Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) navy sailors march during an open day at the Ngong Shuen Chau Naval Base on Hong Kong's Stonecutters Island July 28, 2012. The naval base was open to the public on Saturday, four days ahead of the PLA Army Day on August 1. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Gordon G. Chang, National Interest: China Will 'Pull the Trigger' in the South China Sea
Beijing may want to “win without fighting” as Holmes suggests, but it cannot win without confronting.
The National Interest has recently hosted a debate on whether China wants a confrontation in the South China Sea.
In a January 24 piece, “China Wants Confrontation in the South China Sea,” I argue what the title states. James Holmes, in “No, China Doesn’t Want Confrontation in the South China Sea,” takes a different view.
In this piece, I show China wants more than just to provoke a confrontation in that contested body of water. It wants to “pull the trigger.” Beijing, we should recognize, will almost certainly use force if it gets the opportunity.
That’s more than just a prediction. It is an extrapolation from past Chinese behavior.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: China has definitely changed in the past 10 years. In the past the Chinese had made the conscious decision to not get directly involved in international affairs .... to be low key, and to not stir "the pot". No more now. They are asserting what they feel are their justifiable claims .... and what makes it worse .... they are looking for a fight. The question is .... who will they focus their energies on so that they can make the point that the Chinese cannot be taken for granted. In short .... they want to make an example of someone so that they can then show the rest of the world that going against China will exact a price.
