wiredseal7 said:Vietnam should probably just start demanding war reparations from both sides—with interest. Whoever pays, wins.
All this talk about Vietnam making up with Americans and joining their camp has been going on for years, yet nothing ever happens. They haven't forgotten, though.
By the way, Pompeo hasn't been Secretary for a while now...
It makes sense—Beijing is moving aggressively, and it’s only a matter of time before they snap like Putin.
That claim gets pushed constantly, but it's pretty far from reality.
China mostly expands through soft power—mainly via the Belt and Road Initiative. They’re actually pretty quiet when it comes to military posturing (bases) or taking hard stances in conflicts, regardless of which bloc is leading.
You could call JKM a sort of economic zone encroachment, but it's not an occupation—it's just empty water and shoals that nobody cared about until they stuck a flag in the sand and dumped construction gear for their bases.
In the end, once you tally up all the American bases across the Indo-Pacific (plus a few rogue spots in the Middle East), it’s basically just the pot calling the kettle black.
Well, look at that—things really are moving toward much closer cooperation with the USA. Now, I totally get why people think it’ll be a massive uphill battle for Vietnam to officially join the American camp. It's a huge leap, right? But despite all that, they’re already jumping into joint naval exercises with the USA, Australia, Japan, and India (who they already have that strategic partnership with anyway). Things are definitely shifting!
Anyway...
wiredseal7 said:Vietnam should probably just start demanding war reparations from both sides—with interest. Whoever pays, wins.
All this talk about Vietnam making up with Americans and joining their camp has been going on for years, yet nothing ever happens. They haven't forgotten, though.
By the way, Pompeo hasn't been Secretary for a while now...
It makes sense—Beijing is moving aggressively, and it’s only a matter of time before they snap like Putin.
That claim gets pushed constantly, but it's pretty far from reality.
China mostly expands through soft power—mainly via the Belt and Road Initiative. They’re actually pretty quiet when it comes to military posturing (bases) or taking hard stances in conflicts, regardless of which bloc is leading.
You could call JKM a sort of economic zone encroachment, but it's not an occupation—it's just empty water and shoals that nobody cared about until they stuck a flag in the sand and dumped construction gear for their bases.
In the end, once you tally up all the American bases across the Indo-Pacific (plus a few rogue spots in the Middle East), it’s basically just the pot calling the kettle black.
I wouldn't say that's exactly right. Not quite.
The Chinese have been busy beefing up those bases with anti-ship and anti-aircraft systems, not to mention all that high-tech laser gear used for tracking and jamming. It’s getting intense. On top of that, they’ve got fishing fleets launching straight from those bases to poach fish illegally within the EEZs of neighboring countries—including Vietnam. And get this: they aren't flying solo. Those boats are constantly shadowed by the Chinese Coast Guard, which basically treats international maritime law like it doesn't even exist. It's getting aggressive, too. They actually used laser "tagging" on an Australian military plane during a patrol in the Arafura Sea, right in that stretch between Australia and Indonesia (which isn't even part of the JKM area). Since 2016, they've also been pushing their luck by intruding into Indonesian EEZs, and they've even drifted into territorial waters a few times whenever the Indonesians try to catch those illegal fishing boats. Can you believe the nerve?
So, we aren't actually talking about some "shy military siren" here. Seriously, let's be real.
Honestly, they really should just own up to it. They’ve clearly dialed back those run-ins between their fishermen and the Coast Guard lately, haven't they? It’s pretty obvious why. Ever since they lost that legal battle against the Philippines at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, things have shifted. Plus, the Indonesian Navy hasn't been playing around—they’ve actually fired warning shots over Chinese vessels a few times now. On top of that, they’re beefing up their naval base on the Natuna islands to tighten up control and defend their EEZ. Makes sense, right?
wiredseal7 said:Vietnam should probably just start demanding war reparations from both sides—with interest. Whoever pays, wins.
All this talk about Vietnam making up with Americans and joining their camp has been going on for years, yet nothing ever happens. They haven't forgotten, though.
By the way, Pompeo hasn't been Secretary for a while now...
It makes sense—Beijing is moving aggressively, and it’s only a matter of time before they snap like Putin.
That claim gets pushed constantly, but it's pretty far from reality.
China mostly expands through soft power—mainly via the Belt and Road Initiative. They’re actually pretty quiet when it comes to military posturing (bases) or taking hard stances in conflicts, regardless of which bloc is leading.
You could call JKM a sort of economic zone encroachment, but it's not an occupation—it's just empty water and shoals that nobody cared about until they stuck a flag in the sand and dumped construction gear for their bases.
In the end, once you tally up all the American bases across the Indo-Pacific (plus a few rogue spots in the Middle East), it’s basically just the pot calling the kettle black.
Actually, that’s not quite right. What China is doing is basically trying to pull off Chiang Kai-shek’s old megalomaniacal dream: forcing the entire JKM area inside that so-called "nine-dash line." This isn't just some random grab for economic territory, either. They originally tried to justify it by calling it "traditional Chinese fishing grounds"—which, by the way, isn't even a thing in international maritime law. They claim it was territory belonging to ancient Chinese emperors. Sure, *de jure* maybe, but *de facto*? Not a chance. You see this mentioned in Chinese historical texts all the time, but those texts conveniently leave out the tributary ceremonies that the Chinese actually require to consider any region truly theirs. The truth is, the JKM has always been a melting pot. Historically, you had fishermen and naval fleets from the Dai Viet kingdom (modern-day North Vietnam), Champa (central and southern Vietnam), and the Ryukyu Islands (part of Japan), not to mention the Indonesian empires like Srivijaya and Majapahit. Plus, let's be real—the area wasn't even called "JKM" until Portuguese sailors gave it that name back in the 16th century. And what did China do? They jumped at the chance to adopt the name!
wiredseal7 said:Vietnam should probably just start demanding war reparations from both sides—with interest. Whoever pays, wins.
All this talk about Vietnam making up with Americans and joining their camp has been going on for years, yet nothing ever happens. They haven't forgotten, though.
By the way, Pompeo hasn't been Secretary for a while now...
It makes sense—Beijing is moving aggressively, and it’s only a matter of time before they snap like Putin.
That claim gets pushed constantly, but it's pretty far from reality.
China mostly expands through soft power—mainly via the Belt and Road Initiative. They’re actually pretty quiet when it comes to military posturing (bases) or taking hard stances in conflicts, regardless of which bloc is leading.
You could call JKM a sort of economic zone encroachment, but it's not an occupation—it's just empty water and shoals that nobody cared about until they stuck a flag in the sand and dumped construction gear for their bases.
In the end, once you tally up all the American bases across the Indo-Pacific (plus a few rogue spots in the Middle East), it’s basically just the pot calling the kettle black.
I'm with you on this one.