Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Constructing an International Incident through Ham Radio

Is it worth it to construct an International Incident for ARRL awards that count Reefs as DXCC "countries" so that the awards never can be completed ? Of course the goal is to keep staff employed in a sucker's game. That wasn't how DXCC started but it's what the Midwest cabal hired by the old Yankees turned DXCC into. Every other award has an end such as CQ'S WAZ, but ARRL morphed DXCC into a money pit by inventing countries you need a scaffold above ocean water to operate from. Are diplomats, past gunfire and death not telling the ARRL wimps that enough is enough ? We aren't talking tough guys when we're talking ARRL. Strange that they'd send amateurs into harm's way.

It almost makes you wonder if ARRL is also under someone's control after they recruited radio operators by the thousands in WWII, and no doubt gave certain agencies the names of young people who passed high speed code tests throughout the Cold War. God protect you if you then excelled in history, political science and in international relations. At least admit it.

Back to past and current events. Every time there is a DXpedition scheduled to Spratly Islands, the Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos get itchy trigger fingers.

Witness this from March 1979:

Upon arrival at Amboyna Cay, on the morning of April 1, while sitting about one mile off the coast, we are fired upon by the inhabitants of Amboyna Cay. Four blasts reverberated from a gun placement in the center of the island. Luckily missed. We headed back to Brunei. Once back in Brunei, N4WW headed home... KP2A (VS5KV) & N2OO (VS5OO) decided to stay in Brunei and operate from there, and provide communications to the Banyandah during their second attempt. K4SMX, K1MM and VK2BJL headed back out to try to find an uninhabited island in the Spratly's to operate from. 1S1DX eventually came on the air for about 70 hours, making over 13,000 QSO's from Barque Canada Reef; a 30 foot wide sand cay.

In the fall, a trip there was quietly scrubbed... even as Hillary Clinton herself became involved:

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - China and the Southeast Asian nations disputing ownership of the Spratlys islands need to turn their 2002 accord into a legally binding code to prevent clashes and keep the vast region open to commerce, the U.S. ambassador said Monday...

Beijing angrily reacted after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an ASEAN regional security forum in Vietnam in July that the peaceful resolution of disputes over the Spratly and Paracel island groups was in the American national interest.

Beijing said Washington was interfering in an Asian regional issue.

The conflicting claims have occasionally erupted into armed confrontation. Chinese forces seized the western Paracel Islands from Vietnam in 1974 and sank three Vietnamese naval vessels in a 1988 sea battle.

Why ?

Although largely uninhabited, the areas are believed to be sitting atop vast reserves of oil and natural gas. They straddle busy sea lanes and are rich fishing grounds.

The trip was rescheduled for 6 January 2011.

And what do we see once again ?

This:

China sends patrol vessel to disputed waters
Nov 16 07:54 AM US/Eastern
China has sent a helicopter-equipped fisheries vessel to patrol the disputed East China Sea, state media reported Tuesday, just as the two sides appeared to be cooling sharp tensions over the area.

The fisheries patrol vessel is China's first to be equipped with helicopters, and left the southern city of Guangzhou for the East China Sea for a mission that could last 20 days, Xinhua news agency said.

China has sent vessels to the area on previous occasions, state media reported, amid a row with Japan over a shipping collision that severely tested what had been a marked thaw in relations between the regional rivals.

Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain in disputed waters after his vessel collided with Japanese coastguard ships in early September. He was eventually released.

But the incident sparked a series of protests and snubs from Beijing and Japanese accusations that China was taking retaliatory economic measures.

China has insisted that it is within its right to send the fisheries patrol vessels to the area.

The latest ship, the 2,580-tonnage "Yuzheng 310", is not China's largest fisheries patrol vessel but is "the fastest and had the most sophisticated technologies," Xinhua quoted an official as saying.

Separately, Li Jianhua, director of the ministry's fisheries bureau, was quoted calling the ship "a milestone for China's marine law enforcement patrol work, as the vessel can combine air and surface surveillance."...

Hu promised China was committed to being a good neighbour, as concerns rise over its assertive behaviour in the Asia-Pacific.

That development can be good or bad as civilian forces are once again replaced with military. Furthermore you're dealing with a country where there isn't as much of a distinction as (there used to be) in the U.S.