Mr Opinion
Do you really think the Chinese would listen?
Why should they?
No one has said they have nukes on those new islands of theirs. Only surface to air missiles. Unlike in the Cuban crisis.
Hardly surprising as the seppoes keep wanting to fly their spy planes around them.
Also the islands are not a few hundred miles from the US mainland.
One last thing the americans are too cowardly to go up against a real enemy.
They prefer to fight peasants on bicycles or impoverished "sand people".
Still the stupidity of america never ceases to flabbergast me so you never know.
I hope not for all our sakes.

Hi Mikk,

So the Yanks are evil personified ? They are secretly turning Mexicans into dog food ? Beheading Canadians ? Kidnapping tens of thousands of Cuban maidens for sex camps for their brutal soldiers ?

And that has to do with international law of the seas - what ?

I would have thought that, since reefs and shoals cannot be claimed as national territory, certainly not if they are thousands of km from a nation's own territory, then to put missiles on them would be a breach of international law by that nation ? You think it wouldn't be ? Can you explain that position to us innocents :)

Joe.

At http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/south-china-sea-and-freedom-of-navigation/ USCommander Odom has paraphrased Mr Jin's denial that the Chinese have breached UNCLOS in the South China Sea, and has foreshadowed a follow-on commentary.

What he has not addressed but maybe will is whether or not a nation is entitled to group its warships anywhere and how close to the grouped warships another nation is entitled to send its own.

Meanwhile back at the ranch it would be hypocrisy on steroids for Australia, in shock horror at Chinese breaches of law, to stand by the USA in provoking a war with them over it. Not that its governments haven't a history of standing by the USA in its grossest flouting of international law and the security rights of other people not only x years ago but currently, every single day. Such hypocrisy from the Deppity Dawg cheer squads has long needed to be confronted. There is a glimmer of hope that Loudmouth's reference to the need to stand up to bullies is dinkum, a chink in the armour of 70 years of nationwide hypocrisy initiated by Menzies. As he says: We'll see.

Dear Loudmouth,

Are there any more like you at home?

I just found this on the web which covers the points I have been raising:

http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160311/1036108851/us-china-war.html

Joe
"So the Yanks are evil personified ?"

More like stupidity personified