Quote Originally Posted by carl View Post

And as I already mentioned above, it isn't just the accumulation of more fighting ships; it is the accumulation of more fighting ships combined with all the other things I mentioned above.

I fear they will take over the South China Sea, effectively turning it into Chinese territorial waters, thence cowing Vietnam, the PI, Malaysia, Thailand etc into becoming tropical Finlands. After that I fear the consequences, since the killer elites that run China don't impress me as being primarily motivated by the golden rule.
It is quite surprising that the Communists, be it the Russians or the Chinese, who have always professed the Theory of Peaceful Coexistence, is now on a different path altogether.

China has always spoken of all to apply the Bandung Spirit (1955) that can be summarised as a call for a peaceful coexistence among the nations, for the liberation from the hegemony of any superpower and for building solidarities towards the weak and those being weakened by the world order of the day.


One is astonished how the cat has jumped!

Could it be that China used it as a smokescreen to disarm the neighbours and parts of the world into complacency at that time. And then during the phase where they aimed to be a challenge to the US, disarmed the US and West with platitudes and piety of Peaceful Rise, and now that it can challenge the US to some extent, the US being preoccupied with its economy and other 'wars', China is showing its true colours?

Well, you have to give it to them that they are real clever even if slim customers!