On this episode of China Uncensored,
the Pentagon says the Chinese regime is crossing the line
when it comes to the South China Sea.
But...what does that actually mean?
Hi. Welcome back to China Uncensored.
I'm your host, Chris Chappell.
This is the South China Sea.
The Chinese Communist Party claims nearly all of it.
And they've gotten more and more aggressive
over the past few years.
They've put troops on islands in disputed territory.
And when they ran out of islands, they just built more of them
by dumping some sand on submerged reefs.
Which is pretty smart if you think about it.
Like if you run out of cake,
you can just make more cake.
And then build runways and missiles and stuff on them.
Ok, so that analogy doesn't exactly work.
But the point is, the Chinese Communist Party
has been building more islands,
and then putting missiles on them.
And a lot of countries are concerned that the Communist Party
might eventually use military force to restrict everyone else
from navigating through the region.
And this finally pushed the US Defense Secretary
to say something about it on Saturday.
He was speaking at the Shangri-La security summit in Singapore.
"China's policy in the South China Sea stands in stark contrast
to the openness of what our strategy promotes.
It calls into question China's broader goals."
That's a diplomatic way of saying,
"What you're doing is extremely uncool,
and we know you're up to something."
The Defense Secretary also reminded everyone
that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had made a promise in 2015
when he was visiting the White House
that the Chinese Communist Party would not
militarize the Spratly Islands.
But as he told a reporter,
"We have seen in the last month they have done exactly that,
moving weaponry in that was never there before."
Moving in weaponry like this.
And this.
Plus anti-ship cruise missiles here, here, here and here—
with a range that covers a huge chunk of the South China Sea.
And where cruise-missile coverage might be patchy,
they brought in nuclear-capable bombers,
like this one seen landing on Woody Island.
What I'm saying here is,
the Chinese Communist Party is trying to have its cake,
and eat it too.
By building more cake.
And with military-ready airstrips it built on these artificial cakes—
sorry, islands—
in the Spratly archipelago,
Chinese bombers can now hit targets
in several Southeast Asian countries.
That includes the Philippines and Vietnam,
both of which are objecting the loudest
over China's increased military presence.
Both have territorial claims in direct conflict with China.
This is the territory Vietnam claims,and this is what the Philippines says belongs to it,
and this is China's claim,
everything in the nine-dash line—
about 90% of the South China Sea.
That's how Chinese Lieutenant-General He Lei put it.
He was in the Chinese delegation
to that Shangri-La security summit.
He Lei also blasted Mattis' quote unquote
"provocative remarks."
He said those who are "shouting about
'the militarization of the South China Sea'"
are the ones militarizing the South China Sea.
Which is his own diplomatic way of saying
"whoever smelt it, dealt it."
Real mature.
Well Lieutenant-General He,
you should know that whoever denied it,
supplied it.
He Lei also toed the Party line that
the "various islands in the South China Sea
and their related waters are sacred territories of China
acknowledged by history and international laws."
But the thing about international law is,
well, it's complicated.
I'm fairly sure Lieutenant-General He Lei is referring to
the international law that says a country is entitled to
territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles off its coast.
Except there's this other international law he forgot about:
That is, how the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
ruled in 2016 that there was "no legal basis
for China to claim historic rights" in the South China Sea.
But ok, the Chinese Communist Party says one thing.
The International Tribunal—
and most other countries—
say another thing.
That itself doesn't prove who's right about
China's historical claims.
The real issue at hand isn't the historical claims.
The real issue is that the Communist Party
is militarizing islands that are close to Vietnam,
the Philippines, and Malaysia—
and that it may soon want to control other countries' ability
to navigate commercial ships through the region.
And the Party's increased aggression
is what prompted Mattis to say that when it comes to
guaranteeing freedom of navigation in the South China Sea...
"We are going out of our way to cooperate with Pacific nations...
but we are also going to confront what we believe
is out of step with international law—
out of step with international tribunals
that have spoken on the issue."
So how exactly is the US going to confront the Chinese regime?
One way is that American ships will maintain a, quote,
"steady drumbeat" of naval operations around the disputed islands.
Including doing more "freedom of navigation operations."
These are missions meant to underscore
the rights of other countries to operate
in international waters and airspace.
And they also are a signal to China
that they don't have territorial rights there.
The US is also encouraging other countries—
like Vietnam and the Philippines—
to do their own freedom of navigation operations.
And it looks like France and the United Kingdom
will be joining the US as well.
And you'd think that France
would just let them eat cake.
The US is also reducing military cooperation
with the People's Liberation Army.
The Pentagon had earlier invited Chinese troops
to join the 2018 multi-country military exercises near Hawaii.
But now, the Pentagon has withdrawn that invitation.
So what do you think about the US taking
a harder line on China's militarization of the South China Sea?
Leave your comments below.
And before you go, it's time for me to answer another question
from a China Uncensored fan on Patreon.
Lee Lhasa asks...
well, his main question is...
"Do you find yourself frustrated
by our governments and the media,
many of whom are seemingly forever selling out,
remaining silent and cowering to China?"
Great question Lee.
There's definitely a lot more I think
the media and governments around the world could do,
but actually,
I've been more encouraged than I ever have been before.
The EU, the US, Australian,
and even Canadian governments
have in the past few months,
become more aware of the threat
posed by the Chinese Communist Party
and have been taking active steps to combat it.
And many individual journalists
have been doing great work as well.
For example,
I meet Buzzfeed's Megha Rajagopalan recently
at the Oslo Freedom Forum
and she's done some amazing reporting on
the Chinese regime's persecution
of the people in Xinjiang.
I think the biggest problem right now
is how businesses approach China.
I feel like a lot of them ignore the warnings
of government and intelligence agencies around the world
because they're more focused on the short term gain
the China market offers.
So who cares about the long term consequences!
Except sooner or later,
those short term gains will catch up to
the long term consequences.
And when that happens,
I think we're going to see a lot of change.
Thanks again for your question Lee.
And remember,
if you support China Uncensored
by contributing to our Patreon website,
you can ask me any questions you want,
and I'll answer them on the show.
If you're interested in becoming
a supporter of China Uncensored,
click the link below to go to our Patreon site.
And if you're already a supporter,
leave your question for us there.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.
Once again, I'm your host Chris Chappell,
see you next time.
Thanks for watching.
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