This is a heartening sign of unity:
Delegates with the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a handful of East Asian countries and other Western powers skirted controversy over the heated issue of conflicting claims in Asia-Pacific waters during a meeting this week in the Philippines.
Diplomats joined security experts, maritime officials and others to discuss regional cooperation, the protection of marine resources and trade routes at a time when there has been growing tension over territorial disputes throughout the region.
These nations seem determined to resist Chinese claims:
Indonesia is buying submarines from South Korea and coastal radar systems from China and the United States. Vietnam is getting submarines and combat jets from Russia, while Singapore - the world's fifth-largest weapons importer - is adding to its sophisticated arsenal.
Wary of China and flush with economic success, Southeast Asia is ramping up spending on military hardware to protect the shipping lanes, ports and maritime boundaries that are vital to the flow of exports and energy.
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, fuelled by the promise of rich oil and gas deposits, have prompted Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei to try to offset China's growing naval power.
These nations may be worried that we might not have sufficient power to help them, but they don't worry enough not to arm up even in the knowledge that on their own they don't have enough to stop a fully committed China to defeating them and enforcing their claims in the South China Sea.
In regard to China's claims against Japan, I recently wrote that we don't have an interest in the ownership issue as long as the issue isn't settled by force (which would mean China seizing the islands that are now under Japanese authority). That isn't strictly true, as I've mentioned in relation to the South China Sea.
In both areas, we have an interest in freedom of navigation even in exclusive economic zones. The Law of the Sea is silent on this and we rely on traditional sea law and custom to defend our ability to sail warships and fly warplanes through these international waters.
China claims that our military forces cannot sail through those waters without their permission under China's interpretation of the Law of the Sea.
If China didn't have this expansive view of these waters (remember, China basically called the entire South China Sea one of their cities), we truly wouldn't care who owns the islands near China. But because Chinese views of their authority in these waters conflict with our interest in freedom of navigation, we actually have an interest in keeping the islands out of Chinese hands.
If the Chinese were a little more nuanced, they wouldn't make sea-control claims that we simply can't accept.
Which means we are more likely to stay involved and bolster the nerves of the smaller states close to China. If we have an interest in defending little bits of rock, surely we have an interest in the fate of those smaller states, eh?
