China’s ongoing efforts to seize the South China Sea tend to fly under the radar because they’re piecemeal, incremental, and low-key. But their cumulative effect over time has major impact.
The upshot is that China ignores international law and other nations’ rights, and asserts raw power to take what it wants. That makes China a rogue nation, and an aggressor.
A major instrument of China’s aggression in the South China Sea and countries like Vietnam and the Phillippines is its maritime militia. These armed vessels, manned by trained military personnel, are disguised as a fishing fleet. A recent incident (March 2021) illustrates how they operate:
“Since at least March 7, 2021, many dozens of large, blue-hulled PRC ships have been lashed together in Whitsun Reef’s lagoon. They have not been seen to do any fishing, but run powerful lights at night. Citing the presence of 220 China Maritime Militia (CMM) vessels, on March 21 Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana publicly demanded their departure from his nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Manila supplemented his statement with a diplomatic protest from Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. But Beijing remains defiant. Spokespeople from the PRC’s foreign ministry … and embassy in Manila have denied that the vessels belong to China’s militia, defended their presence as sheltering from (unobservable) inclement weather, and deflected by making the usual PRC claim that others should not inflame the situation with irresponsible accusations.”
This is the game China is playing with these vessels:
“Far larger and stronger than typical fishing vessels from the Philippines or other South China Sea neighbors, their comparatively robust hull designs—with additional rub strakes welded onto the hull’s steel plating aft of the bow, and—typically—powerful mast-mounted water cannons, make them powerful weapons in most contingencies, capable of aggressively shouldering, ramming, and spraying overmatched civilian or police opponents.
“Conversely, against the U.S. Navy or other capable foreign forces, they would become weapons of the weak—human shields forcing consequential choices for rules of engagement. Their supposed civilian status would come to the fore, especially for propaganda purposes.”
These quotes are from a Foreign Policy magazine article by a U.S. Naval War College professor; read the entire article here.
Defense analysts and China watchers say China doesn’t want war — it wants the spoils of war without having to fight for them. It’s a clever strategy, to say the least. Waging conflict in this manner is less likely to alarm or arouse potential opponents, and flies under the general news media’s and broad public’s radar, yet it achieves the same ends.
China claims to “own” the entire South China Sea, a claim not recognized by international law or other nations, rejected by international courts, and based on dubious historical facts and contorted reasoning. In reality, it’s seeking to seize control of the South China Sea with bullying, coercion, and military occupation. It gets away with it because neighboring countries, like Vietnam and Phillippines, can’t match China’s military muscle.
It’s easy to think of the South China Sea conflict as a localized dispute and a potential regional conflict. But the South China Sea is one of the world’s most important seaways, having immense economic and strategic importance. A third of global seaborne trade passes through it; it has valuable fisheries and is believed to hold large untapped oil and gas deposits — resources China wants to expropriate for itself — and unfettered Chinese military control of the South China Sea would threaten the political independence of surrounding countries and imperil America’s ability to defend its allies in the region.
With so much at stake, and China’s aggression in the South China Sea steadily increasing, the situation there can only grow more contentious in coming years.
Updates (3/28/21 and 4/6/21): “International concern is growing” over the Chinese “fishing vessels” moored at Whitsun Reef and the Philippines military is overflying the reef with fighter jets every day. The Philippines government has ordered the vessels to leave, but they’re not complying. Read stories here and here.
China has been systematically seizing South China Sea reefs and militarizing them, and its fishing fleet is widely viewed as a military arm (read more about that here).
