Big Brother being Shown the Door

As the dust starts to settle down on the South China Sea dispute, a major player in the region might go missing. Suporno Chaudhury, reporting from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Quite a few heads turned in the UNSC, as a consequence of the strongly worded speech made by the Delegate of Russia. The Delegate laid claims that the People's Republic of China (China) had never been conquered in the past by any foreign power and is the only state in the South Asia which is 'incorruptible' and has the 'clear mind' to function independently. In the flurry of questions that followed, the Delegate of Russia patiently explained about the expulsion of the Japanese forces from the North-East China in the battle of Manchuria dated 1932, showing the resilience of China against foreign influence, in contrast to which the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were merely puppets in the hands of the western powers, particularly those with military presence in the area.

After that, everything started going downhill for the interests of United States of America (USA), with almost all their major allies criticising their presence in the region. The Delegate of Republic of China (Taiwan), talked about the creation of a Developmental Regime in the South China Sea and asked the western powers, particularly USA to "stay out" of it. In the speech by the United States of America that followed, support was extended to all the members of the ASEAN, but the council consciously failed to pick up on that. The Delegate of France jumped on the bandwagon, adding "United States of America might be playing dirty politics in the South China Sea region.", quoting a news article from The New York Times, which detailed on the capture of a ship bound to the Republic of Korea being captured by the Chinese Naval vessels.

When questioned by the reporter, the Delegate of France said that "China might have a secret enemy in the western hemisphere, and it may be true that United States of America, might be misusing the goodwill it has in the ASEAN, as well as it's media channels such as the New York Times to influence international opinions on the South China Sea."

All the while constant criticism of the USA military presence in the region was maintained by the Delegates of Uruguay, Russia, and China.

The Government of China had recently lodged strong protests regarding the chartings carried out by heavily armed USA Seventh Fleet naval vessels near the Scarborough Shoal and the Stratley Islands. The forays within the 12 nautical miles boundary that China considers within its Exclusive Economic Zone, were undertaken by the United States Naval vessels under the Freedom of Navigation.

At the close of the session almost every country was protesting the USA presence in the South China Sea, as a secondary player. Protection of the country's alliances and interests in the region seemed to be a hard climb for the Delegate of United States of America, and the Trump administration.