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I think he should instead approve Australia building a US-Aus-Philipino naval base on the Spratly Islands, and just see how they like that. We could just rock up and start claiming it as our own, then defy international law.
The sooner manufacturing becomes decentralized (away from slave labour in china) the better. They are pushy, obtrusive, lawless and offensive, and we don't need them here.
That's not going to happen.
China will not retreat from its claims in these seas. Just can't do it.
If China were to be attacked, or if it were to go to war... and these seas are controlled by another power... where will China get its fuel or food or supplies?
So it must claim these waters to first, project its power and secure its supply lines; second, if the projection can't go too far - the oil and gas reserves, as well as the fisheries, would engine its country and feed its people.
Does China have the legal rights to these seas? Nope. But who's going to stop it?
Would the West risk total war over areas not directly in its backyard? Maybe... but that'll not end well - and China has more to gain and the West more to lose if WW3 were to take place.
Can the West take on the entire ME, Russia, Africa and China? Tall order.
Some recent US Tink Tank [RAND Corp.] suggest that if the US and China were to go at it, China's GDP would drop by 25% while the US only 10%... so the US would still be ahead.
They're forgetting that China would only need to fight in its own neighbourhood while the West got a few other fronts to contain.