The south China sea is certainly critical to Chinas defence and is effectively the only route that could realistically used for an attack on it.
Like the Artic sea region and to a lesser extent the Antarctic region and the area around the Falkland islands, rights and ownership in the South China sea Is highly disputed by many countries. China is claiming hegemony over the area on historical and geographical grounds. as it has traditionally controlled the area.
The legality of all its claims, in detail, are in doubt. and are disputed by a number of other countries.
While the UN disputes its claims, it has not confirmed any counter claims. Much like the claims around Israel and Palestine.
In the mean time there is no doubt that China is now in control of the area, and has the military strength to enforce it.
The entire region right out to The Atlantic Island of Guam and to the shores of Australia are now with in range of land based Chinese rocket defences, as recently confirmed by the USA.
It is reasonable for other countries to continue to press their claims, however it would perhaps be rather counter productive to got to war over them.
Russia's claims on much of the Artic are going to be a far greater concern to the world over the next few decades..
Border disputes, deep sea mineral rights and fishing rights are perhaps the most commonly argued over in the world today.
The UK is unlikely to come to a final agreement with the EU because of the issue of fishing rights.
Apologies for not getting back to you sooner re your other posts to me. After responding to Andrew F I really needed a break. Life was simpler when it was safe (allowed even)to travel and visit wildlife locations to take photos. I won't risk sitting in hides. In the meantime I've plunged into off-topic forums.
I've used your last post as a quote /alert although it was directed to 'Early Man' it covers aspects of what China is about that's causing the problems, as I see it .and it's shorter than the two to me.
First off I'm wondering how you have so much detailed knowledge of the affairs of China...not only the affairs but the 'thinking'. No other posts come anywhere near the level of detail of your input. You posted with equal detail in a thread about the Uighurs but I can't find that thread..Not in Hot Topics and not in Out of Focus/General Discussion unless I've just overlooked it. I'd be less than honest too ,if I didn't say that some of the posts , or sections of them, whether you intended them to be or not, come across as being defensive of the CCP. I say, CCP because it's the regime we're talking about rather than the people which is why I don't think those using the term 'Chinese' is appropriate. I wish politicians would, in relation to Russia too...the other country in the firing line, talk in terms of the Russian/Putin government rather than 'the Russians'.
If you'd rather not disclose that then fair enough.
I don't see the criticism that is being directed at China as the result of failing to understand cultural differences I mean, the way the people of China and the CCP see the world. I strongly disagree with those who believe it's all about racism. Your posts to me, which you've clearly put a lot of effort into, have motivated me to do some research..or to put it in more appropriate terms..some digging around. It's been enlightening.
Just to set the scene, from what I've read. After the death of Chairman Mao Zedong in 1976 China adopted significant economic reforms resulting in rapid growth.People, on a personal level, had more freedom but political freedom remained off the table, so to speak. It was hoped,by the West, that rising income and expanding private enterprise would lead to political freedoms too. It wasn't to be because in 1989 the world saw what happened in Tiananmen Square (1989).Thereafter a loose unstable system of authoritarianism was adopted. Any challenge to the Party would result in imprisonment but more general discussions were allowed..mainly in academia.There was much more in terms of relations with other countries, there was even a semi-independent press which challenged, not the Party per se, but local government. Holding individuals to account,really.
Now, the Party, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping is pushing in the opposite direction over concerns about loss of authority which has lead to an increasingly totalitarian system.(akin to that of Mao).Infact, as he's now abandoned the fixed term policy some worry he will be chairman for as long as he lives..just like Mao 1949-76.
This is what the world sees.
1. August 10 2018.The UN state that reliable sources claim that hundreds of thousands, if not a million, people,(can't be all terrorists) have been placed in re-education camps..officially called..Vocational Education and Training Centers, reportedly outside the legal system, as part of a 'peoples war on terror' No trial, no charges. Those incarcerated made up of mainly Muslim Uyghurs,(long held in contempt )Kazakhs,Kyrgyz and other ethnic Turkic muslims along with christians and foreign citizens such as Kazakhstanis. In your post..16..above you counter by saying that the UK has re-education programmes ..de-radicalisation programmes, nothwithstanding that it's not carried out in camps, there's no comparison whatsoever as outlined in the next paragraph.
I posted in that other thread..the one about the Muslim Uyghurs that I can't locate..that the conditions are appalling and there's a dark room where torture takes place,including pulling out fingernails, brutal beatings and in some cases death. I recall you saying that in any corrective establishment there would be punishment for transgressors. There's punishment and punishment. It seems that the slightest transgression was met with this treatment. That came from a teacher drafted in who, after leaving, told her story on a Radio4 programme recently. You told me that her language, which was translated, was probably Turkic.
2. China's Human Rights record is very poor and comparing it with other countries that are worse doesn't lessen its culpability. There's too much of this. 'Well what about this country or that country...? China doesn't want to change the rule-based system but do want to subvert it (House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Report 2017/19). It jails activists and in 2017 the authorities allowed Liu Ziaobo,...a Nobel laureate and democracy campaigner to die in prison of liver cancer/multiple organ failure at the age of 61.He was given an 11 year sentence for demanding an end to one-party rule. They wouldn't allow him to travel abroad for treatment. Only one other prize winner (1935) who died in custody was german pacifist Carl Von Ossietzky after spending years in Nazi concentration camps.
3. Crushing the slightest public hint of dissent and imposing a 'social credit' system designed to regulate all personal behaviour. I've read that a person can be banned from venues if they accrue a certain number of negative points. Try to enter..eg a football stadium or cinema and the facial recognition cameras will pick them up.They can also get privileges for an accumulation of positive points.
4. The law change in Honk Kong and , as I pointed out in my second post in this thread , a declaration, very recently, that if Taiwan isn't ceded to China within 50 years they will take it by force.It's been a sovereign state since 1949.
5..It behaves in a bellicose manner towards it's neighbours ..The Philippines,Vietnam, and India. I mentioned in my second post (above) re the 20 Indian soldiers killed by Chinese soldiers recently on the border. It sabre-rattling towards Japan re the disputed Senkaku islands has been at such a level that it's prompted Japan to increase its military capability.
6. South China Sea. As you say, many claims on it from surrounding countries but China is constructing new islands and militarising them with planes and missiles. You mention it's strategic position re any attack on China but it's it's a strategic international waterway too. As you also mentioned there are the minerals. Oil,gas,..the near-shore placer minerals..zircon, monazite, gold, chromite, tin and titaniferous magnetite.
7. There's the so-called Belt and Road initiative re infrastructure in Europe,Asia and Africa. Infact Xinjiang is geographically important to this initiative. Someone observed that roads built to carry trucks etc can also carry military equipment.
It's foreign aid programmes to Africa..SE Asia..and Latin America surpasses that of the US, and is largely in the form of export credits and loans which can plunge weaker economies into a debt trap..I've mentioned that on here too..and this will cause them to sell-off their strategic assets to China. International observers will say that newly-found power will sooner or later translate into military power and could lead to geopolitical conflict. It's increased its defence spending almost five-fold in a decade. It can now challenge US supremacy in the South China Sea. For whatever reason ,Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership...described as the most grievous self-inflicted wound to America's global leadership since the creation of the liberal world order since WW2. A massive gift to China and a massive blow to democratic aspirations in SE Asia.
8. You also stated that there was no IP theft. It's easier if I post this link.
Christopher Wray says China using ‘any means necessary’, with Chinese theft of US trade secrets costing ‘$300bn-$600bn a year’
www.theguardian.com
China has enjoyed extremely rapid industrial growth but that surge has been achieved with the labour (mainly women) of those living in rural China who move to the urban areas for work (85% of China's poor live in rural areas) and their working and living conditions are appalling and they endure forced excessive overtime..70 hours a week...have no representation, no social security rights,no employment contracts and suffer severe health risks. Because there's no maternity leave,no child care they have to leave their children with relative back home. One particular occupation involves sandblasting..It's used to treat denim so the fabric has a worn look. I've seen youngsters here wearing jeans and tops like that.The workers are exposed to silica which severely damages the respiratory system causing silicosis, which,if left untreated leads to death. Sandblasting blasting was banned in the EU in 1966.
(I'm sure someone will think..Leicester,Manchester/London ..clothes factories..and that was out of order too but this is accepted practice on a massive scale)
Other countries see how China is progressing and they see an authoritarian regime so China encourages authoritarian regimes by example..Authoritarian capitalism. Look at Turkey-Poland-Hungary. China itself is becoming more and more authoritarian, infact a neo-totalitarian state under Xi Jinping. See point 3 re the social credit system. It's suppression of religious and cultural minorities. It's domineering claims to the South China Sea,other territorial; disputes with other countries in Asia.The buying up of ports and infrastructure. It doesn't help that Trump has managed to alienate allies and turned America inwards. My hope is that he won't be in the White House beyond noon on January 20th.
It's taken a little longer than I'd like to put this together but at least you've had a response albeit a little late.
www.independent.co.uk
Nobody is 'apolitical' To be Human, is to be political.