By Arti Bali
Senior Journalist
Why China is behaving like North Korea when it comes to the way it is handling South China Sea disputes.Defiant China has blamed the United States for stirring up trouble in the South China Sea by politically motivating the arbitration case while the US chief of naval operations John Richardson stated that US military forces will continue to patrols close to Chinese-held islands in accordance with the International law.
China has been aggressive in proclaiming its suzerainty in the South china sea since after the World War II by demarcating 9 dash line that included several islands of strategic importance to display its territorial expansion and dominating authority in the SCS . To substantiate this claim, China submitted a map to the UN claiming 9 dash Line in the south China Sea in May 2009.
However later in 2013 China declared that the entire SCS was under its jurisdiction and considers the other countries situated there in were not fully independent and were under the dominating authority of China .
Systematically and in a planned manner, China started transforming reefs into artificial islands with military runways and naval harbors to assert its authority and control in these areas..
In fact , China has been harboring ambitions to achieve super power status and for that its experts considered it imperative to establish itself as a major naval power in pacific region which could also bolster its economy. As the strategic SCS is a reservoir of oil and gas and mineral resources . they therefore have been working on a long drawn strategy since 1947.
China has been augmenting its naval presence in Sri lanka’s Hambantota and Pakistan via Gwadar and thereafter with the countries of Middle –east to ensure constant supply of fuel and to that purpose Chinese naval assets is being deployed in the regions.
Proceeding further ahead in November 2013 , China declared and Air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in the East china Sea and now after the ruling , China is contemplating to declare ADIZ in the South China Sea asserting its right to track, monitor and take military action against the planes entering the region,logistics are still needed for that . But this could rapidly escalate crisis in the disputed territory .
In short , this is a prelude to the imperialistic designs of China. China’s increasingly claims of sovereign rights over the high seas have antagonized competing claimants Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, and Philippines.
The issue is not only related to territorial claims , otherwise it could have been resolved through negotiations or resolutions. Access to the sea’s oil and gas reserves as well as fishing and ocean resources are really complicating the situation. Further the regional conflict has been transformed into a direct confrontation between China and US.
The South China Sea has become a focal point for US-China rivalry in the Western pacific . Thus United States has also been reaffirming its interest in the Asia Pacific and strengthening security relations with the ASEAN claimants in the dispute.
To counter United States hegemony, China is aggressively developing an extended naval strategy whereby deploying new naval capabilities. Now with international tribunal ruling delivered on the Philippines vs China in SCS is likely to stoke further tensions in South east Asia.The Hague based permanent court of arbitration concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within sea areas falling within the 9 dash line.
Further ruling that China has caused severe harm to the coral reef environment by building artificial islands.
Rejecting the tribunal verdict, China issued a white paper asserting its claim over the SCS for the last 2000 years stating that Philippines, which had filed the petition , was occupying Chinese territory. Rather termed it as Philippines invasion and illegal occupation by force that started in the 1970s of some islands of china’s Nansha Islands.
But the Tribunal ruled that historic claims do not carry weight in international law.
As the irreconcilable stands between China and ASEAN head towards a deadlock, the situation can any time escalate into a serious crisis involving China on one side and US and other countries son the other side.
To counter China’s moves in strategic SCS and re-balance Asia-Pacific region, US troops deployment is underway in Australia and Singapore as well as deployment of US naval assets and aircraft at Australian and Philippines bases from where forces may be pushed forward into conflict zones in the Western pacific to meet any eventuality.
Actually it all started after the Taiwan crisis in 1995-96, China’s naval strategy has 3 aims
- To deter the United States from supporting Taiwan with naval deployments in the event of a conflict
- To protect China’s trade routes and energy supplies that run through the Indian ocean and the Strait of Malacca
- To deploy a sea-based second strike nuclear capability in the western Pacific
Moreover China has built up an extra 800 hectares on their occupied outposts across the South China Sea and Mischief reefs are growing bigger and is surrounded by fleets of dredgers and tankers.
It is pertinent to mention that Hainan which is Chinese naval base is having proximity to the Strait of Malacca and the sea lanes reaching the Indian Ocean and the Paracel Islands to the south assume much significance as it is important in providing air cover and sea protection for Hainan. This it has become compulsion for China to safeguard its investments in these Islands and in the event of a confrontation China will land itself in a serious trouble.
Both Indian and US support freedom of navigation and over flight and unimpeded commerce based on the principles of international law as reflected notably in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
IF US and China’s PLA warships come in direct confrontation due to any miscalculation it will plunge the entire world into World war II with dire consequences . Considering the instability existing in almost various countries of the region ad well as in Europe it will become impossible for the countries to retrieve their exuberated situations.
Considering the instability existing in various regions and simmering borders due to ISIS global threat , China is treading on slippery grounds and it should rather avoid igniting flash points that will prove detrimental to its own interests.
To throw more light on China’s policy, China who has border with only 14 countries,it is claiming territory from at least 23 individual nations based on unsubstantiated “ historical claims dating back centuries.’
Now in an established world , countries where the old empires existed like Ottoman, Persia etc cannot put forth their claims over various territories on their stated assumptions of their having ruled the areas in good old days.
Therefore , China should be wise enough to accept the tribunal ruling and it is the right time for the world to stop aggressive China’s move sin South China Sea.
