Bazz,

The country most susceptible to blockading of the South China Sea is China itself.

Japan would not run out of oil at all. You've made two errors: firstly, going through Indonesia and east of the Philippines would not add anywhere near a week to the journey time. The Torres Strait is irrelevant, as no tanker would make that enormous detour. Secondly tankers to other destinations could be diverted to Japan. It is already common practice for oil tankers to change destination mid journey due to other customers being willing to pay more.

As for Pauline Hanson, she's a fool. She thought that Asians weren't like us; now nearly everyone knows that's not true. She also made some racist assumptions about Aboriginal Australians.

She should stick to dancing.
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Mr 0,

Regarding the philosophical stuff, I think you failed to notice I was quoting Paul1405.

And I suggest that, rather than trying to make up more lies about my position, you read and accept what I've actually said.

Australia should be on the side of international law. We should encourage China to accept the court's ruling. But accepting the court's ruling does not mean giving up territorial ambitions. If (as likely, but by no means certain) the ruling goes against China, we should encourage both sides to come to a commercial arrangement.

But if we don't, and the court rules against China, then I don't expect it to accept the court's decision, nor to go to war. More likely they'd just disregard it.

And in the very unlikely event that war does break out, we should participate in international sanctions against China, but not in the war itself.

Dear Aidan The Engineer (and others in the pro-China camp),

The facts are:
1. China has annexed 80% of the South China Sea.
2. China is building military bases around the perimeter of this area of annexation.
3. China has already said that it will not comply with any determination under international law made by the Hague Court to redraw from the area.
4. China has already threatened action against any nation that tries to force it out of the SCS.

What is it that you find so difficult to come to grips with?

It's your sort of wait-and-see approach that allowed Hitler to invade first Eastern Europe and then Western Europe. It's no wonder you're just an engineer.

Hi folks,

Looks like China has found someone willing to support its annexation of the South China Sea:

http://thediplomat.com/2016/04/did-russia-just-side-with-china-on-the-south-china-sea/

Who would have guessed it would be Russia? Big surprise ........ Heh!

What this signals to me is that China and Russia have a secret non-aggression pact. This means of course that Russia promises not to attack China if China enters a war over the South China Sea.

I think it's time to put the pacifists to bed and get down to the facts.

OK Aiden, as I said my guess may not be accurate but it would add days.
Each day means 16 more tankers have to be employed.
The Chinese claimed area comes right down to the Indonesian coast and the Borneo coast.
The tanker would have to go east of Borneo adding days.
I am aware that cargoes change ownership, but with oil that is not
such a common practise as the oil is purchased by the oil company and
they have ships contracted or they own the ship.
I notice that largely the same ships go to and from Singapore or
Korea and Sydney.
Of course it varies, as some ship appear not to totally unload in Sydney
and then go on to Fiji or New Zealand.
The diversion would be less in the Australian trade as the ships are
carrying petrol & diesel with specific grades and specifications.

Dear Bazz and Aidan The Engineer,

If you two are into calculating shipping speeds maybe you can tell us how long it will take for a Chinese fleet to sail from the South China Sea to Port Darwin to offload a couple of brigades of the Peoples Liberation Army?

Hot off the web news:

Looks like China is constructing floating nuclear power stations to power the man-made islands in the South China Sea.

http://nypost.com/2016/04/22/china-is-allegedly-plotting-sailing-nuclear-plants-in-south-china-sea/

I think a clear picture is now starting to take shape. China seems to be transforming the South China Sea into a massive industrial complex aimed at extracting all of the oil and gas reserves. I think it will ship the extracted oil and gas back to mainland China for storage.

The islands though have a dual role. They will also be fitted out with military bases and these bases will be strengthened and maintained long after the resource extraction plants have completed their task.

The sum is that China has no intention of sharing the huge amounts of gas and oil under the South China Sea with anyone else. It's getting in early, beating everyone to the punch, and stealing all of the gas and oil.