"Censorship may be a crime but selective reporting with the intention to mislead the public is a crime worse than censorship."

I'm sorry, but until you can prove that this occurs to a lesser extent in the Chinese media than it does elsewhere, then you haven't got a leg to stand on.

A picture can paint a thousand words.

With all due respect, Wei Ling, the South China Sea spat can be summed up simply by presenting the audacity of the claims that China makes, in terms of which territory is China's 'core interest'.

Look at the image and how much territory China claims as its own. The oceans right on the doorstep of the Philippines, Vietnam and a score of other countries.

http://cn.bing.com/images/search?q=south+china+sea+territory+claimed&view=detail&id=464713D91592F7162E9142F2CD9A68B35AE4E618&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR

Also note that being in China, I was unable to use Google Images to do this. As another poster has pointed out, if you're going to attack western mainstream media, you best also address the far more egregious censorship by the Chinese government.

Mr Wei correctly points out that "Filipinos' resentment against the Americans (their former colonial master) is overwhelming." That's how it tends to be with ex-colonies and arrogant ex-colonial powers. I'm sure that there are probably still many English people who think that Ireland should not have been allowed to become independent, or India, or indeed, any of the former British Empire.

The Yuan (Mongol) and Ching (Manchu) Empires conquered all of present-day China, as well as many other regions and countries outside of its borders. Many centuries had to pass before many of those regions were able to throw off foreign control and domination (suzerainty, tribute). Some regions were instead taken over by yet another empire. Taiwan, for example, was invaded by the Japanese imperial forces when the Manchu Empire was in a terminal condition, and the Soviet Union carved off what is now Xinjiang (Turkestan) in the 1940s.

The Scarborough Scholas lie 120 miles outside Manila Bay, a plane from Hong Kong woudl be descending over it on its approach to Manala airport. The Shoals lie 800 miles from the nearest point of China, Hainan.

The Spratley Islands lie about 150 miles off the coast of Palawan, in the Philippines. The Islands are about 500 miles from the coast of Vietnam, and about 800 miles from Hainan, China.

Mr Wei's article raises an interesting question: does the present government of China intend to re-conquer all of what used to be parts of the various empires which have ruled China over the past thousand years ? This would initiate a fascinating principle of statecraft and boundary-drawing - that parts of the world 'belonged' to empires forever, once they had been conquered.

I sincerely hope that the People's Republic of China does not intend to act as if it were 'the Chinese Communist Party's Empire', or (Marx would have queried this) 'the Empire of the People's Republic of China'.

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Clearly, some may suspect that China wants the entire South China Sea, to control trade through it and resource development, mainly oil and gas. To get control of that crucial waterway, it would need to stake claims on island groups, shoals, reefs, lumps of rock, around its periphery so that it can then claim 'its' 200 km of exclusion zone extending out from each outcrop and thereby bring the entire Sea under its political control. But i couldn't possibly comment on that.

Many other countries claim bits and pieces around the South China Sea, on the same rationale. Idiocy, bullying and self-interest are not confined to any one nation, it seems.

What to do about it ? War is one option. Alternatively, just as the Danube has been internationalised, (and I think the Bosphorus?) and other internationally-used waterways, would it be possible to internationalise all of the South China Sea beyond the 200 km Exclusion Zones of settled territory ?

The Paracels, for example, could easily be divided between China and Vietnam.

The Scarborough Shoals and the northern Spratlys are clearly within the territory of the Philippines, with the southern portion of the Spratleys shared between Malaysia and Brunei.

That leaves the greater proportion of the region free of any national or imperial domination, free for international trade and commerce.

The days of imperialism are over, including those of the Mongol, Manchu, British and US empires. May they remain buried in history.

Joe

It's important to realise though much of this maritime territory was once part of China (a well documented fact historically), and it's only by the action of other imperial powers that these areas were lost.

I'm guessing that the PRC can not afford to allow other nations (particular hostile neighbours) to claim exclusive ownership over parts of the South China Sea.

Especially given the importance of exports (and the importation of tech/foreign investment) to China.

Hi Dave,

When you write that " .... much of this maritime territory was once part of China .... ", do you mean the Chinese imperial domains (perhaps the Mings?), or do you mean as part of either the Mongol (Yuan) or Manchu (Ching) Empires ?

I wonder how much of Europe has NOT been part of some other empire ? The principle that territory belongs forever and a day to an imperial power which has, at one time or another, conquered it, would raise some fascinating dilemmas about current state boundaries. Which empire should Syria belong to, for example - the Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Hellenes (Greeks), Macedonians, Romans, Normans, Saracens (Arab-Kurds), Mongol, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks, or French ?

Or should the Syrian people have some choice in the matter ? That seems to be an option that has not occurred to the current Chinese leadership. Or, with respect, to you :)

So it is with most of the world. So my point was that, in the modern world, it should be up to the local inhabitants to choose for themselves - and that goes for Taiwan, Tibet and Turkestan, just as much as we would support its enactment for the Syrian people, or for the Irish people.

The Chinese may want to dig out medieval maps and, since they believe that they have the mandates of both Heaven and Marx, re-conquer whoever they please. But international law, the law pertaining to uninhabited reefs or shoals, and the law of the seas in particular, have progressed some way since the days of Kublai Khan.

My understanding is that, after Cheng Ho, around 1430-1440, the Ming Empire tore up its maps, forbad any further exploration and penalised foreign traders, and that the Chings followed their inward, land-oriented, example. So much for an impartial interest in overseas territories.

Cheers,

Joe