They will beat their swords into plowshares and\u00a0 spears into pruning hooks,\u201d proclaims a granite tablet fronting New York \u2019s 43rd street\u00a0 entrance to the United Nations. \u201cNation will not take up sword against nation.\u201d These lines are from the prophet\u00a0 Isaiah.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re reflected in a statue that dominates the UN park along East River. Sculpted by Evgeniy Vuchetich, it depicts a man shattering a\u00a0 bent sword with a hammer. \u201cNever again will they train for war,” the prophet Micah wrote<\/p>\n
Those hopes seemed elusive as ever this week. The Taliban-fanned war in Afganistan continues. North Korea and Iran forge ahead for a nuclear trigger.<\/p>\n
South Sudan, which has oils wells, battles northern Sudan which straddles pipelines and refineries. Instead of becoming a glue, oil is a sputtering fuse, notes New York Times. In Syria, suicide bombers blew up 55 people, adding to a casualty list of 9,000 in over 14 months. \u201cHas the Arab spring become a Balkan winter?\u201d<\/p>\n
“The only conflict not in this map is the incoming Barrack Obama versus Mitt Romney \u2018nuclear war\u2019,\u201d a late-night show\u00a0 wisecrack says. Or\u00a0 tension between China and the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal?<\/p>\n
The name Scarborough comes\u00a0 from an 18th-century\u00a0 tea trade ship that smashed into those reefs. Filipinos call them \u201cPanatag Shoal\u201d or \u201cBajo de Masinl\u00f3c.\u201d Chinese name them \u201c Huangyan Island. \u201dBoth claim ownership.<\/p>\n
Beijing cites\u00a0 history, flagging\u00a0 a Yuan dynasty 1279 map. Manila insists on geography. The reefs are about 123 miles west of Subic Bay\u2014and 350 miles from China.<\/p>\n
These are rich fishing grounds. Between 1998 to 2001, the Philippines arrested Chinese fishermen catching endangered and protected species using banned methods.<\/p>\n
The shoals are well within the 200 exclusive economic zone that the 1982 UN Convention on Law of the Sea defines, the Philippines notes. Not\u00a0 valid,\u00a0 replies says Beijing whose claims abut into the EEZ of other Asean countries.<\/p>\n
Vietnam bristled when China announced plans to develop tourist facilities in Paracel Islands. Forcibly taken over by Chinese troops in 1974, Vietnam continues to claim the Paracels. Chinese and Vietnamese hackers attacked each other\u00a0 websites last year, as Filipino and Chinese hackers did in 2012.<\/p>\n
China jacked up the number of\u00a0 its ships at the shoals from 14 to 30. The Philippines keeps a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel plus a coast guard rescue ship.<\/p>\n
The Chinese foreign ministry demanded that its boats \u201cbe left alone to go about their normal activities.\u201d But Philippine vessels must\u00a0 scram. Out of their own seas? No,\u00a0 said\u00a0 Foreign Albert\u00a0 del\u00a0 Rosario.\u00a0 Manila\u00a0 would\u00a0 seek\u00a0 instead a rules-based approach to all disputes in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.<\/p>\n
In stark contrast , \u201cwar talk, it seems, is all the rage in China,” \u201cBritish Broadcasting Corp. Damian Gramaticus\u00a0 notes. \u201cThere are serious people in serious publications seriously advocating war\u201d over\u00a0 those rocks\u2014and potential oil deposits..<\/p>\n
China has “made all preparations to respond to any escalation,” the Foreign Ministry\u00a0 warned. Controlled media clobber the Philippines. \u201cIt is fair to believe all this coverage is officially approved.” Imports of\u00a0 Philippine bananas and\u00a0 travel of Chinese tourists are squeezed.<\/p>\n
China reels from the Bo Xilai scandal and it\u2019s once-in-a-decade transition even as the US plunges into elections. \u201cThere will be two elephants in the same room.\u201d How the next US president \u201cmanages emergent China will have global repercussions, writes Kenneth Lieberthal, Joshua Meltzer and Jonathan Pollack of the think tank Brookings Institute.<\/p>\n
Asian countries view China \u2019s power ascendance with growing concern. All feel they can benefit from some level of U.S.-China competition. No one, however, wishes to face an \u201ceither-or\u201d choice between Washington and Beijing .<\/p>\n
The near-term possibilities for full cooperation with China seem doubtful. Nonetheless, the \u201cneed for China \u2019s active participation in building a more durable and stable regional order remains beyond dispute. The question is how to realize this fundamental objective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Republican and Democrat parties center\u00a0 America\u2019s relations with the Asia-Pacific region in their foreign policy priorities\u00a0 \u201c(But)\u00a0 there will be more posturing than thoughtful analysis during the campaign. And these could exacerbate tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chinese foreign policy has proved prickly, especially on regional issues. Obama sought to advance presumed common (or at least complementary) interests, as resolution of Korea \u2019s nuclear ambitions or \u201ccontested maritime domains in the South China Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Long-term investments in military modernization, ratchet\u00a0 prospect of Beijing \u2019s being able to restrict U.S. ability to conduct uncontested operations in waters and air space contiguous to Chinese territory.\u201d These \u201cenhance the possibility of misunderstanding and miscalculation that neither state seeks.\u201d Defense officials of both countries meanwhile are \u201cengaged in a dialogue of the deaf.\u201d<\/p>\n
China\u2019s gains during global financial turmoil, ignited gripes about unfair trade practices, like\u00a0 feet-dragging on appreciation of the yuan, large-scale subsidies for state-owned industries and roadblocks for\u00a0 access to China \u2019s domestic market. Obama skewered Beijing \u2019s skewed\u00a0 trade surpluses.<\/p>\n
“For\u00a0 years the only commodity I couldn’t\u00a0 find\u00a0 in Chicago was the good old toothpick,\u201d my friend and retired colonel Julian\u00a0 Ares e-mailed. Lo and behold, they\u2019re now available. Made in China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They will beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks,\u201d proclaims a granite tablet fronting New York \u2019s 43rd street entrance to the United Nations. \u201cNation will not take up sword against nation.\u201d These lines are from the prophet Isaiah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1236,1227],"tags":[2783,38293,2257,23923],"byline":[1671],"source":[206068],"column":[1283],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n