politics

Asian nations move to defuse tensions in Pacific as U.S. tries to reassert influence

35 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

35 Comments
Login to comment

if the US focused on the bigger picture rather than a few taliban hold up in a cave, they wouldnt have to worry about 'reasserting' influence... the amount of money and credibility that has been blown in the last 10 years by the US is just astounding.... one of bin ladens aims was to engage the US and its allies in an ongoing war which has both distracted them from other areas while draining them financially.....

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Asia doesn't need the US, the US needs Asia, US is really in no position to do anything.

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

The United States is the only thing keeping China from claiming more and more territory has part of china. It is absolutely ridiculous that china claims waters all the way to the Malaysian and Indonesian coasts. Asia needs the United States.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

sunhawk: I doubt china is that stupid, where does China make those land claims?

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

it considers taiwan, tibet, senkaku islands, and several other islands owned other nations its territory. there are even some in china that claim okinawa belongs to china because the pre imperial japan gov't paid tribute to the emperor of china.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

i imagine all governments use similar variations, but one thing i can't take from china government, the way they lie. lying is part of their code of ethics. can't believe anything from the chinese government

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"sunhawk: I doubt china is that stupid,"

cant believe your not up to speed on this.

nothing to do with being stupid i guess either

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Asia doesn't need the US, the US needs Asia, US is really in no position to do anything.

You are so wrong on that one. Sunhawk is right. Strategically, it makes sense. Without the U.S. how long do you think it would take for China to take as much of the waters off Malaysian, Indonesian and beyond. China is so greedy for raw materials, natural resources that even China is running out of, so to satiate their growing appetite, China will seize on ANY opportunity where there is one to seize whatever raw natural material they can get, including the ocean. Also, remember there is still the potential, possible threat of North Korea that you can't forget. Who else can thwart China in the Pacific, Russia, Australia?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Looks like China is learning to play the game. Nice.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If the US wasn' t there Japan and N.S.Korea would be another Tibet.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

i'm surprised n.korea and mongolia are independent nations and that china didn't tibet them too.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

China is beginning to understand that making peace with your neighbors is better than fighting with them, and the USA is beginning to understand that an eventual economic partnership between Japan, South Korea, China, and North Korea is maybe only two decades away. An economic partnership between these nations would be one of the most powerful on the planet.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@bass4fun - China is so greedy for raw materials, natural resources that even China is running out of, so to satiate their growing appetite, China will seize on ANY opportunity where there is one to seize whatever raw natural material they can get, including the ocean.

so china will basically act like the u.s. then? u.s. invaded iraq b/c it was suppose to possess wmd, when all u.s. wanted was the oil.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

maglev101 so china will basically act like the u.s. then? u.s. invaded iraq b/c it was suppose to possess wmd, when all u.s. wanted was the oil.

It's true that the US is oil-greedy but in the case of Iraq it was to ensure stability in oil supplies. We get a fairly small % of our oil from the Middle East.

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm

2 ( +2 / -0 )

You mean this? http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/foreign_oil_dependence.cfm

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The problem is the Chinese foriegn ministry makes rather nice sounding gestures, but hawks in the party act and continue to claim that China's claim on the entire south china sea is undisputable.

So what room is there to negociate other than a subtle form of intimidation.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Mayb this is part of a deal between PRC and US to get some releif on the issue they had about the Ruanby and the announcement that US will think about trade blockades... But I also agree with the comments above that PRC needs the Us for having access for a big customer market.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What concerns the U.S. is the accelerated buildup of offensive weapons by China, especially the ICBM. U.S. recently had military exercise about 16 miles from Chinese waters off the coast of Vietnam. There is a substantial political manuvering, a chess game, and this will continue. U.S. can contain China anyday. U.S. has allies in Japan, South Korea, Philippines, and now, stronger alliance with Vietnam. China cannot match the air power of U.S.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

WHO CARES? There are far bigger stories japan!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

sunhawk

it considers taiwan, tibet, senkaku islands, and several other islands owned other nations its territory. there are even some in china that claim okinawa belongs to china because the pre imperial japan gov't paid tribute to the emperor of china.

japan has territorial disputes with ALL her neighbours. diaoyu islands belong to china/taiwan which japan tried to steal through unequal treaties. kuril islands belong to russia and japanese should learn to stop making a fuss over it otherwise russia will have to teach japan another lesson. dokdo belongs to korea, and japan disgracefully banned their politicians from using air korea due to the dispute. if china is greedy, what does that make japan? fact is, japan still act like the imperialists they always were and claim the territories of all their neighbours. what a pathetic imperialist attitude from japan. btw, tibet, taiwan and inner mongolia have been part of china longer than okinawa being part of japan. so keep silent.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

the US = biggest hypocrite in the world. the US criticise china for expanding her influence across asia, yet the americans think they have all the rights to insert their own influence in asia. the US criticise china for pollution, when it was the americans and her western friends who was the most polluted country on earth since the industrial revolution. the US criticise china for military spending, when it is the americans who spend more on military than any country in the world. the US criticise china for being aggressive, when it is the US who have been the most aggressive military country since ww2. the hypocrisy is killing me here.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

so china will basically act like the u.s. then? u.s. invaded iraq b/c it was suppose to possess wmd, when all u.s. wanted was the oil.

What are you talking about? You are so far off topic, I won't even respond that baseless comment.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"japan has territorial disputes with ALL her neighbours. diaoyu islands belong to china/taiwan which japan tried to steal through unequal treaties. kuril islands belong to russia and japanese should learn to stop making a fuss over it otherwise russia will have to teach japan another lesson."

No you're totally wrong. Japan has 4 territorial disputes with her neighbors. China has 17 leading all of Asia in numbers of territorial disputes. The Senkaku Islamds were incorporated as part of Japan in January of 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki ending the Sino-Japanese war wasn't until April of 1895 and the Semkakus werem't even included as an issue because China (Ching) didn't even own them. As for the Southern Kuriles, the USSR stole those islamnds by invading them AFTER Japan had surrendered. This is why the Unitd States, THe UK anfd the EU considers them Japanese Territory under Russian occupation to this day. The only country bthat needs to be taught a lesson is China, a militant one-party dictatorship that is threatening all of Asia, and the United States is the biggest obstacle to it's expansionist agenda.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

OssanAmericaJul. 23, 2011 - 08:34AM JST. The only country bthat needs to be taught a lesson is China, a militant one-party dictatorship that is threatening all of Asia, and the United States is the biggest obstacle to it's expansionist agenda.

It's a chess game between China and U.S. However, China's growing military expenditure is a normal process of their economic growth. They need to expand in protecting their own interest of the sea lanes for raw materials shipped from Australia, the Middle East and other countries. If you compare the spending of military expenditure of China versus U.S., China spends about 1/7th and it's still very low. It's normal for China to have conflicts in a historical area of many unfair treaties. I doubt China will do something exceptionally stupid. China has never invaded Japan. However, Japan is another story.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

ahh americans can't take criticism what-so-ever.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It sounds like Hillary wants to lecture some discipline to China or somewhat similarin her tough talks? Send the aircraft carriers to China's near seas and see what happens to those floating coffins! Hint, this is no more like last time march1996! Yes,it's time China has to get back those debts all neighbours owed!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@guanyu189: You are absolutely right, the those warmongers is now ay to back off to kicks up some kind of troubles with China! Now those loud speaker like Admiral Mullen always shouting China is targeting America from sea to space to cyber space..etc. Now the PLA invited him for inspection to ease his concerns and he did went to contact with the Chinese military with his own eyes! Just after he leave,a US nuclear submaine parked in Busan...you know what? That was a stalking attempt to China's coming Aircraft Carrier test trail going to take place at sea! Now you have noticed :. the US criticise china for being aggressive.......Now you tell me how can China talking in a fair position with a big bully like this? America defeated in Iraq and afghaniostan was China's faults and blaming Chinese whatsoever with those false accusations! Obama and Hillary was just jealous of China's success in the last 10 years to coverup their 'uncompetences' at home, this is the basic 'american politics 101'! What China need to do is greatly boosting her defense budget in coming years and use theNorth Korea as' a proxy war' agent to make america attritions! If Hillary sounds like she wants to lecture her so called :Hillary doctrine, what China needs to do is bringing out Korean card as response!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The Korean peninsula nuclear tensions could be defused once if Mr Obama and Hilaary clinton goes to apology to North Korea for those war damages and casualties inflicted to Chinese army during the Korean war! Just they were as stubborn as always refused to do and talks tough here!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@sfjp330: 'What concerns the U.S. is the accelerated buildup of offensive weapons by China, especially the ICBM.' I would like to remind you, America has more SLBMs and B-2A bombers that was targeting the entire China. Those were the fundamental 'elemenst of tensions' in the Pacific, America has never renounced NO first use of nuclear weapons and she never renounced the use of nuclear weapons since they threatened to use in Korean war! If North Korea's nuclear issue was something that threatened the security across the Pacific, then those nuclear arsenals aimed at China were the equals! America just never discussing how many populations of China they are targeting. From Chinese view nobody can blaming China's buildup of IRBM/ ICBM/SLBM/ASAT capabilities as self-defense! What I blame Chinese government was they arent doing enough!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

America influence in pacific? Was that a face saving after the Cheonan incident? Get over it and learn a lesson, those democrat unrealists!! Didnt the lesson in Afghanistan wasnt costly enough?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

ahh americans can't take criticism what-so-ever.

@gogogo

We can take a lot of criticism, just as long as it is constructive criticism. We try to avoid hearing any criticism that is ideologically driven. I just don't understand, what does that have any thing to do with America reasserting itself in the region to keep an eye on China and NK?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Think it's more important for the U.S. to get her debt under control. Otherwise, there will be no sailing of U.S. warships in the South China sea, unless China loans the money to pay for it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

bass4funk: I don't think so, I saw the posts after America lost the woman's world cup

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@gogogo

That's Soccer, it's a sport event, nothing to do with real life, just a past time, no one was killed over it, besides, how many other nations get upset if their team losses, just a part of sportsmanship. So yes, we can take the criticism.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

China is playing a vastly different game to the U.S.A.

While the US bleeds money to bolster its anachronistic military, China is quietly manufacturing, investing, buying land, lending money, building up huge influence in Africa and generally carving out a future for itself.

What is the US doing apart from getting deeper in debt?

America needs to come out of its world of fantasy, quit its self elected role of world policeman (which no one asked it to and which no one wants, and which it is pathetically hopeless at), roll up its sleeves and do some actual production.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites