William Hung
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2013
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Putin: Russia Supports China’s Stance on South China Sea
http://russia-insider.com/en/russia-supports-chinas-stance-south-china-sea/ri16285
HANGZHOU (Sputnik) – Russia supports China’s stance on the South China Sea court dispute and opposes any third-party interference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.
"Chairman Xi Jinping and I have developed very trusting, I would say friendly, relations. But he never – I want to emphasize this – never approached me requesting to somehow comment, somehow intervene in the matter," Putin told reporters.
"We of course have our own opinion on this matter. It is that, first of all, we do not interfere and we believe that any intervention of a non-regional power goes only to the detriment of settling these issues. The intervention of third-party non-regional powers, in my opinion, is harmful and counterproductive," he added.
On July 12, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Beijing has no legal basis to claim historic rights to South China Sea resources and has violated the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the country's exclusive economic zone. The ruling came after Manila filed a case in January 2013 accusing Beijing of violating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
"We stand in solidarity and support of China's position on this issue – not to recognize the decision of this court… This is not a political position, but purely legal. It lies in the fact that any arbitration proceedings should be initiated by the disputing parties, while the arbitration court should hear the arguments and positions of the disputing parties. As you know, China did not address the Hague arbitration and no one listened to its position there. How can you recognize these decisions as fair? We support China's position on this issue," Putin stressed.
Beijing’s territorial claims to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which are believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves, run counter to those of the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
This is too predictable, anyone with half sense could foresee this long time ago. I remember a long time ago some member Thao or something who tried to fight me because I said something like this and they couldn’t accept the new reality.
Note that this is not just a “neutral” stance like Russia always had, but it is now a stance that aligns with China and opposite to Vietnam’s own stance.
But he never – I want to emphasize this – never approached me requesting to somehow comment, somehow intervene in the matter," Putin told reporters.
It’s kind of funny how he made this pre-emptive statement...which kind of reveals what went on behind the scene and now he is feeling insecured about it...cos now he is no longer in the position of the “strongman” leader he used to paint himself to be.
My point is if there is any particular reason why the FREMM would be more desirable since it is a different class of ship. Of course I understand the value of having a loan, that's why I said, other than the loan.
Because I read in Wiki that the FREMM for France was 670 million Euros. Do you have a source for the 2 Italian FREMM frigates for that cost? Wiki has a price for them for 580 million Euros (each) and one for Morocco at 470 million Euros and they show the sources for all 3 prices. Your price looks too low for a European frigate of that class.
I know about that, that's why I said that it needs to be customised for Vietnam.
I didn’t bothered checking wiki because it can be outdated or unreliable. The latest Italian order is still fresh news you can google it. Its around $800 million, and this is only last year so inflation is taken accounted. Note that the cost of the earlier FREMM often quoted usually includes the development cost. You might also want to check the French-Greek or French-Eqypt FREMM negotiation to see how flexible the French are in terms of financial arrangement and customer requests.