[timiblossom]

The building to convert reef to island is one of the first steps to claim the entire Southeast-Asia sea by China. It will then have the self-declared ownership right to block all sea/air traffics through this region and bully other neighboring countries. Besides having a huge oil/gas reserve and fishes, in term of economic impact, this sea is as important as or more than Panama Canal or Suez Canal. A country with the right to block or own it will harm the rest of the world. Currently, the allies have been formed with a group of countries Japan, Philippine, Viet Nam, America and others trying to stop China but they have not found any solution nor success yet.

Here is the map that China wants to claim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_disputes_in_the_So...

[lambdasquirrel]

Can I call horseshit on HN again? The Strait of Malacca (which is close by) would be on par with the Panama Canal or Suez. The South China Sea is not a transit point for goods in the same manner, and is not as important.

When you look at China's claims in comparison with everyone else's claims, (especially Vietnam's), it does not look that outlandish, and everyone in the region effectively wants to be able to say "these are our waters you're passing through." The actors in this region are not as innocent as you would think they are.

http://pages.stolaf.edu/asiaforecast2014/portfolio/sino-viet...

You have to trace back to Japanese actions before WWII and look at the geopolitical insecurity of these countries in order to understand these motivations, and then recognize that China does what it does because it does not think that the powers-that-be will be able or willing to defend its economic interests in the future. The only reason why China seems scary is because it would appear as if it can actually build up and defend its claims, unlike everyone else, but even then, it doesn't have a blue water navy like the United States. They can't instigate an area denial attack on these claims without strangling their own economy either, so it's kind of a tempest in a teapot.

[qiqing]

This. Thank you for being a voice of reason. Historical context is so important here, especially the lessons China learned the hard way. Like just what the U.S., U.K., France, and other countries can do to you if you show weakness.

[cowardlydragon]

Our blue water navy would be at the bottom of the ocean in the first day if any of them are in ICBM range of China in a war.

The navy has zero defenses that can stop a 1970s ballistic antiship missle.

[yc1010]

If China block ships from the area it wont be too hard to block their ships from Panama and Suez canals and deny access to Americas

Watch their economy crumble if they are prevented from selling this cheap knacks to the rest of the world.

It be a stupid move and the Chinese are far from stupid unlike the the Russians who are doing their best to tick every checkbox on a rogue criminal state chalkboard

[zorked]

Why would Panama or Egypt want to block China?

[smcl]

My word the southern reaches of the Chinese claim are extremely grabby! Is this just similar to haggling in a bazaar for an item listed at $30, which you personally value at $20 so you open with a lowballed offer of $10?

[ihsw]

You're implying ASEAN members all act in unison -- they do not. They fight amongst each-other almost as much as they do with China.

And while they fight amongst each-other, China voices support for one while undermining that support in another fashion. Pitting them against each-other is common.

[adventured]

You're being generous. China is annexing territory that belongs to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The same thing that Russia is doing in Ukraine. It's an act of war, the issue is that the world is very afraid of China (both militarily and economically).

[AnimalMuppet]

> It will then have the self-declared ownership right to block all sea/air traffics through this region and bully other neighboring countries.

It already has the self-declared ownership right. The point is, it will have the infrastructure to carry it out.

[rosser]

In theory, China could build islands across the pacific and setup bases and missiles along the US west coast.

The average depth of the Pacific Ocean is over 14,000 ft (almost exactly 4.3 km).

That's a lot of dredging.

[qiqing]

But the U.S. builds some bases pretty close to China's coasts... To be fair, some of those island bases in Asia are used for the CIA torture program, so its purported purpose is probably not aggression towards China.

[sharetea]

It really sounds like the fascist/autocratic states in Asia (Russia/China) with its economy failing, is slowly resorting to territorial aggression against neighboring countries in order to claim more resources. With Russia bumping against all of europe, and China bumping against Japan/Korea/Taiwan/Vietnam/Malaysia/Indonesia/Phillipines, this is boding ill for global stability.

[qiqing]

Why is it moral for the U.S. and U.K. to build bases on random little islands in Asia, but not China and other Asian countries?

Edit: Clarification, since so many of the smaller uninhabited islands have been claimed by the UK, US, and other Western nations, how is it wrong to build some uninhabited islands of your own?