South China Sea and China (2011-2017)

[Ray]

If naval exercises assert that you're not a has-been, the US has never been one, because naval exercises in the SCS are an annual ritual, have been for decades.

There may be some in China who see the US as a has-been, but there are many more who see the US as a dangerous, aggressive power bent on hemming them in and curbing their growth, one that they must be prepared to resist. The PLA, naturally, encourages this view.

How do you figure Americans would feel about the Chinese navy conducting exercises in the Gulf of Mexico and off the California coast?

It is not that I am a ‘has been’. It is just that your repeated assertions that the US’ involvement and engagement in the Asia Pacific Rim is mere ritualistic and has no strategic intent or a desire to exert its influence.

And that the US Philippines naval exercise is a mere ritual and has nothing to do with the Chinese aggressive intent in the South China Sea.

Therefore, I find your remark in the post to Carl -

The point is that before we assume that people think we're impotent and we need to show them otherwise

interesting.

IIRC, your view was that the Obama Asia tour was merely a visit to Asia. The ‘encirclement’ fears expressed by the Chinese media was mere rituals and so were the visits and pronouncement of Ms Clinton was a ritual. The unveiling of the Chinese Stealth and Gate’s visit and his pronouncement were mere ritualistic and the unveiling was a coincidence. The sum total was that these are mere ‘another day’s work’.

You have asserted that the US Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty was only applicable if one was physically attacked.

In short, the US is merely a bystander to what is happening in the Asia Pacific and is not concerned with the events occurring in the South China Sea.

Now, once again, you dismiss the US - Philippines naval exercise as an 'annual ritual'. In other words, routine!

If indeed it were an annual ritual of no consequence but a ‘ritual’, it is surprising that China would react so strongly as

“It’s not a proper time for the United States to conduct military drills in the region with the Philippines and Vietnam,” said Gen. Chen Bingde, chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army during a news briefing with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff…….

“The timing of these joint exercises is inappropriate as we see it,” Gen. Chen said. “If the United States truly wants peace and stability in the region, it should adjust the schedule of its military drills.”

From:http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...rcises-inappr/

What did Ms Clinton mean by:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton riled China last year when she said freedom of navigation in the area was a U.S. national interest

From:http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...rcises-inappr/

Obviously, national interest, if was a mere ritual, would not require reminder!

And what Adm Mullen stated at Renmin University indicates just what I was saying – that the US is a Pacific power and will exert its will and not be a mere ritual obsessed bystander.

In a speech to a Renmin University on Sunday, Adm. Mullen said the United States is a Pacific power and would remain so

From:http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...rcises-inappr/

Lastly, if indeed as you have continuously reiterated throughout that the US Philippines naval exercise was a mere ‘annual ritual’ and has nothing to do with the Chinese aggressive actions in the South China Sea, could you explain why immediately after the US Phlippines naval exercise, the US is carrying out a similar exercise with Vietnam?

Indeed, why should the US undertake a naval exercise with Vietnam? It is not an ‘annual ritual’? In fact, the US has no military ties with Vietnam. So, why?

US may have cut their Defence Budget, but under no circumstances has she diluted her strategic intent nor is she a ‘has been’. She is a superpower and will continue to be so even if appears to have toned down its rhetoric!