China ‘threatens war’ with the Philippines as US pledges to support Manila

China is “threatening war” after it authorized its warships to open fire on fishermen sailing in traditional waters, the Philippines warns. Now Washington says it has the back of Manila.

Beijing passed legislation calling on its army-controlled coast guard to fire on “foreign” vessels and destroy “illegal” structures in the East and South China Seas.

The problem is that those territories do not belong to him.

Which means that the law represents a significant escalation in international tensions.

And that has worried Manila that the region is about to erupt into violence.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. says the Chinese measure “is a verbal threat of war to any country that defies the law.” Any nation that does not reject the law will be signaling its “submission.”

Beijing’s aggressive new legislation directs its coast guard to “take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons, when national sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction are illegally violated by foreign organizations or individuals at sea.”

Hours after the new law was passed, a flight of H-6K strategic bombers escorted by advanced fighters conducted a fictional “strike race” against the USS Theodore Roosevelt battle group.

Filipino fishermen operating from Thitu Island (also known as Pag-asa) in the Spratly Islands also reported that the Chinese coast guard and militia vessels forced them out of traditional waters.

Make a stop

New US Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded to Beijing’s intimidation by contacting Locsin and telling him that the long-standing defense agreement between the two nations would be respected.

“Secretary Blinken has pledged to support the Southeast Asian claimants in the face of pressure from the People’s Republic of China,” a State Department press release read. “Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of the Mutual Defense Treaty for the security of both nations and its clear application to armed attacks against the Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific, which includes the South China Sea.”

The new Chinese law dramatically increases the risks of an armed confrontation in the region.

And stances like the two fictional airstrikes against the US carrier battle group increase the odds of an incident.

Neither side shows any signs of backing down.

Earlier this month, the US military warned that it planned to be “more assertive” against violations of international law in the Pacific Ocean and the East and South Seas of China.

“Our naval forces deployed worldwide interact daily with Chinese and Russian warships and aircraft,” the statement read. He highlighted the “increasing aggressiveness” of the encounters and declared China “the most urgent long-term strategic threat.”

Brinkmanship

The East China Sea is bounded by Taiwan, North and South Korea, Japan, and China.

The South China Sea is bounded by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and China.

After World War II, China signed the international law of the sea that assigns specific portions to each nation under clearly defined criteria.

Beijing insists that these do not apply to him.

He says that both seas belong to him on the basis of historical ownership.

A 2016 ruling by the international court of arbitration found this claim to be unfounded.

Now, US President Joe Biden has “stressed that the United States rejects China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea to the extent that they exceed the maritime zones that China can claim under international law.”

On Monday, Duterte’s office issued a statement saying it hoped no country would do anything to further escalate tensions. Later, his foreign minister expressed concern that the Philippines was about to lose access to its Western Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The law “is virtually a declaration of war against countries that are legitimate claimants of the marine territory claimed by China,” the president of the fisheries federation, Fernando Hicap, told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

Militarization

Concerns about the militarization of China’s civilian coast guard and fishing fleets have grown.

Recently, the Coast Guard has come under the operational control of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Analysts saw this as a disturbing move, as the Coast Guard is supposed to be a civilian police force.

Beijing has long sent its political commissars out to sea with its huge fishing fleets. But, in recent decades, these fleets have also received cooperative naval training.

“The white coast guard boats symbolize the utmost tolerance at all times to protect civilians and traders at sea,” says Philippine defense analyst Chester Cabalza. The gray warships are “symbols of antagonism and war.”

“(Now) the Chinese coastguard can shoot anyone, armed or unarmed, in territorial waters that they illegally claim. This is a serious threat to Filipino fishermen … in our own territorial waters.”

Meanwhile, resentment is mounting among the Filipino community.

A fisherman told local television that the Chinese militia and coast guard had prevented him from accessing the sandbars around Thitu Island.

“Of course I’m furious, we could go there before, that’s ours,” he said. “Why would they forbid us to go there now?”

Another fisherman posted a short video account: “I have a lot of enemies at sea. Look. Those are Chinese ships in front of me. They are blocking me and I can’t get to sandbar two,” says Larry Hugo. “I’ll go first.”

‘Not good for peace’

Beijing has once again warned that the US military presence in the South China Sea “is not conducive to peace.” China’s Foreign Ministry stated earlier this week that US freedom of navigation operations designed to “flex its muscles” were threatening the stability of the region.

Meanwhile, the battle group of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt passed by the illegal fortresses of artificial Chinese islands in the Spratly Islands.

Satellite images reveal that the group’s ships passed near Beijing’s 12-nautical-mile territorial limit.

But China continues to intensify its efforts to enforce its territorial ambitions arbitrarily.

Defense News reports that an analysis of satellite images has revealed a recent build-up of Chinese surveillance aircraft on the island of Hainan in the far north of the South China Sea.

Work is underway on huge dry docks big enough to support China’s future carrier force. And Woody Island in Paracels has been undergoing more land reclamation efforts to protect its military airfield facilities from erosion.

• Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel