Carl O. Schuster
THE People’s Liberation Army Navy’s two aircraft carriers, CNS Liaoning (CV-16) and CNS Shandong (CV-17) generated headlines last week by operating near Japan’s famous Iwo Jimo and Liaoning passed the U.S. Navy’s designated “2nd Island Chain.” Although neither carrier is as powerful American counterparts, their latest deployments mark Beijing’s intent to challenge the U.S. Navy’s and its allies’ dominance of the Western Pacific. But for China’s maritime, the carriers’ deployments marked the latest step in Beijing’s expanding maritime intimidation against them. More importantly for Manila, the carriers flight operations off the Philippines’ opposite coasts signaled the PLA Navy’s or PLAN’s growing threat to its air and sea access to global markets.
The Shandong began its deployment operating within the Philippines’s U.N.-recognized West Philippine Sea and near Scarborough Shoal where China’s Coast Guard and Maritime Militia are blocking Philippine fisherman and Coast Guard cutters from accessing U.N.-recognized Philippine territorial waters. It was constrained by the presence of America’s more powerful carrier strike group led by USS Nimitz (CVN-68) but the message was clear. Shandong is stationed nearby and as its simulated activities against Taiwan proved, Beijing will use it to threaten any regional neighbor it chooses. That threat included the implied message that Beijing can restrict Manila’s air and sea lanes, and those of many others, in the South China Sea. The Liaoning’s flight operations within the Philippines’s Eastern Economic Exclusion Zone or EEZ simply added a new geographic dimension to that message.
President Marcos has adroitly handled the threat, disseminating visual evidence of China’s criminal ramming of and water cannon attacks on Filippino private and public vessels inside Philippine territorial waters. He has also expanded his nation’s security partnerships, adding Australia, India, Japan and Vietnam to those willing to work with the Philippine Coast Guard and Armed Forces. Those efforts have been reinforced by the United States restoring its commitment to Philippine security under their bilateral mutual defense treaty. Washington has finally agreed to assist the Philippine Air Force in acquiring modern combat aircraft and provide modern arms. A strong defense is the best deterrent to an aggressor’s territorial designs.
The two carriers’ shortcomings may diminish the message’s impact today but when combined with the PLAN’s rapid growth and expanding operations, their deployments represent just one signal among Beijing’s many PLAN-disseminated maritime messages. Both will return home soon but they delivered a very clear message. The PLAN has the ability and will to operate in those waters and reinforce Beijing’s economic and security interests there. The heart of China’s maritime aggression lies in its rapidly expanding navy. It now has the world’s largest navy and Coast Guard and both are backed by an increasingly modern and stronger air and missile force. The Philippines has born the brunt of Beijing’s bullying over the last ten years and has exposed China’s imperialist designs for the world to see.
But it is not the only country facing Chinese aggression. Vietnam suffered similar bullying and far more deadly assaults from the 70s thru this century’s first decade. More recently, China forced Vietnam to abandon oil exploration within its own territorial waters and EEZ. Also, Chinese fishing, maritime militia and Coast Guard vessels regularly violate Indonesian and Malaysian territorial waters. China exudes a veneer of diplomatic cooperation and desire for peace and stability but it will not comply with any “Code of Conduct” its signs. It claims the entire South China Sea despite the U.N. Court of Arbitration Ruling and China’s ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
If Beijing achieves its goals, those neighboring that sea will lose more than territory. They will lose sovereignty over their trade and external affairs to China, the latest imperialist power if it successfully dominates those waters. It would be a shame for those nations to suffer that fate less than a century after they gained their independence from earlier imperialist powers.
At the Shangri-La Dialogue, U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth assured Asian nations of America’s support and warned that China’s buildup and actions portend preparations for potential conflict. Its air, missile and naval expansion are unprecedented. The PLAN hopes to dominate the Western Pacific someday, aided by China’s Air, Cyber, Rocket and Aerospace Forces. The United States must help and support where needed but only a strong and unified Asia, committed to defending their independence and sovereignty can prevent their being dominated by a new imperialist power. Manila has shown the way. The other nations must now follow its lead.
Carl O. Schuster is a retired U.S. Navy captain with 25 years of active duty service. He recently retired from 24 years as an adjunct faculty in Hawaii Pacific University’s Diplomacy and Military Studies Program. He is a freelance writer who has published four books on naval affairs.
