Using a water cannon to attack a Philippine re-supply ship, the Chinese Navy attacked a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea, a disputed area where China has built out military installations on shallow reefs, violating international rules of the sea, prompting the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration to rule against China July 12, 2016, saying China had no right to appropriate international waterways in the South China Sea. Calling China’s actions “dangerous, provocative and unjustified,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. would abide by mutual defense obligations to the Philippines. Price signaled to Beijing that the U.S. would stand by its commitments under its mutual defense treaty and defend Philippines in the event of a Chinese attack. Price said Beijing “should not interfere with lawful Philippine activities in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
President Joe Biden held a Zoom summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping Tuesday, Nov. 16, discussing a wide range of controversial issues including Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province, pro-Democracy activists in Hong Kong and independence of Taiwan. When it comes it China, the U.S. has protested for the last five years about China’s illegal efforts to build out military installations in the shallow atolls in the South China Sea. China rejected The Hague’s 2016 ruling, insisting they had every right to build out military installations in the Spratly Archipelago, a series of shallow islands in the South China Sea. China defied The Hague ruling, staking illegal claims to what amounts to international waters. State Department officials have failed to get China to comply with the international rules of the sea, preventing any sovereign state from claiming territory.
Biden’s talk with Xi comes at a time when China’s threatening to invade a U.S. ally in Taiwan. Beijing has escalated flights of warplanes over the Taiwan Strait, causing emergency security alerts in Taipei. “The United States stand with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that an armed attack on Philippines public vessels in the South China Sea would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments, “ Price said. Beijing won’t take the State Department’s threat lightly, seeing it as a new provocation. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. will “stand with our Philippine allies” in a call with Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. No one at the Pentagon wants to start a war with China but, at the same time, they can’t allow China’s bullying in the region. Philippines condemned in the strongest possible terms China’s water cannon incident.
Since taking office, Biden has found practically everything wrong with the U.S.-Chinese relations, blaming Beijing for committing genocide against Muslim Uyghurs in Western China along the Silk Road. More recent Chinese aggression has been seen by China with Taiwan, where China has breached Taiwan’s airspace in the Taiwan Strait. No one issue is thornier than Taiwan, where Beijing officially sees the island nation as part of Mainland China. Since Chiang Kai-shek led a band of freedom fighters to the Island of Formosa after the 1949 Maoist Revolution, the U.S. has backed Taiwan’s independence from Beijing. U.S. officials maintained a mutual defense pack known as the Sin-American-Mutual-Defense Treaty since 1954, until former President Jimmy Carter superseded it with the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Carter ended the mutual defense provision.
Taiwan was tossed under the bus by Carter, agreeing to recognize only one China, the one in Beijing, putting, Taiwan, an important Pacific Rim ally, in an awkward position of no longer calling Taiwan, the Republic of China [ROC]. Now the U.S. State Department must recognize only Beijing, while maintaining close ties to Taipei. “They agreed on the vital importance of peace and stability in the South China Sea and pledged to stay in close contact in the coming days,” the Pentagon said regarding Biden’s Zoom summit with Xi Jinping. Shooting a water cannon at a Philippine re-supply ship in the South China Sea is like an act of war. “The Unites States strongly believes that PRC actions asserting its expansive and unlawful South China Sea maritime claims undermine peace and security in the region,” Price said, putting Beijing on notice. Price wants China to stop in aggression actions.
Given the already tense relations with Beijing, Biden didn’t need another incident with China, this time asserting its sovereignty over the Philippines in the South China Sea. “This is latest in a series of Beijing-directed actions meant to intimidate and provoke other nations, undermining peace and security in the region as well as the rules-based international order,” Price said. But Price also knows, despite all the saber-rattling and water cannon incident, the U.S. is in no position to go to war with China. With the U.S. economy climbing out of a Covid-19 recession, any military incident would tank the stock market, plunging the economy into a serious depression. Biden walks a thin line trying to placate Beijing, at the same time, defend American allies, like the Philippines. Countries in the South China Sea like Philippines, Taiwan, Malyasia, Indonesia and Brunei are all at China’s mercy.
