China the bully here

Re: “Clearing the waters”, (PostBag, July 16).

When a playground bully is big and strong, there is often little that others on the field can do but go along with the bully.

Such is the case with China’s aggressive claims and actions in the South China Sea. Pursuing hegemony, based on a ludicrous nine-dash line that looks like the work of some kindergarten pupil with a Sharpie pen, China is undoubtedly the “playground bully” of the region.

Chinese Embassy spokesman Yang Yang’s pathetic string of drivel, spewed out in record-setting length in Postbag, is a ridiculous attempt to defend China’s indefensible behaviour.

Mr Yang refers to “joint endeavours of China and Asean countries to safeguard peace and stability”, yet everyone knows that such “joint endeavours” equate only to acquiescence of weaker regional countries to Chinese demands.

There is no “constructive dialogue” among partners — only threats and intimidation, construction of new “islands” with dredged sand to house Chinese military installations, sinking of local fishing boats, and territorial grabs.

China has rejected the 2016 ruling of the international tribunal of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea that concluded that China “has no legal basis to claim ‘historic rights’ within its nine-dash line.”

In short, China has no lawful foundation for its claims or actions — only the playground axiom that “might makes right”.

SAMANEA SAMAN