Naval incident seen as test of US' China policy
The Pentagon's disclosure of Sunday's confrontation between a US Navy surveillance ship and five Chinese vessels in the South China Sea reflected a contradiction with the soft-line policy expressed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, military experts said yesterday.
The People's Liberation Army is building what will become the Chinese navy's biggest submarine base in Hainan. That has alerted the United States, Japan and other countries in the region, so the US Navy sent the surveillance ship USNS Impeccable to the South China Sea to gather military information, analysts added.
'I guess maybe the Pentagon has increased its alertness against China's military threat, so it sent the spy vessel Impeccable to Hainan to try to collect information about the submarine base,' said Andrei Chang, chief editor of the Canadian-based Kanwa Asian Defence Monthly and a long-time observer of China's military development.
'It was because the PLA Navy has become more aggressive since last year. Besides setting up the base, its first deployment of three vessels to escort Chinese ships in pirate-infested waters off Somalia, sailing through Japan's Tsugaru Strait to the Pacific Ocean for the first time and ... other behaviour have all attracted attention from the US, Japan, India, Vietnam and other countries.'
But Mr Chang stressed that these small skirmishes on the high seas were common.
'I just wonder why the Pentagon highlighted such a small incident, because actually, it was not a big issue,' he said. 'But of course, some small issues can develop into big incidents on the diplomatic level, while big affairs can also be played down through skilful compromise.'
Retired PLA general Xu Guangyu said he had speculated that some 'war hawk' in the Pentagon had attempted to use this incident to upset Sino-US diplomatic policy.
'What Mrs Clinton has done to promote co-operation between China and the US to cope with the global financial turmoil has contradicted the Pentagon's traditional hegemonism, which might harm the country's image,' Mr Xu said. 'I think they may seek to use this affair to influence President Barack Obama's foreign policy.'
He said the US' 'arbitrary act' on the high seas had also sparked an outcry by the PLA. 'The Chinese vessels just wanted to tell the US that waters off Hainan are not the Gulf of Mexico, where they could enter and exit freely,' he said.
Serving PLA top brass also condemned the action.
'The location where the confrontation occurred is our economic territory, where we have sovereignty,' Rear Admiral Zhang Deshun said on the sidelines of the annual National People's Congress meeting in Beijing.
'It's nonsense that the US, which offends international law, should complain about us first.'
However, an Australian international law and military expert said the incident had also exposed China's interference with the freedom of navigation by peaceful foreign warships on the high seas.
'There is no evidence that, for example, the US vessel was involved in piracy or some other unlawful activity which would permit China to interfere with the Impeccable,' said Ben Saul, director of the Sydney Centre for International Law at the University of Sydney.
'It is difficult to know the motives of the Chinese vessels. But of course, it could be designed to demonstrate China's growing naval strength in the area and to deter US vessels from operating in the seas near China.'
Dr Saul stressed that China's actions could also increase regional fears about its military build-up.
'[The incident] will stimulate further naval arms races in the [Asia-Pacific] region,' he said.
'Australia ... is considering purchasing more submarines soon, partly to counter the build-up of naval weapons by regional powers such as China.'
