"Evidence" of China Claims Undone

The amazing logic of claims made by China to the area of the South China Sea, seems to know no bounds, and the BBC put one of them to a test.  John Sudworth tells an interesting story of the roots of one of those claims that turned out to be non-existent.  It is a well told tale that describes much more than the Chinese would have wished.

Sudworth went to investigate a claim of a 600-year-old book allegedly possessed by a fisherman and passed down from generation to generation.  Long story short, the book did not exist, but Sudworth's story is worth telling for the things that occurred around the book, not what was supposed to be in it.  He was followed by Chinese police and the people he interviewed were also interviewed by them.  If they failed to tell a story supporting the claim to the South China Sea, they were "helping the police" afterwards.  When the book couldn't be found, nobody on either side was surprised.

In my first book, I described this as a claim similar to Mexico and Spain claiming the territory of California, which most of us would be happy to have claimed by someone.  It is on fire most of the time, short of water, and full of people with extremes of political views that usually don't belong anywhere else.  We ignore it most of the time, and Spain can have it.  They were there long before any of us and occupied the territory.  Most of the time, the same thing can be said for the South China Sea.

However, China seems to want it on their own terms and will not have it any other way.  They seem to be intent upon causing a perpetual crisis and poking a finger in President Obama's eye every chance they get.  This is disrespect in the street dialogue of relations, and only slightly different when put in diplomatic terms of "friends" who disagree.  On this, China does not want to negotiate a settlement;  they want nothing less than total capitulation by the rest of the world.  Chinese fishing vessels are being taken at regular intervals, and countries are all acting like they think the Chinese claim on the South China Sea is ridiculous.  This hasn't altered their approach one bit.  They believe they can wait us out.  Historically, they might be right, but the matter has yet to be settled, even if the Chinese think it is.