Vantage | How China uses ships to bully neighbours in South China Sea

This weekend, the world witnessed it, how China rides roughshod over its neighbours. A big white ship that belongs to China’s coast guard was seen targeting a vessel from the Philippines which wasn’t even a military ship. It belonged to the Bureau of Fisheries, irrespective of this China went after it. Manila says, it wasn’t just one ship, China targeted another vessel with water cannons. Both ships were damaged. One of them completely broke down. It had to be towed away. These run-ins are dramatic and dangerous, but not new, China and the Philippines have a long history of it. But now, they’ve become more frequent. And Manila says, the latest incident is an escalation.

“We choose to maintain our moral high ground, you know, if they are going to choose that kind of barbaric attack to prevent the Philippine coast guard or the armed forces of the Philippines in completing our resupply operation, then let them be so,” said commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine coast guard spokesman. So that’s the position Manila has taken. Despite constant provocations, they won’t respond with force. China is testing their patience. It’s a dangerous game to play given that the South China Sea, where the collision happened, is a volatile region, and also highly militarised. This region is tense with multiple players and many moving parts. The South China Sea is disputed. Six countries and regions have overlapping claims. There is China and the Philippines plus Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan. All of them have competing claims. And China’s claims are the most expansive. China says it owns almost the entire South China Sea. The Chinese have deployed ships there and attack rivals with water cannons, the idea is to assert dominance. To enforce control over disputed waters. And China has amassed a large fleet for this mission. Do you know how many ships Beijing uses to intimidate Manila? Around 400 vessels. They’ve deployed 400 ships for bullying. These ships chase Philppino vessels and come close to their territorial waters. Basically, they’re meant to provoke and threaten. And what kind of ships are these? Some belong to China’s navy and coast guard. The rest are controlled by Chinese militia. Also called “little blue men”. They operate a number of ships. We don’t have the exact figures but experts say there are hundreds of such ships. They look like commercial vessels. But they’re controlled by Chinese militia and funded by Beijing. They support the Chinese military acting as enforcers, they patrol the disputed areas, and ensure China’s control on the region. These days they’re seen at the Second Thomas Shoal, a part of the disputed South China Sea. Also there is a marooned and rusty ship called the Sierra Madre. This ship belongs to the Philippines. It was marooned in 1999. But Manila still keeps a handful of marines here. Why is that? Why deploy soldiers to a ghost ship? Because this shipwreck is like a symbol. An outpost for the philippines. It represents Manila’s claims in these waters. So they don’t want to abandon it. It serves as a military base of sorts. Manila keeps a detachment of marines here, to monitor Chinese vessels. But like most remote deployments these marines need supplies to survive like food and other essentials. These supplies are sent by ships and increasingly, such missions have become tricky because China blocks or targets supply ships. Reports say: Around the shipwreck, there are about 100 Chinese ships, when they see a Philippine ship, they threaten it, and fire water cannons. And that’s exactly what happened over the weekend. The collision happened near the Second Thomas Shoal. The world can see who the aggressor is, they are the Chinese coast guard. But Beijing is blaming Manila. “Despite warnings from the Chinese maritime police vessels, the philippine vessels insisted on intruding into the lagoon of Renai reef (also known as Second Thomas Shoal) and collided with the Chinese maritime police vessels on the scene in a dangerous manner,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning. Manila has refused to use force so far but China is not showing any restraint. It is resorting to aggressive tactics, raising the threat of another conflict, one that the world cannot afford, one that china, most certainly, cannot afford. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.