Invective comments are gradually taking shape from mild warning to serious threats in the communication lines, that is still roaming on the international forum on South China Sea . The growing conflict over China’s dredging of new islands to extend its sovereignty 1,000 miles into the resource-rich South China Sea,has reinvented the one phrase frequently heard from the U.S. military officers past and present is that “China doesn’t do off-ramps well”.
And by saying this they mean that once Beijing has decided on a course of action, it is rarely deterred from pursuing it. And with this it remains to be seen that than what the U.S. declaration, that "it will not allow China’s sand grab to stand", is meant. What will be the next course of US action?
The territorial dispute in the South China Sea is building towards a flash point, though one had a persistent idea that it's about nothing more than tiny islands and useless reefs. If that's all it is, then it's not worth a big argument between the US and China. And it's certainly not worth risking a war between the world's two biggest powers, most reasonable people would agree.
China has built land area of about 800 hectares, all reclaimed from the ocean, in the last year and a half, on atolls that are also claimed by other countries in the region – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Beijing is building airstrips and ports to "militarise" the islands, according to the US. The US President, Barack Obama, complained in April that China was using its "sheer size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions".
Cole, now a professor at the Pentagon’s National War College in Washington, said, “I see no flexibility in China’s position at all,” and added, “I think China’s plan is just to have a fait accompli, gambling on where the U.S. threshold for reaction is.”
Defence Secretary Ashton Carter has made clear in recent days that the U.S. won’t back down, either. “There should be no mistake: the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as U.S. forces do all over the world,” Carter said Saturday at the Shangri-La defense conference in Singapore. “After all, turning an underwater rock into an airfield simply does not afford the rights of sovereignty or permit restrictions on international air or maritime transit.”
The serious question is now asked that if the Chinese don’t halt their island-building efforts in the Spratly Islands,will Carter stand his warning , "new U.S. military hardware will soon be showing up in the region to help them reconsider ?
U.S. naval experts say that if the U.S. is going to back it words with actions, the U.S. Navy soon will have to send warships near the growing Chinese-claimed islands to show its territorial claims are worthless. U.S. Navy officials have said planning for such deployments is in the works.
India Honest has serious doubt that if this latest episode of one decade old tussle between the nations will result to a climax. In a reflected observation it can be now be safely predicted that this time if the littoral nations failed to stop China in its latest invasive advancement, it will be impossible for them at any time in future to gain ground to secure their legitimate rights?
India Honest is arguably worried on Beijing’s belief in its new military prowess and in America’s failing will and capabilities emboldens Chinese leaders to persist in their defiance even if planes or ships collide, and potentially, if shots are actually fired. Chinese officials are convinced that Washington fears escalation more than they do and that it will accept a compromise resolution rather than take U.S. resistance to the next level.
India has gained a new combative and strong leadership "avatar" with the change of regime at Delhi, and now it has to firm up its stand, not only to pursue its economic interests in South Asia, and make its effective Super Power role known to friends and allies but more important it needs to stop lurking China in our backyard at Indian Ocean.