U.S. defense chief says China destabilizing Pacific

Utter nonsense. China is not disrupting Greenland, Canada, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Syria, Libya or probably a dozen other countries I could find. That's the U.S. with military bases all over the globe sticking its fingers in just about every pie on the planet. China is basically confined to their own region.

No, China is disrupting Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. The Chinese make territorial claims to Okinawa and the Senkaku Islands. They took Mischief Reef and Scarborough Shoals from the Philippines, the latter in response to the Philippines arresting Chinese fishermen operating inside Philippines EEZ. The Chinese assert sovereignty over seas that legally fall with Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Philippine EEZs. They are trying to shove aside the nations bordering the South China Sea and take their fish, oil and gas. Their maritime militia disguised as a fishing fleet attacks fishing boats of other nations, including South Korean fishing boats operating inside South Korea's EEZ in the Yellow Sea. Their island bases also constitute an unstated threat to deny access to other nations shipping in the South China Sea if China so chooses. You are either blind to Chinese aggression or sympathetic to it. What is it?

Is the musclehead the U.S.? AFAIK two U.S. carriers with escorts are still in the South China Sea, a VERY long way from the U.S. to be up in China's face.

That navy is there to protect shipping lanes from Chinese encroachment. Much American trade passes through those waters. I have sailed them often. Nobody is certain the Chinese won't try to block the use of that sea if they chose so. They want to control those waters to exploit the resources there, meaning the fisheries, oil and gas. Only the presence of strong naval forces will deter such a move by the Chinese and keep those sea lanes open.

The old Soviet Union kept AGIs (AGI = Auxilary, Intelligence Gathering) ships, some quite large with many sophisticated sensors, just off the US coast outside major military installations and the biggest cities sucking up everything across the electromagnetic spectrum. Analyst ran key word searches on the gigabites of data coming in constantly looking for unencrypted telephone conversations or other communications that might be interesting to the Soviet military or the political leadership. Those communications were flagged for analysis in Moscow later. I've seen the ships sitting off San Diego. Our standing orders were to leave them alone. Since they stayed in international waters maybe two dozen miles offshore it was perfectly legal for them to be there. They were professional, we were professional and nothing untoward ever happened. Most Americans never even knew the ships were out there. We never complained to the Soviets about them as we had no grounds to. It was up to us to protect our comms and not use the phone stupidly. The Soviets sailed a whole surface action group right off Waikiki once, clearly visible from the beach but just outside the 12 nm limit. We monitored it closely but that was it. No angry cries from our diplomats. They were legally in international waters so there was nothing we could say. There were Soviet ships stationed in Cuba as well, at Cienfuegos. Since it was sovereign Cuban soil and the Soviet ships stayed out of our territorial waters there was nothing we could do. Nobody whined.

"AFAIK two U.S. carriers with escorts are still in the South China Sea, a VERY long way from the U.S. to be up in China's face."

Most countries affected or threatened by China's SCS buildup would welcome the US carriers. Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Australia, Japan would all want freely navigable sea lanes unless you are okay with a major shipping and trade route turning into a Chinese lake.

China is not disrupting Greenland, Canada, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Syria, Libya or probably a dozen other countries I could find.

China is attempting to interfere in Canada's judicial system regards the detained Huawei executive. China has detained two Canadian citizens and given them the death penalty for alleged spying. I call that interfering. But perhaps you dont think that counts. China and Russia do not stand on each others toes so those other nations you mentioned are being interfered with by Russia with the one exception of Greenland. Russia has claimed the Middle east and China has Africa. Perhaps their fishing fleets are taking catches from Greenland that are not getting much coverage.

China is disruptive in South and East Asia, in the Pacific and in Africa. That not enough for you? Ohh go ahead and point out America is as bad in many ways I dont dispute it. China is the big worry as its way of ruling is with an iron fist and no chance to vote out their leaders. At least in the US you can either vote them out or wait them out.

There is no doubt in my mind that China is a disruptive element not just in the Pacific region but almost everywhere in the world now.

Utter nonsense. China is not disrupting Greenland, Canada, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Syria, Libya or probably a dozen other countries I could find. That's the U.S. with military bases all over the globe sticking its fingers in just about every pie on the planet. China is basically confined to their own region.

The US does not lend direct, it's actually a debtor nation,

I was not talking about exact modes straight down the line. U.S. foreign aid is not a loan at all, but in the end the U.S. winds up getting a lot of what it wants out of other countries by leveraging it and also through veiled threats or even direct economic ones that people don't pay attention to. Look up FACTA. Utterly pigish behavior by the U.S. government. And that's not even getting into opium in Afghanistan or previously Vietnam.

People are waking up to the stench of the U.S. government finally. And its giving China a foot hold in the world.

Only Chinese agents use the term "hegemony" when describing America.

Not Russian agents then? Nor Cuban? Nor Iranian? Only Chinese? That's clue number one you are out of your element.

Thanks for showing your true Chinese allegiance.

I criticized China over Tibet. A Chinese agent or someone allied to China would NEVER do that. Clue number two you are out of your element.

It is incredible how my tongue-in-cheek and common-as-dirt sleight of another poster got removed but someone straight up accusing me of being a paid Chinese agent and basically a traitor is condoned. Is it not realized how very offensive that is? The difference is stark, horrific, baseless and totally unacceptable.

Yes its clear some people are incapable of seeing anything beyond the bipolar, but in fact there is a third option. I think both China and the U.S. are overbearing greed bags. But its the U.S. doing it more and even being more of a hypocrite. If both governments and their supporters vanished tomorrow I think the world would be a much better place.

It is difficult to trust anything that comes out of this White House. If we had a president who was not an incompetent, corrupt narcissist, surrounding himself with incompetent sycophants, it would be easier to trust what they say.

Is China becoming a stronger player on the world stage? Yes. Can we look to the current resident of the White House for leadership? No.

Please read the story. It is about America pointing its finger in China’s garden.

That comment was a reply to another posters comment not the story. Pay attention now.

China trying to hide its disruptions by finger pointing at other nations. So obvious.

Please read the story. It is about America pointing its finger in China’s garden.

Remengesau welcomed U.S. efforts to boost its military presence in Indo-Pacific region."It gives us those of us in Palau a great sense of security and a sense of stability heading into the future," he said.

Another example of poor leadership. Tommy selling his people out for the American dollar.

Hahaha! China is indeed destabilizing the Pacific every US election time!

As a result of this Washingjing and Beijington war games charade the AIT Supermart was at last able to forcibly sale ractopamine pork to the poor and helpless President English Tsai!

I’m pretty sure that Trump is secretly calling Xi in his red telephone hotline to express his gratitude!

Same old drone droning on with the anti Trump rhetoric on the top of every post gets boring doesnt it, no point even bothering to read the comments coming out of it as its just the same droning moaning whine. They have Got nothing ever good to say, EVER !

I completely agree.

Only Chinese agents use the term "hegemony" when describing America. Thanks for showing your true Chinese allegiance. Hope the pay is worth it.

I doubt the poster is wumao.

Many posters here have issues with both Chinese and US hegemony. Ain't nobody paying us nowt to voice those concerns.

LOL, where some people get an opinion is truly astounding.

The US does not lend direct, it's actually a debtor nation, the US contributes to multilateral organization like the IMF, the World Bank etc. and these orgs. haven't lent to these PI countries because the standards for loan are appropriately high.

China lends because it wants the resources, google who has bought tuna quotas etc., for projects that are marginal financially, and highly questionable in terms of needs.

This is all before the rampant ccorruptions and secret Caymans accounts etc.

Spot on, couldn't agree more!

Both the US and China are destabilising the region.

They will find themselves international pariahs, eventually.

Its no secret the U.S. does the same and worse. Does this clown actually wonder why American hegemony is fading?

LOL, where some people get an opinion is truly astounding.

The US does not lend direct, it's actually a debtor nation, the US contributes to multilateral organization like the IMF, the World Bank etc. and these orgs. haven't lent to these PI countries because the standards for loan are appropriately high.

China lends because it wants the resources, google who has bought tuna quotas etc., for projects that are marginal financially, and highly questionable in terms of needs.

This is all before the rampant ccorruptions and secret Caymans accounts etc.

It would be nice if China would continue to let the Asian nations live and let live in the Pacific region as all of them have been doing since the end of WWII, but it looks like there's something seriously wrong when looking at all of the foreign islands China's been snatching up and building military bases on.

Its no secret the U.S. does the same and worse. Does this clown actually wonder why American hegemony is fading?

Only Chinese agents use the term "hegemony" when describing America. Thanks for showing your true Chinese allegiance. Hope the pay is worth it.

China trying to hide its disruptions by finger pointing at other nations. So obvious.

There is no doubt in my mind that China is a disruptive element not just in the Pacific region but almost everywhere in the world now. That said I also believe that Trump is as disruptive as China even though he leads America. This leave's the world in a perilous position that can only be corrected with Biden gaining office.

Should Trump remain in office the disruptive forces coming from both China and Trump added to Russia's ongoing belligerence can not be good for the world in any way. Dangerous times need at least one sane and stabilizing factor. It has to be America but it cant be under Trump. As sad as it may be, only Biden can help regain sanity in the nation the world looks to for safety and stability. America really needs some young blood with new ideas but sadly both Trump and Biden are old men and the only options on the table. Biden 2020 is the way forward. Trump 2020 is the way to anarchy. Choose well America for the world is as effected by your choice as you are. Although it seems a great many Americans care nothing for anyone but America.

Let alone south china sea. US devasted the whole world. Nothing comes out better politcally from that country.

I agree with Vanessa and Goodluck, but the 'like' button does not work.

China should freedom navigate in the Gulf of Mexico and Hawaii.

Yep, just like in high school when a musclehead would get huge faster than anyone and start to take over the bench press. It is inevitable.

Is the musclehead the U.S.? AFAIK two U.S. carriers with escorts are still in the South China Sea, a VERY long way from the U.S. to be up in China's face.

Yep, just like in high school when a musclehead would get huge faster than anyone and start to take over the bench press. It is inevitable.

Wow don't know which high school messed you up, but in real world China is by no means faster, or at a point to take over anything and best pay more attention to its own internal affairs than meddling with its neighbors like it has been doing or the musclehead will kick them so far back beyond 3rd world that they will literally think its back in ancient China again but this time unrecoverable, that is destined a fact well written thousands of years ago and coming true.

Esper said he and Remengesau had discussed the need to respect "sovereignty of nations of all sizes".

And over how many nations are American war drones flying over right this moment with no declaration of war at all? Does this clown actually wonder why American hegemony is fading?

"It's no secret that they are loaning money and putting money into the economies of many Pacific island nations," he told reporters. "That has an impact on how people view the relationship with those who help them."

Its no secret the U.S. does the same and worse. Does this clown actually wonder why American hegemony is fading?

Esper said the United States and Palau shared values of freedom "where all countries respect the rules and norms for peace and prosperity of all nations".

So this clown does not know about American support for Saddam Hussein, the Shah of Iran, Batista, or King Salman and his son Prince Mohammad? This clown does not know the names of Lumumba, Allende, or Castro or what the CIA did or tried to do to them? He never heard of Vietnam or Ho Chi Minh? Messes America created in Iraq and Afghanistan? Does this clown actually wonder why American hegemony is fading?

And China? What has China done? Tibet? Claim some nearby islands of strategic importance also claimed by every body else in the region? While American war vessels from the literal other side of the planet conduct "exercises" there? Does this clown not understand why Pacific Island nations are switching allegiances besides money?

That may be so, but USA is hardly the role model. If only Xi had agreed to Trump's request and help him with his election in November, Xi and Trump would still be best buddies.

Same old drone droning on with the anti Trump rhetoric on the top of every post gets boring doesnt it, no point even bothering to read the comments coming out of it as its just the same droning moaning whine. They have Got nothing ever good to say, EVER !

The pot calls the kettle black!

Yes, life would be so much better under Chinese hegemony... (rolls eyes)

So much dishonesty and corruption has come out of Trump's administration that is no longer possible to give them the benefit of the doubt when they say something. Anything they say is more likely to be false than true.

While Palau is an independent nation, it has no military and the U.S. is responsible for its defense under an agreement with Washington.

Under the deal, the U.S. military has access to the islands, although it currently has no troops stationed there.

A U.S. military radar facility is planned but construction was suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Palau keen to retain its virus-free status.

Remengesau welcomed U.S. efforts to boost its military presence in Indo-Pacific region.

"It gives us those of us in Palau a great sense of security and a sense of stability heading into the future," he said.

I'll bet. What a sweet deal!

It's the next chapter for these Pacific Island nations. Abandon their way of life with China, or resist the temptation and stay true to their culture. What the west has been able trying to do with them is to achieve a balance between culture and modernization. China will turn this upside down.

For those with a severe Trump chip on their shoulders, you keep digging and digging, and found no ties to the CCP, yet say nothing Biden and his son's being on Chinese boards.

As for this story, well, China is destabilizing the entire world. Just in, the WHO's delegation didn't even bother to visit Wuhan, ground zero, in the 3 weeks it has been in China. I would not be surprised at all if this investigation into the origin of the virus becomes a whitewash. What then? WW3?

Not as much a Trump has. By crapping all over our allies.

The pot calls the kettle black!

as we continue work alongside our allies and partners to protect that international system that is under threat

Which allies does the Trump admin have left, and how willing are any of them to 'work alongside' Trump knowing he could flip-flop at any minute. Have the Trump klan severed their personal business ties with members of the CCP.