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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Fight Concrete With Concrete

China continues to build islands and structures in the South China Sea in order to bolster their illegal claims for the South China Sea. The Philippines had best respond by building permanent structures to bolster their own claims.

I assume this proposal by Manila is intended to bolster future building by the Philippines (that one LST grounded on a reef under siege by Chinese vessels is a prime candidate), because there is no chance at all that Peking will go along:

China rejected a suggestion by the Philippines on Monday for a regionwide ban on construction in the South China Sea after Beijing began building a school on a rugged outpost it created to strengthen its claims to disputed waters.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said he will propose that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations call for such a moratorium. "I think we would use the international community to step up and to say that we need to manage the tensions in the South China Sea before it gets out of hand," del Rosario said.

I will admit that building a school is a nice touch by China. Although fish might be the only ones able to attend that remote outpost's "school."

The Philippines should call China's school and build a large concrete kitten and puppy rescue shelter--with a helicopter landing pad, naturally.