BRICS Post: South China's Sea's Simmering Crisis

On the surface, this article in the BRICSPOST does not really deal with issues related to the global monetary system. However, it is another example of how political differences make it more difficult to achieve global cooperation between nations. 

Earlier we wrote blog articles on how global cooperation is easier to talk about than to actually achieve (see Part I here,  see Part II here). This article in the BRICSPOST does fit in with that theme. Below are some quotes from the article.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The standoff between China and the US in the South China Sea has intensified in recent months largely due to tit-for-tat maneuvering by both countries.

Washington has vehemently criticized China’s land reclamation in this strategic body of water.

It is also concerned about the implications of US primacy challenged in the maritime domain and the perceived undermining of America’s credibility among its regional allies.

For its part, Beijing accused the US of “militarizing” the South China Sea by deploying more military assets and conducting joint drills with regional allies in a rampant manner.

Indeed, a form of strategic competition between China and the US has increasingly come to define the core of the South China Sea disputes."

Enter a new player on the scene

In late July, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signaled that Japan could conduct minesweeping operations in the South China Sea. It indicated a desire of the Abe administration to push forward with its ambitious national security strategy in virtue of the South China Sea issue."

. . . . . . 

"Therefore, the South China Sea issue is gradually becoming a thorny problem that threatens the relationship among Beijing, Washington and Tokyo."

Click here to read the full BRICSPOST Article

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My added comments: Keep in mind these kinds of news items when you see the western media and politicians blame China for the global stock market dive. We have had all the following events happen this year that may or may not relate to what is going on now:

- China and BRICS tout new AIIB and BRICS Bank as alternatives to the IMF and World Bank. Many Eurozone nations (including the UK) join and the US is said to be embarrassed by this.

- China moves to increase global use of the yuan as alternative to the US dollar (including a big push to get the yuan included into the SDR basket at the IMF). China (and Russia) increase gold buying.

- IMF announces that a decision has been made to delay changing the SDR currency basket (and therefore delay adding the yuan) until September 2016.

- Chinese stock markets start into a nose dive (some suspect the US may have tried to help trigger the fall). This after reports that China had hacked into US government data bases.

- Global markets go into a dive and western media and politicians mostly blame China for it. Donald Trump in particular makes a big issue out of it (says, I told you so on China).

Are these events connected or not?  We report, You decide.

Added note: Stephen Roach weighs in on China in this new article on Project Syndicate