ROTFL!!

Dear Is MIse,

Could you please let me know what ROTFL says?

Hi Is Mise,

It's OK I just looked it up in wiki.

So I take it you think China will eventually withdraw from the South China Sea and has no imperial ambitions which might involve invading other countries in the western Pacific. I guess I'm sort of like the people in the 1930s who were saying that Hitler was intent on annexing parts of Europe and intending to invade Britain and France. Time will tell.

Hi Mr Opinion,

No, I don't know what ROTFL means either.

We seem to have all agreed that, according to the law of the seas, that reefs and shoals can't be claimed, or built on, by any power, either the dreadfully-evil US or by peace-loving China. It's an act of aggression to build on them, and certainly to drive fishermen away from areas which they have been fishing in for centuries or longer.

And perhaps it is an act of aggression to sink Vietnamese ships in those international waters.

Whether we can get all paranoid and assume that the Chinese are intent on establishing control of all of the sholas in the south Chinese Sea, and then declaring it to be its internal waters. Surely, they could not be so stupid ?

then again .......

Joe.

Dear Loudmouth,

ROTFL means rolling on the floor laughing.

The indisputable fact is that China has annexed 80% of the South China Sea and is creating military bases on reefs and islets across the area in order to keep out all other countries from sailing through it or flying over it. Have a look at the map on the link at page 17 to see how much China has annexed.

China has told the world that the South China Sea belongs to China and that it will not tolerate outsiders entering the territory controlled by China. Further it has said that it will not accept any decision handed down by the international community that contradicts China's sovereignty.

Why do you think China is doing this?

They want off-shore islands to house refugees?