While visiting the US in 2016, Chinese Communist Party Chairman (CCP) Xi Jinping said China “does not intend to pursue militarization” and is “committed to maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
Warships from China operating in the South China Sea. The ‘historical rights’ that Beijing asserts it has over a large portion of its territorial seas are in direct conflict with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. (Image source: Daily Express)
Chinese Communist Party Doubling Efforts to Globally Control South China Sea
South China Sea CCP work continues, but the statement of Xi Jinping is not true. They are militarizing South China Sea outposts, actively targeting U.S. allies, and lying about its “ten-dash line” to claim control. The crucial South China Sea transports almost $5.3 trillion in trade yearly, including $1.2 trillion between the US and four of our top ten trading partners. China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim islands, reefs, and waterways in the disputed area.
Representative Young Kim led a bipartisan Congressional Delegation to Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia as Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific Subcommittee. She often observed and heard the CCP doubling down on illegal claims and aggressive methods to assert and expand its regional authority. China seeks global control through the South China Sea.
The CCP’s Coast Guard used lasers to blind Philippine sailors and water cannons to stop Philippine Coast Guard ships from resupplying Philippine marines at the Sierra Madre, a ship permanently stationed in the South China Sea to protect the Philippines’ Spratly Islands claims, a week before the trip. On a U.S. Navy cruise over the South China Sea, Kim noticed its congestion. Instead of open water, she saw Southeast Asian civilian fishing fleets, Philippine Coast Guard patrols, and the largest and most common vessels in the seas—the People’s Liberation Army Navy and Chinese Coast Guard—vying for the same water between reefs and islets.
China has constructed many military outposts in the South China Sea, including runways for military aircraft, remote “research” platforms that can dock boats, and a constant China Coast Guard presence in our allies’ waterways, all while unlawfully excavating almost 3,200 acres of land. Apart from growing its outposts, the CCP takes drastic steps. The CCP’s careless and dangerous targeting of the Philippines, a US Indo-Pacific friend who has a pact to defend, was shared by US military and Philippine colleagues.
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CCP Illegal Actions at South China Sea
From lasers, water cannons, and dangerous intercepts to harsh words toward pilots, CCP harassment seems to have no limits. US military at INDOPACOM has reported that People’s Liberation Army aircraft and vessels will fly or cruise dangerously close to U.S. military aircraft and vessels. Same in Indonesia. These opponents described how the CCP illegally fishes in the South China Sea, harming their surroundings and thousands of Indonesian fishermen and women.
As the CCP gains authority over the South China Sea, our allies and partners cannot successfully push back while pursuing a rules-based international order. Allies and partners use international law and legal channels to impede the CCP’s activities, while the CCP ignores or slows down negotiations, lawful arbitration rulings, and other measures to resolve disputed waterways. To continue leading the world, push back against CCP aggression, and promote peace from a position of strength, the US must assist its South China Sea allies and partners. This affects national security, allies, global trade, supply chains, and international law.
Congress must confront these illegal actions, and Representative Young is dedicated to working with her colleagues together with their partner nations to find answers. This involves supporting marine domain awareness, coordinated patrols, stronger commercial connections with Southeast Asian states, and addressing illegal activity. The administration must keep its pledges to allies, attend major events, and cease sidelining Congress for unproductive Beijing meetings.
Young won’t allow the US to approve the CCP’s South China Sea expansion for world supremacy.
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