Who is militarising the South China Sea and the world?

A formation of the Nanhai Fleet of China's Navy on Saturday finished a three-day patrol of the Nansha islands in the South China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Americans are repeating their daily attacks on China militarizing the South China Sea. In the latest attack they released photos of two batteries surface to air missiles in the Paracel Islands to convince the ASEAN leaders in Sunnylands that China is militarizing the South China Sea. They would not tell the world that the missiles are defensive weapons, unlike the offensive B 52 bombers and missile destroyers. Even if China were to build military bases in the South China Sea to the size of Diego Garcia or Guam, it would not only be legitimate, it would be just like a pin in the ocean compared to what the Americans are doing and building in the region. The American military bases are spread across the western Pacific Ocean for many years and with offensive weapons and nuclear capability to hit every country in the region.

Below is a brief extract from a book '?Rebalancing U.S. Forces: Basing and Forward Presence in the Asia-Pacific' by Carnes Lord and Andrew Erickson.?

Erickson and Justin D. Mikolay begin the book with an examination of Guam. Political constraints and friction with allies and partners around the region have led U.S. military planners to look to Guam, U.S. territory on the edge of the Western Pacific battle space and an island whose residents and political leaders, unlike those on Okinawa, actually clamor for a larger military presence.

The result is plans to greatly expand the base of submarines, airpower, and Marines on the island. Singapore is now the key logistics and maintenance hub for Navy and Air Force operations in the South China Sea, and is the critical gateway for the U.S. presence into the eastern Indian Ocean….. American bases abroad are one of the clearest manifestations of the United States' own brand of imperialism, deny or disguise it though it will…. In Japan alone there are 109 American bases and another 89 in South Korea. And there are bases in Thailand and the Philippines as well.

And the US deployed 325,000 military personnel in Asia and Africa according to Global Research, 97,000 in Asia, 40,258 in South Korea, 40,045 in Japan, 491 in Diego Garcia, 100 in the Philippines and increasing, 113 in Thailand, 195 in Singapore, 200 in Australia, 16,600 afloat in ships and aircraft carriers.

With the pervasive presence of American bases in the region, who is the one that is militarizing the region and the South China Sea? Who is more dangerous? Who carries more destructive weapons and is more deadly? The US is crying wolf at the sight of a tree when they are hiding behind a forest. The US have been militarizing the region and the whole world for the last 70 years, with bases in foreign lands all across Asia and South East Asia.

The author is a political observer from Singapore.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website.