesn't care, and isn't concerned with reason when it comes to the nin…
To quote a Chinese official from a few years ago 'Vietnam is a small country and China is a big country and that is just a fact.'
So, what you are saying is that every time we buy something that's "Made in China", we are fueling the next major military power, which in turn will lead to a major conflict in the area?
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
To quote a Chinese official from a few years ago 'Vietnam is a small country and China is a big country and that is just a fact.'
So, what you are saying is that every time we buy something that's "Made in China", we are fueling the next major military power, which in turn will lead to a major conflict in the area?
I'll still likely get the iPhone 6.
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#15Every time I see discussion about the nine dash line, I can't help but wonder how it can seem sane to anybody that China should have the water rights to an area ~600 km south of what is blatantly Vietnam's coastal waters (and the southern tip of their land) and just barely north of Malaysia's physical territory. I know the correct answer is: China doesn't care, and isn't concerned with reason when it comes to the nin…
> there is only who has the military power to dictate terms.
Yeah, just like the American invasion of Iraq in 2004. Just because they could, despite it being unlawful at all international levels. But hey, Russia also does it, so there's not really any good example out there of a country that does not seize opportunities.
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#16Fascinating article. I also really enjoyed the presentation - the mix of writing, video and images worked well together. This is the first time I've seen the "BBC Magazine", and the experience is great.
More than the article, I enjoyed the presentation. The whole design is very intricately woven together with various media elements. I loved the style but at the same time I was slightly annoyed by not being in control (probably the auto changing images with scroll was slightly over the top). I wonder how's the user experience with others.
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#17Every time I see discussion about the nine dash line, I can't help but wonder how it can seem sane to anybody that China should have the water rights to an area ~600 km south of what is blatantly Vietnam's coastal waters (and the southern tip of their land) and just barely north of Malaysia's physical territory. I know the correct answer is: China doesn't care, and isn't concerned with reason when it comes to the nin…
Territorial claims is NOT base on distance.Is Hawaii to far to be a state of the us?
@ultraboy
Despite the risk of down votes, I have to say this.
Did you really say that?!
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#18Fascinating article. I also really enjoyed the presentation - the mix of writing, video and images worked well together. This is the first time I've seen the "BBC Magazine", and the experience is great.
More than the article, I enjoyed the presentation. The whole design is very intricately woven together with various media elements. I loved the style but at the same time I was slightly annoyed by not being in control (probably the auto changing images with scroll was slightly over the top). I wonder how's the user experience with others.
I had the opposite experience; usually I can't stand when a website tries to do something novel with my scrolling, but here all they did was update to a more relevant map alongside the text, for example. I was a bit too ecstatic to see that.
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#19I get that environmental concerns don't affect anything here, but are any of these coral reefs? Or are they just areas with shallow water?
Re: China's Island Factory – New islands being made in disputed China Sea
#20I've watched with fascination as the Japanese Senkaku islands slowly and gradually came to be labeled 'disputed' in the western media, after China's recent claims.
It seems like China has figured out a way to hack the media (the free media outside of China, I mean -- the government there obviously has root on Chinese TV and newspapers).
Japanese ownership of this territory is basically as settled under international law as anything of this nature can be; the islands have been held by Japan since the 1800s, then controlled by the USA for a time after it defeated Japan in WWII, and eventually returned to Japan along with the return of Okinawa.[1]
But after China's slow and steady media campaign, it has somehow become widely reported as 'disputed territory'. (Which it is in a meaningless and pedantic sense only.)
This island-building is another hack, and maybe a clever one. Killing 70 Vietnamese soldiers in the military action in the 1980s to seize a submerged reef didn't make China look good at all.
But perhaps by building new 'islands' to buttress its aggressive and expansionist claims to the territorial waters of other nations, we may end up seeing the western media in ten years uncritically reporting that "China, which has 9 islands in the disputed waters, insists that it is merely defending its territory..."
Which is very important, because none of the countries whose territories China is going after -- not even Japan -- would do well in a straight up military conflict. The Philippines only hope is American protection. So the way China's aggression is covered in the western media is actually very important.
Interesting times.
[1]: http://csis.org/publication/japan-chair-platform-senkaku-isl...