More than 200 Chinese vessels suspected of carrying militiamen have been “illegally assembled” on Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea, prompting the Philippines to accuse them of violating its sovereignty and the United States to express strong concern. Many scholars have pointed out that these maritime militias, also known as “Little Blue Men,” are a naval force that the Chinese government is reluctant to acknowledge, and are mainly used to exercise sovereignty claims in disputed areas of the South China Sea and, if necessary, to carry out covert missions quickly, posing a growing threat to surrounding countries. The threat to the surrounding countries is expanding.
The Chinese government is willing to acknowledge that the naval force is mainly used to exercise sovereignty claims in the disputed areas of the South China Sea and can quickly carry out covert missions if necessary. (Photo / Dazhi Image / AP)
The Philippines government last month publicly accused hundreds of Chinese fishing boats of massing in its exclusive economic zone, and researchers at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore said they had never seen such a large operation by the Chinese Communist Party in the South China Sea, unprecedented in scale and duration and worthy of attention because it is China’s first move in the disputed area. The scale and duration of the operation is unprecedented and noteworthy, as it is the largest number of Chinese vessels in the disputed area and the longest stay.
Although both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the embassy in the Philippines have denied that militias are on board, scholars and experts believe that People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAMM) does exist in China. Carl Schuster, former Chief of Operations at the U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, pointed out in an interview with CNN that the maritime militias do not fish, they have automated weapons, their hulls are reinforced, and their maximum speed is about 18-22 knots, faster than 90 percent of the world’s fishing boats, making them particularly dangerous in close encounters. Many experts have begun to refer to these Chinese vessels as “little blue men” because of their blue paint job.
A report last December by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard said Beijing uses maritime militias to subvert the sovereignty of other countries and enforce illegal claims; Conor Kennedy and Andrew Erickson, experts at the U.S. Naval War College, noted in 2017 that militias are a key component of China’s armed forces, the so-called part of the so-called “People’s Armed Forces System,” a state-organized, developed and controlled force that operates directly under the military chain of command.
Ellison revealed that China’s fishing fleet is the largest in the world, with more than 187,000 vessels, and that the militia has been integrated with some Chinese fishing vessels, but it is not yet known what the actual number is; a 2020 U.S. Department of Defense report on the Chinese Communist military mentioned only 84 militia vessels, although Ellison believes that the number of vessels seen in recent weeks around Bull Yoke Reef is far greater than previously thought .
In an interview with NPR, Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Maritime Research Institute, said that China’s current occupation of Bull Yoke Reef by the mere presence of ships “is actually the goal of the Chinese Communist strategy, which is to establish de facto control and dominance throughout the South China Sea through these incremental actions. “.
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