Reuters: Japan urges China not to escalate East China Sea tension. If the China Sea conflict goes hot, the Japan/China dispute over the Senkaku Islands has the greatest chance of being the  flashpoint. The reasoning is very simple. China is actively challenging Japan’s claims. At present, Japan has naval superiority over China. Japan is close … Continue reading Japan, China, Senkaku Islands, & the Nine Dotted Line →

This is based upon a line of reasoning dating to 1994, when Bill Clinton granted China Most Favored Nation trade status.  I am an admirer of Bill Clinton.  Perhaps, in the years the followed, and in the subsequent administration, trade policy should have received periodic, significant modifications. Let’s do a back-of-the-envelope calculation of China’s claims … Continue reading The Nine-Dotted Line →

(CNN) Biden and UK to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines in new pushback on China, and America’s deal with UK and Australia leaves France bruised and Europe in the cold on China. The defense of Australia is difficult. To understand why, consult the map. The Nine Dotted Line dips south to the north shore of … Continue reading Defending Australia; Nuclear Submarines & French Anger →

In Aspen Security Conference; The Rise of China, Part 1, CIA analyst Michael Collins is quoting as saying China wants to replace the U.S. as the world superpower. Without negation, my reply is I agree, although the tone almost implies that it’s the fault of China. The fault is ours, a major failure of U.S. … Continue reading The U.S. – China Love Affair; Aspen Security Conference Part 2 →

Trump’s tweets about China suggest to some that the U.S. military posture with respect to the Nine Dotted Line is about to become more aggressive. Most noted is Trump’s phone conversation with the president of Taiwan, in violation of the “one China policy” of both the mainland and Taiwan, which, according Congressional Research Service (pdf), … Continue reading Trump’s Tweets on China →

Reuters reports the protest of Vietnam with the first military flight to an island in the Spratleys. The inaugural post of this blog,  The Nine Dotted Line, suggested 2025 as a due date for exercise of full sovereignty by China in the delineated area. You may wish to look at the Pivot to Asia series: … Continue reading South China Sea Tense →

One day in 1894 or ’95, a  seaman in the British merchant-marine put pen to paper, and wrote “a story of an eastern river.” Although he spoke English with a thick Polish accent, Joseph Conrad came to be regarded as the greatest novelist in the English language. Almayer’s Folly was his first work, based largely … Continue reading Pivot To Asia, Historical Background; Part 1 →

CNN. These flights, conduced by the RC-135V/W Rivet Joint, collect signal intelligence. Please refer to “The Nine Dotted Line.”

(CNN) CIA official: China wants to replace US as world superpower. Quoting CIA’s Michael Collins, “By their own terms and what Xi enunciates I would argue by definition what they’re waging against us is fundamentally a cold war, a cold war not like we saw during the Cold War, but a cold war by definition. … Continue reading Aspen Security Conference; The Rise of China, Part 1 →

This blog contains so many Asia articles, it would be superfluous to write   on the occasion of Trump’s Asia trip. Nothing new has transpired. It’s a lot of reading. Even in capsule form, there may be enough words to hide the obvious conclusion, of which there are many examples. Imagine for a moment the U.S. … Continue reading Selected China Readings; Trump’s Asia Tour →