A large number of unidentified Chinese ships have occupied the waters of Niuyu Reef in the Spratly Islands, prompting strong protests from the Philippines. The New York Times reports that the Chinese Communist Party is running on goals that diplomacy or law cannot achieve, and it seems to be working. U.S. think-tank experts even said that the Chinese Communist Party’s tactics are “very sinister.
According to the report, in addition to Ngau Yoke Reef, U.S. satellites have spotted as many as 45 other Chinese vessels gathered in the waters around the Philippine-controlled island of Nakai.
The report described the Chinese ships as “guests who won’t leave” and increasingly parked on rocky reefs in the South China Sea. Although China claims the boats are “fishing boats fleeing a storm,” they “don’t appear to be fishing,” with dozens of boats gathering neatly to escape “a storm that never comes.
According to the report, some of these Chinese boats have departed in the past week, according to U.S. satellite images, but a large number of boats remain stranded. Moreover, those boats that have left have simply moved to another reef a few miles away.
And this same week, another 45 Chinese vessels have been clustered in the waters off of the island of Nakai, now controlled by the Philippines, 100 miles north of Ngau Yoke Reef.
Greg Poling, head of the Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, said of the incident that the Chinese Communist Party clearly believes that if it uses enough coercion and pressure for long enough, “it can push the This is a “very insidious” tactic.
The newspaper noted that the Chinese Communist Party had previously built artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea to claim sovereignty. But now the new strategy is to park a large number of fishing boats in the disputed waters, “effectively ignoring the expulsion orders of other countries.
The report says the Chinese Communist Party is doing this to achieve goals that are impossible to achieve diplomatically or under international law.
The report said that the Communist Party’s move reflects “growing confidence” under President Xi Jinping. They are using it to test the U.S. administration of Joe Biden and neighboring countries in the South China Sea, which are increasingly dependent on China’s economy and the supply of the 2019 coronavirus disease (Chinese communist virus, COVID-19) vaccine.
The matter highlights the further erosion of the Philippines’ control over disputed waters by the Chinese Communist Party, the newspaper noted. Philippine opponents say the CCP’s disregard for the Philippines’ sovereignty claims reflects the failure of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s efforts to curry favor with Beijing.
Moreover, such actions by the Chinese Communist Party heighten regional tensions and threaten to make the South China Sea, like the Taiwan Strait, a point of growing confrontation between the United States and China.
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