Pushing the superpower into a corner
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims
Two Chinese fighter jets carried out an intercept of a US military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, a further escalation of tensions in and around the contested waterway. The incident took place in international airspace on Tuesday as the US maritime patrol aircraft carried out “a routine US patrol,” a Pentagon statement said. Reuters reported on May 18, 2016.
The incident comes a week after China scrambled fighter jets as a US Navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea. Another Chinese intercept took place in 2014 when a Chinese fighter pilot flew acrobatic maneuvers around a US spy plane.
The intercept is also days before President Barack Obama travels to parts of Asia from May 21-28, which will include a Group of Seven summit in Japan and his first trip to Vietnam.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.
Washington has accused Beijing of militarising the South China Sea after creating artificial islands while Beijing, in turn, has criticised increased US naval patrols and exercises in Asia.
According to May 18, New York Times, the Pentagon statement said the Department of Defense was addressing the issue through military and diplomatic channels. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2015, the United States and China announced agreements on a military hotline and rules of behaviour to govern air-to-air encounters called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES).
Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies said, “This is exactly the type of irresponsible and dangerous intercepts that the air-to-air annex to CUES is supposed to prevent,” Reuters reported, Poling also said that either some part of China’s airforce hadn’t gotten the message, or it was meant as a signal of displeasure with recent US freedom of navigation actions in the South China Sea. If the latter, it would be very disappointing to find China sacrificing the CUES annex for political gamesmanship.
The rising tension between China and USA, between Russia and USA, at the same time tension between Saudi-Arabia and USA and also between North-Korea and USA, seems putting USA in a corner
The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross Reef, where it has built a 3,000 metre (9,800 ft) runway.
A point is to be noted that in April 2001, an intercept of a US spy plane by a Chinese fighter jet resulted in a collision that killed the Chinese pilot and forced the American plane to make an emergency landing at a base on China’s Hainan Island. The 24 US air crew members were held for 11 days until Washington apologised for the incident. That encounter soured US-Chinese relations in the early days of President George W Bush’s first administration.
Last month, the Pentagon said that Russia had intercepted a US Air Force aircraft over the Baltic Sea in an “unsafe and unprofessional” way.
Comments
The rising tension between China and USA, between Russia and USA, at the same time tension between Saudi-Arabia and USA and also between North-Korea and USA, seems putting USA in a corner. Britain and France are silent at the moment without any statement in anyone’s favour.
This tension especially between the three super powers can lead to international disturbance, which should be avoided by all the responsible countries. Tension in relation with Saudi-Arabia will put US in isolation as it is for sure that all the Muslim countries will prefer to stand with Saudi-Arabia and China.
