An international tribunal ruled against China in a bitter row over territorial claims to the South China Sea that is likely to ratchet up regional tensions.China is asserting the traditional prerogative of large powers to do whatever the fuck it feels like doing, international law be damned.
“The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’,” the Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a statement.
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5 comments:
Couple of interesting things from this.
1) China's response is unusually low-key vs. what was "expected".
2) The Philippines response is unusually low-key for the winning side.
3) Taiwan is being noisily indigent.
This suggests the new administration in the Philippines may have been working a deal with China to support some compromise that "helps" China in exchange for investment. It seems likely that the Philippines government is looking east, rather than west, and feels a friendly relationship with a growing major power is a good choice.
"looking east, rather than west"
That would be toward the US rather than China...;-)
Maybe they're looking the long way around, so as not to appear to be too forward... :)
Yea, I was thinking of the classic "The East is Red" sense. Oh well, SMB (sorry, my bad).
I think China wants a cold war in the SCS. Bleed the US through its military. A left hook to Japan would certainly keep the US engaged.
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