After decades of prudent foreign policy on the maritime disputes in South China Sea, the United States has now pivoted to a more adversarial stance against China, the Asian economic and military power, which in recent years has carried out insidious and predatory actions against several Southeast Asian nations in its attempt to fortify its foothold in the strategic and resource-rich waterway.
The year 2020 saw the U.S. government taking bold steps to address the growing crisis in South China Sea where one finds Beijing flexing its military muscle to illegally seize reefs, atolls and other features rightfully owned by other countries based on international law. The first salvo is a declaration of the U.S. position on China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea. This was followed six weeks later by U.S. sanctions imposed on Chinese companies and individuals that worked with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to unlawfully build artificial island bases in this body of water.
Maritime Mischiefs
In a press statement issued on July 13, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a scathing rebuke of China’s preposterous maritime claims in South China Sea and its intimidation of smaller coastal states, namely, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.
“We are making clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them,” declared Pompeo, adding, “Today we are aligning the U.S. position on the PRC’s maritime claims in the SCS with the Tribunal’s decision.”
Pompeo was referring to the landmark 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague which declared that China’s maritime claims in South China Sea have no basis in international law.
This arbitration case was filed by the Philippines in 2013—a year after Beijing seized Scarborough Shoal, an almost entirely submerged feature off the coast of the Philippine island of Luzon.
The tribunal—constituted under the 1982 United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)—also stated that China violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights when it interfered with fishing and petroleum explorations within Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and constructed artificial islands on land features in its EEZ.
Talking Tough
Gregory B. Poling, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that Pompeo’s July 13 statement has made clear U.S. positions that were only implied by past administrations.
In his analysis published on the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) website, Poling explains that the policy change “sets the stage for more effective diplomatic messaging and stronger responses to China’s harassment of its neighbors.”
Poling pointed out that Washington had denounced Beijing’s atrocities as “destabilizing” or “aggressive” in the past, but eschewed calling out its Asian rival’s actions as “illegal”.
Said Poling: “Did prior U.S. administrations consider China’s actions in its neighbors’ EEZs and continental shelves illegal? Almost certainly. But they wouldn’t come out and say so until now.”
This bold pronouncement by the U.S. is expected to have far-reaching effects in the region and beyond.
“It is much easier to rally international support against “illegal” activity than against actions that are merely distasteful or destabilizing,” Poling went on to say, adding: “This might also encourage Southeast Asian claimants, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines, to advocate for themselves more forcefully.”
In an interview with CNN, Poling said that Pompeo’s July 13 policy statement will “put pressure on other countries—the Europeans, for instance—to get off the fence and say something themselves.”
There are strong indications that this is starting to happen. On September 16, Europe’s Big Three—France, Germany and the United Kingdom—submitted a joint note verbale to the United Nations, affirming their support to the 2016 arbitral award in the Philippines v. China case.
State parties to the 1982 UNCLOS, these three countries rejected China’s claim of “historic rights” over the South China Sea as this is in violation of international law and the provisions of this treaty, which China is a signatory to. Essentially, the treaty superseded the use of historic rights in the determination of maritime claims. It should be noted, however, that the tribunal found that China never had exclusive control over the waters.
The triumvirate of European nations also declared support for freedom of navigation and overflight, and of the right of innocent passage in the busy waterway.
Time and again, the U.S. Navy conducts freedom of navigation operations (FONOP) in the South China Sea to challenge Beijing’s illegal occupation of land features. In July, the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike groups conducted joint operations in the region. The last time an exercise of this magnitude was carried out in these sea lanes was six years ago.
Complicit Companies
On August 26, the U.S. government embarked on the next phase of its efforts to take China to task for its shenanigans at sea.
The U.S. government for the first time slapped sanctions on Chinese firms complicit with the CCP in “malign activities” perpetrated in the South China Sea, such as the reclamation and militarization of certain land features supposedly claimed by smaller coastal states in the region.
Two dozen companies, which are involved in dredging, infrastructure and communications, have been placed in the Commerce Department’s Entity List—which means the United States will ban export of goods to these foreign firms.
Most notable among these now blacklisted firms is the state-owned China Communications Construction Company, one of PRC’s leading infrastructure contractors doing business around the world. This enterprise was mainly responsible for the dredging undertaken to build Beijing’s military bases in these tense waters.
In the same breath, the State Department imposed visa restrictions on Chinese individuals involved in the reclamation and militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea, and the repression of coastal states’ attempts to access offshore resources.
Persian Gulf 2.0
Why is China salivating at the prospect of cornering the entire South China Sea?
There are three reasons, according to international observers. First, it is arguably Asia’s most strategic and important body of water, what with the $5.3 trillion worth of goods transported through its sea lanes every year, accounting for 30 percent of ship-borne trade. Second, it is enormously rich in fisheries, supplying ten percent of the world’s catch. The third reason—which is probably the biggest motivation for Beijing—is that it has superabundant oil and natural gas deposits under its seabed.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the South China Sea “holds an estimated 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil in proved and probable reserves, with much more potentially undiscovered.”
China believes that this coveted sea lanes may yield up to 125 billion barrels of oil and 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It’s no wonder then that the Chinese has dubbed this waterway “the second Persian Gulf.”
One needs only to look at the PRC’s demand for oil to figure out why it wants to seize almost the entire South China Sea. This Asian economic powerhouse, which guzzles 4.5 billion barrels of oil per year, intends to extract most of these hydrocarbon deposits to power its innumerable industries for decades to come.
Island Grabbing Binge
Emboldened by its overwhelming advantage in military strength over smaller countries in Southeast Asia, China in recent years has seized a string of land features in the region like a bully grabbing other kids’ toys in a sandbox.
China is seizing reefs, atolls and shoals that rightfully belong to coastal states by virtue of their respective EEZ’s as prescribed by the 1982 UNCLOS.
Antonio Carpio, a former justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and a leading legal scholar on the South China Sea dispute, provided the following history of China’s island grabbing in the area during an online lecture he gave earlier this year:
- In 1974, China booted out the South Vietnamese from the Crescent Group in the Paracels.
- In 1987, China installed a weather radar station in Fiery Cross Reef, which they have since annexed.
- In 1988, China wrested control of Johnson South Reef from Vietnam, and grabbed Subi Reef from the Philippines.
- In 1995, China snatched Mischief Reef from the Philippines. This reef is only 125 nautical miles from the Philippine island of Palawan; whereas, it is 595 nautical miles from China’s southernmost island of Hainan.
- In 2012, China deviously seized control of Scarborough Shoal after a long standoff with the Philippine navy. This feature is only 124 nautical miles from the Philippine island of Luzon.
- In 2013, China seized Luconia Shoal from Malaysia. This feature is a mere 54 nautical miles from the coast of Sabah, Malaysia.
- In 2017, China swiped Sandy Cay from the Philippines.
The arbitral tribunal ruled, among other things, that Mischief Reef falls under the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction. On this basis, the U.S. Secretary of State asserted that the Chinese military outpost in this reef is illegal.
One of Beijing’s most ludicrous claims is that James Shoal, an underwater feature only 45 nautical miles off the Borneo coast of Malaysia and some 1,000 miles away from China, is the Asian giant’s “southernmost territory.” Not only is it a great distance away from China’s coast, but it also does not generate maritime zones according to international law since it is an entirely submerged feature. The U.S. State Department declared that James Shoal “is not and never was PRC territory.”
Moreover, the PRC has absolutely no sovereign rights over the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal. Its so-called nine-dashed line is nothing but a historical prevarication made by its leaders shortly before the communists came to power. China has not produced a single verifiable historical evidence that would support their claims of sovereignty over the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has no business being on or around those features even for a second because they rightfully belong to the coastal states.
Ruined Reefs
Starting in 2013, China has constructed artificial islands on seven reefs it illegally occupied in the Spratlys, namely, Subi Reef, Mischief Reef, Johnson Reef, Hughes Reef, Gaven Reef, Fiery Cross Reef and Cuarteron Reef.
China, which has a penchant for portraying itself as a protector of the environment, has dumped sand dredged from the ocean floor onto live coral reefs, then paved them over with concrete. It does not seem to matter to China that its egregious island-building activities are destroying coral reefs that took at least 100,000 years to form.
In 2016, it was discovered that China had built airfields and naval bases on these artificial islands despite an earlier promise made by Chinese president Xi Jinping to the U.S. that China will not militarize the South China Sea.
Satellite images revealed that these artificial islands now have fighter aircrafts, anti-aircraft and anti-missile guns, high frequency radar, and long-range surface-to-air missiles. All this despite China’s assertion that the artificial islands were being developed for “peaceful purposes.”
The construction of these artificial islands and fortifications wreaked untold havoc on marine resources and fisheries in this blue expanse. China is aware of this, but is unfazed. Observers believe that China will continue to expand its military fortifications in South China Sea to further solidify its control of this waterway.
One State Department official, according to CNN, has characterized the Chinese-made artificial islands as “platforms of coercion against their neighbors, expanding the reach of maritime militia and civilian law enforcement vessels, often backed by the Chinese military, to intimidate Southeast Asian claimants from accessing offshore resources.”
Beijing’s Bullying
China is behaving like a fire-breathing dragon throwing its weight around. With its menacing maritime militia vessels and coast guard ships, China has been suppressing fishing and oil exploration activities of the smaller coastal states within their EEZs.
In his July 13 statement, Secretary Pompeo castigated the PRC for intimidating Southeast Asian nations around the South China Sea and violating their sovereign rights. Beijing, Pompeo pointed out, is replacing international law with “might makes right.”
China’s atrocities in these uneasy waters include the following:
- Since seizing the Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012, China’s coast guard vessels have been denying Filipino fishermen entry into the rich fishing grounds of this feature’s lagoon.
- In 2019, the Chinese coast guard harassed Vietnamese ships servicing a drilling platform in Vietnamese territorial waters.
- In April of this year, a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel rammed a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands. All eight fishermen survived after being picked up by the Chinese vessel and transferred to two other Vietnamese fishing vessels.
- In June 2019, a Chinese militia boat rammed a Filipino fishing boat anchored in Reed Bank. The 22 Filipino fishermen were left to drown at sea, but fortunately for them a Vietnamese fishing vessel arrived at the scene and rescued them.
- From December 2019 to May of this year, Chinese ships conducted a series of targeted harassments of Malaysian oil drilling operations in their EEZ.
- In December 2019, Chinese coast guard vessels chased away Indonesian fishermen, who confronted Chinese fishing vessels at sea for conducting illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.
Pompeo asserted: “The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire. America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law.”
Rogue Regime
With China getting into the habit of trampling upon its neighbors’ sovereign rights and spitting at rules-based international order, the CCP is looking more and more like history’s most infamous rogue regime—the Third Reich.
It is getting harder to ignore the parallels between Nazi Germany and present-day China. The similarities are quite disturbing:
Military build-up motivated by a previous national humiliation. Germany’s re-armament in the 1930s was fueled by its embarrassing defeat in World War I. China, for its part, is bitter about the hundred years of national humiliation—a period in its history a long time ago where it was subjugated by Japan, Russia, and the Western powers. This is the reason why China is hell-bent on pursuing military supremacy in Asia, and attempting to surpass the United States as a global superpower. China has the second biggest defense budget in the world today, behind only the United States.
Pseudo peaceful intentions. The Third Reich publicly proclaimed that it was taking the peaceful route toward territorial expansion, which was of course a monumental sham. Beijing’s version of this policy is called “China’s peaceful rise,” which portrays China as a decent world leader that eschews conflict. It is hard to believe that China embraces peace when its main priority is building up its military and weapons systems even as it intimidates other Indo-Pacific nations with its military might in its campaign to gain more territory.
Aggressive expansionist goals. It was Hitler’s plan to achieve hegemony in Europe by capturing territory from other nations. This is exactly what the CCP intends to do, as it touts the scandalous nine-dashed line. Furthermore, China has border disputes with virtually all of its neighboring countries, including India, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Russia. This is clear evidence of Beijing’s insatiable appetite for land and maritime territory.
Systematic oppression of ethnic minorities. Nazi Germany rounded up the Jews in concentration camps. In China’s Xinjiang province today, one million Uighur Muslims are being held in so-called reeducation camps on Beijing’s orders. For decades, the Chinese government had also oppressed the people of Tibet, where documented human rights abuses include denial of religious freedom, arbitrary arrest and detention, ill-treatment of detainees, forced abortion and sterilization. Uighurs and Tibetans are reportedly subjected to forced labor—the same plight the Jews had to go through under the Nazis.
It is as clear as the waters around a pristine atoll that China has a leather-bound copy of Nazi Germany’s playbook for world domination.
The coastal states around South China Sea which are on the receiving end of Beijing’s bullying should think twice before responding with appeasement. The European allies tried to appease Hitler by ceding Sudetenland to Germany via the Munich Agreement. What happened next was disastrous for the world, as Hitler went on a rampage, invading half of Europe with his blitzkrieg tactics.
History had shown us that if you give up a piece of territory to an expansionist totalitarian state like Nazi Germany, its forces will continue to advance and take everything it can.
Lessons of History
Since the Vietnam War, there has been no major international conflict in the Indo-Pacific region, For decades, countries in the region pursued economic growth. With Beijing’s militarization of the South China Sea, it is destabilizing peace and security, and pushing the region to the brink of war.
If China goes down this path of abominable territorial avarice as is evident in this vital waterway, it will face dire ramifications. This Asian behemoth stands to suffer the same fate as Nazi Germany because the nations of the free world will inevitably coalesce behind the United States and its allies to defeat the evil empire it is turning out to be.
If it continues to ignore the lessons of bygone eras, China is bound to experience the same ignominious defeat that had befallen Nazi Germany, and find itself as the proverbial ash heap of history—which is the last thing that any Chinese citizen would want to happen to their beloved country.
