China will not compromise over the Spratley islands.

What makes the islands valuable is the vast energy deposits lying around the islands.

China would like those energy deposits but the Spratley islands are also important to it strategically. The Spratleys make for an excellent forward base for their ambition.

I once read a fascinating book that analyzed why mankind fights. Through all of mankind’s histories, we have fought each other. What were the fights about? Land, passion, ambitions?

All of the above, but the majority of wars, from the most ancient to today, were armed struggles to own or control limited resources. Man has always tried to out-compete his fellow man for finite resources. He who wins gets more area in land or sea–and the more the area the bigger the population.

China’s intention is simple to figure out. They want to own the South China Sea.

It’s ours, say the Chinese. It’s plain to see that the maritime border that China wants to enforce extends almost to everybody else’s coastline.

Filipino fishermen use the word laot <la-ot> to refer to the deepest part of their fishing range. If Filipinos were to believe the crap coming from the Chinese, then our fishermen–who already have small fishing ranges–will be prevented from ever increasing their ranges.

This is a struggle over a limited resource. China has decided that as part of its transformation into a superpower, it shall claim to all of it. It’s the right time. They’ve done their feng shui.

      The Philippines is not involved in the Paracels dispute. The Philippines is locked in dispute with China over the Spratleys, not the Paracels. In the Paracels, China’s bumping heads with the Vietnamese. China is fighting  five other nations for possession of the sea.