Thursday 14 July 2016

Is Boris Johnson really

the new Foreign Minister for Upover? You do mean that little boy with the untidy hair who says the most outrageous things is their new Foreign Minister?
It's almost as bad as the sort of thing that happens here. I thought Upover was better than that. 
We do have a new government of a sort but the Opposition is behaving as if they were the winners - perhaps they are. The government only just scraped enough seats for a majority. 
And the Opposition is making dangerous rumblings about what should be done in the South China Sea. That is a situation of the utmost delicacy. 
The Chinese have been laying claim to more and more of it. They have been building islands there - with military style runways and more. I have no idea what it has cost - presumably billions of dollars. You don't do that sort of thing cheaply.
If, despite the ruling of the International Court of Justice, they manage to retain control over the area they claim they will also have control over one of the busiest shipping routes in the world.
The power it would give them is not to be underestimated.  
It is also good reason for the Chinese not to be permitted to have such control. Nobody should have that much power. There are multiple other countries which lay claim to the area the Chinese claim. They may all have a legitimate interest in it. 
Realistic and cooler heads in China are of course aware that the concocted claim to the area was always going to be disputed. They will be looking for a way for the Chinese government to extricate itself within the rule of law - and without losing face. 
That is all going to take careful words and delicate diplomacy. They won't want any outspoken foreign ministers or shadow foreign ministers barging in and making inflammatory statements. 
Diplomacy is best not left to the politicians.

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