John:
The things you mention will work in the short term, the next few years, if...if we do them with great energy. I am not sure we are doing anything. The Chinese pushed around some of our ships last year and whatever we did didn't stop them from shooting at Filipino and Vietnamese fishermen this year. What have we said about these latest incidents? Nothing much that I am aware of, and if my local paper doesn't make me aware of it then it wasn't strong enough. We have been friends with the Filipinos for a long time and the Vietnamese could do us a lot of good in the future and yet we say nothing. Some actual harsh words and regular port calls to Cam Ranh Bay by strong battle groups would work wonders. Of course the Chinese would scream bloody murder but I doubt they would do much. If we aren't willing to accept squawking we are back to doing nothing.
Once their navy gets big enough, all bets are off.
Guaranteeing access and freedom of navigation may require us to go toe to toe with the Chinese someday. Their actions over the last several years suggest it may come to that. Better to do something now thereby postponing it at the least.
Tequila is right, the CCP controls the military, all of it. I've read though that it is very useful for the CCP to keep people wondering, a clever tactic. They can hint that the peace loving CCP members are doing their best to keep those military savages in line, but they need help. So the CCP diplomats ask that other countries don't do anything that would set the savages off, like say exercising legitimate international rights or reacting to Chinese military provocations. Our elites would be suckers for that argument because it conforms to their pre-conceptions.
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