General Fang Fenghui, China’s chief of
general staff, is now in the US on a five-day
tour of American military facilities, including
the naval air station in San Diego, where he
inspected the USS Ronald Reagan , one of
America’s 10 active aircraft carriers. Most
notably, he will receive a “full-military-
honors arrival ceremony” at the Pentagon on
Thursday.
The visit comes as a fleet of about 80 Chinese
vessels , both military and civilian, are
protecting a drilling rig that China National
Offshore Oil Corporation, a Chinese state-
owned enterprise, positioned just off
Vietnam’s coast at the beginning of this
month. China’s ships rammed and collided
with Vietnamese craft defending waters that
Hanoi believes to be within its exclusive
economic zone. The rig’s location is near the
Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
Beijing, with its infamous nine-dashed line on
its official maps, takes the position that about
90 percent of that body of water is China’s,
including the drill site. The expansive—and
largely indefensible—claim includes the
coastal waters of Taiwan, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia as well as
Vietnam.
Secretary of State John Kerry has been trying
to calm the situation. “He urged both sides on
both calls to de-escalate tensions, to engage in
high-level dialogue, to ensure safe conduct by
their vessels at sea, and to resolve the dispute
through peaceful means,” said State
Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, referring
to Kerry’s conversations with his Chinese and
Vietnamese counterparts. The Chinese flatly
rejected these even-handed comments, blasting
Kerry for just trying to keep the peace in the
region. Hong Kong’s South China Morning
Post has called the exchange a “war of words.”
According to one Chinese oil official , Beijing
apparently directed its state oil company,
commonly known as CNOOC, to drill in order
to bolster its sovereignty claim. “This reflected
the will of the central government and is also
related to the US strategy on Asia,” said the
official, speaking anonymously to Reuters,
about drilling in Vietnam’s waters. “It is not
commercially driven.”
Beijing, with its particularly provocative
move, is obviously testing President Obama,
who had just left the region after an eight-day
tour to reassure allies and friends. Vietnam was
the perfect target for the Chinese, as it is not
allied with Washington. Yet the Chinese
gambit nonetheless affects US interests as it
directly impinges freedom of navigation,
something America has defended for more
than two centuries. Moreover, Beijing’s act
against Vietnam’s coastal water mirrors
moves against American allies Japan, South
Korea, and the Philippines.
The Chinese do not take American warnings
seriously, reports the Wall Street Journal. And
why should they? General Fang is about to get
military honors while his country’s vessels are
deliberately creating turmoil and directly
challenging American interests.
Washington may think it is preserving
regional order by seeking to develop a
cooperative relationship with Beijing—hence
the honor for Fang—but Chinese
policymakers evidently perceive them
differently, seeing America’s hopeful and
generous moves as symptoms of weakness.
After all, they have continually increased the
pressure on their neighbors and challenged
Washington directly, especially during the last
half decade.
In any event, there is no arguing with history.
China has, in recent years, been harassing
American vessels in international waters,
dismembering the Philippines, and
appropriating international airspace. The
Chinese have regularly violated the territorial
integrity of Japan with their probes on the sea
and in the air. Last October, for no apparent
reason, Beijing publicly boasted about its
ability to kill Americans in the tens of
millions.
The assumptions that guide American policy
toward China are obviously incorrect. It’s not
too late to change course and maybe even
send General Fang home without his Pentagon
ceremony.
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