U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price.
Since the new Biden administration took office, the Chinese government has been harassing the Taiwan Strait with massive military flights and has passed the “China Coast Guard Law,” which allows the Coast Guard to fire on foreign vessels in waters under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government. In response, the U.S. State Department warned the Chinese Communist Party on the 19th, not to use force in the disputed waters.
According to Reuters, State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a regular press conference on Sunday that Washington is concerned about the content of the “Chinese Maritime Police Act,” which explicitly authorizes the use of force by the Chinese maritime police in disputed waters, strongly suggesting that the law could be used to intimidate China’s maritime neighbors.
Price said the U.S. is concerned that the new law will be used by the Chinese Communist Party to promote illegal sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, which were completely rejected in the South China Sea arbitration in 2016. And referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo‘s statement last year that the Chinese Communist Party’s South China Sea-related claims are “completely illegal,” Price said the U.S. is concerned that the new law will be used to promote illegal claims.
Price said the U.S. is firmly committed to its alliance with Japan and the Philippines. The U.S. has a mutual defense treaty with Japan and the Philippines and has conducted regular military patrols in the region to challenge the Communist Party’s maritime claims.
The U.S. has long opposed the Communist Party’s territorial claims in the vast waters of the South China Sea and even regularly sends U.S. warships through this strategic waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation there.
Last July 13, Pompeo issued a statement saying that claims to maritime resources in much of the South China Sea are completely illegal, as are the bullying actions it has taken to gain control of those resources.
The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its own maritime empire, Pompeo said. The United States stands with its allies and partners in Southeast Asia to protect their sovereign rights to offshore resources in accordance with their rights and obligations under international law. We will defend the principle of freedom of the high seas and respect for sovereignty and oppose any attempt to impose “might makes right” in the broader South China Sea.
On January 20, following the U.S. regime change and the arrival of the new Biden Administration, the Communist Party of China (CPC) made even greater moves in the Taiwan Strait, deploying Boom-6K bombers, J-16 fighter jets, and Carrier-8 anti-submarine aircraft to massively harass Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone. This drew a strong and sustained reaction from the U.S. military.
On February 4, the USS McCain (DDG 56), a U.S. destroyer, crossed the Taiwan Strait; the USS Ohio (SSGN 726), a missile attack submarine carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, arrived in Okinawa, Japan; and the USS Peralta (DDG 115), a destroyer with ballistic missile defense capability, arrived in Yokosuka Harbor, Japan.
On Feb. 5, the destroyer USS McCain (DDG 56) entered the waters of the Xisha Islands, and on Feb. 9, dual U.S. aircraft carriers conducted exercises in the South China Sea. Later, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz crossed the route of the Philippine Islands and entered the Philippine Sea for navigation, and conducted a large-scale shipboard exercise on Feb. 15.
On Feb. 17, the U.S. military announced that the USS Divine Shield destroyer USS Lasserre (DDG 59) sailed in the waters of the Spratly Islands and bluntly challenged the territorial claims of neighboring countries to the waters, including China, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Some analysts believe that the U.S. and its allies are increasingly wary of the CCP’s military expansion and provocations and have been maintaining a strong deterrent. But the CCP’s ambitions will not die down and the risks have not been eliminated, and countries need to be prepared to go further in response.
Recent Comments