China rhetoric growing over sea

The most recent rhetorical fusillade came from Beijing's own military. “China has indisputable sovereignty of the South Sea, and China has sufficient historical and legal backing” to support its claims, stated Col. Geng Yan-sheng, Ministry of Defense spokesman, who added, “We will, in accordance with the demands of international law, respect the freedom of the passage of ships or aircraft from relevant countries.”

In other words while the huge basin bordering a half dozen countries was “historically Chinese,” the Beijing rulers in their enlightened benevolence, will allow other vessels passage — including the United States, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Yet under international law, these sea lanes of communication are not under Chinese sovereignty and thus free for maritime transit.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated correctly that it was in the United States' “national interest” that freedom of navigation be maintained in the sea through which passes a huge amount of global commerce. Interestingly Clinton's remarks were made in Vietnam during a Regional Forum of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN).

Beijing's renewed claims over the South China Sea, which have been brewing for nearly a decade off and on, evoke Benito Mussolini's own boisterous dictum of the Mediterranean basin being an Italian Sea.

Mare Nostrum, the historic Roman term later used by dictator Mussolini to call the waters touching more than a dozen countries, was “historically Italian” given the fact that the ancient Romans sailed through and ruled most of the region. While this was certainly true, Beijing's Marxist Mandarins are using the same logic; that of seaborne contact and commerce during some of China's earlier dynasties.

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