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sland issues

China seek to undermine US alliances in maritime East Asia

By Carlyle A. Thayer

ec .nt ten ions b tween

hina and Japan over the ienkaku/D iaoyu i land . in the Ea t hina a and th naval randoff between ,hina and the Philip pines at earb irough hoal in the ourh China Sea have expo ed the dark id of ~ h i n a ' 0 ailed "peaceful ris ." In both di pure China ha hown a willingness to usc not only heavy-handed political and diplomat ic pre ure but al 0 economic sanction and coer ion. hina aun to recover island and r ck . which ir claim wer

Cartyle A. Thayer is fmerltus Professor at th Auslrll ' n

Defence force
Academy, Canh

era.

Flashpoint ARITIME EAST ASIA

taken from it in the century of humiliation during rh colonial era. 'luna's recovery of lost ter ritory i, pan of a hu ger driv to become rh dominant power in East AS ia. To a hieve the e g als, .hina has become aggre sively assertive in Ea t Asia's maritime domain. China has al 0 soughr to trip up til United tat ' rd alanc ing ot Irs rrulitarv for e posture hy undermining US alliance and rrat gic partn r hip. La t year hina and rh Phil ippine became involved in a randof over arborough hoal, China fir t deploy d China Mar i time iurveillance ( MS) ship to prevent the Philippine from arr esting Clune e fi hermen ille gally operating In ir water. '\ hen the Philippine refused to ziv ground and raised it con cerns ;n public, B cjing respond d by di ;1L"hing nearly a hundred fi lung crat t nd additional civil ian nforcernenr ship tc occupy Scarborough Shoal and its sur rounding waters. 1 hine e ven recred a barrier ro pre 'ent the Philippines rom gaining entry ro the hoal. The ' added further pre sure on the Philippine by

suspending the import of banana nd cancelling Chinese touri t cha rter flights. When the Philippines sought uppor t from fellow members of the As ociation of Southeast A ian Nations (A EAN) and ASEAN' s dialogue partners, China's P litical ally, Cambodia, acting as ASEAN Chair, did irs be t to s unle Philippine initia rive , Cambodia even went to the e.'tent of in erring wording into the nal srarern or of the ASEAN Summit that it. member agreed not to internationalize territorial dispure in the South China Sea. The Philippine ob]e ted and the offending reference was dropped. China rhen dispat hed Fu Ying, its deputy foreign minis ter, to Man ila to read the riot act. She told the Philippines foreign ecretary that China objected to efforts b the Philippines 10 inter nationa lize the issue by taking the matter 10 rh . United Nation , raising it with third partie includ ing allie: and holding high-profile press on ferenc s. The Philippine, as a treaty ally of rhe U ired rates, ha sought ackinu from Wa hingron for its di pure with China. The U. ha provided defen e a i ranee to the Philippines 0 build up it apa ity for a minimal credible deterrence. us nuclear attack sub m rines have made symbolic POrt all to the Philippines. But in reality the US has been eq uivo at about how it would rea t to an incident ar Scarbor ough Shoal on the grounds that the shoal was claimed by the Phil ippinesafter their Mutua l Defense Treaty wa igned in 19 I. China ha announced that it will maintain a permanent pres 'nee at Scarborough Shoal. In sum, China virtua lly ha anne. ed the ro ks without firing a shot. It i dear that the United States will not intervene militarily and rhi has led some member of the Filipino eliteto rai c doubts about the efficacy of the U alliance. hina al 0 employed heavy handed tactics in dealing with japa over the Senkakus. When the japanese government bought out private owners of everal of the rock to prevent them from falling into the hands of Japanese ultra-nan nali ts, their Chine t

counterpart staged la rge- calc public protests.. everal of the demonstrations tu rned violen t and targeted Japanese business inreres . The Chinese government, under dome tic pre ure , began a cam paig of intimidatio n by dispatch ing u to ten MS and ot her civilian en forceme nt vessels to the S nkakus. The Chinese ships delibera tely ente red Japanese water and confronted Japanese Coa t mud ve sels. China h . kept up unrelenting pr sure ince eptember last year when the Senkaku issue emerged. It CMS hips regularly intrude into japane e terr itor ial waters where they stay for everal hours

before d parting. hina' State o eanic Administra tion recently ha b gun to fl y propeller dri ven surveillance planes into j apa n's air id nrificarion zone. This has pro mpted j a pan to r mble F- 15 Jet fighters to prevent inrru ions into it. ir pace. Th j apanes media ha: reported that the Min i try of Df nse i consid ring authorizing the F-l s to fi re warn ing hots. The United 'ta te ' is on public record that its e urity treaty with Ja pan cov r rh Senkaku s, But it is an pe ecrer tho t the US is urging re trainr on Japan and docs not want to be drawn into a conflict with China over group of rock in rh East China Sea.

The tensions o ver the Sen kakus and Scarborough Shoa l are more than bilateral di putes. They involve hina deliberately attempting to un ermine USsecu rity guarante to two of its treaty allies, The security situati on in mari time Ea r Asia will be exacerbated in c m ing years as China builds up the capacity of its civilian para military enforcement agencies and gives prior ity to modernizing its outh Sea Fl et. In a foretaste f whr r is to come, last yea r China onducted a joint exercise bctwe n it. civilian enforcement agen cies and its navy to deal with likely incidents in disputed water.

P1CTU

AU I"NCU>f'll

M inam ikojima , Kitakojima and Uo tsui islands, part of the Japanese-con trolled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which China and Taiwan also claim.

Two Japanese coastguard vessels challenge a Chinese fis hing boat onAug. 15, 2012.