China holds on to the claim that its preparations and intimidations, which have included cable cuttings, pursuits, and some shots fired, are strictly defensive. Nonetheless the nations involved are intimidated, and continue to look to the United States for support.
Retired Philippine Navy Commodore and analyst Rex Robles concedes, "Even if we are three times more prepared than we are now, we [would be] defeated because China...can blow us out of the water easily." But, he insists, a war with China would be costly to all involved, "If war breaks out there, China's development will also be stunted," he told reporters, "China's resources are quite huge, but maybe not enough to sustain a war there."
Vietnam will be prepared for a drawn out war, having additionally placed an order for six diesel-electric "Project 636" Varshavyanka submarines, for a total of $2 billion; the submarine delivery is expected in about three years.
Article comments
1 - Baronius
Informative article.
2 - Glenn Contrarian
I just read yesterday on al-Jazeera that the Philippine president 'Noynoy' Aquino is presently in China on a "we're open for business" mission, and this issue is one of the issues that will be addressed. My gut feeling is that he will back off the Spratlys as much as he can without arousing the ire of the Filipino people, and at the same time will angle for favorable trade conditions in return. I suspect - hope - that he'll try to angle for the Philippines to be the main supplier of logistical needs for the Chinese engineering efforts that will eventually happen in the Spratlys.
3 - chineseprice
The chinese gov. will buy at the low price then takes over soon or later.
4 - vietnam
what are you going to do with them? attack? or protect?
5 - John Lake
#3 comment may be more truthful than most would suspect.