Baengnyeong Island has been a key location for U.S. allies in South Korea to monitor North Korea since the end of the Korean War nearly 70 years ago. However, the island has now come under the scrutiny of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has been increasingly infested by CCP ships and warships.
Pictured are South Korean soldiers cutting grass on Baekryong Island in June 2010.
Last December, the Chinese Communist Party intimidated South Korea by sending a warship across a self-imposed border near Baekryong Island to probe the extent of Beijing’s claims in the Yellow Sea, according to Bloomberg. South Korean lawmakers consider this relatively rare move by the Chinese Communist Party, timed to coincide with an increased presence of its military in the disputed waters.
After the end of the Korean War in 1953, U.S.-led forces drew a maritime boundary known as the Northern Limit Line, which placed Baekryong Island and other islands under South Korean control. But three unilateral maritime borders near Baekryong Island remain in dispute, opening the door to potential conflict.
“North Korea is definitely our main concern,” said Park Soon-ae, who makes his living collecting seafood on the island when a dozen Chinese fishing boats bobbed in the waves nearby, “Do you see that sea behind me? In a few weeks, when the crab season comes, that sea will be filled with Chinese fishing boats.”
Baekryong Island floats above the Yellow Sea, and the island’s approximately 5,000 residents have also become wary of the influx of Chinese fishing boats near the island. The island is strategically located perpendicular to the Bohai Strait, which is the main waterway to Beijing.
External attention on Beijing’s military expansion has often focused on Taiwan and the disputed territories the Communist Party has with U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines, which together form the first island chain, making it more difficult for the Communist Party to enter the Pacific Ocean. But increased Chinese activity in the Yellow Sea, which South Korea calls the West Sea, suggests that Beijing is also worried about the possibility of a U.S. blockade closer to its shores.
“The Chinese Communist Party wants to turn this sea into a buffer zone to expand its maritime influence and secure a path for its fleet to exit southward, and South Korea is preventing it from achieving that goal.” Shin Won-sik, a former general in the South Korean military and current member of the parliamentary defense committee, said, “Its ultimate goal is to gain full control in the West Sea, which China calls the Yellow Sea, to prohibit U.S. maritime activities in the waters and to be able to take swift military action in case of emergency.”
Caught in the middle is Paekryong Island, which is just 13 kilometers (8 miles) from North Korea and is considered a spy hotspot for both North and South Korea. The island has long been the focus of intelligence agents from both Koreas. The South Korean military has installed dozens of radars on the island, some of which are easily visible to the public. in 2013, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stared through binoculars at the island and threatened to engulf it in flames. A year later, a North Korean drone crashed on Paekryong Island, allegedly to spy on South Korea’s surveillance capabilities.
Last December, Beijing sent a patrol ship into a buffer zone about 40 kilometers from Baekryong Island, prompting the South Korean Navy to respond immediately by sending a warship to guard the northern limit line, Shin said. The Chinese communist carriers Liaoning and Shandong conducted about 20 naval exercises in the area last year, while anti-submarine drills were conducted about 10 times, Shin said.
According to Zhao Tong, a senior fellow at the Tsinghua-Carnegie Center for Global Policy in Beijing, China’s (CCP) goal in the Western Pacific is to prevent the U.S. and its allies from projecting power in areas where core national interests are at stake.
“This requires the PLA (Chinese Communist Party military) to prioritize the modernization of its naval forces and to gain maritime control capabilities.” Zhao Tong said.
The Communist Party already uses trawler fleets to assert its territorial claims elsewhere in Asia, such as in the South China Sea, where in March the United States and the Philippines accused the Communist Party of sending some 220 Chinese vessels into the waters around Niu Yoke Reef. The Philippine government considers the fishing boats to be a militia and has lodged diplomatic protests against the “large and threatening” Chinese vessels.
On Baekryong Island, residents are growing impatient with the Chinese Communist Party’s actions and want President Moon Jae-in to do more. South Korean leaders have sought to balance relations with the Communist Party, the country’s largest trading partner, and the United States, the country’s main security partner for more than seven decades.
South Korea is planning to build airports on Baekryong Island and Heuksan, an island in the Yellow Sea further south, to serve both civilian and military aircraft. Residents say the airports will make them feel safer, but they want the Seoul government to do more to deter the Chinese Communist Party.
“The army and coast guard should crack down on these Chinese fishing boats,” said resident Im Goon-jae, 63, “They need to keep them far away.”
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