From: engp1186@nuscc.nus.sg (Won-Soon Lau)
Subject: Re: Spratly Islands (War coming over oil?)
Reply-To: engp1186@nuscc.nus.sg
Organization: Dept. EE, National Univ. of Singapore
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 06:20:09 GMT

In article <1992Jul24.152203.5909@ncsu.edu>, dctam@eos.ncsu.edu (DENVER CHUAN-HIN TAM) writes:
|> 
|> On this issue about the Spratleys, which countries claim the islands?
|> I'm sure there are quite a few?
|> 
    People Republic of China,  Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Philippines.

|> Please post this as it might make the situation clearer to know
|> just which countries are involved in this...
|> 
    All the countries involved claimed sovereignty to some of the islands
    except China who claimed it has sovereignty over *ALL* the island.  
    In fact, China claimed that the South China Sea is part of it
    territorial water.  All commercial vessels can sail on it freely but
    all naval vessels need to seek permission from the China authority
    though the US navy never give a damn about this.  Recently, China 
    landed some troopes on some of the bigger islands.  Both Malaysia 
    and Brunei has a detachment on some of the islands closer to their
    country.

tedrick@whistle.Berkeley.EDU (Tom Tedrick) wrote:
|> Evidently tensions are heating up over the oil fields under
|> the Spratly islands. If it comes down to war (possibly
|> involving China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and/or Japan),
|> who do you think will win? What are the comparative strengths
|> of the naval forces of the various countries? What about
|> the role of air power? Might China threaten a land invasion
|> of Vietnam in order to get their way in the Spratlys?

    Yes, the tension is there but not to the point that it has to resort to
    war to settle it.  Nobody will win the war if there will be one, not
    even China.  The reason is simple, the oil field is not going to be a
    big one according to some experts and by going to war, the country
    economy is going to suffer badly.  I'm sure no countries will be
    stupid enough to do that (except Saddam Hussien (;-)).  Last I read
    was China is responding to the call for peaceful settlement of the
    conflict from the ASEAN countries.

    Naval forces of the region:
    China has the largest forces around the region apart from the US
    seven fleet which operates in the Pacific region.  The China
    submarine forces is the greatest threat to all.  Since the Russian
    pull out from Vietnam, their naval force can only perform coastal
    duty.  Malaysia has quite a big navy, a few destoryer class vessels
    with missile capability.  Brunei navy has a few missile gun boats.
    All except maybe China has no amphibian landing force.
    Another important factor is the ability to project their air power
    over the trouble waters.  None of the countries involved has the
    capability to do so.

    Singapore is not involve in this conflict but the outcome can greatly
    affect us.  It may be in the interest of my country to join forces
    with the rest of SEA countries so as to put forward a unify front.
     
Won Soon
-- 
VLSI DESIGN & CAD LABORATORY          \  Internet: engp1186@nuscc.nus.sg
Dept of Electrical Engineering         \  Bitnet:  ENGP1186@NUSVM       
National University of Singapore        \  Phone:  (+65) 772 6319       
10, Kent Ridge Crescent. Singapore 0511. \______________________________
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese