Hmm: "Australian Senate Launches Major Inquiry into Soaring Deaths Among Vaxxed"

The article is from Slay News, and it reports:

    The Australian Senate has just launched a major inquiry into the nation’s soaring numbers of excess deaths among the widely vaccinated population.

    The country has suffered staggering losses since the mass vaccination program was launched in 2021.

    Australia led the world in tyrannical lockdowns and vaccine mandates during, and after, the pandemic.

    The nation has one of the highest rates of Covid mRNA vaccination in the world.

    Over the past three years, however, the country has been battling the worst level of excess mortality since World War II.

    The investigation by the Australian Senate is being touted as the first instance in the world of a Parliament formally examining the issue of soaring deaths.

    The successful motion to launch the inquiry was brought by United Australia Party (UAP) Senator Ralph Babet.

Only Police Should Have Guns: Australia Edition

"Victoria: Off-duty cop's police car and loaded Smith & Wesson is STOLEN in burglary - now the gun is up for sale on an encrypted app for $30,000"--Daily Mail.

    The theft of the .40 calibre semi-automatic handgun, which was stored inside the unmarked police vehicle, occurred in Melbourne's southern suburbs at 5.30am on Tuesday.

Thank goodness that Australia's strict gun control laws will keep the weapon off the streets. 

    While nobody was injured during the incident, the stolen weapon is believed to have quickly surfaced for sale on the black market.

    An image of a police-issued Smith & Wesson, and a hand holding a loaded magazine beside it, appeared on an encrypted chat platform used by organised crime figures after the burglary.

China and Australia Dump U.S. Dollar for Trading

Following the recent announcement that Brazil and China would trade using their respective currencies instead of the U.S. dollar, Australia's announcement that it is following suit is yet another blow to the U.S. dollar's status as a reserve currency. In fact, we may see a preference cascade, with the concomitant drop in the value of the dollar.

It will be interesting to see how China is able to handle this, though. By moving away from using the dollar, and directly trading in the Yuan, the Chinese risk both a rise in the value of the Yuan, which will make Chinese goods more expensive and reduce exports, while presenting an opportunity for wealth to flow out of China more easily. If the Chinese discover that they can invest in something other than empty apartment buildings, the real estate bubble in China could quickly collapse.

China Uses Military Exercises to Lay Claim to Spratly Islands

From the Associated Press:

China's increasingly powerful navy paid a symbolic visit to the country's southernmost territorial claim deep in the South China Sea this week as part of military drills in the disputed Spratly Islands involving amphibious landings and aircraft.

The visit to James Shoal, reported by state media, followed several days of drills starting Saturday and marked a high-profile show of China's determination to stake its claim to territory disputed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei amid rising tensions in the region.

Sailors joined in the ceremony Tuesday aboard the amphibious ship Jinggangshan just off the collection of submerged rocks, located 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Malaysia and about 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles) from the Chinese mainland, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. China planted a monument on the shoal in 2010 declaring it Chinese territory.

China Aims Weapons At Japanese Warship

More saber rattling in the South China Sea. From the Financial Times:

Japan has accused the Chinese navy of aiming weapons at a Japanese warship in a “dangerous” escalation of the Sino-Japanese dispute over the Senkaku Islands.

This is extremely abnormal behaviour,” Itsunori Onodera, Japan’s defence minister said on Tuesday. “A small mistake could have led to a very dangerous situation.”
Mr Onodera said a Chinese frigate locked its fire-control radar on to a Japanese destroyer on January 30 – a move military commanders consider threatening since the device is used to calculate the firing range of missiles or artillery. He added that two weeks earlier, a Chinese ship had targeted a Japanese helicopter in the same way.

Taiwan and Japan Duel...

... using water cannons.

Two coastguard patrol boats blasted each other with water cannon as tensions escalated over the ownership of a tiny group of rocky islands in the South China Sea.

The Japanese vessel opened fire on its Taiwanese rival as the ship encroached on the disputed land - which is also claimed by China - earlier today.

In a bid to repel the approaching flotilla, they opened fire with their powerful water arsenal. But the Taiwanese boats fired back with their own spray guns sparking a ferocious water fight.

In the end, the might of Japan proved too strong for their Taiwanese counterparts, who eventually turned on their tails and headed home.

It was the latest confrontation over the uninhabited islands Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

China, Japan and Taiwan all claim the islands, but they are administered by Tokyo, since the Japanese government bought them from private owners two weeks ago.

Good thing they didn't have super-soakers, or they may have attempted a boarding action.

China Hints at Economic Warfare Against Japan

The Telegraph reports on the latest escalation between China and Japan:

Jin Baisong from the Chinese Academy of International Trade – a branch of the commerce ministry – said China should use its power as Japan’s biggest creditor with $230bn (£141bn) of bonds to “impose sanctions on Japan in the most effective manner” and bring Tokyo’s festering fiscal crisis to a head.

Writing in the Communist Party newspaper China Daily, Mr Jin called on China to invoke the “security exception” rule under the World Trade Organisation to punish Japan, rejecting arguments that a trade war between the two Pacific giants would be mutually destructive.

Separately, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported that China is drawing up plans to cut off Japan’s supplies of rare earth metals needed for hi-tech industry.

The warnings came as anti-Japanese protests spread to 85 cities across China, forcing Japanese companies to shutter factories and suspend operations.

Fitch Ratings threatened to downgrade a clutch of Japanese exporters if the clash drags on. It warned that Nissan is heavily at risk with 26pc of its global car sales in China, followed by Honda with 20pc. Sharp and Panasonic both have major exposure. Japan’s exports to China were $74bn in the first half of this year. Bilateral trade reached $345bn last year.

Mr Jin said China can afford to sacrifice its “low-value-added” exports to Japan at a small cost. By contrast, Japan relies on Chinese demand to keep its economy afloat and stave off “irreversible” decline.

“It’s clear that China can deal a heavy blow to the Japanese economy without hurting itself too much,” he said. It is unclear whether he was speaking with the full backing of the Politburo or whether sales of Japanese debt would do much damage. The Bank of Japan could counter the move with bond purchases. Any weakening of the yen would be welcome.

He adds:

China’s post-Maoist regime derives its legitimacy from nationalism, especially now that the boom is fading and China is losing some of its competitive edge.

The anti-Japanese fervour was systematically stoked by the “Patriotic Education Campaign” of Jiang Zemin in the 1990s to divert attention from party corruption and the growing gap between rich and poor.

But it is a double-edged sword for China’s leaders. “Given its potency, it is difficult to control. Nationalism can turn against the government, if it is perceived as doing too little,” he said.

Markets are already starting to price in an arms race in Asia. Shares of China’s North Navigation Control Technology, which makes missile systems, have jumped 30pc in recent days.

China is becoming self-sufficient in defence. It was the world’s biggest net importer of weapons six years ago. It fell to fourth place last year.

Japan is at the other extreme. An official report this year – “A Strategy for Survival” – said Japan’s spending on its “Self-Defence Force” had shrunk by 4pc in 10 years. It called for “urgent” action to rebuild the country’s military.

If there is any silver lining in an Asian arms race, it may at least soak up the region’s excess savings and pull the world out of semi-slump. But be careful what you wish for.

Two cultures on a demographic race to the bottom. Japan's economy has been moribund for two decades; China, economically, is positioned where Japan was in the late 80's, and may follow it. At that time, Japan was riding an economic wave, and a huge real estate bubble. And then it all went bust. However, I don't see China slipping into economic somnolence as peacefully as Japan.  

However, let's think where this may go if China decided to push hostilities with Japan. The biggest factor would be the American military. Obviously, the U.S. is not going to respond with nuclear weapons--no president would risk a nuclear attack against the U.S. mainland in order to protect another country. China, similarly, does not want to provoke the U.S. into a nuclear conflict. China would need to ensure that the U.S. would not intervene or, if it did so, that victory would be swift. I suspect that China would threaten U.S. troops in the Middle-East and Afghanistan, probably through a third party such as Pakistan and/or Iran, to keep them pinned down and the U.S. diverted, while it deals with "liberating" the contested Islands. China doesn't have to defeat Japan through an invasion--it simply has to humiliate Japan.

Chinese General: Prepare for War

More saber rattling:

China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.

Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read “Kill all Japanese,” and “Fight to the Death” over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.

Gen. Xu Caihou, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, considered the most senior military political commissar, said Friday that military forces should be “prepared for any possible military combat,” state run Xinhua news agency reported.

Of course, Japan is not the Philippines, and probably won't be as easy to push around.

Conflict Between Japan and China?

Benjamin Franklin is believed to have said: "We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." This is very true for those nations that are asserting claims to portions of the South China Sea against the claims of China. From CNS News:

Exchanging warnings but avoiding confrontations thus far, Chinese and Japanese ships have come within less than half a nautical mile of each other in an ongoing dispute over the sovereignty of contested islands.

Amid deepening tensions in a long-running saga over the uninhabited islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Sunday about the possibility of war between the two Asian countries.

“What we don't want is to have any kind of provocative behavior on the part of China or anybody else result in conflict,” he told reporters accompanying him on a trip that includes stops in Japan, China and New Zealand.

“My purpose will be to urge that they engage in the effort by the Asian nations to try to work out a format for resolving these issues,” he added, referring to a code of conduct developed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in a bid to manage unconnected territorial disputes between China and ASEAN members in the South China Sea.

Asked again about the concerns, Panetta said he was worried that “when these countries engage in provocations of one kind or another over these various islands, that it raises the possibility that a misjudgment on one side or the other could result in violence and could result in conflict, and that conflict would then, you know, have the potential of expanding.”

Australia Refuses to Base U.S. Carrier

From the Daily Mail:

Australia has risked a diplomatic bust-up with its closest ally America after rejecting a plan to base a U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier near Perth, the capital of Western Australia.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith ruled out the proposal yesterday, saying Australia does not want to host U.S. bases.

The plan, put forward in a Pentagon-commissioned report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, suggested repositioning U.S. forces in the region by relocating an aircraft carrier from the U.S. East Coast.

Mr Smith said that while negotiations were underway to increase U.S. navy access to Australia's Indian Ocean base, HMAS Stirling, it would never become a U.S. military base.

'We have made it crystal clear from the first moment - we don't have United States military bases in Australia. We don't see the need for that,' Mr Smith told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.

And why wouldn't they want the jobs that a new or expanded naval base would bring?

China - Australia's most important trade partner - has blasted the closer bilateral military ties as a return the Cold War divisions that risk the peace and security of the region.

Hugh White, head of Australian National University's Strategic and Defense Studies Center, noted that American combat troops had not been based in Australia since World War II and said that was unlikely to change in the future.

He said Chinese objections were the major reason why Australia was unlikely to ever allow U.S. bases on its soil.

'The government was surprised that China reacted as negatively as it has to the decision to have Marines rotate deployments through Darwin, and I think they'll be very careful not to risk further displeasure from China by doing anything that suggests they're supporting a U.S. military buildup in Asia,' Mr White said.

China Moves to Extends Its Control Over South China Sea

A couple of news items caught my eye on the issue of China and its claims to the islands and waters of the South China Sea. First:

The People’s Liberation Army, China’s central military authority, has approved the deployment of a military garrison in the newly declared Sansha City in the sparsely populated West Philippine Sea, said a report posted on China’s Ministry of National Defense website.

China's announcement is just the latest in a series of recent actions that have expanded its physical presence in the vast disputed waters and defied condemnation around the region.

The report said that the military garrison will be “responsible for managing the city’s national defense mobilization, military reserves and military operations.”

The Chinese defense ministry likewise said that military troops to be sent to the newly established garrison will be under the dual leadership of Hainan province’s military sub-command and Sansha City’s civilian leaders.

China had envisioned Sansha City as administering the West Philippine Sea including the Spratly Islands.

The announcement came despite a diplomatic protest lodged by the Philippines against China over the establishment of Sansha City.

The Philippine protest said that “the extent of the jurisdiction of the city violates Philippine territorial sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc and infringes on Philippine sovereign rights over the waters and continental shelf of the West Philippine Sea.”

Aside from the Spratly Islands, Sansha City—which was established by the Chinese Cabinet last June 21—also claims political sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and Macclesfield Bank.

Portions of these territories are also being claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

(Full story here).

Second, in a poke to the Philippines' eye, figuratively speaking, China has sent a fleet of 30 fishing vessels to the contested Spratly Islands, including two government vessels for supplies and security. (See stories here and here).

Continuing Tensions Over the South China Sea

It's been awhile since I posted about the tensions between China and its neighbors over the South China Sea, generally, and more particularly between the Philippines and China. However, the tensions are still there, and perhaps growing. The Telegraph reports:

Around 200 protesters marched through the centre of Hanoi on Sunday waving banners and chanting "Paracels -Vietnam, Spratlys-Vietnam".

Although security forces blocked the demonstration when it came within 300 feet of the Chinese embassy, the fact that the protest was allowed to go ahead in authoritarian Vietnam indicates how relations between Hanoi and Beijing have deteriorated dramatically in recent weeks.

Last month, Hanoi passed legislation designating both the Paracels and Spratlys as part of Vietnam. Beijing responded by allowing the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation to call for bids to explore for oil in the disputed waters, a decision which prompted a smaller anti-China rally in Hanoi last Sunday.

China claims much of the oil and natural gas-rich South China Sea as its own, and is now involved in territorial disputes over the waters with a number of its neighbours in southeast Asia. Beijing's efforts to assert its dominance over the South China Sea is believed to be behind Washington's decision to move 60 per cent of its navy to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.

China Flexing Its Muscles in the South China Sea

From MSNBC:

In the early years of China's rise to economic and military prowess, the guiding principle for its government was Deng Xiaoping's maxim: "Hide Your Strength, Bide Your Time."

Now, more than three decades after paramount leader Deng launched his reforms, that policy has seemingly lapsed or simply become unworkable as China's military muscle becomes too expansive to conceal and its ambitions too pressing to postpone.

The current squabble with Southeast Asian nations over territorial claims in the energy-rich South China Sea is a prime manifestation of this change, especially the standoff with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal.

"This is not what we saw 20 years ago," said Ross Babbage, a defense analyst and founder of the Canberra-based Kokoda Foundation, an independent security policy unit.

"China is a completely different actor now. Security planners are wondering if it is like this now, what is it going to be like in 20 years' time?"

As China also continues to modernize its navy at breakneck speed, a growing sense of unease over Beijing's long-term ambitions has galvanized the exact response Deng was anxious to avoid, regional security experts say.

In what is widely interpreted as a counter to China's growing influence, the United States is pushing ahead with a muscular realignment of its forces towards the Asia-Pacific region, despite Washington's fatigue with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Pentagon's steep budget cuts.

Read the whole thing. The article goes on to discuss some of China's military developments, including warships specifically designed to mitigate the advantages in naval power that the U.S. enjoys. Unfortunately, the U.S. is in a difficult position to enter an arms race with China because of excessive sovereign debt, a poor economy, and the fact that China manufactures much of the military hardware used in the U.S.

The latter is a critical difference between China and the Soviet Union. In the 1940's and into the 1950's, there was, for the most part, technological parity between the Soviet Union and the U.S. However, the U.S. rapidly pulled ahead, and by the mid-60s an 70's enjoyed a clear technological advantage. The proof of that advantage has been borne out anytime Soviet and American equipment has faced off, such as the various wars in the Middle-East.

By the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was incapable of manufacturing the necessary high technology items to complete with the U.S. Not so with China because we (the West generally) have exported technological know-how and manufacturing to China. In fact, China is, in many cases, in a better position vis-a-vis heavy industry and many electronic components than is the U.S.

I see three-fold motivation here (and I don't believe that they are necessarily both held by the same factions within China). First, there are probably some that believe it is time for China to flex it power in order to dominate its neighbors and secure primary access to sea routes and natural resources. Second, these incidents are a useful test of American resolve and reactions (not just political, but also technological and tactical--see what we deploy, how effective it is, measure and record radar and other signals, test the sensitivity of sensors, etc.). Third, and related to the second, if the U.S. doesn't show much resolve, it weakens the faith that the U.S. allies or putative allies have in the U.S., and makes it easier for China to dominate them.

The unintended consequence, however, is that China's actions may strengthen the resolve of some neighboring states to take a more aggressive stance independent of the U.S., e.g., Japan, Australia, and India.

"China's Expansive Territorial Claims"

From GulfNews.com:

China is now engaged in bitter disputes with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, both located far beyond China’s 200-mile-wide territorial waters in the South China Sea. Indeed, so expansive are China’s claims nowadays that many Asians are wondering what will satisfy China’s desire to secure its “core interests.” Are there no limits, or does today’s China conceive of itself as a restored Middle Kingdom, to whom the entire world must kowtow?

So far, China has formally referred to Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang province as “core interests,” a phrase that connotes an assertion of national sovereignty and territorial integrity that will brook no compromise. Now China is attempting to apply the same term to the Senkaku Islands in its dispute with Japan, and is perilously close to making the same claim for the entire South China Sea; indeed, some Chinese military officers already have.

. . . [A]t a meeting in Beijing earlier this month between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during a trilateral summit with South Korea, Wen mentioned the independence movement in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Senkaku Islands in the same breath. “It is important to respect China’s core interests and issues of major concern,” he emphasized.

Until that moment, the Chinese government had never applied the term “core interest” to the Senkaku Islands. Following Wen’s statement, the trilateral summit deteriorated. While South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held bilateral talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, talks between Noda and Hu, and a scheduled meeting between Keidanren Chairman Hiromasa Yonekura and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, were also canceled. The joint declaration issued at the summit was delayed a day, and omitted all references to North Korea – a prime concern of both Japan and South Korea.

. . . If gruff diplomacy was the only manifestation of China’s expansive territorial claims, Asian leaders could sleep more peacefully. But the fact is that China’s navy is becoming increasingly active in the South China Sea, at the Senkaku Islands and Scarborough Shoal in particular, but also around the Spratly Islands claimed by Vietnam. Given China’s mushrooming military budget and secretiveness, that assertiveness has set off alarm bells among the other countries bordering the South China Sea.

Moreover, China’s bullying of the Philippines included not only the dispatch of warships to Scarborough Shoals, but also the sudden imposition of import restrictions on Filipino produce. And China’s reactions toward Japan are far more paranoid since a non-LDP government took power.

The struggles for power within China’s ruling Communist Party over the purge of Bo Xilai, and the blind activist Chen Guangcheng’s escape from detention during economic talks with the US, have made Chinese leaders’ nationalist assertions even more strident than usual. No official wants to appear soft where China’s supposed “core interests” are concerned.

China Blames Philippines for Escalating Tensions

Voice of America reports:

China has acknowledged sending additional ships to the territory it disputes with the Philippines in the South China Sea but is blaming Manila for the escalation.

Thursday, China on called the Philippines "insincere" in wanting to resolve a two-month standoff about a disputed island in the South China Sea.

China’s Foreign Ministry cited unspecified provocative actions by Manila around the Scarborough Shoal.

At the same time, spokesman Hong Lei acknowledged sending more ships to the rocky islands, known as Huangyan in China, to strengthen its control.

China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Island, he said. Ships there are government vessels and conduct maritime surveillance and provide some guarantee to the fishing boats. By providing such assurance, Hong said Chinese fishermen can operate freely there.

The Scarborough Shoal has been the site of a standoff since April when a Philippine warship tried to stop Chinese fishing boats.

Chinese surveillance ships blacked them from being detained and the two sides have since engaged in a war of words.

The arrival of more Chinese ships demonstrates how Beijing’s naval capabilities compare to the Philippines, said Carl Thayer, professor at the Australian Defense Force Academy.

“The arrival of other ships puts enormous pressure on the Philippines which, in the best of times, its coast guard is lucky to have one ship in good repair out at sea," he said. "But to station a boat up at the Scarborough Shoal, far removed from the Spratly islands and other areas where it should be patrolling, puts a strain on the resources and also on the capability. So, it looks like China is supplying extraordinary pressure --a ll non-violent, not threatening -- to demonstrate its sovereignty,” said Thayer.

Chinese authorities acknowledged about 20 fishing boats are in the area, despite a temporary self-imposed fishing ban. The Philippines say the Chinese fishermen are violating the ban.

China and Philippines Temporarily Diffuse Tensions

Voice of America reports:

A territorial squabble between China and the Philippines over a small group of islands in the South China Sea has not evolved into a going green agreement. But a decision by both countries to implement a ban on fishing in the region has helped to temporarily defuse tensions between them.

From May 16 – August 1, China said it will stop fishing in an area that encompasses the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island to the Chinese), a small group of islands it claims as part of its territory.

The Philippines responded by announcing plans for its own fishing ban in the area. While Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario said called it an opportunity to replenish the rich fishing grounds, his statement was preface by a comment that was more direct to the issue.

If only it were this simple. However, the dispute is less over fish than over oil and control of sea lanes, something that is not going away because of a fishing ban.

Whew! That's a Relief

China's defence ministry denied reports that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) units had entered level-2 combat readiness, reported Xinhua.

Online media reports said Friday that the PLA's Guangzhou Military Area Command and the South China Sea Fleet have entered Level II combat readiness.

A press release published by the ministry's official website Saturday said that those reports were not true.

(Story here).

I'm being sarcastic in my title, of course. They're ratcheting up the tension for some reason.

Chinese/Philippine Standoff Escalates

It had appeared last week that the standoff between China and the Philippines had mostly resolved itself, with the parties seemingly agreeing to mediation. Not going to happen. China has rejected international mediation, and both sides are now lining up ships again.

Hostilities between China and Philippines escalated on Sunday as both sides lined up their naval ships for a second time in as many weeks, in a stand-off over a disputed island in the South China Sea.

China defended its action of sending its maritime vessel to the Huangyan Island, which the Philippines calls Scarborough Shoal as Manila too reportedly lined up two of its naval ships.

Philippines has already approached the International Court of Justice in Hague over the dispute.

China has rejected the move saying that it is against any international arbitration. Earlier in the day, Philippines President Benigno Aquino dismissed as rhetoric the recent warnings by Chinese officials of decisive action against the Philippines to reinforce Beijing's claim over the island.

"We don't think that at this stage they (China) will engage in any military activities," Aquino told reporters.

"And we... Have been geared towards de-escalating the situation."

Chinese/Philippine Standoff Continues ... Sort Of...

The Wall Street Journal reports today:

China asked the Philippines on Tuesday to withdraw a coast guard ship and an archaeological research vessel from a disputed shoal and ignored a Philippine proposal to bring the problem to a U.N.-linked tribunal for arbitration.

China and the Philippines have agreed to settle the dispute diplomatically but have both insisted on their ownership of Scarborough Shoal, prolonging an eight-day standoff on the high seas. Two Chinese surveillance ships have been facing off with a Philippine coast guard vessel in the area since last week.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario asked China to bring the dispute to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea for arbitration. The Chinese Embassy, however, ignored the proposal Tuesday and asked the Philippines to withdraw its vessels from the shoal "and restore peace and stability there."

The horseshoe-shaped shoal is among the barren islands, reefs and coral outcrops in the South China Sea which have been disputed by China, the Philippines and four other nations for their potential oil and gas deposits, rich fishing grounds and proximity to busy commercial sea lanes.

Although claimant countries have pledged to settle the territorial rifts peacefully, the disputes have erupted in violence in the past, including in 1988 when China and Vietnam clashed in the Spratly Islands in a confrontation that killed 64 Vietnamese soldiers. Many fear the disputes could become Asia's next flash point for armed conflict.

The Philippine government wants to have the issue resolved by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. (Story here). It is unlikely that China will agree, however, because it views its possession of the shoal as predating international treaty.