The start of something big?

What were Indian and US defence ministers doing in this meet

Balancing a bully at the invitation of fiends. May be :-)

All China, US and India posters, Ready, Get Set, Go!

its looks strange diplomats involving in formalities at this level. They all are greedy and masquerade. http://businessnbeyond.blogspot.com/

Interesting column (Op-Ed?) from People's Daily!

Uncle Sam too "senile" (what does that mean?!) to lead Asia

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90002/96417/7161254.html

Some nuggets:

"China will send its Defense Minister to attend a meeting in Hanoi of defense chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and eight other invited countries, which may witness the first handshake between the defense chiefs of China and the U.S. since the bilateral military ties were damaged in January following the Pentagon's decision to sell a nearly 6.4-billion-U.S.-dollar arms package to Taiwan."

"Uncle Sam, instead, is expected to play the same old tune taking the South China Sea disputes to the international court in favor of its interests, while taking great lengths to align with ASEAN countries, and distance China from its neighbors."

Well uncle can only do so much ;-) Rest is done by people like Li Hongmei the columnist

"Back to last November, Obama pledged that he would be a ‘Pacific president.' While the audience then present may have wondered about what exactly that statement meant, few in attendance doubted the sincerity or conviction of the president. "

Given the context I think many knew exactly what he meant! And how the heck can few doubt his "conviction" if they don't even know what he was saying. Doesn't make any sense.

"On the flip side, the fact that the summit is taking place in New York, not Washington, and without the leader of ASEAN's largest country and economy, Indonesia, underlines the point that while
the US policy intent is clearly substantive engagement, there is still much work to be done to engage ASEAN. In particular, With the United States' economy flagging and its global influence in decline, Uncle Sam would be walking with great difficulty on the way to meet its goal. "

Ah there is the clincher apparently. Well she overestimates the flagging of economy not to mention "US' goal".

"Instead, on the chessboard of Uncle Sam, all the ASEAN countries as well as China are taken as the chess pieces which can be positioned at will and as he sees fit, even though the senile Uncle always overestimates his intelligence and obstinately believes he is the unchallenged player."

Hehe. And China has no chessboard? Yeah sure.

"The sad fact is that, although he has a splendid history left behind, today's Uncle Sam is unable to retrace his powerful yesterday. The robust emerging economies are enlivening the skyline of a new Asia, out of its own design. Uncle Sam is at the moment an unexpected guest to the region, let alone gaining the initiative and leading the hosts."

Unexpected guest to the region huh? And when did China or the columnist for the whole region eh? Other nations must have missed the memo.

And if someone knows her, ask her to take some English lessons. The sentence construction is pathetic with gems like "has a splendid history left behind".

Let's peel back these recycled gibberish we called news, shall we?

1) 9-dotted map showing extent of china's island claim in South China Sea was published...by ROC in 1930s. hardly anything new. every one has about 80 years to digest it now. hardly a "new chinese aggression".

2) Yes China has been stepping up its enforcement of it claims in recent years, SCS. In fact, they are upping the ante to behaving acting exactly like the other claimants. Do I hear "Grave Concerns" coming out from a US or anyone, when Chinese fisherman were routinely ransacked worse than a chinaman laundry shop in a good-ole wild-west race riot back in the 90s-00s, any one? silence is deafening...

3) who has the most holding in Sprately? from the article one would guess China. No, it is Vietnam. so from a rock grabbin' ability point of view, Vietnam has been the historically the most aggressive. Isn't it bit ironic that the meeting is held in Hanoi, Vietnam?

3) the alleged chinese verbal claim of "Core-National Interest" in SCS, originally came from a NYT article citing an un-named US official quoting some un-named chinese official in one of those closed door meetings. hardly the stuff of diplomatic norms. foggy bottom boys played a willing global media like a fiddle.

4) oh the Diaoyutai/Senkuka Chinese Fisherman Rammer.
Yes, you tell me a 160 ton single screw underpowered trawler rammes not 1 but 2, Japan Coast Guard Ships, one of them is 1300 tons and has top speed of 30 kts that can turn on a dime with 4 waterjets, and armed with a 30mm auto cannon, and I will tell you that you are insane. Does economist writers bother to use their common-sense any more? or is common sense a too annoying a thing when you can "stick-it-to-the chinese"?

oh shall I go on?

commonsensical wrote:
"And if someone knows her, ask her to take some English lessons. The sentence construction is pathetic with gems like "has a splendid history left behind".
======

should I pull some thing out of The Hindu or the Manila Times, so I can make fun of their english?

..

THe Chinese DEfense Minister also met with his Japanse counterpart

China & Japan is determined to mend ties

The CHINA-JAPAN-SKOREA Super Trade Block is ON Track

The 3 MOST important Asian economies are UNITED

Unity is strenght

...

@ Silent Chinese

"should I pull some thing out of The Hindu or the Manila Times, so I can make fun of their english?"

Sure thing. Do so by all means! I am not an ardent fan of Hindu anyways ;-)

Dunno about Manila Times but Hindu is one of the best newspapers in India, and atleast in the past, used exquisite English especially in their Editorials. Although I have to confess, often I don't agree with their views that are "extreme left" commie. But I give credit where it's due! I personally like the (orange) financial newspapers the best like ET and Business Standard. But feel free to find faults with them as well :-)

So no need to get emotional (or worse nationalistic!) on this ;-)

It is an authentically dirty forum.As is the case,the western powers are evil-intented, in an earnest attempt to internationalize the regional issues ,to be specific, fierce territorial ownership claims, marine disputes.And I see through their facade and political subterfuges, they are good at playing gimmickries ,casting greedy eyes on the lion share of the emerging Asian regions.It seems they are active participants in all sorts of security summits for the sake of maintaining world peace, nevertheless what what are actually doing is stir the ever-increased wrangles and tensions so as to be fishes in troubled waters.In addition, they have become decayed and lusterless regimes fearful of the shift of economic and political focus to Asian countries which can drop them into the abyss of benightedness.
That is why I hold various summits little significant, namely, no consensus yet reached, not far-reaching international chapters strictly implemented or conformed to . To put it into one single word,ludicrous!

Please watch...I was especially impressed with the Caribbean analogy.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/podcasts/fareedzakaria/site/...

commonsensical wrote: Oct 12th 2010 2:55 GMT

So no need to get emotional (or worse nationalistic!) on this ;-)
=======

hey, when you asked her to take some english lessons, obviously you were deriving some satisfaction out of it or else you you wouldn't put the last paragraph down.

pitty you.

The bottom line is China is not trusted by its Asian neighbors.

The major Asian countries like Japan, India and South Korea have mistrust of Chinese ambitions.

And given China's close ties with the lunatic regime in North Korea it shouldn't come as surprise to the Chinese why they are mistrusted by the Japanese and South Korea.

If China doesn't rein in the North Koreans, it is conceivable that Japan will develop nuclear weapons. India already has it.

The secrurity situation in Asia is not stable due to North Korea and even inside China there are internal ethnic tensions with its muslim provinces. Plus Tibet and so a whole host of problems for China to face in the future.

@sherryblack wrote "The bottom line is China is not trusted by its Asian neighbors."

I don't know of any major Asian country that is trusted by its Asian neighbors, or for that matter, any major European country that was trusted by its European neighbors, before they almost annihilated one another in WW2. The only thing that differentiates China from other countries is its size.

@SilentChinese

Well said.

@sherryblack

Sure, there's distrust between China and her neighbors. There's distrust between the U.S. and her backyard. There's distrust between any two nation on this planet.

Nah. The bottom line is the Japanese and the Vietnamese still remember how screwed they were in recent past by the U.S.. That memory can be recalled any time. You think the Indonesians are happy with East Timor?

China, Japan, and U.S., a case of “paper, rock, and scissors”
http://blog.hiddenharmonies.org/2010/09/china-japan-and-u-s-a-case-of-pa...

To get a real sense of what's what, you'll have to look at trade volumes.

China – ASEAN trade increased 55%, expected to top $250billion in 2010
http://blog.hiddenharmonies.org/2010/08/china-asean-trade-increased-55-e...

With Iraq almost done and Afghanistan about to wind down after 9 years of killing fields, Uncle Sam is trying to stir up the water of South China Sea and its defense industry sorely needs a new arms race build up business in Asia. But what can you do? It is the only super power, it can do pretty much what it wants.

Never mind how Japan and India step forward into some acts as some surrogate tools of uncle Sam. The former has no choice being an occupied state, and the latter “volunteered” its service as it has not waned from the old habit of depending on a strong foreign master.

@huaren2000

The US has two neighbors - Canada & Mexico.
These two smaller neighbors trust the USA so much they have undefended borders with USA.

In fact the US/Canadian border is the longest undefended border in the world.

China is not trusted because its neighbors fear rightly that China has terroritorial ambitions, the USA has no terroritorial ambitions with its North American neighbors or with any part of the world.

Plus China's close ties with a lunatic regime in North Korea is not going to win any trust with anybody.

sherryblack

"The US has two neighbors - Canada & Mexico.
These two smaller neighbors trust the USA so much they have undefended borders with USA."

---

Yeah, right. And the US trusts Mexiko so much, it is errecting a high-tech fence turning the boarder into an insurmountable obstacle nothing short of the ancient Great Wall of China.

I'm actually FOR securing our boarders so we can choose whom we let in and whom not (even if the Mexicans hate us for it, as they do). But claiming we have open boarders with Mexico is just ... ridiculous in times when securing the boarder AGAINST Mexicans flooding in is the #1 campaign issue in the boarder states.

sherryblack

And don't forget how we treat UNSUSPECT foreigners at our airports (which are boarders, too). I was in China in August, and the treatment was strict, but polite. When my friends from Europe come visist me in the States, they are usually upset and angry with how they are treated by our boarder guards, who yell at them and treat them like immigration control was a police interrogation. The way we treat other nations is a reason why we are sadly so much disliked around the world, even by our allies, and if you'd travel more often, you'd know what I mean.

ASEAN should the hard lessons from trouble spots elsewhere and will be wise if they stick to the Non-aligned Principles and Non-interferences in foreign affairs rather than inviting the potential Hegemonic forces into the region.

SC,

"Let's peel back these recycled gibberish we called news, shall we?"

Yes, let's do...

"1) 9-dotted map showing extent of china's island claim in South China Sea was published...by ROC in 1930s. hardly anything new. every one has about 80 years to digest it now. hardly a "new chinese aggression"."

Just a bit of reference material, not trying to make news. Besides, it was the ROC that first claimed the islands in question anyway, not the CCP.

"2) Yes China has been stepping up its enforcement of it claims in recent years, SCS. In fact, they are upping the ante to behaving acting exactly like the other claimants. Do I hear "Grave Concerns" coming out from a US or anyone, when Chinese fisherman were routinely ransacked worse than a chinaman laundry shop in a good-ole wild-west race riot back in the 90s-00s, any one? silence is deafening..."

Well, when they're tresspassing what do you expect?

"3) who has the most holding in Sprately? from the article one would guess China. No, it is Vietnam. so from a rock grabbin' ability point of view, Vietnam has been the historically the most aggressive. Isn't it bit ironic that the meeting is held in Hanoi, Vietnam?"

Not really sure of your point here.

"3) the alleged chinese verbal claim of "Core-National Interest" in SCS, originally came from a NYT article citing an un-named US official quoting some un-named chinese official in one of those closed door meetings. hardly the stuff of diplomatic norms. foggy bottom boys played a willing global media like a fiddle."

While an exact source was never identified you may want to check your facts here anyway. The qoute was first published by Kyodo News back in March.

"4) oh the Diaoyutai/Senkuka Chinese Fisherman Rammer.
Yes, you tell me a 160 ton single screw underpowered trawler rammes not 1 but 2, Japan Coast Guard Ships, one of them is 1300 tons and has top speed of 30 kts that can turn on a dime with 4 waterjets, and armed with a 30mm auto cannon, and I will tell you that you are insane. Does economist writers bother to use their common-sense any more? or is common sense a too annoying a thing when you can "stick-it-to-the chinese"?"

Conjecture is still conjecture, as much as you think it makes sense. Everyone is waiting for the footage at this point, unless you're feeling more that a little defensive for the Chinese maybe you should keep your mouth shut and wait like everyone else.

"oh shall I go on?"

Please do...