‘Disappointed’ China ramps up military drills in disputed waters

The belligerent nation pronounced itself “very unsatisfied” with the actions of countries like Australia, warning of “serious measures” if global powers continue to oppose its development in the South China Sea.

Photos released by state news agency Xinhua show a Chinese H-6K bomber, which has nuclear strike capability, flying over the Scarborough Shoal in the disputed shipping lane.

The shoal is close to the coastline of the Philippines, which last week won its case to stop China expanding artificial islands in the territory at an international court.

The Chinese have refused to recognise the ruling, this week continuing combat exercises off the east coast of Hainan island province, ignoring the numerous southeast Asian nations laying claims to parts of the waterway.

It has even threatened to declare an air defence identification zone in the area, attracting the censure of other powerful nations with an interest in the route, through which 100,000 ships and $6.6 trillion of trade move each year.

This has put further strain on China’s relationship with the US and Japan in particular, and Australia is entering murky waters, too.

WARNING FOR AUSTRALIA

US Vice President Joe Biden met with Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney yesterday, saying the two nations were a “genuine brotherhood” committed to “making sure the sea lanes are open and the skies are free for navigation”.

He said waterways such as the South China Sea were “the life bloodlines of commerce and the economic growth worldwide” and Australia and the US were ready to face “any challenges in the Pacific with a united front.”

US and Australian troops plan to step up training so they are “fully prepared” to cope with rising tensions over Beijing’s claims in the region.

A senior foreign ministry official this week told visiting journalists China was “very disappointed” at comments made in Australia after the ruling, The Australian reported.

Australia was warned its position was “detrimental to the political foundation of our relationship”, and “present co-operation” would be “damaged” if it took further action.
While there was no mention of specific measures, this could mean restrictions on lucrative Chinese tourism, according to the Australian Financial Review.

PLAYING CHICKEN

The Asian power is furious with the US, which has been conducting Freedom of Navigation exercises in the South China Sea.

On Monday, US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson met Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Commander Admiral Wu Shengli in Beijing.

Wu called for “co-operation” with the US, but was clear that island-building would continue “no matter what country or person applies pressure,” according to state media reports, along with the drills off Hainan island province on its southern coast.

China spent the lead-up to the tribunal ruling from The Hague publishing angry editorials about its victimisation, and is now stirring up nationalist feelings among citizens, who have started protesting outside popular American chains including KFC.

“Boycott the US, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines; love our Chinese nation,” read a banner erected outside one Chinese branch of the chicken franchise, the LA Times reported. “What you eat is American KFC; what is lost is the face of our ancestors.”

A video circulated on social media showed a protester telling three young men trying to enter the restaurant: “If there is a war, every bomb the US uses on us will have some share of your money. If you stop now, you are still Chinese. If you enter, when the US and the Philippines start the war, you will all be traitors.”

Chinese patriots have also been calling for boycotts on foreign consumables including Nike shoes, Apple iPhones, McDonald’s burgers and dried mangoes grown in the Philippines.

China has told the Philippines, which objects to China seizing the rich fishing ground of the Scarborough Shoal in 2012, that any insistence on the legitimacy of The Hague court’s ruling could lead to “confrontation”.

The neighbouring country yesterday rejected China’s offer of talks on the contested waterway, which came with the condition the court of arbitration’s ruling was ignored.

THE NEXT MOVES

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte said last week that he would send former president Fidel Ramos to China to start talks on the ruling.

But foreign minister Perfecto Yasay said he did not know if Ramos would accept or when that mission could be dispatched. “Let the dust settle some more and let’s see how we can open up the road for this kind of negotiation,” Yasay added.

The US has said it will continue the freedom of navigation flights and naval visits the Chinese have said could be “disastrous”.

Secretary of State John Kerry will next week travel to Laos for the annual conference of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) to discuss the disputes over territory and maritime security in the South China Sea with leaders from southeast Asia and China.

The Republican Party announced a tough new stance on China at its conference, calling the nation’s claims on the region and actions in dredging ports and creating landing fields close to US territories and allies “preposterous”.

Other countries disputing the waterway — including Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia — have been sending fishermen further out into disputed waters in recent years, often subsidising new boats or equipping them with better navigational equipment to claim prime fishing ground.

They are using fishing fleets to stake claims to reefs, rocks and other maritime features.

Indonesia doesn’t have territorial claims but has blown up hundreds of foreign boats that it said were illegally fishing in its waters. Vietnam and China regularly accuse each other’s boats of ramming each other as they compete for control.

The South China Sea’s mineral and oil resources are enormously valuable, with the University of British Columbia estimating that it was producing around 27 per cent of global fish exports in 2011, up from 11 per cent in the 1980s and worth at least $22 billion a year.

As for Australia, Air Force chief Leo Davies told the ABC it would continue with Operation Gateway, its contribution to preserving regional security and stability in southeast Asia.

“We need to send P3s and tankers and hornets, naval ships,” he said. “We need to go where our regional neighbours are and we need to be able to function as we have for the last 30, 40 years plus.”

RAAF freedom of navigation patrols regularly cross into the South China Sea and are often challenged.

This sort of stand-off isn’t unusual for China. In 2012, it was locked in dispute with Japan over islets in the East China Sea, which led to protesters attacking Japanese cars and 7-Elevens.

The communist country is adept at propaganda, but it won’t want this argument to spiral into all-out chaos.

emma.reynolds@news.com.au