waauw wrote:mrswdk wrote:When the leader of the country is spouting this kind of nonsense, how can anyone take anything he says seriously?
Hopefully the matter can be settled in a calm and orderly manner, without further hysterics and certainly without any aggressive alliances being formed to try and bully China away from the table.
Bully China away? China is bullying the Philippines a lot more. Tell me, which of the two has the biggest presence of military capability in the region?
The Philippines routinely calls for American involvement. America has an enormous presence in the region and militarily is still far stronger than China. China is not the strong party in these negotiations for as long as the Philippines continues to call on America.
Which of the two refuses any multilateral negotiations?
China is completely willing to have open negotiations between all the interested parties. Nations like the Philippines refuse to accept that America is not an interested party in any of these disputes, which prevents any meaningful talks from taking place.
Which of the two started this arms race?
There is no 'arms race'.
Which of the two is using it's military size to sway things into its favour?
That is exactly what that Philippines is trying to do with its constant appeals to America.
If all the other South China Sea nations would just chill out a bit and stop dragging America into the frame at every opportunity, then the situation would be far less threatening for China and open, peaceful dialogue between all the region's nations would be much more achievable.
If the South East Asians nations genuinely want dialogue, and are not merely seeking to intimidate China into submission, then they should drop the Cold War politics and stop trying to play America off against China.
As for Aquino, it's clear he meant the comparison to hitler in terms of expansionism through military means. Not anything to do with genocide or whatever. So I really don't see what the problem is.
Then why not compare China to any of the hundreds of other leaders and nations who have used military means to expand? Aquino could have just compared China to the Great Powers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Why compare them to the most reviled dictator of all time?