There you go.
Just one more tiny sliver of a slice while those Yankee Imperialists are distracted.
Take just enough to avoid directly threatening or angering them.

South China Sea Time Bomb: Beijing Sets "Red Line" on Japan-US Joint Operations

On Saturday, diplomatic sources confirmed that China had issued a severe warning to Tokyo in late June demanding that Japan refrain from dispatching Self-Defense Forces to join US operations testing the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Japan will “cross a red line” if SDF vessels take part in the freedom of navigation operations, Chinese Ambassador Cheng Yonghua conveyed to Tokyo at the time. Cheng threatened military action if Japan failed to comply with the ultimatum.

The warning came two weeks prior to The Hague international arbitration court’s adverse ruling deeming the waters and territory that the Chinese people had historically viewed as their own were to be stripped of their control and that Beijing must immediately remove itself from the disputed territory. China immediately denounced the ruling, on both substantive and procedural grounds, vowing not to comply with the court’s ruling....... Beijing has become irate over international pressure calling for it to comply with the court order in the name of international law, which China views the ruling itself violates, coming predominantly from regional competitors Japan and Australia as well as from the United States.

Those tensions risk spilling over with a Chinese state-run newspaper already issuing a warning to Australia that it would be the "ideal target for a strike" and repeated warnings to Japan to avoid intervening. Further complicating tensions, Reuters misreported that Vietnam had installed rocket launchers pointing at Chinese military assets over the territorial dispute leading China’s press to caution Hanoi to remember the consequence of the last-time the two countries went to war in 1979.

While Tokyo continues to assert pressure on Beijing over the arbitration ruling, despite not itself being a party to the dispute, a Japan Times editorial left unsigned sought to offer reassurance saying that "the Japanese government has no plans to join the freedom of navigation operations, in which the United States since October has sent warships near artificial islands that China has built in the South China Sea."

The statement of measured and reserve action comes after revelations that Chinese Ambassador Cheng Yonghua told Japan explicitly not to take part in "joint military actions with the US forces that is aimed at excluding China in the South China Sea" and stating that China "will not concede on sovereignty issues and is not afraid of military provocations.".............

Remember someone once from US State Dept saying that dealing with the Chinese when they are angry was a bit like a Peking Opera... lots of screaming, shouting and threats, but not much more.
The threat to strike Australia is a bit ridiculous - with Pine Gap and half of the US defence industry having branch offices here, it'd be tantamount to an attack on the US itself.
But what about the smaller nations?
Sooner or later we're going to reach `call your bluff' point in this dispute.
Face will be lost, and what happens then?
Short, sharp ugly little scrap between some South East Asian claimant and China?

I liked your "Peking Opera" analogy there, tartare.
The phrases "severe warning" to Japan and "Beijing has become irate" and, to top it off,
Australia as "an ideal target" confirm that.
And we thought the North Koreans were silly.
I hope they pull their heads in soon.

Just to add to the growing furore in the region, yet another possible flash point.

South Korea's Park Geun-hye: 'Serious cracks' in North Korean regime - UPI.com

SEOUL, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye suggested regime change in North Korea is close at hand, the same day Pyongyang condemned the commencement of large-scale joint military exercises. Speaking during a national security council meeting for the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises, Park said "serious cracks" are emerging in the Pyongyang government, and the possibility the system would be "shaken" is increasing, Yonhap reported.

The president's remarks come a week after she described unification as an opportunity for "all North Koreans and North Korean officials," during a speech marking the 71st anniversary of Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule. Park did not include Kim Jong Un in her speech, a move that is aiming to isolate the top leadership, according to a South Korean analyst. On Monday Park said, "Even the North Korean elite class is recently showing signs of collapse, and some of North Korea's key officials are defecting or seeking asylum abroad, signs that there is a possibility the system is shaking."

A South Korean official who spoke to Yonhap on the condition of anonymity said the president is looking at the bigger picture, which includes difficulties for the regime under international sanctions, increasing public opposition to Pyongyang's mass mobilization movements and the defection of elites........

For anyone interested in the DPRK then Reddit has a good forum.
https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaNews

Follow up to post #102...

China flies military planes over strait near Japan

China has sent fighter planes for the first time over a strait near Japan, the two governments said Monday, after Tokyo announced it may patrol alongside the US in the disputed South China Sea.

More than 40 Chinese military aircraft on Sunday traversed the Miyako Strait between Japan's Miyako and Okinawa Islands, to carry out training in the West Pacific, according to a statement on China's defence ministry website. The Sukhoi Su-30 fighters, bombers and refuelling aircraft did not violate Japanese airspace. Japan's defence ministry said it was the first time Chinese fighters had passed over the strait. The drill is aimed at "testing far sea combat capabilities", the Chinese statement said. It follows China's first military flight, carried out by spy planes, over the Miyako Strait last year.

The move comes after Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said earlier this month that Tokyo would increase its engagement in the South China Sea through joint training cruises with the US Navy, exercises with regional navies and capacity-building assistance to coastal nations. Beijing asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, dismissing rival partial claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours. It rejects any intervention by Japan in the waterway.

In recent months Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has criticised China for rejecting a July ruling by an international tribunal, which said Beijing's extensive claims to the waters had no legal basis. Tokyo, a key US ally, is also strengthening defence ties with other countries in the disputed region. Japan and China are already at loggerheads over a longstanding territorial row in the East China Sea. That dispute relates to uninhabited islets controlled by Japan known as the Senkakus in Japanese and the Diaoyus in Chinese.

Abe said on Monday Japan would "never tolerate attempts to unilaterally change the status quo" in the disputed waters, or "wherever else in the world", in an apparent response to the Chinese move. "We pledge to protect Japan's territory, and in the sea and air," he said in a speech to open a new parliamentary session. Japan and China "share a mutual understanding that we're significantly responsible for regional peace and prosperity", he added.

In its statement the Chinese defence ministry said it had also mobilised an unspecified number of bombers and fighters to patrol the East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). Beijing sparked alarm after it unilaterally established the ADIZ in 2013. It demanded all aircraft submit flight plans when traversing the zone, which covers the islands disputed with Tokyo and also claimed by Taipei.

"Normalising far sea drills out in the West Pacific and patrols in the East China Sea ADIZ is based on the need for China's Air Force to protect national sovereignty and security and ensure peaceful development," air force spokesperson Shen Jinke said in the statement. The Chinese military has been monitoring and identifying foreign military planes that entered the ADIZ and "took measures according to different air threats" since it was set up three years ago, the statement added.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/files/2...ako-Strait.jpg

Don't worry about it. It's no difference between Russian aircraft flying the Rockall Gap. China and Japan have their own domestic problems; this is just a sideshow.

And who was feeding the dragon for decades? Who outsourced a huge part of manufacturing to China supporting its near two-digit economic growth for some 30 years? US and EU....

The WalMart effect.

I met a bloke in Shenzhen once. He ran, as had his father before him, a plastics moulding company producing plastic bits for motor vehicles; bumper, grill surrounds etc. He had supplied, at a reasonable cost, components for British motor manufacturers for years but he was now going to go out of business.

The reason was that the new Eastern European companies springing up with EU subsidies could easily undercut him and under EU rules the manufacturers were not permitted to choose their supplier on a national basis.

So he had come to China with samples of his products to try and save his business. He had been directed to a Chinese company that produced the same items as he and they had done test mouldings of his products to perfection. So the deal was struck. They would produce the items that would arrive in the UK at a price cheaper than the Europeans could manage; his factory would then become a packing and distribution centre and 90% of his employees would keep a job.

I guess iPhones are more terrifying than all those fighters, missiles and bombs that others prefer to sell to China.

Let's be honest - if China opened a competition to provide a new fighter you wouldn't be able to move in Beijing because of BAe, Dassault, Saab, Boeing & LM sales people..................

I don't think that is being honest at all. China would gladly purchase military equipment from companies such as those you list, but are prevented from doing so by the national governments that host said companies.

http://www.dw.com/en/why-russia-need...ons/a-18870472

Hmmm - not sure - if they wanted to buy lots and lots of shiny new aeroplanes things might change ...after all - other than the F-35 & the F-22 they're all pretty old designs no?

Seems like a realist who figures he gets more for his country long term doing this than shedding blood to appease someone else.

Like all peripheral countries - they contract when the Big Boy in the area is strong and then expand when they are weak

Friendly neighbour is better.

Its one thing to be denied productive fishing grounds at the end of a rifle, voluntarily cede them and I'll be curious to see how long he stays in office. The Philipinos I know are a very proud lot.