Daniel Hoffman, HARVAFRD’s Belfer Center

| May 21, 2020

Pluralism and freedom vs. Communist autocracy

During his Senate confirmation hearing last week to be the next director of national intelligence, Texas Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe emphasized China is this country’s “greatest threat actor,” a status only confirmed by rising acrimony over Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. But though tensions are rising in the South China Sea, where U.S. Navy missions challenge China’s unsubstantiated claims of hegemony over the region, an actual war between the two powers appears unlikely.

But are the United States and China on a path to a new Cold War?

The heart of U.S.-China conflict is in the realm of ideas. Democratic principles of liberty, pluralism and freedom are antithetical to China’s autocratic Communist state and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expanding cult of personality. Through its ubiquitous state surveillance and “Great Firewall” on online dissent, China seeks to deny its citizens freedom of expression and access to the outside world.

By Adrien Chorn and Monica Michiko Sato – October 1, 2019, CSIS

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On August 31, 1951, representatives of the United States and the Republic of the Philippines signed the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) in Washington. In recognition that “an armed attack in the Pacific Area on either of the Parties would be dangerous to [the] peace and safety” of both countries, the treaty declared that each state would “act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.”ⁱ However, like most conventional defense treaties and standards, the MDT is not clear about the increasingly common unconventional gray zone threats that skirt the definition of war to avoid prompting a kinetic response. Since its inception, the United States’ commitment to the MDT regarding attacks on Philippine assets in contested waters in the South China Sea has been unclear. 

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Permanent mission to UN sends note saying China’s territorial baselines on some islands and reefs fail to satisfy conditions in United Nations conventionIt also accuses China of restricting freedom of navigation and overflight

Laura Zhou in Beijing

Published: 7:51pm, 21 Jan, 2021 SCMP

Japan’s diplomatic note made reference to China’s protests against the overflight of Japanese aircraft at Mischief Reef. Photo: AP

Japan has joined a battle of diplomatic notes over the South China Sea dispute, adding to pressure on Beijing over its expansive claims in the strategically important waterway.

In a note verbale – a type of diplomatic communication – sent on Tuesday, Japan’s permanent mission to the United Nations said China’s “drawing of territorial sea baselines … on relevant islands and reefs in the South China Sea” failed to satisfy conditions set out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

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31 Jan, 2021 01:26 AM7 minutes to read Nzherald

news.com.auBy: Jamie Seidel25

China is “threatening war” after it authorised its warships to open fire on fishers plying traditional waters, warns the Philippines. Now Washington says it has Manila’s back.

Beijing has passed legislation calling upon its military-controlled coast guard to open fire upon “foreign” vessels and destroy “illegal” structures within the East and South China seas.

Problem is, those territories don’t belong to it.

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Geoff Ziezulewicz

The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group entered the South China Sea Saturday [1/23/2021], a month into their second deployment in a year. While a Navy release announcing TR’s move states the carrier is conducting routine operations, very little has been routine in the disputed waters for several years. Beijing and its regional neighbors all have competing claims to various swaths of the busy waterway, and the U.S. Navy regularly sails into the sea to push back on Beijing’s expanding territorial claims and island building, and to reinforce the fact that such waters are international. Continue reading on CVD >>

Al Jareeza
Legislation also allows demolition of other countries’ structures built on Chinese-claimed reefs.

23 Jan 2021

China has passed a law that for the first time explicitly allows its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels, a move that could make the contested South China Sea and nearby waters more choppy.

The Coast Guard Law passed on Friday empowers it to “take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons when national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organisations or individuals at sea”.

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Gray Zone – Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff

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Gray Zone – Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff

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The Diplomat

Despite seeking a balance between the superpowers, Vietnam desires more robust security ties with Washington.

By Derek GrossmanJanuary 04, 2021   

As the incoming Biden administration formulates its South China Sea strategy, one regional partner that looms large is Vietnam. Over the last few years, tensions between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea have remained high, impacting fishing and natural resource exploration in disputed waters. While the Biden administration is likely to continue the positive momentum in bilateral ties, it is less clear what specifically Hanoi seeks from Washington to help it effectively deter Beijing.

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