Beijing deploying maritime boats affecting balance of power in South China Sea: Reports

Recent research conducted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) titled "Pulling Back the Curtain on China's Maritime Militia," made a key suggestion indicating that the deployment of Chinese maritime vessels has radically altered the peacetime balance of power in the South China Sea. The research stated that hundreds of Chinese maritime militia vessels operating in contentious parts of the South China Sea disrupt the balance of power and constitute a substantial challenge to maritime order anchored in international law.

The research said that the establishment of Chinese outposts with major port facilities in recent years has resulted in a significant increase in the number of maritime militia vessels heading to the contested Spratly Islands, according to ANI. The Indio-Pacific Defense Forum says that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been sponsoring the expansion of maritime boats to establish its claims in the South China Sea for years.

300 maritime militia vessels deployed in the Spratly Islands since August 2018

The research also stated that there have been roughly 300 maritime militia vessels deployed in large groups across the Spratly Islands since August 2018. The vessels are supported by the Chinese administration through subsidies that motivate local actors to construct vessels with military requirements and to operate them.

The majority of Chinese fishing vessels in disputed areas of the South China Sea do not operate as independent commercial actors, but rather as paid agents of the Chinese government obligated to help the administration attain its political and national security objectives. The report also included a list of 112 Chinese militia ships purportedly engaged in the South China Sea, as well as 52 more ships likely to be militia. Previously, Radio Free Asia examined Chinese corporate records, bidding documents, and Chinese official media to discover that a large number of fishermen are Chinese militiamen responsible for securing CCP outposts.

Marine militia playing a significant role

The research also asserted that since completing the building of its artificial island outposts in the Spratly Islands in 2016, the CCP has moved its focus to impose control over peacetime activities across the South China Sea, with the marine militia playing a significant role. According to ANI, militia boats have been sent to disputed waters in the Spratlys on a regular and massive scale since then. A recent large-scale deployment occurred in March 2021, when over 200 suspected militia boats assembled at Whitsun Reef in Union Banks.

(Inputs from ANI)

Image: AP