A few days ago I posted on the confrontational situation that is building in the South China Sea. To recap the essence of that post:
In November, China unilaterally declared an air defense zone covering islands controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing, creating apprehensions in Japan and elsewhere that the aggressive posture on the part of the Panda could result at some point in an unplanned military encounter. The several small uninhabited islands, known to the west as the Senkaku group, lie just to the northeast of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa) in the southern portion of the East China Sea.
Last week, the US Air Force flew two B-52 heavy bombers through the area, serving notice to the Chinese that their claim of exclusivity was repudiated. Now the British newspaper MailOnline is reporting that the US Navy is sending P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft to strengthen America’s ability to hunt submarines and other vessels in seas close to China.
Now, Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon is reporting that:
A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.
The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.
[snip]
… the run-in began after a Chinese navy vessel sent a hailing warning and ordered the Cowpens to stop. The cruiser continued on its course and refused the order because it was operating in international waters.
Then a Chinese tank landing ship sailed in front of the Cowpens and stopped, forcing the Cowpens to abruptly change course in what the officials said was a dangerous maneuver.
Foreign military adventurism climbs markedly anytime the President of the United States is viewed, particularly by our adversaries, as weak, inexperienced, and indecisive. Such tendencies are exacerbated when the President is seen to be beset by domestic problems that he cannot resolve. I am old enough to remember such instances, the Cuban Missile Crisis (Kennedy) being one example and the Iranian Embassy Hostage Crisis (Carter) being another.
President Obama is another example of a Commander-In-Chief that is widely viewed as an incompetent pushover. The Chinese certainly see him that way, and that is exactly what is going on in the South China Sea.
The United States is both a maritime nation and a commerce-dependent nation, and in that connection, virtually all our presidents going back to Thomas Jefferson have understood that it is vital to the interests of the free world in general, and to our national interests in particular, to take all necessary measures to maintain the freedom of navigation in every sea and ocean around the globe.
When Muammar Khadafy declared the Gulf Of Sidra to be sovereign Libyan territory, and in August 1981 sent up MiG-25 Foxbat fighter jets to enforce his edict against the incursion into that area by the carrier USS Nimitz, President Ronald Reagan’s unequivocal response was to authorize their F-14 Tomcats to shoot down two of the Libyan planes. Khadafy never again tried to enforce a claim over the Gulf Of Sidra by force of arms.
President Obama must take up this banner as well. This situation is, in my view, largely of his doing, and now he must be resolute in disabusing the Chinese of their notion of turning the South China Sea into their sovereign territory.
For further reading on this subject, and on the history of defending the international right of navigation, Bill Schanefelt and Gary Crowder have up an interesting and informative article at the online American Thinker, HERE.