Swarming is a commonly used tactic involving dispatching a flotilla to overwhelm and intimidate other actors, assert dominance, or provide a security screen for certain Chinese ships on special missions.

Gaute Friis | JULY 6, 2023, Sealight 333

Gaute Friis

Team Member

Swarming is a commonly used tactic involving dispatching a flotilla (often a combination of militia, coast guard, and sometimes navy vessels) to overwhelm and intimidate other countries’ assets, assert dominance, or provide a security screen for certain Chinese ships on special missions. 

Examples: 

Starting on May 7, 2023, Chinese survey ship Xiang Yang Hong 10 and a flotilla of escort vessels consisting of China Coast Guard (CCG) and Maritime Militia (PAFMM) vessels spent nearly a month conducting survey operations deep within Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). These activities led to a formal protest from the Vietnamese government. 

On March 4, 2023, one People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ship, one CCG ship and 42 PAFMM vessels gathered near Thitu Island. Thitu Island (also known as Pag-Asa) is home to one of the Philippines’ most important military outposts in the West Philippine Sea, as well as a small civilian population. 

On July 22, 2014, a Vietnamese fishing boat was surrounded by Chinese vessels 5 nautical miles South of Collins Reef. Chinese coast guard ships then rammed the fishing boat, which nearly sank.

On June 29, 2014, 45 nautical miles to the southwest of Paracel Islands, about 34 Chinese fishing vessels, supported by 2 coast guard ships, closely followed, obstructed and intimidated Vietnamese fishing vessels operating in the area.

See the rest of the playbook here.

Sealight 333 Episode 1 – Phlippines v. China – The 2016 Arbitral Tribunal Award

None of the Reefs or Rocks in the Spratly Islands Are Big Enough to Generate Their Own EEZ

SeaLight is pleased to announce the first of our new video educational series, SeaLight 333. Over the coming months we will be developing these short-form videos to explain key maritime gray zone concepts in a very accessible way.

Ray Powell | JULY 11, 2023

Ray Powell

Team Member

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SeaLight is pleased to announce the first of our new video educational series, SeaLight 333. Over the coming months we will be developing these short-form videos to explain key maritime gray zone concepts in a very accessible way. 

Our first video explains the meaning of the 2016 Aribitral Tribunal case, Philippines v. China, and why the Philippines’ victory was so important infirmly establishing how China’s expansive nine-dash line claim–and the aggressive methods it uses to enforce it–systematically violate the rights of the Philippines and all its smaller neighbors.

Ray Powell

Ray is the Director of SeaLight and Project Lead for Project Myoushu at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. He’s a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and was a 2021 Fellow at Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute.

PUBLISHED: JULY 11, 2023, ATMI

In May, the Philippines and China took turns installing buoys in the disputed Spratly Islands. The deployment of buoys and other sovereignty markers in the South China Sea has a long history. But amid a flurry of new activity by the Philippines, including publicized patrols and surveillance missions, it is noteworthy that the buoy deployment triggered an almost immediate reaction from China, which installed its own. And with the Philippines planning to install more buoys by the end of 2023, this trend will remain a point of contention between Manila and Beijing for the foreseeable future.

On May 15, the Philippine Coast Guard installed 30-foot navigational buoys at five features in the Spratly Islands: Philippine-occupied Flat Island, Loaita Island, and Loaita Cay, and unoccupied Irving Reef and Whitsun Reef. The buoys are of the same type as five installed in May of 2022 at four Philippine-occupied features: Nanshan Island, West York Island, Northeast Cay, and Thitu Island.

From: Global Affairs Canada

Statement

July 11, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada

Global Affairs Canada today issued the following statement:

“On the anniversary of the award rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the matter of the South China Sea, Canada reiterates that this decision is final, binding on the parties, and provides a vital foundation for the peaceful resolution of competing maritime claims in the region, consistent with international law.

PUBLISHED: JULY 11, 2023 CSIS

In May, the Philippines and China took turns installing buoys in the disputed Spratly Islands. The deployment of buoys and other sovereignty markers in the South China Sea has a long history. But amid a flurry of new activity by the Philippines, including publicized patrols and surveillance missions, it is noteworthy that the buoy deployment triggered an almost immediate reaction from China, which installed its own. And with the Philippines planning to install more buoys by the end of 2023, this trend will remain a point of contention between Manila and Beijing for the foreseeable future. Continue reading Buoy battle in the Spratly islands →

On July 12 an arbitral tribunal issued a long-awaited ruling in Manila’s case against Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea. How did the judges rule and how does the area of the South China Sea they found to be legally disputed compare to China’s infamous nine-dash line claim?

The tribunal invalidated Beijing’s claims to ill-defined historic rights throughout the nine-dash line, found that Scarborough Shoal is a rock entitled only to a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, and surprised many observers by ruling on the legal status of every feature in the Spratly Islands raised by the Philippines. It found that none of the Spratlys, including the largest natural features—Itu Aba, Thitu Island, Spratly Island, Northeast Cay, and Southwest Cay—are legally islands because they cannot sustain a stable human community or independent economic life. As such, they are entitled only to territorial seas, not EEZs or continental shelves. Of the seven Spratlys occupied by China, the court ruled that Johnson Reef, Cuarteron Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, and Gaven Reef are rocks, while Hughes Reef and Mischief Reef are below water at high-tide and therefore generate no maritime entitlements of their own. It also ruled that Kennan Reef is a low-tide elevation, while Second Thomas Shoal and Reed Bank are submerged and belong to the Philippine continental shelf. Taken together, these decisions effectively invalidate any Chinese claim within the nine-dash line to more than the disputed islets themselves and the territorial seas they generate.

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