China is not sending their new hospital ship to help the Philippines recover from the typhoon that swept across their country:
While the navies of the United States and its allies rushed to the aid of the typhoon-hit Philippines, a state-of-the-art Chinese hospital ship has stayed at home and in doing so has become a symbol of China's tepid response to the crisis.
The decision not to deploy the 14,000-tonne "Peace Ark", one of the newest and biggest hospital ships in the world, is one that contrasts with a recent charm offensive across Southeast Asia by China as it seeks to bolster ties and ease tension over the disputed South China Sea.
Meanwhile, Chinese ships are poking around the Senkakus (even as Japanese ships rush to help the Philippines while the Japanese also stage large-scale exercises involving the Senkakus):
Four Chinese coastguard ships sailed through disputed waters off Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea Saturday, officials said, as Japan continued a massive drill aimed at bolstering defence of its remote islands.
The vessels entered 12-nautical-mile territorial waters at about 9:25 am (0025 GMT) off one of the Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls the Diaoyus, the Japan Coast Guard said.
So China's ships are capable of sailing around.
So is China's decision not to send their "Peace Ark" a decision to punish the Philippines for daring to resist Chinese claims in the South China Sea?
And make the rest of the world look on in disgust at that cold-hearted decision?
Or does China simply not willing to admit that one of their newest ships is not ready to sail and that the Chinese are incapable of making it ready to sail in an emergency?
That is, would China rather appear unwilling to help than incapable of helping? The latter would raise questions about their entire fleet, no?
