Militarily the Chinese have shown their displeasure with the THAAD deployment by flying bombers over South Korea’s Ieodo research station off the coast of Jeju while economically they are going after South Korean entertainment and companies operating in China:
China has stepped up efforts to hurt South Korea for its decision to allow the stationing of an advanced missile defense system on its soil with punitive measures to likely intensify going forward, experts predicted Wednesday.
The Seoul government, however, seems to have few countermeasures at its disposal, spawning concerns that it could face “costly” consequences if it fails to handle the situation in an effective manner, observers claimed.
On Tuesday, media reports showed that Chinese authorities have refused to approve imports of massive amounts of South Korean cosmetics as they are said to not meet their trade requirements. This was deemed the latest in a series of measures apparently aimed at punishing Seoul for its push to install a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery within this year.
In July, South Korea and the U.S. jointly announced a plan on the THAAD deployment, drawing strong opposition from China, which voiced concerns that the missile defense system equipped with the strong X-band radar could hurt its strategic security interest.
South Korea’s has countered that the THAAD deployment reflects critical national security interests to deal with evolving North Korean nuclear and missile capabilities.
Ever since the decision was announced, Beijing has taken thinly-veiled measures, mostly in business and cultural areas, aimed at pressuring Seoul to scrap its planned THAAD deployment.
Korea pop culture, known as hallyu, has been a major target with top Korean entertainers virtually banned from appearing on Chinese TV shows. More recently, the Chinese government rejected South Korean airlines’ plan to operate chartered flights to China ahead of the busy Chinese New Year holiday season.
“It has just begun,” said Kim Heung-kyu, political science professor at Ajou University. “On a scale of one to ten measuring China’s retaliation, the current level seems to be standing at only three. A full-blown retaliation that could have a real impact on South Korea has not started yet.” [Yonhap]
Foreign Minister: China appreciates Nigeria’s stance on the One-China principle and welcomes its moving Taiwan’s office from Abuja pic.twitter.com/Rk75Z92y5h
It looks like the Chinese are sending a message to South Korea once again that they don’t recognize their ownership of the Ieodo seamount and are still unhappy about the THAAD deployment:
The Chinese planes flew into the KADIZ near Ieodo, a submerged rock located off the southern coast of Jeju Island “several times” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the source. He said that South Korea countered by sending some 10 fighter jets including F-15Ks and KF-16s to the area.
The South Korean jets sent a warning signal to the Chinese planes, while its Air Force also delivered warning messages to the Chinese side, the source said. The Chinese planes were said to include bombers and early warning aircraft.
In 2013, South Korea expanded its own KADIZ to cover Ieodo on which it has scientific research facilities. China also includes it in its air defense identification zone. [Yonhap]
This probably the legal answer they are giving to avoid responsibility of violating international law by stealing the US Navy drone:
The Chinese navy on Thursday seized the drone, which the Pentagon said was being operated by civilian contractors to conduct oceanic research. The U.S. lodged a formal diplomatic complaint and demanded the drone back.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun issued a statement late Saturday saying that a Chinese navy lifeboat discovered an unknown device in the South China Sea on Thursday.
“In order to prevent this device from posing a danger to the safe navigation of passing ships and personnel, the Chinese lifeboat adopted a professional and responsible attitude in investigating and verifying the device,” Yang said.
The statement said that after verifying that the device was an American unmanned submerged device, “China decided to transfer it to the U.S. through appropriate means.”
The U.S. said that “through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return” the unmanned underwater vehicle, according to a statement from Peter Cook, spokesman for U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. [Associated Press]
I think this is an accurate assessment of why the Chinese stole the US Navy glider earlier this week:
As mentioned above, this incident does leave one thinking of the 2001 Hainan and 2009 USS Impeccableincidents as tests by China of an incoming administration. Indeed, Donald Trump’s recent moves on China — including his call to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and repeated criticism of Chinese economic and security practices, including in the South China Sea — may well have caught Chinese policymakers off-guard. Trump’s flirting with a revision to the U.S. “one China” policy in particular has raised particular concern in Beijing, which regards U.S. compliance with its “one China” principle as a sine qua non for diplomatic relations.
Deriving Chinese intentions from the glider-seizure is but an exercise in speculation at this point, but it isn’t unthinkable that Beijing, recognizing Trump’s highly unusual diplomatic style, is choosing to test his rhetorical response thresholds at least before he enters office. [The Diplomat]
You can read more at the link, but I like the idea of sailing a US Navy ship on a freedom of navigation patrol right through their 12 mile territorial limit around one of their artificial islands. The islands have been declared illegal by an international court so the Chinese would have no legal standing to complain. It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration responds to this; they may not want an international crisis on their hands shortly before leaving the White House.
This looks like something the Chinese had planned as a provocation since they shadowed the US ship waited for the drones to emerge from the water and then snatched one. They also made sure to snatch a drone that did not have sensitive US military technology which could have really increased the scale of a possible US response to this action:
This file picture shows the Chinese Navy frigate Daqing 576 approaching the waterfront in San Diego, Calif., with a U.S. aircraft carrier on the North Island base in the background in December. The Three People’s Liberation Army (Navy) ships were visiting San Diego as part of a routine port visit. [USA Today]
China “unlawfully” seized an unmanned US naval probe in international waters in the South China Sea, the Pentagon said Friday, a move sure to heighten tensions around Beijing’s military presence in the disputed area.
The underwater vehicle was taken around 50 nautical miles (90 kilometers) northwest off Subic Bay in the Philippines late Thursday in a non-violent incident, said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
The event unfolded as the civilian-crewed USNS Bowditch was retrieving a pair of “naval gliders” that routinely collect information on water temperatures, salinity and sea clarity.
A Chinese Dalang-III class submarine rescue ship then stopped within 500 yards (meters) of the Bowditch and snatched one of the probes. The Americans safely hoisted the other one back onto their ship.
Davis said he could not recall another time when something like this has happened, and the Pentagon issued a statement calling on Beijing to “immediately” return the probe that it had “unlawfully seized.”
The US personnel “were asking over bridge-to-bridge radio to please leave it there,” Davis said.
Other than a brief acknowledgment that it had received the message, the Chinese ship did not respond.
“The only thing they said after they were sailing off into the distance was: ‘We are returning to normal operations,'” Davis said.
Washington has issued a formal request through diplomatic channels to ask for the probe back.
“It is ours. It is clearly marked as ours. We would like it back, and we would like this not to happen again,” Davis said.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said China had acted unlawfully.
“The UUV (unmanned underwater vehicle) is a sovereign immune vessel of the United States. We call upon China to return our UUV immediately, and to comply with all of its obligations under international law,” Cook said in a statement. [AFP]
Here is what they stole:
Davis said the seized vessel is off-the-shelf technology that is commercially available for about $150,000. Data it gathers are unclassified and can be used to help submarines navigate and determine sonar ranges in murky waters.
You can read the rest at the link, but here is what Donald Trump had to say:
China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act.
Beijing hit back in the diplomatic spat over its seizure of a US Navy drone in the South China Sea after Donald Trump claimed in a message on Twitter that China has stolen the device.
Chinese officials had earlier indicated there would be a “smooth” resolution of the diplomatic incident, but after the President-elect’s tweet, they accused Washington of “hyping up” the issue. [UK Independent]
Stealing seems pretty accurate to me, did the Chinese want him to say they are borrowing the drone?
