Stories

Illegal Foreign Oil Platforms Discovered in South China Sea

by on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 129 comments comments

Oil platform.

From NetEase:

China’s South China Seas patrols discover over 30 foreign oil platforms

March 20th, China’s State Oceanic Administration South China Seas sub-bureau issued information saying that the ships deployed by the China Maritime Surveillance Force South China Seas Fleet discovered over 30 illegal foreign oil and gas platforms. During the patrol, the ships broadcasted towards the foreign oil platforms requesting that the other party report the oil platform’s information and oil and gas extraction situation.

Haijian 83.

Comments from NetEase:

网易河北省邢台市网友：

Can only look on, just like watching your own wife being raped and only expressing anger, but refusing to stop it.

若若花刀 [网易陕西省商洛市网友]：

Only discovered now? Is that area your territory or not?

ngxsr [网易山东省济宁市网友]：

Use 30 plus guided missiles to solve it.

金星网友01 [网易广东省揭阳市网友]：

Harmony is everything!

尚未登录 [网易福建省福州市网友]：

“Hello, are you guys extracting our oil and gas?”
“No.”
“Okay, we’re leaving.”

12342111 [网易福建省福州市网友]： (responding to above)

“Hello, are you guys extracting our oil and gas?”
“Yep, extracting it now, what are you going to do about it?”
“Oh, nothing. That’s fine, we’re leaving.”

yexuanliang [网易亚太地区网友]：

March 19th evening, Lai Changxing had just finished dinner, and the police officer guarding him asked him: “Old Lai, gasoline has increased to over 8 kuai [per liter], did you know?” Lai couldn’t believe his ears: “How much? Say that again!” After confirming what had been said, he nearly jumped up: “Back when (2000) I was smuggling, gas prices were just 2 kuai! After staring blankly for a long time, he finally said to himself: “I guess I now know why they had to arrest me.”

I only copied and pasted this, didn’t say anything~~~

syhy583 [网易云南省昭通市网友]：

Though our leaders don’t dare to dismantle the foreign installations forcibly set up in the South China Seas to rob our country, our leaders dare to viciously raise gas prices domestically to make up for the economic loss at the hands of foreigners. Over 1 billion Chinese people is enough to provide for our [China's leaders] life of pleasure. Why go provoke foreigners and bring trouble on ourselves and our comfortable lives in China?

淘宝欧耶数码 [网易广东省深圳市网友]：

No wonder we can’t get any oil abroad, we already have a lot!

网易江苏省盐城市网友： (responding to above)

Yesterday I was watching CCTV 13 news and the anchor broadcasted a piece of news: American citizens are miserable amidst high gasoline prices, the report saying high gasoline prices have severely affected the lives of Americans, which has become an obstacle for Obama’s hopes of a second presidency. In the end, the anchorwoman announced that the price of gasoline is 3.8 USD per gallon. This report made me foggy with confusion, thinking this anchor is too stupid, why not just convert it into how much RMB per liter, because how many of us ordinary common people know gallons. With this in mind, I went online today to check and want to share with netizens the result of my conversion. One American gallon = 3.785411784 liters. Yesterday’s USD to RMB exchange rate was 1 USD to 6.3355 RMB. One gallon of gasoline at 3.8 USD converted into RMB per liter is 6.3606 yuan RMB. Right now I trust netizens all are very clear on what the price of 93 octane gasoline in China is, the lowest at least 8.07 yuan RMB per liter, and various media these past few days have again been making noise about how gasoline prices are once again being increased. I don’t know who should be ashamed from this piece of news.

ytcarey [网易山东省网友]：

Are the satellites blind, or the will of the people?

网易浙江省杭州市手机网友：

We should deploy warships to drive them away, and when the workers go work, they can save on building the platforms. Since the writer [of the news article] said there were no official military or governments, then those are civilian thieves, so what’s to be afraid of? We can launch an exercise in the South China Seas and attack them, send the warships over, set up a maritime chengguan. When I think of how little fishing boats were even able to send the Vietnamese running back during the Battle of the Paracel Islands, it is lamentable: watching someone come into your home and steal your things, and only glaring at them asking them to steal less! Writer, don’t post these articles, seeing them is really irritating!

China navy.

  • Jess

    I love how easily the Philippines gets trolled by all the South China Sea stuff.

    • Lord Stanely

      Philipinos are half-breeds. The Mexicans of Asia. But they wouldn’t be stealing Chinese oil and gas without America’s blessing.

      America has always sought to restrict China’s oil industry, and force them to buy oil in USA$.

      • notorious

        what? america doesn’t have enough oil to sell. wtf we buy ours from the middle east.

        • moop

          we buy our oil from the market. in truth we buy middle eastern oil, canadian oil, russian oil, mexico, venezuela, etc. its a very common misconception that all our oil comes from the middle east. the truth is only 25% of the oil the US buys comes from the middle east. Canada is actually our top supplier now

          • B-real

            we sell our oil to south american nations too. America has plenty of oil but big business won’t sell it for cheap to american so they sell it at what everyone pays at real market price

  • hanyucha

    I don’t understand how a nation like the Philippines with its nannies and exotic banana restaurants, as well as the crap cabaret singers they install in every Chinese western bar have the audacity to do this.

    • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

      Yes how dare they defy “chinese characteristics” with absurd notions like “logic” and “international recognized lines”.

      Most damning of all is that since ‘those people’ naturally gravitate to entertainment and nanny positions (subservience), they have the audacity to try to profit for themselves and not the chinese master-race….

      At least your genes will only be passed onto one kid…

      • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAjePNOZ6qA&list=HL1331831358&feature=mh_lolz themig

        Let the H-6 bombers sing over phillipines. as for gweilou oil or etc platforms themselves. ships go and plaster them with 57mm gun fire!!

        • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

          I think Ms. Hongjian has finally given birth.

          That’s why she’s been so quiet recently; resting up in the hospital.

          Looks like he’s already been baptized in the flying spittle of rabid nationalism.

          • pada

            Hongjian has finally given birth?
            But I have impression he screwed you all.

      • Alan

        Prattle prattle prattle….goateed one is so incensed that he couldn’t make it in China, so he cheapshots every chance he get on these boards.

        To all other posters, this guy is some kind of sick chinasmack addict with a lot of hate in his heart and soul. And he seemingly doesn’t know how to use a razor effectively, lol.

        • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

          Where was the retarded stalker troll when I needed him in china?

          Sooooo many toilets without toilet paper…

          • Alan

            Because you failed, admit that, accept it, and embrace it.

            As you are now blacklisted from China, I will enjoy the 2 kuai beers. You can pay 7 a pop from 7/11 in HK….not even going to bother!

            [Note: Both of you, please review the comment policy.]

          • Rick in China

            Dissing someone by saying “I can’t afford expensive beers so live in China” isn’t a very valid dis. Get a real job son, and all the distaste for the 1% goes away.

          • Alan

            Dissing someone by saying “I can’t afford expensive beers so live in China” isn’t a very valid dis. Get a real job son, and all the distaste for the 1% goes away.

            And using dissing someone is 14 year old chav english from the backstreets. I have had a real job before in the mid east and UK, and whats a real job?

            Even a laowai teacher on 6,000 rmb a month is better off here, than many recent graduates, and all for far less hours and stress, and often free housing.

            I would guess you are a banker, although you said you are a self made man and donate to charities, so for now I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Bear in mind I actually supported you over your charitable donations in the other posting…

          • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

            Wait… What??

            Fauna, this ongoing and unwarranted harassment and attempted trolling has been constant for the last few MONTHS and you only decided to say something after I tell the guy to eat shit?

            SeemsLegit.jpg

  • eattot

    尚未登录 [网易福建省福州市网友]：

    “Hello, are you guys extracting our oil and gas?”
    “No.”
    “Okay, we’re leaving.”

    12342111 [网易福建省福州市网友]： (responding to above)

    “Hello, are you guys extracting our oil and gas?”
    “Yep, extracting it now, what are you going to do about it?”
    “Oh, nothing. That’s fine, we’re leaving.”

    O(∩_∩)O哈哈哈~，so classic！

    • https://acrossthetasman.com 山炮 ShanPao

      For me the funniest line of the article is actually:

      “Illegal Foreign Oil Platforms Discovered in South China Sea”

      Its like they just discovered a lost tribe of sea dwellers. China would have known about this since its inception its just only now the bigoted and self-righteous leaders have been willing to admit they exist.

      • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

        Oh, it’s not even about them suddenly noticing massive building sized platforms dotting the sea or even deciding to shine the spotlight on them.

        It’s all about expanding the “lebensraum” and claiming whatever looks profitable to the ccp based on extremely dubious claims that have little to no relevance with the geo-politics of today. England may as well claim the entire English Channel because it says “English” in the name and because it would be massively profitable to tax every boat that used it, all the while ignoring France and the rest of continental Europe.

        The biggest load of hypocritical bullsh*t is that chinese boats are famous for poaching and smuggling in territorial waters that are not their own. In fact they’re quite brazen about it and not a word is reported about that, but God help the Coast Guard that chastises them or tries to arrest them…

        Then they’ll “hurt the chinese people’s feelings”…………..

        • moop

          Fucking EEZ’s how do they work?

          i demand you stop making sense at once!

          • donscarletti

            Depends. If you’re American they don’t exist because although America participated in writing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it has not gotten around to ratifying it in the last 30 years.

            Why there are any foreign leaders who give the US President the dignity of a head of government able to sign treaties on behalf of his country I’ll never know.

            China on the other hand has ratified it, it just has an extremely liberal interpretation of what it actually says.

        • Alan

          Then they’ll “hurt the chinese people’s feelings”…………..

          And Canada never gets pissy about such things?

          http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2010/09/16/canada-russia-arctic–spat-cannon.html

          Arguing over the arctic, as if Canada doesn’t have enough land and sea area. Truly pathetic.

          • Rick in China

            I don’t see anything “pissy” in the article you mentioned. It looks like a pretty straight forward negotiation for staking claim to land.

          • donscarletti

            @Rick in China

            Once you start dropping flags on the sea bottom, it becomes pissy and childish.

          • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

            Thanks don, anyone want to point out who dropped what flags where?

            Canada FTW!!!

          • Alan

            Thanks don for your support!

  • Dr. Dust Cell

    I refuse to believe the Philippines has enough money (after corruption) to build one of these…

    • eattot

      they have some daddy behind.
      this evill daddy wants to make money through war so much.
      and after him, a bunch of whores and kiss ass…
      hahahaha, i know what i write here will hurt someone’s nerve again.

      • TraderPaul

        Do you mean to say the U.S. is using the Phillipines as a proxy, just like it uses Israel?

        • Loubo

          I think Israel uses the US….there is no Phillipines equivalent to AIPAC and no test of office that requires US elected officials to swear the protect the existence of the Phillipines…

          But yes, the phillipines were and still are a US puppet

          • notorious

            The U.S and Israel are butt-fucking each other, actually. The U.S. wants to have a place in the middle east for its military… and israel gets billions of dollars in AID, weaponry and a mega army to fight it’s puny battles.

      • mr. wiener

        That is all well and good hon, but have you every seen the area in question on a map? It’s a long way from China.
        Maybe it would be best to work out an agreement so all the nearby countries can profit from the oil hmm?
        But what would I know, I’m just a whore and a kiss ass :(

      • 豐

        wouldn’t that make China daddy’s little bitch?

      • donscarletti

        Oh well, I just was watching some pornography with some little Filipina girl with a big American dude behind her. Sadly, the guy had absolutely no technique, the girl just looked bored and uncomfortable. I kind of started feeling awkward and turned it off to watch some euro stuff.

        It would be naive to assume the US/Philippines relationship is much different.

        • Loubo

          geopolitics has nothing to do with your poor taste in porno

          • donscarletti

            It’s called “deconstruction”, the porno represents geopolitics if I say it does. To quote the great Jacques Derrida: “Vous m’avez mal compris; vous êtes idiot”.

        • Loubo

          Actually I understood you quite well. I just don’t think the analogy works. The Phillipines gets alot out of its relationship with the US…….protection and prestige it would otherwise not have.

          • mr. wiener

            I think the Filipinos would definitely catagorise their relationship with the US as being fucked.
            The popular saying is “We spent 150 years in a convent [under the Spanish] and the next 100 in a brothel [US]“.

  • David

    This situation would be more clear if the nature of “China’s territory in the South China Sea” was clarified. Is this territory that has been controlled for years by China? Or is it the territory claimed by Vietnam that China has just recently started trying to elbow them out of? That seems like a very critical detail. I highly doubt that they just recently “discovered” foreign oil platforms in territory they have been controlling for years.

    • Anon

      Yeah… I’m sure it’s much more likely that other countries have stealthily installed oil rigs in territory that is clearly China’s rather than China just being a grasping bully.

    • donscarletti

      I’ll post the full explanation.

      Anyone who has ever looked at a map of the United States will know that America has a big dong hanging off it called Florida. It is pointing away from Mexico’s Baja California dong for reasons of family values.

      Now China is a big, tough and butch world power, it needs it’s own giant dong like Florida or Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula just to show the world who the man is. Now, China had a go at conquering Vietnam 30 years ago and it didn’t work out brilliantly. The only other dongs nearby to be annexed are the Korean peninsular, which has psychos on one side an the US military on the other and Kamchatka, which is fraught with danger because Russia would never let it’s enormous dong go without a fight.

      So, here’s the brilliant part, China’s leading geographers and strategists devised the “wet dong” or “nine dotted line”, a huge dong shaped territorial claim in the south China that can be annexed without violence and exploited for natural gas.

      I hope everyone understands this and congratulates China on it’s enormous new dong.

      • Kong

        China is already shaped like a giant JI, so I don’t know what they’re complaining about.

      • FYIADragoon

        But China’s rooster is already enormous. Bigger than America’s even (lol irony).

      • Andao

        Is it sheer coincidence that Vietnam’s currency is called the dong?

      • joshwhiltz

        China already has a little one, I don’t know the name, wherever Qingdao is

        • donscarletti

          Shandong

          • Kong

            too many coincidences on the dance floor.

          • Alan

            And there is plenty nice pussy from that dong:)

  • Dutchy

    Please be more specific: where South China Sea? Are these areas China territory according the mainland China map maker of according international treaties? That makes quite a difference.

    • Krell

      Must be China’s version.

  • Joshwhiltz

    Seeing how China claims the entire sea, I’m pretty sure there are a few countries that are there illegally. I’m surprised they just don’t claim the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia as Chinese territory.

    • moop

      soon, my pet

  • Jay K.

    As an expat, i def side on China about keeping tibet, keeping xinjiang. they won it in modern history.

    taiwan still debatable

    but to control the whole south china sea, because 1. in ancient times it “supposedly” belonged to china or 2. because it says “china” in the name; that’s just ludicrous

    as far as im concerned the south china sea for majority of it is international waters.

    stick to the maritime UN line as what most maps in the world use.

    • moop

      “1. in ancient times it “supposedly” belonged to china”

      actually they even claim places that they just fished in, not even owned. china is the only country in the world that tries to make such ridiculous claims.

      • Brett Hunan

        Ever heard of Japan?

        • mr. wiener

          They don’t claim territory, just the fish that swim in it

      • Big Red

        Oh come on everyone knows England belongs to Italy, or Russia and half of Europe to Mongolia. Iceland is so totally Norwegian and Greece should be all over Egypt.

        Historical claims are such BS.

        • kevinnolongerinpudong

          China has been an inalienable part of Mongolia since the Yuan Dynasty. I am dedicated to reuniting the motherland.

    • http://www.webproxychina.com/ Rod

      Yeah, who knows what they’re thinking. Pretty soon they’ll be claiming Hawaii.

    • Bruce Tutty

      There is no modern history.

  • dogbert

    China is disrespected in the international community because of absurd positions taken by its government such claiming international waters 1000 miles from the nearest PRC inhabited land to be owned by China. Or when Jiang Zemin said Tibet was “democratically reunited with China”. As long as China takes ridiculous self-serving positions, it will continue to be laughed at.

    • Rick in China

      It was absolutely democratically reunited with China. The Chinese leaders sat down, took a vote, and said it is to be so – hence it was made so. Just like me n my boys democratically raped a random girl in random bar’s toilet, we took a vote and it was determined to be the best course of action for our cocks.

  • moop

    800 years ago your ancestor fucked a fish on some island, so that clearly makes it yours.

  • http://www.qq.com/1325279774 Kedafu

    Song of the Article

    ……

    Stand By…..

  • Harland

    Kick their ass, take their gas

  • 凤

    China is truly retarded when it comes to claiming vast swathes of sea. It’s Indonesia, Filipino, and Malay. Not Chinese.

    • Jess

      I’ve always found it odd and slightly comical that Filipinos cling to some, possibly colonial, notion of a “Malay race,” and then automatically try to drag Malaysia and Indonesia into every one of their squabbles. Indonesia doesn’t have any territorial disputes regarding the South China Sea. In any case, Indonesians and Malaysians don’t particularly like each other. And nobody likes Filipinos.

      Pretty much almost any Filipino (over)reaction to anything is hilarious, though. You can’t watch a Celine Dion/Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston video on youtube without the comments being flooded by Filipinos disparaging the singers with terrible puns that aren’t really puns.

      • mr. wiener

        “terrible puns that aren’t really puns”. Holy Shit! I’m a Filipino :O

  • Ray Ray

    “Oh hey look Chinese people are claiming what we don’t want them to claim, let’s talk shit about them.”

  • dogbert

    You obviously know nothing of geography or history.

  • roflstomp

    The Chinese comments above were funny to read. Raping your country? So what have you been doing to all your neighbors lol. Did these platforms magically appear? Is this ‘territory’ really Chinese or is it another land grab? Or perhaps Chinese naval patrols are so inept they didn’t notice these for that long?

  • Adjutant

    Is it legitimate Chinese territory? Or is it that huge swath of sea that they claim is their but nobody recognizes?

    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAjePNOZ6qA&list=HL1331831358&feature=mh_lolz themig

      time to treat these guys like you treat somali pirates. dongfeng 3 on mindanao’s cunt!

  • A GUY

    This is great propaganda. Oil and gas prices go up seasonally and every spring in America whatever party that isn’t in power blames the prices on those in power, totally neglecting to mention that the other party has nothing to do with it.

    China has done the same thing here, but they have killed two birds with one stone. They can play the victim when discovering “illegal” oil fields in “China’s territorial waters” right off the coast of the Philippines. This will surely rally blind nationalist support and a feeling that the nations sovereignty is under attack and support the need for a domineering party to run everything. It also takes the frustrations people may feel about the oil prices and blames it on those meddling Filipinos drilling right off their coasts.

    Ah but i’m sure this is all America’s fault.

    • moop

      +100

      It’s always America’s fault or the West’s fault.

      Just look at this gem by eattot: “they have some daddy behind.
      this evill daddy wants to make money through war so much.
      and after him, a bunch of whores and kiss ass…
      hahahaha, i know what i write here will hurt someone’s nerve again.”

      • Capt. WED

        well that’s the general trend with these stupid discussion isn’t it. It’s a world wide phenom. If it’s tangentially related to US…it’s the US’s fault. Each place have a series of enemies which they can lay blame on.

      • terroir

        I think a +1 will do; a “+100″ makes you look like the enemy of China that Chinese need you to be.

        • moop

          +1 my liege

          • terroir

            Hey, let’s be kind to those with insightful comments:

            +1 to the power of 5

        • Capt. WED

          a -1 to terrior for being predictable day in and day out.

          • terroir

            Yeah, your rants give us all moment to pause in their originality. [voiceover to be read not by Morgan Freeman, but Steven Wright]

            Every new comment of yours leads us to repeat again and again, “Wow! There’s no way he’ll top that! People can’t possibly get more bitter and angry than this guy!”

            I won’t be so disrespectful to suppose what your epitaph will read, but we will be able to find your tombstone because it will be the one written in CAPSLOCK.

          • A GUY

            Uhh thanks.
            It’s really strange to post something and not be called a retard.
            I can’t shake the feeling that i’m missing the sarcasm or something.

            It makes me miss HONGJIAN. :(

          • Capt. WED

            LMAO. What versus your paragraph after paragraph of neverending wit and your unbeatble charm of saying absolutely jackshit?

            Shut this website down. Complete waste of resources.

          • moop

            @A GUY

            retard ;)

            don’t miss hongjian, i’ve got your back

          • A GUY

            Ahh that’s the stuff.

          • terroir

            @Capt Humpday

            I love having fans and being missed since I haven’t spent a lot of time here lately, but it’s great to know that every last word I write is lapped up and scrutinized. If you don’t get my rapturous wit you can continue to polarize the disparity of the false pro/con dichotomy of the China discourse and be another stump for the status quo to stagger on.

            Burn of the Day:
            At least Hongjian is funny. You, you’re just profanity, extra punctuation and elbows.

  • Chip

    The entire thing is ridiculous, NOBODY owns the vast majority of the South China Sea.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea

  • FYIADragoon

    Requesting a clarification, Fauna, no troll: Are they referring to oil platforms operating in the internationally recognized area belonging to China of the South China Sea or in China’s version of what is “their area”?

    • Krell

      Must be China’s version. They claim the entire part of South China sea, so im assuming its their version.

      • Capt. WED

        Likely but we still don’t know now do we.

  • Capt. WED

    This is a most retarded article. Where exactly did this take place?

    What.The.Fuck Chinasmack???!!! It’s time to close this site down don’t you think. I will pay you to close this shit down.

    • terroir

      No CAPS? How are we to fully comprehend your earnestness?

      • Capt. WED

        Reply to my reply instead of this bullshit you are doing. Oh wait it’s par for the course for terrior, but I’m GLAD at least you kept you VAIN BULLSHIT short this time. BRAVO. YOU FUCK.

        • terroir

          I’m so glad to be part of your bad day.

          For my reply to you, see above. As for this comment of yours, let’s be honest: it wasn’t worth a reply in the first place.

          • Capt. WED

            I’m all dressed up, a perfect mirror image of terrior, ready for the contradiction ball. My lovely wig.

      • Capt. WED

        because I”m still busying trying to decipher the meaning from your last wordy post. Tell me, do I really need to become terroir sexualized in order to revel in your mastery of wit? Does that involve wearing a garter belt aside from shaving my legs? Lipsticks? Powder puff? I know! A fucking wig ;)

        • terroir

          If you find my comments on the wordy side then the book you should take with you on your next vacation to the beach is the list of ingredients on the back of a package of hot dogs.

  • Marl Karx

    This sea is not recognized as a part of China by the entire world.

  • http://www.matthewsawtell.com Matthew A. Sawtell

    Question to Fauna: Any maps posted by Chinese media outlets as to where these platforms were found?

    Question to the Peanut Gallery: And if any of these platforms are owned and/or operated by Gazprom?

  • MassiveBender

    The comments on this site have turned it from a more-or-less news website into a McCarthy-esque forum where people try to out do each other in slagging off China and anyone not following the rabid, ex-pat line that China is the insidious evil is accused of trolling. Hongjian (before my time) is an Orwellian Goldstein figure of hate and villainy. The South China Sea is disputed so people should not be rocking up and drilling for oil in such a volatile area.

    At the risk of denunciation and death threats, I think that the reason China claims this region is twofold: the primary reason is that Taiwan occupies the only inhabitable part of the Spratly’s, Ibu Aba, therefore denying that something owned by Taiwan is part of China presents a contradiction to the consensual One China-Two Systems myth. The second reason is, of course, oil.

    • donscarletti

      If you think mocking unsubstantiated territorial claims is “McCarthy-esque” then I claim the road and parks outside of your house as my own, please refrain from using them for recreation, transport, etc as it is now a contested space. Thank you for your cooperation.

      This is not specific to China, just something that large countries do when they have the power to maybe get away with it. The US, Soviet Union, British Empire, Nazi Germany, Rome, etc all made these kind of spurious claims and it wasn’t any less vulgar then either.

      • MassiveBender

        Whilst the claims are not totally unsubstantiated, Taiwan is the primary claimant since they control only inhabitable part of the region and, since officially Taiwan is a part of China, that therefore forms the real basis of the Chinese claim; my point was not that mocking those claims is McCarthy-esque. The authenticity of the Chinese claim is obviously dubious, but that seems to have warranted a torrent of China-bashing; cookie-cutter, sanctimonious digressions about how China is self-righteous and how China is anti-American. I’m an expat here and China has many faults, but compared to my home country, the UK, the Chinese government is way less self-righteous and the Chinese people are the most pro-American I’ve ever met. On balance China is worse than UK, but the majority of these comments are wildly inaccurate and this happens on every article Chinasmack posts. Then again I suppose you have to consider the provenance internet forums posts. (BBC HYS syndrome)

        • A GUY

          Umm. I have heard China bashing sure that’s what a-lot of these guys do I mean habitually. They also bash America just as often even when it has nothing to do with the topic. This is China smack China bashing is at least topical.

          What exactly was false?

          I see no false hoods here. It seems to me you want a balanced view on an issue with a clear antagonist. I don’t think China is always in the wrong, but here on this issue definitely.

        • typingfromwork

          Hey I’m with you. The internet is full of trolls that like to talk shit about others anyway. I take it with a grain of salt. There’s usually a few that actually have some intelligent points too. Once in a while you do get a nugget of insight, but they are rare. Those people who come here and make racist and xenophobic remarks about China are either trolling or just plain ignorant. either way, it says a lot more about them than it does about their subject.

          Anyway the issue at hand here is very contentious and there are many regional interests at play. This sneaky unilateral action of 30 undeclared oil platforms is going to rustle a lot of other countries’ jimmies as well. It is not just China that is angry.

          People would like to think that this issue is a case of “China wants it all, while others try to play fair”, but the reality is that no one here wants to play fair. I for one do not think that China should or could claim that much sea for themselves, but anyone unilaterally drills in this area without declaration will be condemned by all of the nations in the region.

          • Nicole Chu

            Hi typing from work,

            What makes you think those platforms are illegal? It isn’t just one or two. It’s 30 gigantic platforms that must have taken a long time to build, everyone must have been aware of their presence, but now suddenly they become illegal because China declared so? What makes you think these actions are “unilateral”? How come no country complains about these platforms except China? You can’t say the countries in the region are unaware of the existence of these platforms. Why are you calling everyone ignorant?”

            Just to tell you my perspective on South China Sea. I’m Vietnamese. I know there are many incidents in which Chinese patrol boats arrested and harassed Vietnamese fishermen for fishing in their own water, along the coast of South Central Vietnam, areas that were nowhere near China. Often, their fishes were confesticated by the Chinese boats, depriving them of their livelihood, and what worse is that Chinese police even demanded ransoms from their families in order to release them. Unfortunately enough, one of my friend’s family member fell victim to one of these incidents, he wasn’t lucky to return like others, accidentally or not, he was shot in one of those incidents. And world media didn’t catch much on these stories. Of course Chinese media would say they caught some “pirates” in their water and the pirates got what they deserved. Personally, I feel very frustrated at the distortion. This is not the first time China claims sea territory that doesn’t belong to them. Other times, collaboration projects between Vietnam and Philippines, between Vietnam Russia, on South China Sea have also been sabotaged by Chinese patrol boats. Basically they would just enter the sites, damage the constructions or the projects, then sail away and later say these countries were illegally conducting activities in their water. What depressing is that average Chinese folks, as it seems, truly believe that the entire sea belongs to them and fully support China’s aggression in this area. Now I think the issues will be settled more easily if China is more transparent in its news and policies. If we can see a real map of these 30 so-called “illegal platforms” then we can verify it with independent sources, and we’ll know what’s going on. Now everything is just obscure.

        • Loubo

          I agree with you. This issue like many is clearly contentious and is being played out as a scene in the grand 21st century pacific play. So it cannot be viewed as simply an isolated incident and the people behind the players (US) are just as important. I’m not an expert on the veracity of the claimants positions but I’m aware enough to know that all is not what it seems.

          The issue isnt going away anytime soon, so its going to be interesting but this is just one piece of the puzzle.

  • Foreign Devil

    Funny how massive superstructures like oil rigs can just suddenly be discovered. . as if all the related traffic and parts and time to build those rigs goes completely unnoticed? Probably the Chinese government knew about these rigs all along. or Chinese navy and surveillance is way way more primitive than we thought.

  • Fu Zhigao

    This just looks like three photos and a fake news story.

    The offending nations/corporations would have to answer for a lot more than their “situation”.

    Must have been a slow news day…

  • Mr Tang

    Black Gold eh, who would have guessed it.
    http://www.luckinlove.com/oilinvietnam.htm

  • typingfromwork

    These oil platforms are illegal, I presume, because they have not been declared internationally and therefore violate a number of agreements concerning oil exploration in that area. The South China sea is contentious- not saying China should be the sole claimant of that vast area of sea, but all the neighbouring countries have a stake in it as well and they are not going to be too happy about this development either. Drilling in that area is a very senstive issue and for anyone to unilaterally do it under everyone’s noses is blatently in violation of the delicate balance of politics and interests in the region.

    I find it somewhat absurd though that Chinese patrols have only just found out about these massive platforms. Either they are every, very incompetent or it’s a calculated move to use these platforms as a smoking gun for them to unilaterally drill in the region as well. When Chinese companies get in there it won’t be just 30. Try 300.

    Anyway, the politics of the region is complex and it’s not just a case of “China bully, everyone else good”, though the media does try it’s darnest to make it look that way.

    ps. There was that copy/paste job about gas prices again! What the hell? At least this time it’s kinda relevant.

    • A GUY

      The only info I could find on this kind of activity on the 20th was a report that said the it was in the east china sea. http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/808070

      Sounds eerily similar.

      If They were talking about the South China Sea they were probably talking about the Philippines and their activities in the Reed bank which is only 100nm from The Philippines coast. How many miles is that from the Chinese coast.

      If someone comes and puts a flag in my garden should I wait till he’s forced me to barter all of it away with him before I start farming. Your support of a “balanced” viewpoint is unfounded, the “China Bashing” in this case is greatly founded.

      • A GUY

        Uhh looking up information was hard. This isn’t fun anymore. I can’t even feel my righteous indignation. Google you aren’t as revolutionary as they promised.

      • China Man

        South China Sea is called Eastern Sea in Vietnamese, and I’d imagine that it would have many other names. China is making a claim thousand of miles from their mainland, and technically if the claim is true, it is illegal for smaller countries like Vietnam, Malay, Philippines etc to fish, oil drilling right off their coast lines. China is known for its bullying of smaller neighbours since ancient times although this is true for all great ancient civilizations, but the world has changed, and China will need to change it strategies with regard the issues of protecting its interests. A good example is selling democracies like the US, but since China does not believe in Western Democracy then I guess within the next 50 years we should start seeing China selling its version of communism and make it a right for all human being ;)

        • pada

          –”within the next 50 years we should start seeing China selling its version of communism”? But I really think it is an American job.

  • Robert

    Well Australia claims Christmas Island in the Indian ocean as part of them so why should China be in trouble .

    • mr. wiener

      No oil on Christmas Island. Only red crabs and asylumn seekers.

      • Mao Ze Shenme Dong Dong

        Better for Australia if they gave it to China. Make the Silly Lankans turn pale.

      • jeffli

        can you eat them?
        …….
        ………..the red crabs schtoopidt!

        what did you think I was thinking? …….I’m not Canadian!

    • Garry

      Neat trick that – Christmas Island. Adds enormously to Australia’s exclusive fishing zone and provides a very handy maritime reconnaisance base at the same time. Excellent fishing in the lagoon though. Great place to spend a little time.

  • dim mak

    Flips are just the beaners of Asia. Nobody cares what they think.

    • A GUY

      Dim Mak is just the Asshole of Asia. He smells bad, it takes a real sicko to fuck him, and he secretly dyes himself white.

      See I can say rude shit too.

  • kim jung iLL

    China now behave like gangsters. What a joke, the oil field is so near to Philippine and China says its theirs. Of course China cannot attack anyone because they know they are just pirates.

    • Loubo

      Why dont they just invent some story about WMD or humanitarian crisis or oh wait

  • URMOMM

    hard to believe that this is true

    building a platform like that need over a year hard work

    I feel its kinda impossible to do so over night

  • Xiongmao

    Is this the South China Sea as defined by international law and agreements or the ridiculously huge ‘South China Sea’ that China claims as its own? Because there’s a big difference.

  • cc

    Has anyone bothered to look up who owns the rig West Hercules? An American company that rents out rigs as well as having its own operations all over the world. You’ll probably find out its operated by Malaysia.

  • john digmeme

    Drilling platforms aren’t necessarily built over the oil well, they could be rented from drilling rig leasing companies and brought to the well site where they are anchored to the sea floor. Once the well is drilled, a FPSO takes the drilling rigs place.

    It’s possible for a few rigs to pop up over night, but 30? That’s gotta be a pretty sizable portion of the total number of drilling platforms in existence. Somebody should have noticed earlier – I’d bet one or two are actually owned by Chinese state enterprises.

  • USA

    The areas around Spratley Islands do not belong to China. The world will make sure of that.

  • Garry

    Is this part of the sea really owned by China?

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