The Path to Insanity: South China Sea Explosion Explained!

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was supposed to lead to disarmament. Instead, it’s led to nuclear apartheid — and sooner or later, someone’s going set one off.

The Spratly Islands are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea

A website run by far-right U.S. talk show radio host and former FBI informant Hal Turner claimed on Wednesday that unidentified military sources had allegedly detected an underwater nuclear explosion in the area that caused powerful shockwaves. The U.S. tech news website Gizmodo cited two scientists who dismissed the report as fake.

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Gizmodo reported that uRADMonitor Global Environmental Monitoring Network data used in the initial report registered “negligible” radiation and noted that two other agencies in the region showed normal radiation readings. This is highly unlikely that China would run a underwater nuclear test in the disputed area knowing that they are building artificial reefs on the disputed island.

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The Russian government’s consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Friday it has detected a “radiation incident” in the South China Sea.

“Based on data received from the Global Environmental Monitoring System, there’s an increase in background radiation in the South China Sea in connection with a radiation incident,” Rospotrebnadzor said in an online statement.

Failed Test of JL-2 SLBM

One possibility of this alleged explosion could be Chinese type 094 (Jin-class) Submarine test launched a JL-2 SLBM which may have ended up in a catastrophic failure. It’s highly unlikely that communist party run Chinese media would report such incident. The American military satellite would have picked up such incident immediately or sensative sonar system of JMSDF Soryu-class submarine patrolling off the coast of china sea would have detected type 094 submarines which twice detected Chinese Jin-class submarines.

Military analysts reported that an 11,000-ton Chinese nuclear missile submarine Jin-class had surfaced among Vietnamese fishing boats in the South China Sea in September due to major technical issues.

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One of these dusputed islands was Mischief Reef, where US Navy’s littoral combat ship traveled within 12 nautical miles of the eastern Spratly Islands, which China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines all claim sovereignty over.

But the Chinese government sent a defiant warning to Washington, urging the US to stop its patrols in a furious statement.

A spokesman for China’s Southern Theatre Command (military) said in a statement: “We urge [the US] to stop these provocative actions to avoid any unforeseeable accidents.

US Warship in South China Sea

The littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords traveled within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef on Wednesday, Commander Reann Mommsen, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, told Reuters.

“These missions are based in the rule of law and demonstrate our commitment to upholding the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations,” she said.

China’s military confirmed that the two U.S. warships had sailed through the contentious waterways and said it tracked the passage of the American ships.

The Chinese armed forces dispatched warships and warplanes to intercept two U.S. Navy vessels that entered the disputed waters of the South China Sea in the latest confrontation between the two powers over trade ties and Beijing’s jurisdiction over other contested territories, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The US Navy Destroyer on Patrol

In a statement on Friday issued by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Southern Theater Command spokesperson Sen. Col. Li Huamin reacted to the recent presence of Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer near the Spratly Islands and Paracel Islands. The two South China Sea land formations were the subject of international disputes, but Beijing claimed exclusive rights to them.

“The Chinese PLA sent ships and aircraft to conduct the whole-process monitoring and verification on the two US warships and warned them to leave,” the statement said, saying Li has accused the U.S. of trying “to stir up trouble in the South China Sea under the pretext of freedom of navigation.”

In recent years, the Pentagon has stepped up so-called “freedom of navigation” operations to enforce its position. These operations were based on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, ratified by China, but only signed by the U.S.

Washington has accused Beijing of militarizing islands, islets and reefs claimed also by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Chinese officials have defended their actions by arguing any actions here were sovereign decisions taken in the name of national security.

The littoral combat ship Gabrielle Giffords on Wednesday came within 12 nautical miles of islands claimed by China, Cmdr. Reann Mommsen, spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, told Reuters.

About South China Sea

The South China Sea is a critical commercial gateway for a significant portion of the world’s merchant shipping, and hence is an important economic and strategic sub-region of the Indo-Pacific. It is also the site of several complex territorial disputes that have been the cause of conflict and tension within the region and throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Geographically, the South China Sea plays a significant role in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific. The South China Sea is bordered by Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Competing claims of territorial sovereignty over islands and smaller features in the South China Sea have been a longstanding source of tension and distrust in the region. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which was concluded in 1982 and came into force in 1994, established a legal framework intended to balance the economic and security interests of coastal states with those of seafaring nations. UNCLOS enshrines the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a 200 nautical mile area that extends sole exploitation rights to coastal nations over marine resources.

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