Short of war, China now controls South China Sea

May 8, 2018 — Asia Times Online reports: “Tensions in the South China Sea are on the boil again amid new reports that China has deployed advanced missiles to land features in the disputed maritime area.

According to new reports, China has installed several Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) and Anti-Cruise Ballistic Missiles (ACBMs) systems across the Paracel and Spratly island chains, parts of which are claimed by multiple regional states including the Philippines and Vietnam.

Weeks earlier, China also deployed electronic jamming equipment to the maritime area, giving it the ability to disrupt the command-and-control communications of rival states’ military assets operating in the South China Sea.

China’s neighbors and rivals fear that the Asian powerhouse is slowly but surely establishing the foundation of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in one of the world’s most important and busy waterways. Over US$5 trillion worth of global trade traversed the sea last year.

Boosting China’s missile defense system in the area would allow it to progressively restrict the movement as well as squeeze the supply lines of smaller claimant states, all of which maintain comparatively modest military capabilities to fortify their sea claims…”  (China will become a basic partner with Russia for the rapidly approaching battle of Armageddon – Revelation 16:16. Russia will lead invasion number one – Ezekiel 38 & 39. China will lead invasion number two – Revelation 16:12; Revelation 9:14 – 16. Then all nations will come against Jerusalem for the final invasion at which point Jesus will return to stop the bloodshed and set up his eternal kingdom upon earth – “[He gathers] all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken… Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south” – Zechariah 14:2 – 4. Then Psalm 2:6 occurs as God the Father says: “…I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion [Jerusalem].”  See the next three reports)

China’s ‘new’ map aims to extend South China Sea claims

April 30, 2018 — Asia Times Online reports: “In what is likely a new bid to reinforce and even expand China’s sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea, a group of Chinese scholars recently published a ‘New Map of the People’s Republic of China.’

The alleged political national map, reportedly first published in April 1951 but only ‘discovered’ through a recent national archival investigation, could give new clarity to the precise extent of China’s official claims in the disputed waters.

Instead of dotted lines, as reflected in China’s U-shaped Nine-Dash Line claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, the newly discovered map provides a solid ‘continuous national boundary line and administrative region line.’

The Chinese researchers claim that through analysis of historical maps, the 1951 solid-line map ‘proves’ beyond dispute that the ‘U-boundary line is the border of China’s territorial sea’ in the South China Sea.

They also claim that the solid administrative line overlaying the U-boundary ‘definitely indicated that the sovereignty of the sea’ enclosed within the U-boundary ‘belonged to China.’…”

China advances, West frets in South Pacific

April 25, 2018 — Asia Times Online reports: “Recent Australian media reports suggest that China aims to establish a permanent naval base on the Pacific island republic of Vanuatu, a move which if true would significantly shift the region’s security dynamics.

The Vanuatu government and China deny that any such plans are afoot. But the fact is that China has already built a new wharf on the Vanuatu island of Espiritu Santo which is far too large for the mere commercial purposes of its 40,000 inhabitants and occasional tourists.

The port, built with financial support from China, is one of the largest in the South Pacific and can accommodate three cargo ships and two cruise liners at the same time, according to press reports.

Whatever the facility’s ultimate intent, the controversy surrounding it has put a new spotlight on China’s expanding influence in the South Pacific, a challenge not only to nearby Australia but also to the United States as the prime power in the region.

Most of the Pacific nations are tiny with minuscule populations. But they each have huge economic exclusive zones (EEZs) in the vast waterway that lies between China and America…”

U.S. Commerce Secretary calls China 2025 plan ‘frightening’

April 25, 2018 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “China’s plan to transform itself into the global technology nexus is a ‘frightening’ one that puts American intellectual property at risk, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday.

‘It’s a huge, huge problem,’ Ross told a gathering of fabric industry executives about the repeated theft of technology. ‘And it’s not going away.’

He said Beijing’s development plan — Made in China 2025 — maps out the country’s strategy to dominate ‘every hot industry’ from space to telecommunications to robotics to electric cars.

‘They have been the factory floor of the world, now their vision is to be the technology center for the world,’ Ross said.

‘What they are really trying to do is take their immense trade surplus from the conventional industries of today…and plow them into semiconductor research and every kind of research you can imagine.’…”