If the US blocks China’s access to islands in the South China Sea then “the two sides had better prepare for a military clash,” a China state-run newspaper said in an editorial on Friday, in reference to comments by U.S. Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson on Wednesday.
During his confirmation hearing before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tillerson said that China’s occupation and militarization of the islands was akin to “Russia taking Crimea from Ukraine.”
Tillerson added that Beijing’s island building in the area was “illegal” and that China’s access to the islands “is not going to be allowed.” He didn’t give further details.
China’s English-language Global Times called the comments “astonishing” and a threat of war. He was taking to the bully pulpit because he is the most controversial candidate among President-elect Donald Trump‘s nominees and wants to win favor among Senators by attacking China, the paper said.
The newspaper was also conciliatory in noting that Tillerson, a former chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp, said Chinese and American economic interests are deeply intertwined, but made clear that any attempt to blockade the islands would lead to “a large-scale war in the South China Sea.”
The Global Times, which is published by the ruling Communist Party’s newspaper, is well known for its nationalist editorials.
“Tillerson had better bone up on nuclear power strategies if he wants to force a big nuclear power to withdraw from its own territories,” the paper said.
China has laid claim to most of the South China Sea, which initial surveys show may have massive deposits of oil and natural gas, and is home to sea lanes through which about $5 trillion in trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have made claims to islands and reefs in the region.
The US has previously asked China to respect the findings of an arbitration court in The Hague last year that rejected China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea in favor of the Philippines.
Separately, Tillerson in the hearings came out in support of Japan in a dispute with China in the East China Sea over ownership of islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Daioyu in Chinese.
An air defense identification zone over the Senkaku/Daioyu islands that Beijing established in 2013 was “illegal,” Tillerson said. In response to a question as to what the US would do if China attempted to use force to take over the Japan-administered islands, Tillerson said the US is committed to the defense of Japan.
The Global Times made no comment on this island dispute.
Waste of time and does not deserve space in a reputable magazine. These loud voices are nothing more than posturing and war of words.
Given recent US actions vis a vis Russia and China US citizens should be soiling their pants. They are trying to get a war going against China and or Russia and or both. The potential final outcome of these actions is that the USA would cease to exist. Russia and China would cease to exist as well, but the US for sure would be a burnt out cinder.
The US actions are alarming in the extreme. Why is the US and Europe so calm when the world can see that this confrontational attitude on the part of the Beltway warriors could easily lead the extinction of the human race? Americans and Europeans are sleep walking into disaster.
Exxon has gas and oil developments on Russia’s Sakhalin Island, northeast of China. Exxon expects to market these to China. Pipelines are in place or proposed. China hopes to develop its own reserves in the South China Sea. Can anyone else see a clash of interests? Could Tillerson be negotiating for market share?
For some reason the US believes the South China Sea (SCS) is an extension of San Francisco Bay. The Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte did see the Philippines could be dragged into a superpower conflict and the Philippines once again become the killing fields for the superpowers geopolitical games. President Duterte wisely traveled to China and made an agreement to agree to disagree. He regained access for the Filipinos to continue to use the rich fishing grounds around the reefs, got aid and investments from China. President Duterte move gain him a lot of goodwill and he snubbed the President Obama for create a major conflict in South East Asia.
President Duterte proved the Philippines is a sovereign country and the Philippines no longer is the US lapdog. Duterte fears terrorism attacks against the US bases in the Philippines and they create problems for his domestic agenda. So far he has decided not cancel the US bases agreements. If the US bases is attacked by one of the four sympathizing ISIS/Daesh groups active in the Philippines, it is likely the US will embrace the opportunity to move large forces to take revenge and “rescue” the Philippines from terrorism.
Not easy decisions for President Duterte. The US is their most important trading partner. Americans is very popular in the Philippines (92% of the Filipinos like Americans). On the negative side US military presence makes the peace process with the rebel groups more difficult and increases the risk for terror attack for the ISIS/Daesh franchises. Duterte is not unfriendly against the USA, but he also wants to be friends with China and Russia.
Let’s see. We won our last carrier battle about 75 years ago, right about where this showdown is forming up. They may give it a try, but this is a game where experience has no substitute.
Sounds kind of familiar. But after all, I’m 53.
Falk Rovik BRICS doesn’t have the consumers or desire to loose out to tinker toys made in China, each country in BRICS would like the manufacturing base in their own country specially India, so how do you propose that gets accomplished? If China wants trade they need to open their economy to open trade as well.
Steve Slade
Well welcome to the club, I am 76 and it was ever thus.the lyin S.O.B.s have gotten the US into war after war ever since it´s inception.
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Loads of bollocks.
Yeah, it’s posturing, but the words and reactions from target countries provide the necessary pretext for asking hundreds of billions of tax payer’s money from Congress to fill the coffers of the military industrial complex.
It’s the same monkey show as most previous new administrations.
Them were gained the combat experience to defeat better equipped KMT?