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posted by martyb on Sunday April 12 2020, @09:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the Cover-of-darkness dept.

China's devious move under cover of virus

As outbreaks debilitate the US navy, there are fears China may be using the coronavirus pandemic as cover for asserting control over the South China Sea.

A Vietnamese fishing boat has been rammed and sunk. Military aircraft have landed at its artificial-island fortresses. And large-scale naval exercises has let everyone know China's navy is still pushing the boundaries, hard.

Meanwhile, the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group has retreated from the contested waterway in an unscheduled return to Guam – with hundreds of cases of COVID-19 on board.

China's Peoples Liberation Army knows this presents an opportunity.

"The outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly lowered the US Navy's warship deployment capability in the Asia-Pacific region," an article on its official website declares.

The website insists not a single one of its soldiers, sailors or pilots had contracted COVID-19. Instead, the crisis had served to strengthen the combat readiness and resolve of the Chinese military.

That has international affairs analysts worried that even a short-term withdrawal of US and international from the East and South China Seas could give Beijing the opportunity it has been waiting for.

"I think China is exploiting the US Navy's coronavirus challenges to improve its position in the South China Sea by giving the appearance it can and will operate there at will while the US is hamstrung," former Pacific Command Joint Intelligence Centre director Carl Schuster told CNN.

Previously:
(2020-01-09) China Initiates Conflict with Indonesia in the South China Sea
(2019-12-21) Malaysian Top Envoy: China's 'Nine-Dash Line' Claim 'Ridiculous'
(2019-11-22) US Warships Sail in Disputed South China Sea Amid Tensions
(2019-05-14) China Builds New Type 002 Mega Carrier as the Age of Sea Power Wanes
(2018-05-13) China Begins Sea Trials for its First Domestically Developed Aircraft Carrier
(2017-12-24) World's Largest Amphibious Plane in Production Takes Flight in China
(2017-05-25) US Warship Challenges China's Claims in South China Sea
(2017-04-26) China Launches Aircraft Carrier
(2017-03-14) Japan to Send its Biggest Warship to the South China Sea
(2017-01-13) Chinese State Media Boasts About its New Electronic Reconnaissance Ship
(2016-07-14) China's South China Sea Claims Rejected By "Binding" but Unenforceable Tribunal Ruling


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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by PartTimeZombie on Monday April 13 2020, @01:06AM (2 children)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday April 13 2020, @01:06AM (#981775)

    The South China Sea is a long way from Japan.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 13 2020, @04:36AM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 13 2020, @04:36AM (#981826) Journal

    A long way - tactically, or strategically? Or, do you just mean that it's further than you can walk in a day? Further than you can ride horseback in a day? Further than you can drive in a day? It's not further than you can travel by train, or by plane, or by spaceship in a day.

    And, the title of this sub-thread is ridiculous. If the China sea is China's by reason of the waves crashing on China's shores, then likewise, all of the Atlantic and Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico belong to the US. How do you think that claim would play out on the world stage?

    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday April 13 2020, @08:22PM

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday April 13 2020, @08:22PM (#982207)

      Strategically the South China Sea is everyone's business, due to the huge amount of international trade that passes through it.

      I think the point has been made that there is no way China is making war with anyone in that part of the world, due to what they'd lose. Which is everything.

      Also, America can't claim the Pacific, because it already belongs to Fiji.