The US is the last nation to trust in global rule of law


The US is the last nation to trust in global rule of law

KUALA LUMPUR (January 2018): The arrogant war-waging US is living in the past oblivious that it is now the 21st Century Digital World.

And, the rest of the world have access to information at lightning speed in borderless cyberspace.

The ‘bankrupt’ US, saddled with US$20 trillion in debts, just don’t have the financial might and resources that it had in the 19th and 20th Century to support its foreign agenda.


So, the US is now resorting to using the media and empty talk to intimidate those who pose a threat to their economic and military interests.

Senior policy adviser to US State Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was quoted by the media as saying “the US will defend the rule of law if and when China’s behavior in the South China Sea (SCS) becomes out of step”.

Wow … the rest of the world is “trembling with fear”! (Sarcasm that is!)

Does anyone really believe the US military is prepared to take on China? It won’t be China alone as I Love Malaysia-China Silk Road reckons Russia will not just stand aside and watch!

How many aircraft carriers can the US deploy against China? It’s not like China don’t have the same military might.

Does the war-waging US have the credibility to claim “it will defend the rule of law” in this world anymore? After Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, just to name a few, the US is the last country any nation will trust.

China should show the US its true “military muscle” by deploying its navy to patrol 12 miles off the Californian shores and see how the Americans feel! (Read this for context: https://ilovemalaysiachinasilkroad.blogspot.my/2017/12/hey-america-how-would-you-like-chinas.html)

To China, the US is stirring trouble in the SCS to destabilise the region and threaten China’s sovereignty and security.

The following is a comment found in Facebook, followed by a report by MANILA BULLETIN:

"
Robert Young Jr. shared a link.
Yesterday at 05:14
Who will determine that China is out of step? China claims it has historical rights over most of the reefs in South China Sea including Diao Yu Island which Japan occupied after WW2."


"US will ‘defend rule of law’ in South China Sea

Updated January 13, 2018, 10:32 AM
By Roy Mabasa

The United States on Tuesday made it clear that it will stand up and defend the rule of law if and when China’s behavior in the South China Sea becomes out of step.

Brian Hook, a senior policy adviser to US State Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said the US does not accept unilateral actions by South China Sea claimants aimed at changing the status quo while issues of sovereignty remain unresolved.

Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of State and Director of Policy Planning Brian Hook
(US Department of State official Facebook page / MANILA BULLETIN)

“China’s provocative militarization of the South China Sea is one area where China is contesting international law. They’re pushing around smaller states in ways that put strains on the global system, and their actions also undermine core principles of sovereignty, which are very dear to us,” Hook told some 40 journalists from East Asia and the Pacific who participated in a media teleconferencing.


According to Hook, the actions that the US is taking, as the leading proponent of a rules-based system, is “to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight, to the freedoms of assembly and expression online.”

“These are all the things that we will enforce. And so we fly, sail and operate wherever international law permits. And so, that is what I would say just about the South China Sea aspect,” he said.

He added that the US believes that China’s rise cannot come at the expense of the values and rules-based order, which is “the foundation of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, and it’s also around the world.”

“When China’s behavior is out of step with these values and these rules, we will stand up and defend the rule of law,” Hook said.

In all the high-level South China Sea-related meetings he had attended under the Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, Hook said the US was very clear about what its interests are and back it up through freedom of navigation operations.

The Diplomatic Security Dialogue is co-chaired by Tillerson and US Defense Secretary James Mattis.

“We let them know that we will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows. And we’ve also been very clear with China that we don’t accept unilateral actions by claimants aimed at changing the status quo while issues of sovereignty remain unresolved,” the State Department adviser said. - MANILA BULLETIN
"


Comments

  1. US forces fly, sail and operate "wherever" international law permits, or NOT.

    Meanwhile, Chinese forces are repeatedly harassed when exercising legitimate "freedom of navigation" in surrounding areas, in full compliance with widely accepted international law.

    People need to see the true face of hegemony.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment