Tag: South China Sea

This is actually surprising that the ROK issued a statement against China on this issue. It will be interesting to see if China responds:

South Korea’s foreign ministry expressed deep concerns Thursday over the collision between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels in the South China Sea, a region long plagued by persistent territorial disputes.

“Our government is deeply concerned about the dangerous situation caused by the collision between the Chinese and Philippine vessels and use of water cannons against the Philippine vessels in the South China Sea,” the ministry spokesperson, Lim Soo-suk, said in a press briefing. 

“We support the maintenance of peace, stability and rules-based order in the South China Sea, as well as the freedom of navigation and overflight based on the principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

The Philippines Coast Guard earlier said a Chinese Coast Guard ship caused damage to one of its ships attempting to deliver supplies to Second Thomas Shoal, known as Ayungin Shoal, by Manila on Tuesday. China’s use of water cannons also caused injuries to four Filipino crew members.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but from a ROK perspective it would not be in their interest for China to gobble up the entire South China Sea and claim it as Chinese territory. This is because the majority of ROK energy imports comes through the South China Sea and if China takes it over it could stop energy and other exports through the waterway.

Here is how the U.S. Army is trying to remain relevant in a near peer conflict with China:

About a year from now, the Army plans to practice rapidly deploying 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers from the mainland through Western Pacific islands and into nations around the East and South China Seas for training that will send a message to China.

The first “Defender Pacific” — the Pentagon’s most significant exercise for the region in 2020 — is expected to be followed by an even bigger version involving more than 10,000 mainland soldiers.

Gen. Robert Brown, who stepped down Friday as commander of U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, likes to point out that the United States is in a state of strategic “hyper-competition” with China and Russia.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This helps to send a message to China about the rising will of the Japanese government to project naval power:

One of Japan’s largest warships, the helicopter carrier Izumo, offers a glimpse of where its military is headed: For the first time, troops from a newly formed amphibious brigade of the Self-Defense Forces participated in an extended naval deployment.

The Izumo left Subic, a former U.S. naval base in the Philippines, at the end of a two-month deployment in the Indo-Pacific region at a time of prolonged tensions involving China’s sweeping territorial claims in and around the South China Sea. The carrier, along with the destroyers Murasame and Akebono, just finished a series of drills with the United States and other countries.

Japan’s ability to project military power beyond its borders is severely constrained by the commitment to pacifism and rejection of use of military force in conflict enshrined in its post-World War II Constitution, though in 2015 it was reinterpreted to allow the use of force in defending itself and its allies.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made amending the Constitution to allow the military greater leeway one of his lifetime goals. President Donald Trump has sought to help that cause, calling repeatedly for Japan to do more to defend itself under its alliance with the U.S.

In May, Japan conducted its first quadrilateral exercise with France, the U.S. and Australia in the Bay of Bengal. France deployed its flagship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the FS Charles de Gaulle, while the United States sent a missile destroyer, the William P. Lawrence. Other drills have included Canada, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines.

Japan is preparing to reconfigure the Izumo to accommodate U.S. stealth fighters, including F-35Bs, after announcing it would purchase 42 of its own. The aircraft are designed to operate with short takeoffs and vertical landings, such as on carriers.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but the Japanese carriers are going to be able to project quite a bit more power once they are equipped with the F-35B’s.

The Chinese are busy making threats again in regards to their claims over Taiwan and almost the entire South China Sea:

China’s defense minister warned Sunday that its military will “resolutely take action” to defend Beijing’s claims over self-ruled Taiwan and disputed South China Sea waters.
Speaking at an annual security conference in Singapore, Gen. Wei Fenghe did not direct the threat at the U.S. but loaded his address with criticism of activities by Washington, including support for Taiwan and leading so-called freedom of navigation operations in the strategic waterways that China virtually claims as its own.
Wei said the People’s Liberation Army would not “yield a single inch of the country’s sacred land.”

China’s ruling Communist Party maintains that Taiwan is part of China, and has used increasingly aggressive rhetoric toward the democratic island, which split from the mainland amid a civil war 70 years ago. It opposes Taiwan’s independence and formally says it seeks a “peaceful reunification” while refusing to rule out the use of force if necessary to achieve that goal.
“The PLA has no intention to cause anybody trouble but it is not afraid to face up to troubles. Should anybody risk crossing the bottom line, the PLA will resolutely take action and defeat all enemies,” Wei said.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Chinese are upping their reaction to the US Navy’s freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea:

Photos of an encounter between a Navy guided-missile destroyer and Chinese warship shed light on just how close the ships came to colliding Sunday in the South China Sea.

Naval website gCaptain.com published a series of photos Tuesday showing the USS Decatur and the People’s Republic of China destroyer Luyang passing each other during the confrontation. The Chinese ship appears to veer close to the Decatur before the U.S. ship pulls away to avoid a collision.

A Navy official confirmed to Stars and Stripes on Wednesday that the photos are legitimate, but said it is unknown how the website got access to the images, which were not publicly released.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I hope the Navy has plenty of video cameras on board to record any possible collision.  This is because if a collision was to happen the Chinese would blame the US and then point to the Navy’s track record of two deadly collisions with civilian vessels in recent years.

With that said I doubt the Chinese would use one of their warships to collide with a US Navy ship.  I would suspect they would have one of their civilian vessels, like a fishing ship collide with a US Navy ship and then blame the US to anger public opinion within China against the US.

As the Chinese continue to destroy the ocean floor to build man made islands to build military bases and over fish the South China Sea, the world’s leading environmental groups have next to nothing to say about this.  The reason for this is not surprising and an example of how phony many of these major environmental organizations are:

So why didn’t they utter a peep about China’s degradation of the South China Sea?

Knowing when to keep their mouths shut seems to be the price these organizations must pay to enjoy the good will of Beijing. It’s one thing to offer respectful criticism over Chinese fishing subsidies within the bounds that the Communist Party tolerates as a social safety valve. But it’s another matter entirely to condemn the crimes that China is committing in the South China Sea, a position that would infuriate the Politburo.

 Greenpeace, Conservation International and the WWF all have offices in China. The WWF’s programs to protect the giant panda drive donations globally, and well-heeled do-gooders pay $10,000 per person for panda safaris in Sichuan. Mr. Gomez of the University of the Philippines laments, “Sad but true, money talks.”

As the WWF notes on its website, it operates in China “at the invitation of the Chinese government.” But invitations can be withdrawn. With dozens of Chinese nationals employed on the mainland by the WWF, Greenpeace and Conservation International, the NGOs’ operations in the Middle Kingdom are hostage to the whims of the Party.  [The Wall Street Journal]

The other thing not mentioned in this article is that if groups like Sea Shepherd began operations to interfere with the Chinese dredging and overfishing of the South China Sea the Chinese government would likely have little tolerance for it and imprison the protesters.

Compare the reaction to Japanese whaling of non-endangered minke whales that is closely regulated by an international body to the Chinese destruction of the South China Sea in violation of an international court ruling.  The hypocrisy from major environmental organizations is astounding.

1. Think the South China Sea dispute is new? Check this out from a CIA intel briefing in 1958. pic.twitter.com/p2aHMD9Upy

— Erik Slavin (@eslavin_stripes) January 18, 2017