The Chinese ships moved in like unwanted guests who would not leave.
As the days passed, more appeared. These were merely fishing boats, China said, although they did not appear to be fishing. Dozens even collapsed in neat rows and sought refuge, claimed by storms that never came.
Not long ago, China confirmed its claims to the South China Sea by building and fortifying artificial islands in waters also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. The strategy now is to strengthen the outposts by swarming the disputed waters with vessels and effectively challenging the other countries to drive them out.
The goal is to achieve through an overwhelming presence that it could not do through diplomacy or international law. And it seems to work to some extent.
“Beijing thinks quite clearly that if it uses enough coercion and pressure over a long enough period of time, it will express the Southeast Asians,” said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. in Washington, which is monitoring developments in the South China Sea. “It’s treacherous.”
China’s actions reflect the growing confidence of the country under its leader, Xi Jinping. They could test Biden’s government, as well as neighboring Beijing in the South China Sea, which is increasingly dependent on China’s strong economy and supply of Covid-19 vaccines.
The latest incident has taken place over the past few weeks around Whitsun Reef, a boomerang-shaped feature that appears only at low tide. At one point in March, it was reported that 220 Chinese ships were anchored around the reef, protesting from Vietnam and the Philippines, both of which have claims there, and from the United States.
Philippine Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana called their presence “a clear provocation”. Vietnam’s foreign ministry has accused China of violating the country’s sovereignty and demanded that the ships leave.
Some have left in the past week, but many have remained, according to satellite photos by Maxar Technologies, a company based in Colorado. Others moved to another reef just miles away, while a new swarm of 45 Chinese ships was spotted 100 miles northeast on another island controlled by the Philippines, Thitu, according to satellite photos and Philippine officials.
“The Chinese ambassador has a lot of explanations to do,” he said. Lorenzana said in a statement on Saturday.
The build-up has fueled tensions in a region that, along with Taiwan, is threatening to become another hotspot in the growing confrontation between China and the United States.
Although the United States did not take a stand on disputes in the South China Sea, it criticized China’s aggressive tactics, including the militarization of its bases. For years, the United States has been sending naval warships on routine patrols to challenge China’s alleged right to restrict any military activity there – three times since President Biden took office in January.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken expressed Philippine support for the presence of Chinese vessels. “We will always stand by our allies and stand up for the rule-based international order,” he said. wrote on Twitter.
The buildup has highlighted further erosion of the Philippines’ control over the disputed waters, which could become a problem for the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte.
The country’s defense department sent two planes and one ship to Whitsun Reef to document the build-up, but did not intervene otherwise. It is not known whether Vietnamese troops responded.
Critics say China’s disregard for the Philippine allegations reflects the failure of Mr. Duterte’s efforts to encourage the Communist Party’s leadership in Beijing.
“People need to hear from the commander – in – chief himself, a coward for China, but a bully for his own people,” he said. Duterte’s strongest political opponent, Senator Leila de Lima, said. Mr. Duterte did not address the matter in public, although his spokesman suggested that silent efforts were being made to defuse the situation.
China abolished the protests. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said Chinese fishermen “have been fishing in the waters near the reef all along.” Philippine officials and experts said there was no evidence of that.
Whitsun Reef is part of an atoll known as Union Banks, about 175 nautical miles from Palawan, a Philippine island. The Philippines, China and Vietnam each claim that the atoll lies within the exclusive economic zones of their country, but only China and Vietnam have established a regular physical presence there, each giving a safe, if not legal, advantage to control from to practice.
Vietnam has occupied four islands in the atoll since the 1970s, while as part of its program, which has been running since 2014, China has built two outposts on previously submerged reefs to dredge seven artificial islands. Two of the outposts – Grierson Reef, occupied by Vietnam, and Hughes Reef, occupied by China – are less than three nautical miles apart.
An international tribunal convened under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ruled in 2016 that China’s extensive claim to almost the entire South China Sea had no legal basis, although it did not divide the territory among its various claimants. do not have. China based its claims on a “nine stripe” drawn on maps before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
A Philippine patrol first reported the large number of ships at Whitsun Reef on March 7. According to Mr. Poling has shown satellite photos a regular, albeit smaller Chinese presence at the reef over the past year.
On March 29, 45 ships remained at Whitsun, according to a statement Wednesday by the National Task Force-West Philippines Sea, an agency reporting to the Philippine presidential office. The task force that day counted 254 ships as well as four Chinese warships in the Spratlist, an archipelago of more than 100 islands, cays and other outcrops between the Philippines and Vietnam.
The task force said the 254 ships were not fishing vessels, as Beijing claimed, but part of China’s maritime civilian force, an apparent civilian force that had become an integral instrument of China’s new maritime strategy. Many of these boats, though unarmed, are operated by reservists or others who carry out the orders of the Coast Guard and the People’s Liberation Army.
“They may be carrying out prohibited activities at night and their persistent (swarming) presence could cause irreparable damage to the marine environment,” the task force said in a statement.
The presence of so many Chinese ships is meant to intimidate. “By having them there and spreading them across this vast body of water around the reefs that occupy the others, or around oil and gas fields or fishing grounds, you are gradually pushing out the Philippines and the Vietnamese,” Poling said.
“If you’re a Filipino fisherman, you’re always being harassed by these guys,” he said. ‘They always move a little too close and blow on you. At some point, you just give up and stop fishing there. ‘
Apart from patrols and declarations, the government of Mr. Duterte not eager to confront China. His spokesman, Harry Roque, reiterated the Chinese allegations that the ships were only temporarily sheltered.
“We hope the weather clears up,” he said, “and in the spirit of friendship we hope their vessels will leave the area.”
The Philippines has become increasingly dependent on Chinese trade and, because it fights the pandemic, large.
On Monday, the first series of Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Manila with great fanfare. About four million doses are scheduled to arrive by May, some of which are donations. The Chinese ambassador, Huang Xilian, attended the arrival of the vaccines and later met with Mr. Duterte meets.
“China is entering our maritime zone, but is mitigating it by sending us vaccines,” said Antonio Carpio, an outspoken retired Supreme Court justice who is knowledgeable in the maritime dispute. “It’s part of their PR effort to soften the blow, but we must not fall for it.”