China’s clandestine maritime forces act like ‘pirates’
Diplomatic row between Beijing and Manila deepens as tensions rise in the South China Sea
China’s Coast Guard and its clandestine maritime militia have been branded “pirates” in Beijing’s move to dominate the South China Sea.
General Romeo Brawner, the Philippines’ military chief of staff, talked openly about incidents surrounding the “rust bucket” known as the Sierra Madre.
The aging World War II ship symbolizes Manila’s sovereignty of the Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands chain of reefs and sandbars.
But during the summer a Chinese flotilla tried to block the Philippine Navy resupplying troops stationed on the Sierra Madre. They brandished “bladed weapons” and “spears” while a “Filipino Navy SEAL lost his right thumb” after the Chinese rammed his boat.
“They stole our equipment. They destroyed our equipment. They hurt our personnel. These are the doings of pirates,” Brawner told CBS News 60 Minutes, which was aired at the weekend.
Cruel Sea:
- Friction between China’s ruling Communist Party and the United States and its allies in Asia and Europe has increased in the past 18 months.
- Issues include the militarization of the South China Sea and the Taiwan question.
- China claims more than 90% of one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, flouting international law.
- In 2016, a United Nations-backed arbitration tribunal ruled against Beijing’s historical assertions under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
- China dismissed it and has continued to ignore the territorial waters of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
- Up to US$3 trillion of trade traverses through the South China Sea, making it a vital global economic lifeline.
That is a clear act of war on a Philippine vessel.
Gilberto Teodoro, Philippine Secretary of National Defense
Delve deeper: What seems like a storm in an island chain could turn into a raging hurricane if China attacks the Sierra Madre near the disputed Scarborough Shoal.
Between the lines: “If China were to take the Sierra Madre, that is a clear act of war,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro told CBS News 60 Minutes.
Big picture: Washington and Manila have a mutual defense pact, so the US would be forced to act to honor the agreement. A regional row might quickly turn into a global crisis.
The bottom line: “[In] the past 20 years we’ve witnessed the largest military buildup since World War II by the People’s Republic of China,” Admiral John C Aquilino, the former head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said in 2022.
China Factor comment: Since then, the situation in the South China Sea and around Taiwan has rapidly deteriorated. Beijing continues to flex its military muscles with acts of 21st-century “piracy.”