Daily Lessons from Life 16 July 2009

Today is the Launch of the 2009 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon! I am signing up as I have the wish list of making the annual jog/walk for 10 continuous years starting from my 1st marathon in December 2008!

Wish me luck and the resolve to see this wish through!!

"US sounds alarm on China's seapower 16 July 2009 1016 hrs

WASHINGTON: The United States voiced concern Wednesday about rising tension between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea as a senator led calls to boost US seapower faced with Beijing's growing military.

Experts at a Senate hearing pointed to a string of incidents -- including standoffs this year between US and Chinese ships -- as evidence of a more assertive sea posture by Beijing. State Department official Scot Marciel said that Beijing has told US and other foreign oil companies to halt work with Vietnamese partners in the South China Sea or face consequences inside lucrative China.

"We object to any effort to intimidate US companies," Marciel, a deputy assistant secretary of state handling Asia, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said Washington has raised concerns directly with China. "We have also urged that all claimants exercise restraint and avoid aggressive actions to resolve competing claims," he said.

But Marciel said the United States would not take sides on the myriad island disputes involving China and its neighbors including Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Senator Jim Webb, who called the hearing, said he understood the need to stay out of Asia's sometimes emotionally charged territorial disputes but worried that the lack of US position may embolden China. "We don't discuss it enough here in the United States -- we are the only guarantor there to provide a credible umbrella under which those other countries in the region can successfully grow their economies without intimidation," said Webb, a Democrat from Virginia.

Separately, the potentially oil-rich Spratly island chain is claimed entirely or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Richard Cronin, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Stimson Center think-tank, told the Senate hearing that President Barack Obama should end the "passive" US attitude on sovereignty issues.

"The Obama administration should lend at least moral support to Southeast Asian countries which are subject to intimidation, and be resolute in asserting its own rights to free passage in the face of Chinese provocations," Cronin said. But he said the United States would fail if it tried to "stigmatise" China. "Instead, we should make every effort to respect China's aspirations for leadership and major power status, but within the internationally recognised rules," Cronin said. - AFP"

A long lasting dispute on the sovereignty of this tiny little island which no one would have bothered had it not been rumoured to have the black gold on or under it - oil!!

Lessons for me are:

1. US should stay out of it. It is NONE of their business! The countries involved need to talk and resolve it themselves. Taiwan will be hard put to do it as PRC considered it a renegade province or part of the motherland;

2. let the international court gets involved and decide in an open hearing and presentation of evidences and claims to settle this once and for all. If it cannot be done then mediation should be considered. Everything must be transparent and open for all to see and examine and challenged;

3. there is NO need to be alarmed about PRC's marine might as it is still far inferior to the USA. In ancient time maybe the Chinese were once a sea power but not in recent time by a long shot! In any case, aggression to 'conquer' lands is no longer the preferred choice of civilized world so I am not sure if PRC will ever go that route in the next 5-10 years!

Bottomline is: USA to stay out of something that the international court can handle! The wish to protect its companies is understandable but the right to explore rest with who is the real and true master of the island!