INDIA WONT GO ALONG WITH uSA ON CHINA, BUT STILL THERE ARE OUTSTANDING ISSUES

Chinese experts say India will not ally with US against Beijing

[source]

BEIJING: Chinese analysts say that US efforts to make India part of its alliance against China will not succeed India pursued independent foreign policy focusing on its national interests.

US defence secretary Leon Panetta's visit to New Delhi is as part of Washington's efforts to make it part of alliance against Beijing but India's interest lie with Beijing, Wang Dehua, a specialist on South Asia studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies said.

"It seems that the US is sparing no efforts in forging a semi-circle of alliance against China from the South" as Panetta has attended the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and afterward visited Vietnam and India, Wang, a specialist on South Asia told state-run Global Times which carried an article highlighting Panetta's visit to New Delhi.

"But India has its own agenda in the region," Wang said noting that India wants to be independent in making its own foreign policies while maximising its national interests.

"For example, India has refrained from becoming deeply involved in the South China Sea rows because it viewed any friction with China as being against its fundamental national interests," Wang said.

"India's interests lie in wider economic and cultural cooperation with China. This is China's opportunity to break up the US intention to contain China," Wang said.

Recent write-ups in the Chinese media were consistent with expectations that India would remain independent.

Another article in the Chinese version of the Global Times said that China should would work to improve bilateral ties with "clear goals" to strengthen friendship taking into consideration New Delhi's independent foreign policy and its recent decision to pull out of South China Sea oil blocks exploration.

"For a long time, India has not figured as an important centre of Chinese foreign policy and China has not decided on a clear goal in its India policy", the write up published in Huanqiu Shibao, the Chinese version of the hardline Global Times daily run by the ruling Communist Party of China, (CPC) said two days ago.

"Now, the activity of the Indian military in the Indian Ocean has increased and the Indian Navy is also sailing more and more towards the east, lack of mutual trust may lead to both sides adopting a mistaken strategy. China should have clear strategic goals towards India", it said.

INDIA REFUSES MILITARY ALLIANCE WITH uSA

CNTV

Prior to his visit to Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was in India seeking a stronger defense partnership. India however has not obliged. Going with the non-alignment policy that the country has followed for decades, India says discussions are the only way forward.

When Leon Panetta call calling to New Delhi, everyone knew this won't be easy for India. With years of defense relationship, which has been mired by suspicion because of Pakistan, everyone wondered if India would bite the bullet of having a defense partnership with US in the Asia Pacific but that was not to be. Leon Panetta though made the reason for his visit to India very clear.

Leon Panetta, US Defense Secretary, said, "Today, we have growing economic, social and diplomatic ties that benefit both of our nations, but for this relationship to truly provide security for this region and for the world, we will need to deepen our defense and security cooperation. This is why I have come to India."

India was the last country on Leon Panetta's Asia trip. At the start of the trip he had promised to enhance US presence in the Asia Pacific region. The change in strategy is being seen as an effort by United States to counter China’s dominance in the region but India has long resisted any military cooperation. Even if US and India are on the way warmer than earlier, but India is not ready for an alliance.

India is part of United States strategic shift towards Asia Pacific but India is treading every step cautiously and sticking with its non-alignment policy. Despite no agreement on a defense alliance, Leon Panetta said India's role in security in Asia is important and this includes Afghanistan.

Leon Panetta also said, "I urge India's leaders to continue with additional support to Afghanistan through trade, investment, reconstruction and help for Afghan security forces"

Leon Panetta met the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan singh, National security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and defense minister AK Antony. Talks include defense issues and also remain of US troops killed in air crashes over north-eastern India during World War II. It was last year when US president Barack Obama called Asia-pacific region a top priorirty in its security policy but this trip was putting that policy into practice.

uSA STANDS WITH PHILIPPINES IN RIFT WITH CHINA

The usa has made it publicly clear it is stepping up its containment and regime change war policies in relation to China for some months now. China is working on developing positive and mutually beneficial relations with its Asian neighbours, this is not however proceeding as well as it should in all places. Of particular concern are Sino-Vietnamese relations, although Vietnam has seen China being its historical coloniser, the socialist nature of both countries, and their shared experience of imperialist aggression should provide some of the basis for a strategic unity. This is not yet quite happening. The Phillipines on the other hand is an old reactionary ally of the usa, and important to its hegemonic strategy.

Sukant Chandan, Friends of China


Obama Expresses Support for Philippines in China Rift

[source]

WASHINGTON - A festering quarrel that began over rare coral, giant clams and sharks in a distant sea made its way to the Oval Office on Friday, as President Benigno S. Aquino III of the Philippines sought the backing of President Obama in a maritime dispute with China.

The Philippines and China have been locked in a tense standoff for two months over rights to a triangular cluster of reefs and rocks in the South China Sea known as Scarborough Shoal. While Mr. Aquino said he did not want to drag the United States into the conflict, he clearly hoped for Mr. Obama's diplomatic support.

And he got it, if obliquely, on Friday. Mr. Obama told reporters after the meeting with Mr. Aquino that the United States and the Philippines would "consult closely together" as part of "the announced pivot by the United States back to Asia," which he said should serve as a reminder that "in fact, the United States considers itself, and is, a Pacific power."

Mr. Obama did not mention China or the standoff at Scarborough Shoal, but he said that he and Mr. Aquino discussed the need for "a strong set of international norms and rules governing maritime disputes in the region."

Still, his message was aimed at China, which has asserted sweeping claims over the South China Sea, touching off disputes with several other countries that border the sea. The Obama administration has countered China's muscle-flexing by shoring up alliances with old partners like the Philippines and Australia and cultivating ties with new ones like Myanmar.

In the case of the Philippines, that has included American help in upgrading aging military equipment to improve its ability to defend itself, as well as a Philippine agreement to allow more American troops and ships to rotate through the country, though not to re-establish Americans bases there.

But critics of any United States' military presence said they feared the Friday meeting between Mr. Obama and Mr. Aquino would lead to the stationing of American forces in the Philippines without the formal opening of a base. "Aquino is single-handedly reversing the gains from the removal of the U.S. military bases 20 years ago," Renato Reyes, secretary general of the left-leaning group Bayan Muna, said in a statement on Friday. "His foreign policy allows the permanent and continuing presence of U.S. troops all over the country."

The last United States military base in the Philippines closed in 1992, but Walden Bello, a Philippines congressman, said the current military agreement between the two countries has a lot of loopholes. "The Americans are allowed joint exercises, but they are in a state of constant exercise," he said. "We have rotating American forces on a permanent basis."

Mr. Aquino also received an expression of support from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a lunch on Friday. She reiterated that the United States had an interest in the "maintenance of peace and stability" and "freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea. She encouraged Mr. Aquino to resolve the dispute with Beijing peacefully, and she warned that the United States would oppose "the use of force or coercion."

After steering clear of the issue for years, the United States has recently urged China and its neighbors to work out a mechanism for resolving disputes over the sea. Beijing has rejected American involvement, saying, in the words of Gen. Ma Xiaotian, the deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army, that "the South China issue is not America's business."

Mr. Aquino - the son of a former Philippine president, Corazon C. Aquino, and the slain opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. - thanked Mr. Obama for his expression of support. On Thursday, Mr. Aquino told an audience that the Philippine government was engaged in a dialogue with China to find a way to resolve the dispute. "It is not our intention to embroil the United States in a military intervention in our region," he said.

The dispute could put the United States in an awkward position, because of the mutual defense treaty it has maintained with the Philippines for 60 years. But American officials said that neither side was likely to invoke the treaty in this case because Manila's confrontation with Beijing is over disputed territory.

Bonnie Glaser, an expert in Asian security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Philippine officials were not happy with the mixed signals they got from Washington in a recent meeting of the two countries' defense and foreign ministers.

Some experts said that whatever the legitimacy of its claims, the Philippines was to blame for provoking the standoff. It started when the Philippines sent a frigate to board Chinese fishing boats near the shoal, which is called Panatag in the Philippines and Huangyan in China. Philippine officials said they found illegally harvested corals, clams and live sharks on the boats. China then sent two surveillance ships.

"We could have a long-term problem with China in the South China Sea," said Jeffrey A. Bader, a former adviser to Mr. Obama on China policy. "The Filipinos did not contribute to solving the long-term problem by falling into a short-term confrontation with the Chinese, in a bid to quickly resolve an unresolvable territorial issue."

The immediate threat of conflict has ebbed with both sides pulling back their ships. Still, Mr. Aquino's visit was a reminder that countries in the region will increasingly turn to America to help them face down China.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who just returned from a tour of Southeast Asia, told reporters that the Philippine military needed help to defend the country's waters because it has been focused on fighting a radical insurgency. "We think that they need some of that, particularly in maritime security," he said.

CHINA MILITARY GENERAL COMMENTS ON RISING WAR MOVES FROM uSA

Major General Luo Yuan

This is an interesting commentary from Major Gernal Luo Yuan of China's Peoples Liberation Army in the Liberation Army Daily. China clearly understands the military plans and strategies of imperialism, it has known ever since the revolution that led to the establishment of Communist China in 1949. 


Especially interesting is the comments regarding the u.s imperialist strategy in the Asia Pacific region to develop its military presence, and develop relations with countries on the basis of militarily containing and aggressing China. The usa and uk's rapproachment with Myanmar is indeed in line with their regional strategy of trying to bring certain nations closer to their hegemony in order to isolate China. Major Luo Yuan states in the article below: 


""We must be adept at maneuvering and use smart diplomacy, and the more friends we can make the better," he wrote.


"Some countries have been swindled by America, and now are walking alongside the United States out of their own interests, but in essence they don't fit together," said Luo. "They share the same bed but have different dreams.""


This is classic Chinese diplomatic strategy, the Chines realise that there is no real long term sense in any country building relations with imperialism due to imperialism economic and military decline historically, however the Chinese also realise that while imperialism is in historic decline, it is at the same time prepared to take humanity into war and trauma in a desperate attempt to maintain its domination.


Sukant Chandan - Sons of Malcolm/Friends of China






China top military paper warns U.S. aims to contain rise

[source]

The United States' new defense strategy focused on the Asia-Pacific region is directed at containing China's rise, the People's Liberation Army's newspaper said on Tuesday in Beijing's strongest warning yet against the new Pentagon stance.

The commentary in the Liberation Army Daily, however, also said China's sensible response to the U.S. military re-focus on Asia should be "vigilance" and smart diplomacy, not panic.

The United States is "laying out forces across the Asia-Pacific region in advance to contain the rise of China," said the commentary in the paper by Major General Luo Yuan.

Washington's assertions that the military re-focus announced last week is not directed at China are "simply making their real intent all the more obvious."

"Casting our eyes around we can see that the United States has been bolstering its five major military alliances in the Asia-Pacific region, and is adjusting the positioning of its five major military base clusters, while also seeking more entry rights for military bases around China," wrote Luo.

"Who can believe that you are not directing this at China? Isn't this the return of a Cold War mentality?"

Luo is well-known for his hawkish views, often published in popular Chinese newspapers and online. But the appearance of his commentary in the Liberation Army Daily, which is heavily vetted as the chief paper of the military, suggests that his latest comments enjoy some level of official endorsement.

On Monday, China's Ministry of Defense warned the United States to be "careful in its words and actions" after last week announcing the defense rethink that stresses responding to China's rise by shoring up U.S. alliances and bases across Asia.

The new U.S. strategy promises to boost strength in Asia in an attempt to counter China's growing ability to check U.S. power in the region, even as U.S. forces draw back elsewhere across the globe.

Under the new strategy, the United States will maintain large bases in Japan and South Korea and deploy U.S. Marines, navy ships and aircraft to Australia's Northern Territory.

The strategy also calls for countering potential attempts by China and Iran to block U.S. capabilities in areas like the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.

China has sought to balance voicing its wariness about the U.S. moves with its desire for steady relations with Washington, especially as both sides grapple with domestic politics this year, when President Barack Obama faces a re-election fight and China's ruling Communist Party undergoes a leadership handover.


Luo warned against panic.

Instead, Beijing must do a better job at courting friends in the region, charming countries away from the United States' orbit, he wrote.

"In the face of this adjustment in the U.S. strategic focus, we must possess a sense of peril and maintain a high degree of vigilance, but there is no need to be alarmed about the expected," wrote Luo.

"We must be adept at maneuvering and use smart diplomacy, and the more friends we can make the better," he wrote.

"Some countries have been swindled by America, and now are walking alongside the United States out of their own interests, but in essence they don't fit together," said Luo. "They share the same bed but have different dreams."

CHINA TELLS USA WAR MACHINE TO "BE CAREFUL IN WORDS & ACTIONS" OVER WAR MOVES AGAINST IT

China warns US to be careful after Obama's defence strategy rethink

[source]

China's ministry of defence has warned the United States to be "careful in its words and actions" after it announced a defence rethink that stressed responding to China's rise by shoring up alliances and bases across Asia.

The statement from the ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng was Beijing's fullest reaction so far to the new US strategy unveiled last week. It echoed the mixture of wariness and outward restraint that has marked China's response to the Obama administration's "pivot" to Asia since late last year.

"We have noted that the United States issued this guide to its defence strategy, and we will closely observe the impact that US military strategic adjustment has on the Asia-Pacific region and on global security developments," Geng said in a statement issued on the ministry's website.

"The accusations levelled at China by the US side in this document are totally baseless.

"We hope that the United States will flow with the tide of the era, and deal with China and the Chinese military in an objective and rational way, will be careful in its words and actions, and do more that is beneficial to the development of relations between the two countries and their militaries."

The new US strategy promises to boost strength in Asia in an attempt to counter China's growing ability to check US power in the region, even as US forces draw back elsewhere across the globe.

Under the new strategy the US will maintain large bases in Japan and South Korea and deploy marines, navy ships and aircraft to Australia's Northern Territory.

The strategy calls for countering potential attempts by China and Iran to block US capabilities in areas such as the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.

MAINSTREAM PRESS IN OVERDRIVE IN PUSHING WAR PROPAGANDA AGAINST CHINA & IRAN

There are now countless western mainstream media reports talking up war with China, and this one is just one example of that.

Isnt it time serious anti-imperialists in the west, people who will assertively believe in eace and respect with the nations of the Global South to now put the defence of China, and building positive relations with the Chinese people and leadership as some of the foremost anti-war strategies, along with the defence of Syria and Iran?
Sukant Chandan - Sons of Malcolm/Friends of China



U.S. Defense Strategy Plan Focuses on Thwarting China, Iran

[source]

The U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines must combine resources to thwart any efforts by countries such as China and Iran to block America’s access to the South China Sea, the Persian Gulf and other strategic regions, according to a draft of a Pentagon review.

...

The U.S. should be able to deter any emerging anti-access capabilities such as the diesel attack submarines being developed by China and the anti-ship ballistic missiles deployed by China and Iran, and if necessary, defeat them, said the administration official.

...

The review is expected to conclude that the U.S. no longer will engage in protracted large-scale stabilization operations, as it has in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it won’t have sufficient forces to fight two major conflicts at the same time, according to the official.


Rather, the U.S. will be able to fight in one major conflict and have the ability to deploy forces to deter another potential adversary from pursuing another major conflict, said the official.

...


“China sticks to the path of peaceful development and is always a force in maintaining regional and world peace,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular briefing in Beijing today in response to a question about the U.S. strategy. He said he had not seen the draft and that China and the U.S. must work together. “Cooperation is the only way,” he said.

While Chinese officials generally downplay offensive intentions, Iranians have threatened to use military force to block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the event of an oil embargo or full conflict with the U.S. over its nuclear program.

...


The state-run Fars news agency yesterday cited the head of Iran’s army, Ataollah Salehi, as “warning” the U.S. not to return an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf. Pentagon spokesman George Little said the deployment of ships in the region “will continue as it has for decades.”

[end]

CHINA SEES YANKEE SEA POWER THREAT AND PREPARES ACCORDINGLY

[source]

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday urged the navy to prepare for military combat, amid growing regional tensions over maritime disputes and a US campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power.

The navy should "accelerate its transformation and modernisation in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security," he said.

Addressing the powerful Central Military Commission, Hu said: "Our work must closely encircle the main theme of national defence and military building."

His comments, which were posted in a statement on a government website, come as the United States and Beijing's neighbours have expressed concerns over its naval ambitions, particularly in the South China Sea.

Several Asian nations have competing claims over parts of the South China Sea, believed to encompass huge oil and gas reserves, while China claims it all. One-third of global seaborne trade passes through the region.

Vietnam and the Philippines have accused Chinese forces of increasing aggression there.

In a translation of Hu's comments, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the president as saying China's navy should "make extended preparations for warfare."

The Pentagon however downplayed Hu's speech, saying that Beijing had the right to develop its military, although it should do so transparently.

"They have a right to develop military capabilities and to plan, just as we do," said Pentagon spokesman George Little, but he added, "We have repeatedly called for transparency from the Chinese and that's part of the relationship we're continuing to build with the Chinese military."

"Nobody's looking for a scrap here," insisted another spokesman, Admiral John Kirby. "Certainly we wouldn't begrudge any other nation the opportunity, the right to develop naval forces to be ready.

"Our naval forces are ready and they'll stay ready."

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said: "We want to see stronger military-to-military ties with China and we want to see greater transparency. That helps answer questions we might have about Chinese intentions."

Hu's announcement comes in the wake of trips to Asia by several senior US officials, including President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

US undersecretary of defence Michelle Flournoy is due to meet in Beijing with her Chinese counterparts on Wednesday for military-to-military talks.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last month warned against interference by "external forces" in regional territorial disputes including those in the South China Sea.

And China said late last month it would conduct naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean, after Obama, who has dubbed himself America's first Pacific president, said the US would deploy up to 2,500 Marines to Australia.

China's People's Liberation Army, the largest military in the world, is primarily a land force, but its navy is playing an increasingly important role as Beijing grows more assertive about its territorial claims.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon warned that Beijing was increasingly focused on its naval power and had invested in high-tech weaponry that would extend its reach in the Pacific and beyond.

China's first aircraft carrier began its second sea trial last week after undergoing refurbishments and testing, the government said.

The 300-metre (990-foot) ship, a refitted former Soviet carrier, underwent five days of trials in August that sparked international concern about China's widening naval reach.

Beijing only confirmed this year that it was revamping the old Soviet ship and has repeatedly insisted that the carrier poses no threat to its neighbours and will be used mainly for training and research purposes.

But the August sea trials were met with concern from regional powers including Japan and the United States, which called on Beijing to explain why it needs an aircraft carrier.

China, which publicly announced around 50 separate naval exercises in the seas off its coast over the past two years -- usually after the event -- says its military is only focused on defending the country's territory.

PRO-EMPIRE TYPES DISCUSS WAR WITH CHINA

OBAMA SENDS WARSHIPS TO PROVOKE CHINA

US warships head for South China Sea after standoff

The Times

Tim Reid in Washington

A potential conflict was brewing last night in the South China Sea after President Obama dispatched heavily armed American destroyers to the scene of a naval standoff between the US and China at the weekend.

Mr Obama’s decision to send an armed escort for US surveillance ships in the area follows the aggressive and co-ordinated manoeuvres of five Chinese boats on Sunday. They harassed and nearly collided with an unarmed American vessel.

Washington accused the Chinese ships of moving directly in front of the US Navy surveillance ship Impeccable, forcing its crew to take emergency action, and to deploy a high-pressure water hose to deter the Chinese ships. Formal protests were lodged with Beijing after the incident.

On a day that Mr Obama and his senior officials met the Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, in Washington, Beijing showed no sign of backing down. Its military chiefs accused the unarmed US Navy ship of being on a spying mission.

Related Links

• China condemns US warship deployment

• Chinese 'harass' US Navy surveillance ship

• Analysis: so much more than a naval water fight

The US keeps a close eye on China’s arsenal, including its expanding fleet of submarines in the area. Washington says that the confrontation occurred in international waters, but Beijing claims nearly all the South China Sea as its own, putting it in conflict with five other nations that have claims over different parts of the waters.

The episode complicated fragile military relations between the US and China, which appeared to have improved after the two held defence talks in Beijing last month.

Mr Obama yesterday urged more military dialogue with China to avoid similar incidents after talks with Mr Yang, the White House said. “The President also stressed the importance of raising the level and frequency of military-to-military dialogue,” it said.

A hotline was established between the Chinese Defence Ministry and the Pentagon in April last year, but it was not used during or after Sunday’s standoff, defence officials said. The US Government immediately protested to Chinese authorities after the incident, about 75 miles south of Hainan Island.

Beijing has rejected the US account and demanded that the United States cease what it calls illegal activities in the South China Sea. The Chinese maintain the area is part of the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Washington insists that the area is part of international waters and that US ships have a legal right to operate there.

CHINA CONFRONT AND CHASE OFF US NAVY

China says US navy ship 'illegal'

English Jazeera

A US navy mapping ship that the Pentagon says was
"harassed" by Chinese ships over the weekend, was
conducting illegal operations in the South China Sea,
China's foreign ministry has said.

In Beijing's first formal comment on the incident,
spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the US claim was "totally
inaccurate and confuses right and wrong and is unacceptable
to China."

Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Ma said the USNS
Impeccable "broke international and Chinese laws in the
South China Sea without China's permission."

On Monday US defence officials said five Chinese ships
surrounded and harassed the unarmed navy vessel in
international waters on Sunday.

At one point they said a Chinese ship had come within 8
meters of the Impeccable strewing debris in its path.

The Impeccable's crew resorted to spraying one Chinese
vessel with water from fire hoses to force it away,
officials at the Pentagon said.

But despite the impact of the water, Chinese crew members
stripped to their underwear and continued closing in.

'Dangerous proximity'

A statement from the US defence department said the ships
"shadowed and aggressively manoeuvred in dangerously close
proximity" to the navy ship in international waters 120km
south of China's Hainan Island.

The incident is the latest in a series of confrontations
between US surveillance craft and Chinese coastal defences

The US Embassy in Beijing said a protest had been lodged
with the Chinese foreign ministry as well as with the
Chinese Embassy in Washington.

It said the Impeccable had been conducting "routine
operations in the South China Sea in accordance with
customary international law."

"The actions of the Chinese vessels put both sides at risk
and are inconsistent with the obligation for ships at sea
to show due regard for the safety of our ships," the
statement said.

"Our Navy will continue to operate in international waters
in accordance with customary international law and we
expect China to exercise due regard for the safety of our
ships."

Chinese claims

The Impeccable is one of five US navy surveillance ships
designed to use sonar to compile information the navy can
use to steer its own submarines or track those of other
nations.

China views almost the entire South China Sea region as its
territory – a claim which has put it at odds with at least
five South-East Asian nations.

Based on its claim, Beijing has argued that any
intelligence gathering by foreign governments within its
exclusive economic zone is illegal.

The US and other nations however say that only exploitation
of economic resources such as undersea gas deposits is
restricted.

Tensions last spiked between the Chinese and US militaries
in 2001 when a US spy plane and Chinese fighter jet
collided in international air space off Hainan.

The pilot of the Chinese jet was killed while the US plane
was forced to make an emergency landing at a Chinese air
base.

The crew of the plane and the aircraft itself were only
returned to the US after several days when Washington
delivered a carefully-worded apology to Beijing over the
incident.