The looming war between the US and China continues to loom

Stupendously clear day in Miaoli yesterday.

Beijing is rebuffing efforts to set up crisis prevention protocols in the South China Sea, says the US. Oz reports:

"We have tried to make clear to China how important it is to put in place the institutions and policies to manage any incidents," said Kurt Campbell, the US State Department's senior official responsible for policy in Asia.

The US and Soviet Union put in place a number of agreements to contain Cold War mishaps from flaring into hot conflict, but China is declining all US approaches.

"We continue to underscore how important that is," Dr Campbell told the Herald in an interview. "More and more, Chinese and United States forces operate side by side. There's a need to have predictability on the high seas and above the high seas.''

China, which launched its first aircraft carrier last week, is increasingly asserting itself and has had mishaps and skirmishes with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines and US in the last two years.

This rebuff is probably a violation of the Military Maritime Cooperation Agreement (MMCA) negotiated back during the Clinton Administration. I've heard that the quid pro quo for that agreement was the Clinton Administration's announcement of the 3 Noes on Taiwan. The obsession of the US with military contacts with China has led the nation into all sorts of foolishness.

Meanwhile on the South China Sea, a bunch of stuff this week. The Diplomat points out that the AirSea Battle concept touted by US military policymakers is probably a bad idea, expensive and may trigger nuclear exchanges. Foreign Policy has a photo tour of the South China Sea, while Robert Kaplan argues that the South China Sea is the future of war.

Once again, it behooves me to point out that you can't follow a policy of downgrading Taiwan while simultaneously upgrading your position in the South China Sea. Those policies contradict each other.
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Daily Links:

• 36 hidden secrets of Taiwan. Have you visited them?
• Brookings: China's military threat and Taiwan's countermeasures.
• Circling Taiwan by bike at Taiwan in Cycles
• Eyedoc discusses illegal immigration to Taiwan in the Qing era.
• Almost Home Taiwan: documentary about a family reunited after two decades

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