[ArkanExplorer]

When military vessels open fire on and sink Chinese Fishing Boats located inside territorial waters.

[sneak]

It was Isaac Asimov who, in the Foundation series, once famously said that "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

[wavefunction]

The character who expressed it as their maxim also ended up engaging in violence to solve the problems facing their world.

[ArkanExplorer]

The purpose of the military is to maintain the territorial sovereignty of the nation, against illegal entry from migrants/smugglers or chinese fishermen.

If the military cannot perform this task then why does Argentina spend $3billion on them?

The obvious answer is that Argentina is a failed state, incapable of defending itself.

[sneak]

Sovereignty is a slippery abstraction. What we’re talking about here is doing violence against someone on a boat who has directly harmed no one, whose only crime is crossing an invisible line and perhaps stealing some food.

Now, I’m not going to get down in to the weeds about fishing property rights, but it looks like you’re trying to climb up this abstraction layer (“territorial sovereignty”) to justify violence against the peaceful.

If indeed they are stealing from someone under the law, I don’t think violent action via a national military is in any way whatsoever a proportionate response. You seem to be advocating for collective guilt because there are so many, and collective guilt or group punishment is a violation of human rights.

[koheripbal]

That's true except for the times it isn't.

[phendrenad2]

Obviously you don't just resort to violence. First you threaten violence and if THEY are incompetent they won't heed the warning, forcing the violence

[dnh44]

Would any person in any country argue that their leaders aren't incompetent?

[Proven]

it seems there's another level below that, an inability to distinguish violence from defence.