Well you can say one thing for Washington’s narrative when it comes to Beijing’s land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea: the rhetoric has been consistent. That is, it’s always been about deterring Chinese “aggression”. And about China seeking to “militarize” the Spratlys.
To be sure, this is just the US parroting what Washington’s regional allies - most notably The Philippines - have said regarding the 3,000 or so new acres of sovereign territory China has built atop reefs and on a certain level, it’s not entirely clear that the US cares as much about this dispute as it does about what’s going on in say, Syria or Ukraine. Still, $5 trillion (or maybe less now that global growth has ground to a veritable halt) in global trade passes through the disputed waters around the islands each year and when you combine that with the fact that China is essentially daring the US to call its bluff, The White House finally sailed a destroyer by Subi and subsequently flew a couple of B-52s “near” the airspace over the islands.
On Tuesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin is out with some highly amusing commentary ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit which will be held in Manila tomorrow and Thursday.
Far from being “aggressive” or seeking to “militarize” the region, China, Liu says, has actually “shown great restraint” because in reality, the PLA could have by all rights seized "dozens" of islands occupied by Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Here’s Reuters with more [7]:
China has shown "great restraint" in the South China Sea by not seizing islands occupied by other countries even though it could have, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday ahead of two regional summits where the disputed waterway is likely to be a hot topic.
But China was the real victim as it had "dozens" of its islands and reefs in the Spratlys illegally occupied by three of the claimants, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a news conference in Beijing.
He did not name the countries, but all claimants except Brunei have military fortifications in the Spratlys.
"The Chinese government has the right and the ability to recover the islands and reefs illegally occupied by neighboring countries," Liu said.
"But we haven't done this. We have maintained great restraint with the aim to preserve peace and stability in the South China Sea."
See there Ash Carter? You may think you've seen Chinese aggression in The South China Sea, but in reality, real aggression would be for the PLA to "seize" what is rightfully China's and tell The Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam to get out of The Spratlys and never come back.
Forgive us, but that seems a bit passive aggressive. Liu is basically saying this: "we could, at any time, attack and we would be well within our rights to do so."
Meanwhile, Liu also says no one should be concerned about the airstrip on Fiery Cross (which is capable of landing military aircraft) because after all, the longer the airstrip, the more civilian uses it has:
Satellite photographs show construction is finished on a 3,000-metre-long (10,000-foot) airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef. Security experts say such an airfield would be able to accommodate most Chinese military aircraft.
"Actually, the larger they are, the more civilian benefits they will bring," Liu said, pointing to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 last year as evidence of the poor state of search and rescue capabilities in the South China Sea. Rescuers initially focused their search on the waterway before moving to the Indian Ocean.
[8]
So it will be interesting to see what kind of rheotric emanates from APEC over the next couple of days and it will also be interesting to see if the Pentagon (or anyone else) responds to China's claims that it is rightfully entitled to forcibly commandeer any land reclaimed by other nations in the region.
But to all of America's South Pacific allies: have no fear, because Ash Carter is on the job...
