It’s stir-up-trouble time in the South China Sea.
Chinazi aggression against non-Chinese territory follows a familiar pattern. First, the regime aggressively violates rights and transgresses boundaries. If the victims make no fuss about it, meekly allowing the incursion to stand, China pats itself on the back and moves on to the next scheduled incursion.
But if the victims object or, worse, act to counter the aggression, Chinese officials lash out, accusing the defenders of “stirring up trouble” and similar cookie-cutter accusations to be applied without reference to germane fact. Meanwhile, depending on what seems possible to get away with, China either retreats (at least briefly) or works to maintain the new status quo or even to expand its aggression.
Thus, “China warns Philippines not to ‘stir up trouble’ in South China Sea as tensions mount over disputed reef” (Agence France-Press, September 27, 2023):
Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea has long been a source of tension between the countries. China seized the ring of reefs from the Philippines in 2012 and has since deployed patrol boats.
The latest spat was sparked by a 300-metre (328-yard) floating barrier that was found across the entrance of the shoal last week during a routine Philippine government resupply mission to fishermen plying the waters near the shoal.
The Philippines condemned the installation and its coast guard announced on Monday that it had “successfully” removed the barrier from the reef…in a special operation ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos. . . .
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin [said that] Beijing “firmly upholds the sovereignty and maritime rights and interests of the Huangyan island,” referring to the shoal by its Chinese name.
“We advise the Philippines not to provoke or stir up trouble,” Wang added.
China’s barrier had kept Philippine fishermen out of parts of the shoal where fish are more plentiful. Although China retrieved the barrier after the Philippine Coast Guard cut it loose, a coastguard spokesman said that China “might still return the floating barrier once again, they might still do shadowing and dangerous maneouvres once again.”
Any good map of the region, like that of Google Maps, shows Scarborough Shoal to be much closer to the Philippines than to any other country bordering the South China Sea. But China regards the Sea, and apparently all the other waters of the earth, as its own Roman lake.
