Why no one is paying attention to the fact that the plane was flying over South China see which China is trying to claim for itself. Could it be the case that China by mistake shot the plane down ?
Impossible. The consequence of hiding the truth is an international shame. And do you really think any country launching a missile can go unnoticed? You know that area is under dispute and nearby countries are claiming ownership, meaning they are actively monitoring all military actions. There are satellites watching that area too. No. No.
And why China? I think this is more of an anti-China/China conspiracy. You got Philippines and Vietnam right over there. In fact, Vietnamese navy was the first appeared on the newspaper claiming it had detected a crash before the Chinese.
China is involved with territorial disputes with a large number of neighbors. China claims almost all of the South China Sea though it Nine-dotted line[0] map. There have been a large number of disputes that have resulted from that[1]. Examples are China's East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ECS AIDZ)[2]. China has threatened to take action against aircraft that don't identify themselves
or obey China's orders[2]. There are many more example in the in-depth The Atlantic article "China's Dangerous Game"[3].
China is seeing what was communicated as a quick invasion of a city 60 miles from a land border turn into a slaughter. I bet they are now re-evaluating their own chances against the mountainous island littered with hidden bunkers and airstrips
Do China's claims really extend to where the drone was seized? According to reports, it was about 50nm northwest of the Phillipines. As best as I can determine, it happened outside the nine-dash line, which is what the dispute is over.
If their claims go that far, that seems almost absurd.
To be clear, though, under international law China has every right to fly in those areas. Just like when we fly/sail 12 miles off Russia, or send ships past the islands China's making in the South China Sea.
When we do it, it's a "freedom of navigation" exercise. Yes, it's testing air defenses, but it frustrates me when officials breathlessly act like it's a big deal.
Claiming areas that don't belong to them is one of China's strong points, they do it all the time and there's a dispute in the China Sea that could tie into this
People may not realise it but Chinese claims over the South China Sea are really that, Chinese. They predate the PRC and as such are the same on both sides (PRC and ROC/Taiwan). It just so happens that overall only the PRC is strong enough to assert them in full.
It should be pointed out once again that the Chinese claims over the South China Sea are not the doing of the CCP. The issue predates them and the ROC (Taiwan) has virtually the same claims.
In fact the "9-dash line" so strongly defended by the Chinese (Mainland) Government dates from WWII and the ROC claims over Japanese-occupied territory.
There is no right and wrong here. For a long time the neighbouring countries, including China, did not pay much attention, then Europeans and Americans colonised the region, now everyone is fighting their corner to further their own interests. It so happens that China has regained strength and has adopted a "just do it" approach similar to the time-honoured one Western countries have historically taken. I.e. they've learned the game at their own expense.
Yeh because it's there island. The war is over give it up. No internationally agrees with china. Therefore it's not there island. Also you forgot the important word there. Defend, They are defending not attacking anyone.
We should expect little games like this, as it reveals China's technical inferiority - otherwise, why steal something if you already have something better?
I'm more interested in their clain on Taiwan -- is it the island (Formosa) or its inhabitants (the descendants of Kai-shek) that they claim? Claiming the island at least has a logic that one can support or deny.
Claiming the inhabitants, well then every country with an ethnic Chinese population - e.g. Indochina, San Francisco -- might well be at risk.
Taiwan's air defence identification zone actually overlaps continental China, so I assume mainland planes enter it on a daily basis simply by flying on 'their' side of the straight and even over land.
Now, the activity as reported in this article takes place over the sea, at the margins of the zone. It's just a game to test the other side and not really newsworthy.
It's a shame articles almost never publish the maps of these activities that the ROC military publishes because they are very informative.
China is constantly showing aggression in the South China sea, outside of it's borders. Amazing how people can post with such confidence on something they clearly know literally nothing about.
Are you completely oblivious to China's provocations in the South China sea? I know how things are being spun back in China, but I assume you occasionally read non-CCP-approved news, right?
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