South China Sea Dispute: U.S. Proxy Conflict With China
Global Times
March 29, 2013
China will not be passive in sea disputes
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Despite the fact that John Kerry, the new US secretary of state, has stepped into office and some side effects brought by his predecessor’s aggressive approach are in decline, the US stance on the South China Sea will not fundamentally change. Behind China’s frictions with the Philippines and Vietnam is actually the rivalry between Beijing and Washington over the South China Sea.
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Chinese naval fleets recently conducted patrols on the South China Sea, reaching as far as Zengmu Reef, the southernmost part of Chinese territory. In an oath-taking ceremony on board Tuesday, the troops and officials vowed to safeguard China’s sovereignty.
Earlier this month, a Chinese vessel fired two warning signal shells into the sky to prevent illegal fishing operations by Vietnamese fishermen. Both showed China’s firm determination to insist upon its stance amid the South China Sea disputes.
Washington expressed its concerns in both cases, reinforcing its attitude that the US can interfere in the South China Sea issue any time.
Despite the fact that John Kerry, the new US secretary of state, has stepped into office and some side effects brought by his predecessor’s aggressive approach are in decline, the US stance on the South China Sea will not fundamentally change. Behind China’s frictions with the Philippines and Vietnam is actually the rivalry between Beijing and Washington over the South China Sea.
After Hillary Clinton’s four-year intervention into the South China Sea issue with her “smart power” diplomacy, and Manila and Hanoi’s frictions with Beijing, all kinds of risks within the South China Sea issue have become evident. All parties involved now have a clearer understanding of each other’s national strength and determination.
China, through powerful countermeasures against Manila and Hanoi’s provocations, has changed its passive status. Beijing had been worried that frictions on the South China Sea would cause deterioration in its surrounding environment and thus undermine its period of strategic opportunities. Now most of its concerns have been dispelled.
Crises like the Huangyan Island standoff have made one thing explicit – those were, after all, conflicts between countries whose strength were unequally matched. Manila and Hanoi would not have any chance of victory if the South China Sea issue escalated into a confrontation of national strength.
China has no plan to wage a war and recover all the islands illegally occupied by the Philippines and Vietnam. However, China has become more resolute in terms of strikes against the two’s provocations.
China’s growing leverage over the South China Sea issue stems from stable domestic development. Meanwhile, Manila and Hanoi are witnessing a reduced ability to provoke Beijing over those disputes. Washington is also seeing an increasing number of restraints in its South China Sea policy. The Philippines and Vietnam would face more troubles if they choose to seek fierce confrontation with China.
China should focus on peaceful development. But meanwhile, it is not afraid of adopting resolute measures to protect core national interests. China should avoid external misjudgments toward it, which is pivotal to the nation’s long-term strategic environment.
For peace, against war: literary selections 
Quote: “However, China has become more resolute in terms of strikes against the two’s provocations.” I am not sure you are phrasing this deliberately pro China or whether it’s just a poor choice of wording. I agree with the general notion that this dispute is to an extent a proxy stand off between the US & China. However it doesn’t invalidate territorial claims of countries involved. Also it is rather China who is provoking when it comes to taking over areas of sea or land in the area. I find it hard to see who is in the right & wrong regarding their territorial claims but simply depicting Vietnam & the Philippines as the ones provoking is very short sighted. China is claiming areas far away from its mainland & not under its control for a fairly long time or ever for that matter. If you look at the map showing the claims of the various neighbours in the region then it’s pretty easy to see that China’s claims are outrageous. Appreciate your blog & the insights contained overall. But as an expat living in this area I am pretty disappointed with this particular piece of writing. You’re completely dismissing claims & integrity of entire countries in favour of some US v China bigger picture. Regards
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But in simple fact in the post-Cold War – unipolar – world one cannot discuss territorial claims in the abstract, ignoring the Pentagon’s so-called Asia-Pacific pivot. Nor can we ignore leading American officials – recent secretary of state Hillary Clinton comes to mind – stating that the 1960 U.S.-Japan defense treaty could be invoked over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which Washington refers to strictly by Tokyo’s designation. (As the State Department has used the Japanese term Northern Territories for Russia’s South Kuril Islands.)
In 1939 to have discussed the relative merits of Nazi Germany’s claims to Silesia and the Danzig Corridor, for example, in splendid or not so splendid isolation from Berlin’s drive to the east would not have been a sensible thing to do.
As to the question of not only laying claim to but in fact expropriating – ad aeternum – islands far from its coast, I might draw your attention to U.S. possessions in the Caribbean Sea and throughout the Pacific Ocean. (A “right” reserved exclusively for NATO nations, the U.S. and its allies Britain, France, Denmark, Portugal and Spain.)
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It’s about time that the Chinese Propaganda Dept. gives you a different line of argument instead of repeating the unconvincing and ineffective ” blame the US/Proxy Conflict “, ” provocations from Vietnam and the Philippines “… If it worked for China, can you and/or any of your China apologists name 1 country that supports Chinese illegal 9 dash claim and its current criminal enforcement?
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Keep pushing for a war and you’ll get it.
But remember that the same U.S. supported China against Vietnam from the 1970s until the end of the Cold War, including the seizure of the Paracel Islands, in the Cambodia-Vietnam conflict and the Chinese invasion of Vietnam in 1979. What a friend Vietnam now has!
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Pushing for a war? Like you said China already started its invasions of Vietnam and the Philippines and with all claimant states with criminal and lawless aggressions throughout the South China Sea. Let’s add provocations of Japan and India and we have a pretty good idea of what to come. Western nations including colonialists and imperialists come, do harms and go. Chinese are like leeches, they will latch on with economic and cultural assimilation ( ask Tibet! ) until everyone is part of the thousand years ancient Chinese history. No US assistance needed, Asians will ensure that it’s not happening this time around.
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