While many defense analysts are rightfully concerned over a potential Chinese military strike against Taiwan, elsewhere in the South China Sea, Communist China has been using a slower, more deliberate approach to its regional maritime expansion.
Unchallenged, over the past several years, China built up artificial islands in the contested Spratly Islands and then fortified them, turning them into People’s Liberation Army (PLA) bases. This despite the islands being claimed in part by the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.
In doing so, China created what the former head of the U.S. Pacific Command in 2018 called a “Great Wall of SAMs,” — surface-to-air missiles — on islands that years earlier Chinese leader Xi Jinping had pledged not to militarize.
And now we are witnessing the same strategy by the Chinese Communists (CHICOM) in the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan, but claimed by China where they are known as the Diaoyus.
Brad Lendon, in the CNN newsletter “Meanwhile in China,” calls the CHICOM approach “peeling back the onion.”
And the ultimate goal is to take over the islands without firing a shot.
Lendon notes this begins with the Chinese Coast Guard and even naval ships spending record amounts of time in the waters around the Senkakus this year. He adds:
Earlier this week, a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) frigate entered the waters in the contiguous zone around the Senkakus for only the fourth time since 2016, Japanese officials said.
A contiguous zone covers waters between islands that do not fall into the 12-nautical-mile limit of a nation’s territorial waters. Foreign warships are allowed into those waters — so the Chinese navy hasn’t broken any international agreements — and China’s Foreign Ministry told CNN earlier this year that the Chinese Coast Guard’s patrols in the waters surrounding the islands were “an appropriate exercise of China’s sovereign right.”
However, according to Lendon, James Brown, an associate professor of political science at Temple University in Tokyo argues that “Beijing’s goal is to establish and demonstrate effective control over the Senkaku Islands” and it needs symbols of that control.
Brown explains that to present an international legal claim to the islands over Japan, “China simply needs to establish a greater and more enduring presence of its ships in the waters around the islands.”
Meanwhile, Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessels continue to deliver warnings to the Chinese ships to leave. And Tokyo has said it has protested the Chinese presence near the Senkakus through diplomatic channels.
But, Brown notes, Tokyo’s protests are just words. And if Beijing ignores them and keeps on peeling the onion, Tokyo is only left with options it doesn’t have the stomach for, such as using force.
“Overall, Japan risks seeing its administration of the Senkaku Islands slip away,” Brown said.
And while the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty requires Washington to defend Japanese territory, to China that may not apply if Japan no longer exercises de facto control of the islands.
Brown says that “The US security commitment applies to ‘territories under the administration of Japan.’ Beijing may therefore be of the view that, if Japan no longer exercises such administration, the US security guarantee to the Senkaku Islands will no longer apply.”
Lendon concludes that “at that point, the onion will not only be peeled, it will be chopped.” ALD
READ NEXT: Fox’s McEnany Responds to Biden Adviser’s ‘Liberal World Order’ Remark >>
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for state and federal office, taught political science, wrote for the editorial board of a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad. To read more go to: paulcrespo.com.
& influence Islands we fought for in WW2
Way back ca. 1967 a veteran warned me: ‘Forget the Russians and the Arabs. The real danger is The Yellow Peril.’ These words have stuck with me ever since.
Those words are going to come back and haunt us. Sooner or later we, and hopefully our allies, are going to face the fact that we will end up at war with China. If we don’t stop them, then a lot of countries are going to become part of their empire, including the United States.
JAPAN IS THE MASTER OF THE FIRST STRIKE. ASK THE RUSSIANS, WHO SUNK THEIR FLEET AT PORT AUTHOR. REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR?
JUST LIKE TODAY WE NEVER SAW IT COMING. WE DON’T SEE FENTYNAL WARFARE TODAY. ILLEGAL VOTER PENETRATION OF A NATION BY THE DEMOCRAT COMMUNIST PARTY
MEANWHILE THE DEMOCRATS ARE KILLING BABIES AND GIVING OUR STRATEGIC OIL RESERVES TO CHINA. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A POW (PRISONER OF THE WOMB) LISTENING TO IT’S MY SELFISH BODY BULL SCHIFF. WANT AN EDUCATION IN DEMO COMMO OIL STEALING. GET MIKE SAVAGE TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE ELK HILLS PETROLEUM RESERVES. YOU BE SICK. http://WWW.TICKETOCKEE.COM
PUT BACK WHAT YOU STOLE FOR THE CHINESE JOE.
DID YOU HEAR WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION? HIS WATER BROKE. THEY TRANSFERRED HIM TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
Subject: Fw: MOTHERS DAY IS EXTENDED FOR 9 MONTHS.
https://youtu.be/g11RLHYXuWc
Fri, Jul 8 at 3:56 PM
PRESIDENT OF ALL THE PEOPLE TRUMP. CC:DON AND RON
THOSE WHO PIT YOU AGAINST DESANTIS WILL DESTROY THE BOTH OF YOU.
NO MATTER WHAT DESANTIS SAYS. DON SAYS I ADMIRE RON FOR ALL HE DOES.
I WILL NEVER SAY A WORD AGAINST HIM. WHAT EVER HE CHOOSES TO DO I SUPPORT
HIS EFFORTS.
BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW I HAVE A JOB TO FINISH. IT STARTS WITH GAS AT $1.67 A
GALLON AND THE LOWEST DIESEL FUEL PRICES IN DECADES. THE TARRIFFS BACK
ON CHINA. HALF THE PEOPLE NEVER CAME BACK TO WORK AND BIDEN SAYS THE WORKFORCE IS GROWING.
MADE IN USA HAS TO COME BACK BIG TIME. IF YOU LEFT AMERICAN WORKERS HIGH AND DRY TO EXPLOIT SLAVE LABOR OUTSIDE THE USA. I HAVE TARRIFFS WAITING FOR YOU.
THE WORD FOR TODAY TO THE BLACK, LATINO AND WHITE UNEDUCATED
COMMUNITIES STARVED FOR TRUTH IS MUCHO VOUCHERS.
http://WWW.TICKEETOCKEE.COM
BEWARE OF SELF SERVE COMMUNIST BABY KILLERS
Subject: Re: Shinzo Abe, Former Japanese Prime Minister, Assassinated
ABUTOM
right now
Awaiting for approval BY A CONSERVATIVE SITE?
THE PRIDE OF JAPAN. NO BETTER FRIEND TO THE USA WAS THIS WARRIOR.
HIS SMILE TOLD YOU EVERYTHING. HE WAS THE FIRST TO WELCOME PRESIDENT TRUMP AS PRESIDENT. THERE IS NO BETTER ALLY THAN JAPAN.
GOD BLESS SHINZO ABE THE SAMURAI OF PEACE.
http://WWW.TICKEETOCKEE.COM
DON’T FORGET THE BIG JERK GETS 10 PERCENT.
JAPAN IS THE MASTER OF THE FIRST STRIKE. ASK THE RUSSIANS, WHO SUNK THEIR FLEET AT PORT AUTHOR. REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR?
JUST LIKE TODAY WE NEVER SAW IT COMING. WE DON’T SEE FENTYNAL WARFARE TODAY. ILLEGAL VOTER PENETRATION OF A NATION BY THE DEMOCRAT COMMUNIST PARTY
MEANWHILE THE DEMOCRATS ARE KILLING BABIES AND GIVING OUR STRATEGIC OIL RESERVES TO CHINA. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A POW (PRISONER OF THE WOMB) LISTENING TO IT’S MY SELFISH BODY BULL SCHIFF. WANT AN EDUCATION IN DEMO COMMO OIL STEALING. GET MIKE SAVAGE TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE ELK HILLS PETROLEUM RESERVES. YOU BE SICK. http://WWW.TICKETOCKEE.COM
PUT BACK WHAT YOU STOLE FOR THE CHINESE JOE.
DID YOU HEAR WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION? HIS WATER BROKE. THEY TRANSFERRED HIM TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
Subject: Fw: MOTHERS DAY IS EXTENDED FOR 9 MONTHS.
https://youtu.be/g11RLHYXuWc
Fri, Jul 8 at 3:56 PM
PRESIDENT OF ALL THE PEOPLE TRUMP. CC:DON AND RON
THOSE WHO PIT YOU AGAINST DESANTIS WILL DESTROY THE BOTH OF YOU.
NO MATTER WHAT DESANTIS SAYS. DON SAYS I ADMIRE RON FOR ALL HE DOES.
I WILL NEVER SAY A WORD AGAINST HIM. WHAT EVER HE CHOOSES TO DO I SUPPORT
HIS EFFORTS.
BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW I HAVE A JOB TO FINISH. IT STARTS WITH GAS AT $1.67 A
GALLON AND THE LOWEST DIESEL FUEL PRICES IN DECADES. THE TARRIFFS BACK
ON CHINA. HALF THE PEOPLE NEVER CAME BACK TO WORK AND BIDEN SAYS THE WORKFORCE IS GROWING.
MADE IN USA HAS TO COME BACK BIG TIME. IF YOU LEFT AMERICAN WORKERS HIGH AND DRY TO EXPLOIT SLAVE LABOR OUTSIDE THE USA. I HAVE TARRIFFS WAITING FOR YOU.
THE WORD FOR TODAY TO THE BLACK, LATINO AND WHITE UNEDUCATED
COMMUNITIES STARVED FOR TRUTH IS MUCHO VOUCHERS.
http://WWW.TICKEETOCKEE.COM
BEWARE OF SELF SERVE COMMUNIST BABY KILLERS
Subject: Re: Shinzo Abe, Former Japanese Prime Minister, Assassinated
ABUTOM
right now
Awaiting for approval BY A CONSERVATIVE SITE?
THE PRIDE OF JAPAN. NO BETTER FRIEND TO THE USA WAS THIS WARRIOR.
HIS SMILE TOLD YOU EVERYTHING. HE WAS THE FIRST TO WELCOME PRESIDENT TRUMP AS PRESIDENT. THERE IS NO BETTER ALLY THAN JAPAN.
GOD BLESS SHINZO ABE THE SAMURAI OF PEACE.
http://WWW.TICKEETOCKEE.COM
_uck Nixon and Kissenger for visiting China!!
MacArthur wanted to nuke the Chinese during the Korean War. They thought he was nuts. Not so nuts now, huh!