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China is responding to closer cooperation between the Philippines and Japan by expanding its presence east of Taiwan in an apparent bid to establish jurisdiction over waters in the Philippine Sea, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said in a report released on Wednesday. The "unprecedented" Chinese operations — including sustained "law-enforcement" patrols, surveys near Taiwan and questioning nearly 200 commercial vessels — followed a May agreement between Japan and the Philippines to negotiate a maritime boundary, said the research group, which monitors maritime security issues in Asia. The activity could also help normalize a Chinese presence around Taiwan and is stoking concerns that Beijing is testing tactics relevant to a future quarantine or blockade, AMTI said.
Photo: AFP "The scale and character of China's response suggest that these operations are not just about sending a signal to Tokyo and Manila," the Washington-based policy program said in the report. Beijing might be trying to alter the "status quo" by establishing a semipermanent presence east of Taiwan and asserting authority there, AMTI said. The maneuvers mark an escalation in tensions with Tokyo and Manila and employ the same kind of "gray zone" tactics commonplace in Beijing's South China Sea disputes. Japan and the Philippines have taken more assertive positions, suggesting in the past few months they could be drawn into any fight over Taiwan, remarks that have irked Beijing. Japan and the Philippines have also moved to deepen military ties, agreeing this year to elevate their relationship and open a series of defense talks. Since June, Chinese law-enforcement activity, mainly involving two ships, was concentrated east of Taiwan in an area where Japan and the Philippines have overlapping maritime claims, AMTI said. By contrast, virtually no Chinese law-enforcement deployment was observed there in the five months before the delimitation talks were announced. China also issued a legal warning against the two nations last month over their maritime border talks, saying the discussions "constitute a severe provocation against the 'one China' principle." Beijing disputes Japan's control of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) — known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan — in the East China Sea. With the Philippines, it contests sovereignty and maritime rights across parts of the South China Sea, including at Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) and in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), where other nations, including Vietnam, are also bolstering defenses as China's military capabilities grow. Taiwan also lays claim to the Diaoyutais, Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands. "The operations in the Philippine Sea suggest Beijing seeks broad and unprecedented jurisdiction over what it calls its 'near seas,'" AMTI said in its report. Additional reporting by staff writer
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