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July 24th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
That will pit it directly against Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan
and Brunei, all of which also claim sovereignty over parts of the region.
Indeed, China only gained control of Woody Island in 1974 after a battle with
Vietnam left 71 sailors dead and the founding of Sansha has already been
vigorously condemned by the Philippines and Vietnam.
Military analysts have pointed to the new city as a worrying sign of China’s
increasing assertiveness in the region, and its determination to face off
against the United States, which has pivoted its military focus back towards
Asia.
But Su Hao, the head of the Strategy and Conflict Management centre at China’s
Foreign Affairs university, said Chinese policy in the South China sea
remains “reactive”, rather than aggressive.
“The countries around the South China Sea want to reinforce their own
claims and defend their own interests before China gets too strong,” he
said. “The US is also worried about China, and has been directly or
indirectly supporting these countries so they have more strength to stand up
to China,” he added.
For years, Vietnam and the Philippines in particular have been building up
their presence in the Paracel and Spratly chains.
In the Spratly Islands, Vietnam has stationed 600 soldiers and built a town
with its own hotel, school and temple. Most recently, it approved six
Buddhist monks to be abbots on various islets and reefs; islands with
settled civilian populations raise the stakes for any military action.
China, however, has struggled to populate islands so far away from its
mainland, and in the Spratly’s there are often as few as 10 Chinese fishing
boats operating on any given day according to the Hainan Fishery Research
Institute. Many Chinese fishermen are worried for their safety: since 1989
there have been 380 assaults on Chinese vessels and 800 fishermen have been
jailed, with 25 killed or missing.
China has also recently offered nine blocks for oil exploration in the region,
which have already been auctioned by Vietnam, but Mr Su said that, until
now, China has not had a single oil well within the zone it claims
sovereignty over, but there are 800 wells being operated by foreign
companies. “China has to defend its own rights. But in fact our
response has been a bit slow,” he said.
Nevertheless, the founding of Sansha signals trouble ahead. “There will
be more tension in the future. But the other countries are much less
powerful than China,” he said. “They would have to lose their
heads to start a fight.”
Additional reporting by Valentina Luo
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