The kneejerk response to a Chinese flight in the South China Sea is in marked contrast to the decades during which Washington largely ignored confrontations and indeed clashes in the disputed waters.
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China landed a civilian plane on one of its controversial man-made islands in the South China Sea over the weekend, a USA defense official told Fox News. The archipelago also offers rich fishing grounds, along with possible oil and natural gas deposits, which explain the territorial claims by neighboring countries.
Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore’s ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said he expected tensions to worsen as China used its new facilities to project power deeper into the South China Sea. It isn’t immediately clear from either the Vietnamese or Chinese foreign ministry statements if the civilian aircraft that landed on Fiery Cross Reef on Saturday was comparable in size to a large military aircraft, such as a long-range bomber.
Hanoi’s Foreign Ministry informed that Vietnam handed a protest note to China’s embassy and asked China not to repeat the action.
The Philippines has adopted the name West Philippine Sea for parts of the waters that fall under its exclusive economic zone as allowed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“We are concerned that these test flights have exacerbated tensions and are inconsistent with the region’s commitments to exercise restraint from actions that could complicate or escalate disputes”, the Pentagon said. Beijing may have aimed to use the flight to strengthen its control of the armed forces by highlighting its tough stance on the South China Sea, which it has positioned as a “core interest”.
Hanoi had protested at the flight, labelling it “a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam”.
The landing was not a surprise, as China has been building runways on the artificial islands for over a year.
Satellite images published by IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly in April showed China building the airstrip on reclaimed land on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. It is the first airstrip China built in the Spratlys.
Vietnam also protested the flight test but Beijing rejected it, maintaining that the operation took place within Chinese territory.
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It will be an important strategic asset for India in the SCS region, which has been at the centre of tensions between China and particularly Vietnam and the Philippines over the past few years.
