Viet police quell riots at S'pore-run industrial parks - ST 15.4.14

Viet police quell riots at S'pore-run industrial parks - ST 15.4.14

Sembcorp said in a statement that over 200 people had been evacuated fr the parks.

By yesterday noon, all gates to the parks were being protected by "hundreds of police".

"I had been advised not to speak Mandarin. All events in city like HK business group meeting have been canceled" a Singaporean exec visiting HCM.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry accused Vietnam of deliberately staging incidents at sea for the media. Vietnamese ships rammed Chinese vessels 169 times yesterday alone.

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Cat and mouse game near disputes oil rig - ST 15.5.2014

China had 86 vessels surrounding a oil rig which includes submarine and missile ship.

Vietnam Lt Cuong with 50 crews has been at sea since 5 May, got to 6 nautical miles before being forced back.

China has said its rig is operating legitimately in its own waters and that Vietnamese vessels have rammed its ships repeatedly.

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Hope the PRC's Chinese and the Vietnamese living here are not influenced by this negative event.

Me too.

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Order restores, says Vietnam - ST 16.5.14

"Order has been restored in those areas and we will take every measure necessary to ensure security and safety of the lives and property of foreign companies, including Chinese company," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh.

Vietnam Coast Guard commander Nguyen Quang Dam yesterday said China's deployment of 70 - 80 "warships" and aircraft to protect the rig was "unacceptable", but Vietnam will not send in navel ships.

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The sad thing is, the Viets could not differentiate between Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters. So, some Japanese and Korean companies suffered collateral damage too.

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I am expecting a major regional war to break out between China and its neighbours over the maritime dispute.

China's stand is one of no discussion at all. It doesn't help the situation when China always open with the statement that the seas belong to China. Period. Any form of negotiation is just to make the other countries understand that the sea and the islands belong to China.

China is behaving as though it is trying to make up for lost time, largely because for nearly all of its entire history, China has no formal navy and hardly any maritime history.

The Zheng He voyages are not really a good example of China's maritime history. This is because the navy and expeditions were set up at the whims of one emperor, and they were decommissioned by the the following emperors. Since then, China behaved like a landlocked country. So, it is hard to believe that China can have historic claims to islands near the Philippines or Borneo.

Time to invest in some defense-related counters?

This event reminding us not to be complacent. We used to see unrest in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and even china (Tibet, uyghur and anti-Japanese) but hardly any happened so far in vietnam so far in the last 20 years. Now it proved that anything can happen in SEA and we are a small country surrounded by all big ones.

Buying defense-related companies will not buying us an insurance. my first thought is I have to really plan for backup, when I have accumulated enough money, I will be looking for a property in Australia/NZ or US and rent it out.

(16-05-2014, 09:41 PM)SLC81 Wrote: my first thought is I have to really plan for backup, when I have accumulated enough money, I will be looking for a property in Australia/NZ or US and rent it out.

What is your concept of a "backup plan"? Some place which is safe for a) personal safety or b) financial safety or c) both?

Thinking about this idea of "prepping". Unfortunately, it is not possible in Singapore. (you know, the whole bunker thing, an assault rifle, plenty of ammunition, livestock and dry provisions.) Given the nature of our country, safely almost automatically means fleeing the country in one form or the other.

Our national insurance is actually the US navy. For now, China still don't dare to go overboard because they can't win a war against the US. So for now, they gradually push and push until the ASEAN countries gradually accept that the whole South China sea belongs to China.

I have this feeling that China does not see its 9-dash line as its furthermost boundaries. This is just the first step. Once it secures the 9-dash line, China will continue to push further south until China's territorial waters border Singapore. By then, they may soon lay claim to Ubin or even Sentosa, by citing some ancient Zheng Ho or Tang dynasty maritime map.

It may sound like a ludicrous claim, but take note that up till now, China has not submitted any real legal documents for its 9-dash line claims. It just simply says the sea is theirs, end of discussion.

China's diplomacy mirrors that of diplomacy during the Warring States, and also shaped by its own historic experiences from the mid 19th century. Legality of territorial ownership is determined predominantly by military might. If the odds are too much against it, it keeps quiet, accepts the loss and tries not to upset the status quo. Hence, China does not make noise against Russia for taking land from China during the late 19th century. It only makes noise against Japan, and against its much weaker ASEAN neighbhours.

For Singapore, we actually realize the reality of the geopolitical situation. In every situation, it is always might that makes right. If you have a weak military, you have practically no diplomatic cards to play besides ceding land. An example would be Georgia and Ukraine vs Russia. Russia refuses to negotiate, and simply does as it wishes because those two countries are too feeble to resist Russia, and NATO will not intervene militarily either.

So, don't complain when Singapore spends so much money on weapons and please take ICT obligations seriously.

(16-05-2014, 10:48 PM)LionFlyer Wrote:

(16-05-2014, 09:41 PM)SLC81 Wrote: my first thought is I have to really plan for backup, when I have accumulated enough money, I will be looking for a property in Australia/NZ or US and rent it out.

What is your concept of a "backup plan"? Some place which is safe for a) personal safety or b) financial safety or c) both?

Thinking about this idea of "prepping". Unfortunately, it is not possible in Singapore. (you know, the whole bunker thing, an assault rifle, plenty of ammunition, livestock and dry provisions.) Given the nature of our country, safely almost automatically means fleeing the country in one form or the other.