Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[CougarKing]

Securing the South China Sea is more than a matter of pride for Xi and other members of the Politburo standing committee. As stated in the 2nd article above, it would also help strengthen the CCP's perceived legitimacy among its people and domestic rule:

Diplomat

Don’t Underestimate Xi Jinping’s Resolve in the South China Sea

    U.S. freedom of navigation operations could spark a more intense reaction than Washington bargained for.
    By Mu Chunshan
    October 29, 2015

    (...SNIPPED)

    There’s No Retreat for China in the South China Sea

    Finally, the U.S. should be absolutely clear on one point: the South China Sea has already become one of China’s “core interests.” To put it another way, the South China Sea has joined Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Tibet as areas where China cannot give up or give in.

    So China’s development of the South China Sea will continue, despite U.S. dissatisfaction or interference. To China, this is a necessary part of becoming a maritime power after decades of economic development and strengthened national power – it’s a natural evolution, not something that can be halted. As the U.S. responds to China’s South China Sea policy, Washington must take into account that this change in China’s stance is part of a natural and even inevitable historical trend.

    But China’s development of the South China Sea does not mean using force to change the status quo. That is why China’s new leaders have built islands rather than resorting to military means.

    (...SNIPPED)

 

[Edward Campbell]

For the Chinese the China Seas are "home water," mare nostrum, if you like. They are, rather, like the Gulf of Mexico is to the USA ...

                    Both the South China Sea and the Gulf of Mexico are "international," but both are also important to the dominant (great power) states in each region

 

[dimsum]

China officially ends 1-child policy:

China's ruling Communist Party announced Thursday that all couples will be allowed to have two children, ending the country's decades-old, unpopular one-child policy that has risked becoming a demographic burden as the population ages.

The one-child policy had been watered down several times since it was introduced in 1979, to the extent that most couples already qualified to have two kids.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/5-things-to-know-about-china-s-1-child-policy-1.3294335

 

[a_majoor]

A more detailed article about the end of the one child policy:

http://www.newgeography.com/content/005084-end-of-one-child-policy-is-unlikely-to-solve-chinas-looming-aging-crisis

End Of One-Child Policy Is Unlikely To Solve China's Looming Aging Crisis
by Joel Kotkin 10/29/2015

By finally backing away from its one-child policy, China would seem to be opening the gates again to demographic expansion. But it may prove an opening that few Chinese embrace, for a host of reasons.

Initially, the one-child policy made great sense. The expansion of China’s power under Mao Zedong was predicated in part on an ever-growing population. Between 1950 and 1990, the country’s Maoist era, the population, roughly doubled to 1.2 billion, according to U.N. figures. Deng Xiaoping’s move to limit population growth turned out to be a wise policy, at least initially, allowing China to focus more on industrialization and less on feeding an ever-growing number of mouths.

Three decades later, this policy clearly has outlived its usefulness. China’s population growth is now among the slowest in the world, and it is aging rapidly. The U.N. expects the Chinese population to peak around 2020, about when India will pass the Middle Kingdom as the world’s most populous country.

Perhaps the most troubling impact will be on the workforce. In 2050, the number of children in China under 15 is expected to be 60 million lower than today, approximately the size of Italy’s population. It will gain nearly 190 million people 65 and over, approximately the population of Pakistan, which is the world’s sixth most populous country.

The same broad pattern will play out in Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Japan, but those countries’ much greater per capita wealth gives them a greater ability to cushion the impact than China. Demographer Nicholas Eberstadt envisions a developing of fiscal crisis in China caused by “this coming tsunami of senior citizens,” with a smaller workforce, greater pension obligations and generally slower economic growth.

These factors were clearly part of the calculus that led to suspending the one-child policy. But if China’s rulers think they can change demographic trends on a dime, they are massively mistaken.

The birthrates of many other East Asian countries have plummeted as well, despite campaigns to promote fertility. In South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore birthrates are near one per woman, roughly half the rate needed to sustain the current population. With the exception of Singapore, which accepts many immigrants, none have a reasonable path away from rapid aging of their populations and shrinking workforces.

So what is causing this plunge? Gavin Jones, a demographer based at the National University of Singapore, identifies primarily rapid urbanization and sky-rocketing house prices. In 1979, China’s population was 80 percent rural; today the proportion is roughly half that.

This transformation makes reversing the one-child policy largely moot, Jones says. Indeed a 2013 easing of restrictions on family size in certain circumstances elicited far fewer takers than expected. Barely 12 percent of eligible families even applied.

One critical problem is the high cost of real estate, particularly in China’s most important cities, which makes it difficult for young couples to attain the space to house a larger family, let alone leave them sufficient financial resources to raise the children. China’s main cities have suffered arguably the world’s most rapid growth of property prices relative to income. Last year, The Economistestimated house price to income ratios of nearly 20 in Shenzhen 17 in Hong Kong and over 15 in Beijing, between 50% and 100% higher than ultra-expensive Western places like San Francisco, Vancouver or Sydney.

This explains in part why prosperous cities like Shanghai and Beijing, now have among the lowest fertility rates ever recorded — down near 0.7 per woman, or one-third the replacement rate. If the experience of densification and high prices spread to other Chinese cities, officials may be lucky if couples even bother to have one child.

One alternative strategy may be to slow urbanization and disperse population to less congested areas, but policy seems to be headed in the exact opposite direction. In 2013 China announced plans to bring an additional 250 million people from the countryside into the city.

This could boost the economy, as planners hope, but also reduce the fertility rate. All over the world the displacement of rural populations, accelerate the pattern of low fertility, notes the demographer Jones. For one thing, separation from their relatives in the countryside means there is little in the way of family support for taking care of children.

Jones suggests that urbanization has also undermined the traditionally family centered religious values of Chinese society. Pew Research identifies China as the least religious major country in the world, making it, even more than Europe, a paragon of atheism. All around the world, the decline of religious sentiments has been associated with low fertility around the world.

Finally the announcement’s timing may not be fortuitous. When China’s economy was booming and the future looked limitless, more families might have considered a second child. But with the economy slowing, it seems logical to expect that weak economic conditions will reduce fertility rates further, as has been the case in Japan and Taiwan.

What matters most here is what China’s decision reveals about changing attitudes on population. For the last half century, we have tended to be worried about overpopulation, particularly in Asia. And to be sure some parts of the world, notably sub-Saharan Africa still have birthrates far above their capacity to accommodate newcomers.

But it is now clear that many parts of the world — notably East Asia and Europe — face a very different demographic challenge rooted in falling fertility, diminishing workforces, and rapid aging. As British author Fred Pearce has put it, “The population ‘bomb’ is being defused over the medium and long term.”

Eliminating the one-child policy may not much change the current trajectory of China’s demography, but it marks a significant shift in the debate about population that will be with us for decades to come.

This piece first appeared at Forbes.

Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and Roger Hobbs Distinguished Fellow in Urban Studies at Chapman University, and a member of the editorial board of the Orange County Register. He is also executive director of the Houston-based Center for Opportunity Urbanism. His newest book, The New Class Conflict is now available at Amazon and Telos Press. He is also author of The City: A Global History and The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050. He lives in Orange County, CA.

 

[a_majoor]

We are already living in a version of this system, although it is not monolitiic or government controlled, (Reputation scores on sites like Ebay exist, we routinely use credit scoring and who knows what sorts of judgements are being made on the basis of big data analysis of things like our posts on social media sites?).

The biggest difference is markets using this sort of data to provide incentives is a competative process, and users can choose or not to participate, while the State using this sort of data to conmtrol people is not something anyone can "opt out" of":

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/10/chinas-social-credit-system.html

China's Social Credit system, computerized Orwell with a government reputation and trust score

The Chinese government is building an omnipotent "social credit" system that is meant to rate each citizen's trustworthiness.

By 2020, everyone in China will be enrolled in a vast national database that compiles fiscal and government information, including minor traffic violations, and distils it into a single number ranking each citizen.

That system isn't in place yet. For now, the government is watching how eight Chinese companies issue their own "social credit" scores under state-approved pilot projects.

One of the most high-profile projects is by Sesame Credit, the financial wing of Alibaba. With 400 million users, Alibaba is the world's biggest online shopping platform. It's using its unique database of consumer information to compile individual "social credit" scores.

More and more of Baihe's 90 million clients are displaying their credit scores in their dating profiles, doing away with the idea that a credit score is a private matter.
However, Sesame Credit will not divulge exactly how it calculates its credit scores, explaining that it is a "complex algorithm".

A lengthy planning document from China's elite State Council explains that social credit will "forge a public opinion environment that trust-keeping is glorious", warning that the "new system will reward those who report acts of breach of trust".

Here is a translation of the planning outline for China's social credit system 2014-2020.

A reputation system computes and publishes reputation scores for a set of objects within a community or domain, based on a collection of opinions that other entities hold about the objects. The opinions are typically passed as ratings to a central place where all perceptions, opinions and ratings can be accumulated. A reputation center uses a specific reputation algorithm to dynamically compute the reputation scores based on the received ratings. Reputation is a sign of trustworthiness manifested as testimony by other people.

Fortunately any government reputation system will be far less than the cultural revolution or the One child policy

The Cultural Revolution was launched in May 1966, after Mao alleged that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society at large, aiming to restore capitalism. He insisted that these "revisionists" be removed through violent class struggle. China's youth responded to Mao's appeal by forming Red Guard groups around the country. The movement spread into the military, urban workers, and the Communist Party leadership itself. It resulted in widespread factional struggles in all walks of life.

Millions of people were persecuted in the violent struggles that ensued across the country, and suffered a wide range of abuses including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sustained harassment, and seizure of property.

The 'one-child' policy has led to what Amartya Sen first called 'Missing Women', or the 100 million girls 'missing' from the populations of China (and other developing countries) as a result of female infanticide, abandonment, and neglect"

Notable examples of practical reputation applications

Search: web (see PageRank)
eCommerce: eBay, Epinions, Bizrate, Trustpilot
Social news: Reddit, Digg, Imgur
Programming communities: Advogato, freelance marketplaces, Stack Overflow
Wikis: Increase contribution quantity and quality (Dencheva, Prause and Prinz 2011)
Internet Security: TrustedSource
Question-and-Answer sites: Quora, Yahoo! Answers, Gutefrage.net
Email: anti-spam techniques, reputation lookup (RapLeaf)
Personal Reputation: CouchSurfing (for travelers),
Non Governmental organizations (NGOs): GreatNonProfits.org, GlobalGiving
Professional reputation of translators and translation outsourcers: BlueBoard at ProZ.com
All purpose reputation system: Yelp, Inc.
Academia: general bibliometic measures, e.g. the h-index of a researcher.



Gamified Authoritarianism

The ACLU reported that higher scores were to be rewarded with concrete benefits. Those who reach 700, for example, get easy access to a Singapore travel permit, while those who hit 750 get an even more valued visa.

USA - pay the fee for faster service and pre-apply for screening

The United States TSA’s airline passenger “whitelist” system could evolve in this direction.

In the private sector, Frank Pasquale notes that elements of its judgment-and-reward system already exist in the U.S. private-sector credit scoring infrastructure.

The US has expedited Visa services. There is a $60 fee for expedited US passports.

You can apply for a trusted traveler program.

Canada and the USA have the NEXUS prescreened traveler program.

Credit scores effect the interest that people pay for cars and houses and credit cards. This has far more financial impact than faster travel Visas.

Many Futurists have talked about Reputation systems replacing currency

In 2004, the Institute for the Future, Marina Gorbis and Jason Tester created the "Reputation Statement of Account," an "artifact from the future," a plausible but imagined future object.

 

[Edward Campbell]

The Indian MOD's spokesman has posted (on Twitter) that "INS Sahyadri, now on operational deployment to South China Sea & North West Pacific region, enters Manila."

 

[Edward Campbell]

We are already living in a version of this system, although it is not monolitiic or government controlled, (Reputation scores on sites like Ebay exist, we routinely use credit scoring and who knows what sorts of judgements are being made on the basis of big data analysis of things like our posts on social media sites?).

The biggest difference is markets using this sort of data to provide incentives is a competative process, and users can choose or not to participate, while the State using this sort of data to conmtrol people is not something anyone can "opt out" of":

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/10/chinas-social-credit-system.html

See my comments, elsewhere in this thread, about China looking for alternatives to our version of liberal, participatory democracy. I have mentioned experiments with active polling to try to determine what the people want (one HUGE advantage that most Chinese academics concede to our style of participatory (electoral) democracy) ... one of the steps might be to determine who ought to have a voice: only the trusted?

 

[a_majoor]

Our own 2000+ year old experiment with participatory democracy has been moving from people being self selected (Timocracy), to limited franchises to ultimately assuming everyone who is warm and capable of walking into a polling station is also capable of making an informed decision. While I agree with Churchill that the best argument against democracy is a conversation with the average voter, I also find ideas like having some arbitrary "social rating" determining if you can vote a bit alarming. (In a Timocracy, you at least directly demonstrated your ability to make informed votes by having the ability and willingness to don armour, pick up a spear and stand in the ranks to defend the polis).

Since in many of these social media rating systems I see no explanation of "how" you are rated, it will be difficult to protest your being excluded from voting, or understanding just who is being chosen. And of course there is always the danger of the algorithms being manipulated to ensure that only the "right" people can participate. (This is a perennial problem with virtually any participatory system, not just the Chinese proposal).

 

[CougarKing]

China's latest response to the USN's FON Ops last week:

Diplomat

Chinese J-11 Fighters Exercise in the South China Sea After US Navy Patrols

After protesting a U.S. Navy freedom of navigation patrol, the PLA flexes its airpower muscles in the South China Sea.

By Ankit Panda
November 02, 2015

Chinese fighter jets are carrying out exercises in the South China Sea. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) released images late last week that showed J-11BH/BHS fighters in the South China Sea. The jets were armed with missiles and are likely part of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s 8th Aviation Division in Hainan Province. The fighters are companied by other aircraft and warships from the People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) South Sea Fleet. Though unconfirmed by the PLA, the J-11s are most likely flying from Woody Island (known as Yongxing Island in Chinese) in the Paracels. Woody Island is the location of the sole operational Chinese military airstrip in the South China Sea at the moment though China is thought to be building at least two additional airstrips in the Spratly Islands, where it has built man-made islands.

The aerial exercises come after a heated week in the South China Sea. On Tuesday, October 27, the United States Navy staged its first freedom of navigation operation within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, where China has constructed an artificial island. The U.S. freedom of navigation operation asserted high seas navigational freedoms in those waters and drew an angry response from the Chinese government. Additionally, on Thursday, October 29, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, where the Philippines has filed a case against China over its behavior and claims in the South China Sea, decided that it had jurisdiction to assess the merits of the Philippines’ arguments. That development too drew a strong response from the Chinese government, which declared the Court “null and void,” among other things.

Under pressure to act to in the South China Sea, the PLA has evidently chosen to demonstrate its aerial force projection capabilities in the South China Sea by flying these J-11 fighters from Woody Island. Speaking to the South China Morning Post, retired Chinese General Xu Guangyu, notes that the exercises are ” a signal China sent to the US that it is serious about its claims. This is the minimum level of response China should have, or it will fail the expectation of its people.” The fighters will also renew speculation that China could be looking to eventually enforce a South China Sea air defense identification zone (ADIZ). In November 2013, Beijing unilaterally declared an ADIZ in the East China Sea, though it has had mixed results in enforcing the ADIZ.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Aside from this one can notice some pro-China sentiment meshed into  Hollywood movie storylines, such as in "the Martian" movie, where China offers booster rockets for the rescue mission to save Matt Damon's character. Is it really that surprising when Chinese companies own such Hollywood movie companies/studios as Lionsgate? 

Shanghaiist

EXPOSED: Beijing's covert radio network airing China-friendly news across the globe

A special investigative report from Reuters published on Monday details the expanding network of radio stations across the U.S. covertly controlled by State broadcaster China Radio International.

The CRI-backed stations in the United States broadcast in more than a dozen American cities, including Washington, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston and San Francisco, and are part of a wider global radio network comprising at least 33 such radio stations in 14 countries. They offer a mix of news, music and cultural programs that are all China-friendly. News segments often focus on China's development, such as its space program, as well as its contribution to humanitarian causes.

Many of the shows are highly professional and indistinguishable from mainstream American radio shows, while others are much less polished with some broadcasters even speaking English with noticeable Chinese accents.

The stations primarily broadcast content created or supplied by CRI and generally avoid any criticism of China. Their political angle noticeably reflects the Chinese government's rhetoric on issues, such as the current tension in the South China Sea between China and the United States. For example:

(...SNIPPED)

 

[dimsum]

Aside from this one can notice some pro-China sentiment meshed into Hollywood movie storylines, such as in "the Martian" movie, where China offers booster rockets for the rescue mission to save Matt Damon's character. Is it really that surprising when Chinese companies own such Hollywood movie companies/studios as Lionsgate? 

Shanghaiist

Actually, that is from the original novel. 

 

[a_majoor]

A more blatent example is the heavily hyped film "Hero", which is beautifully filmed and ends with a pretty crude propaganda message; the Emperor is fully justified in killing millions to unify China and supress competing factions, and the epynomous Hero of the movie stays his hand and refuses to take his revenge for the Emperor's forces destroying his own home village (not to mention the various places beseigned and laid waste by Imperial forces during the course of the movie).

This was actually heavily promoted by Hollywood heavyweights during its run.

 

[Cloud Cover]

Essex amphibious group arrives in Pacific as USN reiterates rights to South China Sea access

http://www.janes.com/article/55709/essex-amphibious-group-arrives-in-pacific-as-usn-reiterates-rights-to-south-china-sea-access

Key Points
•An amphibious ready group embarked with a marine expeditionary unit has arrived in 7th fleet waters
•The USN has not ruled out the possibility that the ARG may be deployed for South China Sea operations

The US Navy's (USN's) Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) has arrived in the service's 7th Fleet area of responsibility, the service confirmed to IHS Jane's on 3 November.

The group, which includes the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2), the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage (LPD 23) and the Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47), crossed the international dateline on 1 November, said Lieutenant Dave Levy, a public affairs officer with the USN's Expeditionary Strike Group Seven (ESG 7).

Embarked with the ARG is the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), which includes the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 161 (Reinforced).

The arrival of Essex ARG in the 7th Fleet AOR follows a 27 October freedom of navigation (FON) operation by USN destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82), which sailed within 12 n miles of what China views to be its territorial waters in the Spratly Islands. Beijing responded by saying that the US operation "threatens China's sovereignty and security interests, jeopardises the safety of personnel and facilities [on the] reefs, and damages regional peace and stability".

Lt Levy said that although "the ARG and its embarked 15th MEU are currently in transit to the service's 3rd Fleet and will not be homeported in the region … it will be conducting some operations during its stay as assets of the 7th Fleet".

He did not elaborate on the nature of these operations and expected length of stay, but IHS Jane's understands that Anchorage will participate in the Brunei phase of the annual 'Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training' ('CARAT') exercise, which started with an opening ceremony at Muara Naval Base on 2 November.

 

[CougarKing]

Descendants of the Chinese civil war rivals meet:

Diplomat

China and Taiwan Leaders Emphasize Kinship, 1992 Consensus in Historic Talks

Much of what Ma Ying-jeou and Xi Jinping said was intended to influence a third party: DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen.
shannon-tiezzi
By Shannon Tiezzi
November 07, 2015

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time in Singapore on Saturday, marking the first-ever meeting between the top leaders of Taiwan and mainland China. As expected, the two men addressed each other as “mister” and spoke as the “leaders” (rather than the presidents) of Taiwan and China – a practical way of avoiding the fact that neither government officially recognizes its counterpart as legitimate.

There were no new agreements or joint statements issued at the meeting. Instead, the talks provided a way for Ma and Xi to look back at the past seven years of cross-strait relations, and to provide their blueprint for continuing the relationship under the next president. That president is likely to be Tsai Ing-wen, chair of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, and indeed Tsai and the DPP seemed to be the intended audience for much of what Ma and Xi said.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Seems no one's interested in China's so-called stealth fighters at this defence expo in Dubai:

Defense News

China Touts Stealth Fighter Jet, But So Far No Takers

DUBAI, UAE — China showcased its first stealth fighter jet here on the opening day of the Dubai Air Show, but so far the fifth-generation aircraft has no customers in sight.

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is “in negotiations” with the Chinese Air Force to buy the multi-role FC-31, AVIC project manager Lin Peng told reporters on Sunday. Peng declined to say when a deal would be finalized.

Top company officials briefed the media on the stealth characteristics and attack capabilities of the FC-31, but did not take questions from the audience.

This is the first time the Chinese company has showcased the FC-3, also known as the J-31 internationally, although a prototype aircraft flew during the Zhuhai Air Show in China last year. Chinese fighters are designated with a “J” for fighter and “FC” for export.
(...SNIPPED)

 

[chanman]

Seems no one's interested in China's so-called stealth fighters at this defence expo in Dubai:

Buying (modern) Chinese fighters also means being logistically tied to the Russians for engines. I suspect not too many countries able to afford the J-31 are particularly interested in becoming dependent on not one, but two foreign powers to keep their fleet up and running.

 

[YZT580]

Buying (modern) Chinese fighters also means being logistically tied to the Russians for engines.

Not any more.  They seem to have created a Chinese knock-off of the Russian engine for the Chinese knock-off of the American stealth.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Here are two interesting maps, one courtesy Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Institute, the other from The Economist, comparing China's economies, on a province by province basis, to national economies and China's provinces, by average life span (as a measure of good health) to other countries:

and

        China's GDP, province by province, compared to other nations (Source: Ian Bremmer)                      Longevity in China, province by province, compared to other countries (Source: The Economist)

 

[CougarKing]

While the UNCLOS case over the South China Sea disputes between China and the Philippines continues at The Hague...

Chinese leaders are still trying to woo their Southeast Asian neighbours through ASEAN and APEC:

Diplomat

China's President Will Head to Philippines for APEC Summit

China is hoping the South China Sea issue won’t get raised on what looks to be an ice-breaking trip for Xi Jinping.
shannon-tiezzi
By Shannon Tiezzi
November 11, 2015

Fresh off the Chinese president’s tours of Vietnam and Singapore last week, China’s Foreign Ministry had another announcement on Monday: Xi Jinping also plans to attend the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit, to be held November 18-19 in the Philippines. That will bring Xi into the lion’s den, so to speak. Manila has been one of the most outspoken critics of China’s moves in the South China Sea, even filing a case against China in an international arbitral tribunal. It’s another indication that China is trying to mend frayed relationship with ASEAN states, even as Xi shows no sign of changing his country’s approach to the maritime disputes in the South China Sea.

Tensions between China and the Philippines are especially high. Philippine President Benigno Aquino hasn’t met with Xi since last year’s APEC summit in Beijing, when the two had a brief encounter on the sidelines of the summit. According to Marciano Paynor, the head of the Philippines’ APEC organizing committee, an official bilateral meeting between the two leaders has not yet been scheduled, but they are expected to meet.

China, however, hopes that Xi won’t face questions or criticism about the South China Sea issue at the APEC summit. Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong, who gave a press conference on Xi’s attendance at the APEC summit, said that “as far as I know, at this year’s summit, there are no plans to discuss the South China Sea.”

(...SNIPPED)

Diplomat

China Seeks to Woo ASEAN Through Singapore

China continues to hope its economic offerings can mend its relationships in Southeast Asia.
shannon-tiezzi
By Shannon Tiezzi
November 10, 2015

Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his brief tour of Southeast Asia on Saturday, after spending two days each in Vietnam and Singapore. Xi’s stop in Singapore was largely overshadowed by the historic meeting between Xi and Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou at the Shangri-La Hotel on Saturday. But Xi’s trip to Singapore wasn’t all about cross-strait relations; rather, it was part of Xi’s attempt to mend China’s image in the Southeast Asian states – many of which have concerns over China’s actions in the South China Sea.

While Singapore is not a claimant in the South China Sea disputes, the city-state has a vested interest in making sure the maritime tensions don’t spill over to poison diplomatic relations among the Southeast Asian states and China. Along with Indonesia, Singapore has tried to play the role of neutral mediator, but often found its efforts blocked by China’s insistence that the disputes can only be handled bilaterally. Singapore has continued to raise its concerns about the disputes, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warning in his remarks at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue that a new approach is needed. “If the present dynamic continues, it must lead to more tensions and bad outcomes,” Lee said.

China, meanwhile, saw Xi’s visits to Vietnam and Singapore as a chance to remind the region of the fruits of cooperation with China – to display the carrot, rather than the stick. Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters at a pre-trip briefing that Xi’s visits to Vietnam and Singapore would “be a big boost to China-ASEAN ties,” according to Xinhua. Liu pointed out that Singapore is currently the coordinator for China-ASEAN relations, and said the China-Singapore relationship can serve as a model form China-ASEAN ties.

(...SNIPPED)

But round one at court goes to the Philippines:

Philippines scores against China in UN arbitration
By Matikas Santos
INQUIRER.net
12:44 AM October 30th, 2015

The Philippines scored a victory at the international Arbitral Tribunal after the panel unanimously decided Thursday that it has jurisdiction over the maritime dispute between China and the Philippines involving parts of the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea.)

The decision means that the tribunal, convened under the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), will hold further hearings to settle the increasingly contentious dispute.

<snipped> SOURCE LINK embedded in Headline

 

[CougarKing]

China adding another key point to its "String of Pearls" part of which will help them encircle rival India:

Diplomat

Chinese State Firm Takes Control of Strategically Vital Gwadar Port

A Chinese state-owned firm officially signed a multi-decade lease for control of the Gwadar Port free-trade zone

By Ankit Panda
November 13, 2015

On Wednesday, Chinese Overseas Ports Holding Company Ltd (COPHCL), a Chinese state-owned enterprise, officially took control of the strategically important port at Gwadar in Pakistan. The Chinese firm officially signed a 40-year lease for over 2,000 acres of land in Gwadar, marking a milestone in the implementation phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major bilateral initiative to build transportation and other infrastructure along the length of Pakistan, connecting the country’s Arabian Sea coast with the Himalayan border with China. CPEC was unveiled during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s April 2015 state visit to Pakistan, where Gwadar was high on the agenda.

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal handed over the lease to Wang Xiaodao, the vice chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission. Gwadar is a designated free-trade zone by the Pakistani government. The designation will last for 23 years. Additionally, because of Gwadar’s location in the restive southern Pakistani province of Balochistan, the Pakistani government has created a protection force for Chinese workers who will be working on CPEC projects, including at Gwadar.

The security situation in Balochistan is a concern for China, which wants to avoid CPEC projects and Chinese contractors potentially facing attacks. On Sunday, just days before the port hand-over, Pakistan’s chief of naval staff, Admiral Mohammad Zakaullah, said that the Pakistani Navy would also protect Gwadar “against all asymmetric threats under the prevalent precarious internal and external security environment.”

(...SNIPPED)