The militarization of the oceans and South China Sea

Is that a problem? If the islands are claimed by the Philippines or Indonesia or Vietnam and they put troops there, would that be militarization, would that be a problem? The Philippines still have a rusty unseaworthy junk rotting away in a Chinese island that they called a warship. Was that militarization? What if the Americans claim one of the islands and put turned it into another military base, would it be militarization?

What do you think the Americans have done in Guam and Diego Garcia? Both islands are military fortresses, one to control the sea routes in the western Pacific and another to control the Indian Ocean.  Any problem with that?  Not militarization? It is ok if the Americans turned these islands into military bases, islands they seized far away from their now homeland they seized from the native Americans and turned them into military bases, and yes, for peace, for Pax Americana.

Would there be any country out there to say no to the American military presence in the Indian and Pacific Oceans? No, even India is prepared to live with the American military presence in their sphere of influence, used to be the Brits in the island of Gan. But of course India could not say no, unable to drive out the Brits or the Americans.

With the Americans setting up military bases in Japan and South Korea and the Philippines, are they militarizing the region, the East China Sea and the South China Sea? With the 7^th Fleet armed to the teeth and the impending entry of the 3^rd Fleet, are the Americans militarizing the South China Sea and western Pacific Ocean? There is no need to put weapons on islands to militarizing the region. The American Fleets are moving islands of war. And what is so wrong about China building military bases in their own territory, their own islands?

According to Wikipedia, these are the military facilities in Guam,

·         ‘U.S. Naval Base Guam, U.S. Navy – Sumay

• U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam, – Sumay
• Andersen Air Force Base, U.S. Air Force – Yigo
• Apra Harbor – Orote peninsula
• Ordnance Annex, U.S. Navy – South Central Highlands (formerly known as Naval Magazine)
• Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station, U.S. Navy – Barrigada and Finegayan
• Joint Force Headquarters-Guam, Guam National Guard – Radio Barrigada and Fort Juan Muna

In addition to on-shore military installations, Guam, along with the rest of the Mariana Islands, is being prepared to be the westernmost military training range for the U.S. Guam is currently viewed as a key military hub that will further allow U.S. military power to be projected via sea and sky.

The U.S. military has proposed building a new aircraft carrier berth on Guam and moving 8,600 Marines, and 9,000 of their dependents, to Guam from Okinawa, Japan. Including the required construction workers, this buildup would increase Guam's population by 45%. In a February 2010 letter, the United States Environmental Protection Agency sharply criticized these plans because of a water shortfall, sewage problems and the impact on coral reefs.^[27] By 2012, these plans had been cut to only have a maximum of 4,800 Marines stationed on the island, two thirds of which would be there on a rotational basis without their dependents

American military facilities in Diego Garcia

Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia[edit]

B-1B Lancer bombers on Diego Garcia in November 2001 during the Afghanistan bombing campaign

Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia provides Base Operating Services to tenant commands located on the island. The command's mission is "To provide logistic support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf AORs in support of national policy objectives."^[124]

United States Air Force units based on Diego Garcia[edit]

• 36 MSG, Pacific Air Force
• Det 1, 715th AMOG, Air Mobility Command
• AFSPC Det 2, 22nd Space Operations Squadron, a GPS control facility, Air Force Space Command
• AFSPC Det 2, 18th Space Surveillance Squadron a GEODSS facility, Air Force Space Command

China should not back down when the Americans are militarizing the South China Sea and raising tension in the region. China should respond accordingly and bring in their defensive weapons to counter the irresponsible provocations and aggressive moves of the Americans. The US is forcing China to militarise the islands in the South China Sea. The Chinese must do it. The Americans only understand the reason of might. Learn from Putin and put military hardware in the islands and ask the Americans what do they want? War?

The hypocrisies of the Americans must be pasted on their faces. They have been militarizing the seas and oceans and have been the biggest provocateurs of war. Wherever there are Americans, there will be military tension and wars.

Britain committed an abominable sin

The whole of the western world, particularly the American allies, are fuming mad at Britain as if this ex world Empire has committed an unforgiveable sin. They are furious, how could Britain go it alone, broke ranks to party with their ‘enemy’ that they pretended to be friendly with?

What did the Brits do that invited the curse from every corner of the American alliance?  The British broke ranks when they took the lead to join the AIIB, A Chinese initiative to help the developing world in infrastructure development. This Chinese initiative was bad, anything the Chinese did must be bad. The American and western allies have always stayed together to divide the world among themselves, to stay together to whack and bully the rest of the world, one country at a time. They succeeded for several centuries by breaking up the countries of the world into individual targets to be ruled by the West.

Now, after joining the AIIB that led to the breaking of the dam for all the European countries to follow suit, Britain again has done the unspeakable, opening the door, roll out the read carpet, to invite Xi Jinping to Buckingham Palace and all the sacred places in Britain. How could Britain do these things? These places are only meant for the allies, not for the rest of the African and Asian countries, and definitely not for Communist China. They forgot that the wealth of Britain and many European countries, including Japan and the USA, were robbed from China and other colonized countries of the world.

Britain, the ever brilliant strategists, they did not rule the world for being daft, has seen the opportunities opening up for them in a China that is growing richer economically and a strategic alliance is the best thing for Britain. Britain will be the leader of Europe again, to take the lead, as the leader into a new world of cooperation with China. By courting China, Britain is positioning itself to benefit from trade and investments with China, undercutting the rest of Europe as the biggest beneficiary for being the first mover.

According to a senior western intelligence officer, too ashamed and afraid to be identified in case he needs to make a living in Beijing or Shanghai, as reported in the Financial Times, ‘The most charitable spin we can put on the current China policy of the British government is to say it is a pure mercantilist, unprincipled, self serving decision aimed at attracting short term investment. The big question is whether it works.’

What is so principled about western domination of world trade at the expense of Asia and African countries? What is so unprincipled to trade with China, to court China on mutually beneficial terms? Is he letting the cat out of the bag? What had the western allies been doing under cloak and dagger to control the world trade and to isolate and contain China?

Britain would have nothing to do with the old western dominance theory and policy. The world has changed and the Brits have seen it and are taking the bull by the horns to move ahead and leaving the scheming European and American allies sulking and sucking their thumbs. They can cry foul, but what is best for Britain, a former world empire, would be best left to the Brits. They needed China to grow, and so is the rest of the world. The European and western allies can cling on to their past glory and old method of divide and rule, and try to contain China, which is no longer containable. Not only China is rising, the rest of the world, Asia, Africa and Latin America are also rising.

Good luck to the ageing American Empire and their allies. The world is not going to wait for them and to be controlled by them anymore. They can frown and cry in disapproval, Queen Elizabeth is going to host Xi Jinping and his wife in Buckingham Palace as planned. British interest comes first.

Welcome to Britain and a decade of golden years in Sino British ties. It’s elementary, Watson. This is British diplomacy at its best.

Transparency and integrity of the govt and public officers

'The Minister for Health was first informed about the matter on Sept 18. He directed that it be made public, and that a full public explanation be given. Ms Chang makes much of the minister being ”officially” informed on Sept 18, implying that he knew unofficially before that.’

Lim Bee Khim (Ms), Press Secretary to the Minister for Health

The above is quoted from an article posted in TRE by Lim Bee Khim of MOH. This was a reply in response to all the doubts, queries and insinuations that the Minister of Health, Gan Kim Yong knew about the hepatitis outbreak in May but did not make it public to alarm the people and might even affect the GE. The negative rumours are understandable given the serious nature of the outbreak and the concerns on the outcome of the general election. The public are questioning the integrity of the political leaders who have been the most vocal about transparency, integrity and timeliness of reporting such a matter. In fact the same concerns were the key issues in the AHPETC disclosure. And the WP was accused of not being transparent, not reporting the shortcomings timely and all the same things the public are accusing the govt now. When a govt knew how to call on the WP to answer to such charges, it is clear that the govt knew such things are wrong and definitely would not stoop so low to commit the same.

Now, to imply that the govt also committed the same sin of not disclosure of such sensitive matter, not being transparent or intentional hiding the information from the people would justify a robust reply from the govt. How can the public accuse the govt for such wrongdoings? Read the above comment of Lim Bee Khim, the minister when informed ‘officially’ quickly asked for it to be made public and called for an explanation. This kind of swift action and accountability is the standard of this govt. They deserved the 70% support from the people.

We have leaders with high integrity and unquestionable honesty in the govt. To cast doubt on their integrity and honesty is unacceptable. The public officers in the MOH too are men and women of the highest caliber and integrity. They would not hide such information from Gan Kim Yong. And if Gan Kim Yong knew about it, he would not hide it from the people as well.

There is no question of their integrity and honesty. The people must trust the public officers and the minister for doing their job professionally and not to serve political expediency. If they were found out to be otherwise, it would drag down the reputation of the whole govt together with them. See, after 6 months of investigation they could not find out anything and are reporting the matter to the police for more investigation. They are also getting international experts to look into the matter. They want to know the truth, even if it is 6 months late.

Anyone wanting to cast doubts on the public officers and the minister must have facts to prove them. And in this case the MOH has given a clear explanation beyond any reasonable doubt with all the time lines of the events happening, and has nothing to hide.

How can there still be doubts of their honesty and integrity? Case close, unless they can put up proof to show otherwise.

PS. OK IBs, your turn to add more to my comments. I don’t think Gan Kim Yong dare to cover up this incident if he knew about it officially or unofficially before the GE. If kena found out he will be finished.

Freedom of Navigation, a cunning American move

In the name of Freedom of Navigation, FON, just like in the name of human rights, the Americans are accusing the world, particularly China and the Soviet bloc, of violations but the truth is that the Americans are the worst violators of human rights and FON. They killed the natives in North America and seized their land under the Doctrine of Discovery, where the inhabitants are presumed to be sub humans and have no rights to their land. So it is only fair and just and god given to take over the lands of natives, killed them in the name of God or civilized them in the name of European civilization.

And being the Number One super power and self appointed world cop, they asserted the right to intercept ships of other nations, boarded them, searched them and arrested the crews and detained the ships in open seas. This is what the Americans called Freedom of Navigation but under the control and supervision of the American navy. They have violated the rights of many countries in international waters. Now they are using the same trick to call China building lighthouses on their islands a cunning trick. Did China seize the islands from the natives? Did China kill the natives in the islands to take over their land? And has China imposed any restriction on FON in the South China Sea?

Reuter reported a ‘Trevor Hollingsbee, a retired naval intelligence analyst with Britain’s Defence Ministry, said building lighthouses on the reclaimed reefs was a “rather cunning” move by China.’ Was the selling of opium in China a cunning British move to poison the Chinese and to start a war with China? Were the signing of protection treaties with African countries, India and Malaya to colonise them also cunning moves of the colonialists?

What is more important and serious is the American’s cunning trick of using FON to control the whole of South China Sea. The Americans again have appointed themselves as the gangsters that owned the South China Sea in the name of FON and would sail and fly their weapons of war all over the South China Sea as if they owned them. And there is also the small town self proclaimed sheriff in Australia claiming a right to carry its little water pistol to strut around under the watchful eyes of the big gangster.

And the silly Asean countries could not see the implications that the Americans and Australians are saying they owned the South China Sea.  But what can you expect from dull minds not knowing that they have lost the whole of South China Sea to a cheap American cunning move? While they tried to compete with China to claim little uninhabited islands, they did not know that the whole area is now controlled by the Americans?

The burden of Mao’s Thoughts versus Lee’s Hard Truths

China’s leaders of today lived through an era imbued with Mao’s Thoughts. The overly powerful leader in Mao turned him into a godlike figure where his words were as good as gospel truths. The lives of the Chinese population centred around reading, reciting and living the thoughts of Mao Zedong, for good or for bad.

Mao was the ideolog and his thoughts were in many cases idealistic ideologies. China was thrown into turmoil when the young followed the thoughts of Mao blindly and religiously. Many suffered, many lives were lost, arts and cultures were burnt and destroyed.

Then came Deng Xiaoping who brought some realism and pragmatism into the lives of the Chinese, moderating the extremes of Mao’s Thoughts and made them more relevant to the new realities of a new world. In the tussle between ideologies and pragmatism, China found a middle path to modernization. The thoughts of Mao are still there, vivid in the minds of the present day leaders, but in most cases, for recitation and to respect the great leader. In practice, Mao’s Thoughts were furthest in the minds of the new leaders in China.

A leader that has acquired a stature that is undisputed and held in awe could do good and also harm to the people and country. Blindly following old thoughts that have gone irrelevant is a recipe for disaster.

Singapore has a similar all powerful and influential leader in LKY, a deity like figure that still lives in the lives of many Singaporeans. LKY is still very influential in the lives of Singaporeans in the leaders and the common folks. The hard truths of LKY still linger in the thinking of many who had worked with him. His words are gospel truths to many and acted as guiding principles in what they are doing. Like Mao’s Thoughts, some of the hard truths, principles and policies have been overtaken by time and no longer relevant, obsolete. Sticking to them unthinkingly would do more harm than good to the people and country.

Unfortunately there are still many parrots parroting some hard truths as if they are the perpetual truths to be passed down to the future generations in the same manner when they have been overtaken by events. Though many of LKY’s hard truths would transcend time and have far longer usefulness and implications, there are surely some that must be discarded into the bins, or be modified to the new realities. It needs thinking and reassessment to use and apply the hard truths and wise quotes of LKY to be effective and useful. Blind parroting is a sign of trouble, of lazy and unthinking minds at work, of cheapo with no confidence and ideas of their own. The safest thing is to parrot the oracle.

The quoting of LKY’s hard truths and assumptions of things and policies will still be heard for a long time to come. Some quoting them knowingly, some unconsciously as the thoughts have been ingrained into their psychic for good or bad. Some will still apply them blindly without knowing that time has changed, things have changed, to the detriment of the people and country.

This is the curse of having leaders that have too overpowering influence on their believers and being too godlike, or elevated to the level of powerful and beloved deities. Would Singapore suffer the same curse and fate of gods and deities? Or would there be another equally powerful, respected and wise leader to emerge to moderate the hard truths and wise quotes of LKY, to make them relevant to the changes in time?

There are just too many parrots all over the place. You can hear them when they open their beaks to expose their bird brains.