Bill Hayton

Author: The Invention of China, South China Sea, Vietnam; Editor of @RSAsianAffairs Asian Affairs; Assoc-Fellow @CHAsiaPacific; Fellow @RGS_IBG; PhD (Cambridge)

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

My @ISEAS Perspective - 'East of Where? The Future of the UK’s Asia Policy' is available here:
https://t.co/GvKUrLHW7X

[Julian Ku 古舉倫 @julianku]

Thus far, China has publicly lashed out at the EU, NZ, and Japan most of all, while largely sparing the U.S. from its wrath. If this exemption of the US continues, it suggests China is trying a bit of divide and conquer, at least rhetorically.

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

Wu Shicun is a sophisticated actor in Beijing's South China Sea propaganda apparatus, so what is the purpose of his latest intervention? I guess he's waving the stick, presumably while others are (more quietly) offering carrots to Manila to dial down the relationship with the US

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@cungcung785 All based on original research. Fully referenced and sourced. But you can choose to be ignorant

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

I have bad news for the bot who goes under the name of Patrick. In 1933 and again in 1943, China officially declared that Triton Island in the Paracels was its southernmost territory - which seems to rule out a Chinese claim to Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys...

[Patrick in China @PatrickZhengCHN]

Well into the 1990s, Philippine official maps continued to depict Huangyan Dao as lying beyond its territorial limits. This position was also corroborated by official correspondence of various Philippine government agencies. In a letter dated February 5, 1990, the Philippine Ambassador to Germany stated, according to the Philippine National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, Scarborough Shoal or Huangyan Dao is not within the territorial sovereignty of the Philippines.

The Certification of Territorial Boundary of the Republic of the Philippines issued by the Philippine National Mapping and Resource Information Authority on October 28, 1994, acknowledged that the territorial limits and sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines are defined by Article III of the Treaty of Peace signed on December 10, 1898, between the United States and Spain, and confirmed that the territorial limits shown in Official Map No. 25 issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources through the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (which depicts Huangyan Dao outside the territorial limits) are fully correct and reflect the true situation. These statements by the Philippines not only constitute counter-evidence to its own claim of territorial sovereignty over Huangyan Dao, but also subject the Philippines to the constraints of international law based on the recognition of legal facts and the principle of estoppel.

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@cungcung785 Oh please do some reading. I’ve shown all these claims to be false several years ago https://t.co/OCyy8hFbu0

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@cungcung785 If the Chinese government had any good evidence they would make it public. But they don’t do that because it wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny.

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@cungcung785 It’s actually quite simple. China just invented a previously non-existent claim to the features of the South China Sea between 1907 and 1947. It’s all explained here…
https://t.co/vEBDK884x7

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@cungcung785 Yes, in 1947 the ROC changed its claim, moving it 1000km further south to include the Spratlys. It’s all in my articles and books…

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@teortaxesTex PRC claims to have inherited the ROC claim

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@fhcluk If only you had read my research first we could have saved all this bother. Actually, the ROC only decided to claim the Spratlys in mid-1947. And no other state recognised that claim. And they still don’t recognise it 80 years later!

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@souljagoyteller @JCJINKEY Er, this was actually in Hanoi. So Vietnamese not Chinese

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@fhcluk Both Cambridge and I are telling the same thing. The truth! Some people can’t handle it…

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@fhcluk And here’s the crucial bit - in 1943 the Chinese government said the Paracel Islands were its southernmost territory

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@fhcluk Here you are. Originally published in India in 1943 and then republished in an American edition the same year

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

Vietnam meets Manchester.
Always makes me smile…

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@InMekong90532 Tell that to the reefs of the South China Sea

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

Big question now is which country will host the BBNJ Secretariat. The choice is Brussels, Valparaiso (Chile) or Xiamen in China. If only China could be trusted to respect international maritime agreements and rulings…

[Seema Malhotra MP @SeemaMalhotra1]

I’m proud that the UK has now ratified the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, and will be helping drive its implementation through the first Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2027.

We're working with other countries to conserve at least 30% of our ocean by 2030.
https://t.co/I6XxRFGRph

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

One of the most stupid pieces I’ve ever read about NATO. Sounds like it was written by an undergrad.

[UnHerd @unherd]

Trump’s plan for Nato 3.0, by Lily Lynch (@lilyslynch)

Turkey is perhaps the model Nato 3.0 ally. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, like Trump, has no time for liberal internationalist pieties. Like Trump, he would like to see Nato stripped bare to its raw essentials of defence and security, ditching democracy promotion and the dissemination of “Western values”.

Turkey has the second largest army in Nato and a burgeoning defence industrial base: Turkish defence and aviation exports broke records last year, exceeding $10 billion.

All of this has won admiration from Trump. Throughout the summit, Trump repeatedly praised Erdoğan, calling him “really a great man”, “a great leader”, and “a strong person”.

Trump’s affinity for Erdoğan suggests that what is most valued in Nato 3.0 is a capacity for deterrence and defence; democratic deficiencies are of little concern in an ally that is seen to be pulling its weight.

Read more below ⬇️

https://t.co/Q2SzM4FdsF

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@LiuCanpstar 🤡

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@fhcluk @LiuCanpstar Yes, it’s very good. You should read it

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

The Chinese name for Antelope Reef is 'Lingyang Jaio', the translation of Antelope Reef. So China continues to honour Antelope, the East India Company ship that surveyed the feature in 1808. And yet China claims to have been "first to name" the islands in the South China Sea!

[Benjamin Blandin @MareNos42313152]

fast progressing land reclamation at Antelope Reef, Paracels archipelago (1/3).

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@LiuCanpstar Or English?
https://t.co/V17f2IWeOA

[Bill Hayton @bill_hayton]

@LiuCanpstar Do you read French, bot?
https://t.co/wlEGuIdxVg