Beijing flexes military muscle ahead of South China Sea ruling

CHINA has sealed off disputed islands in the South China Sea for ‘military exercises’ as an international court prepares to hand down its verdict on the simmering territorial dispute.

www.news.com.au reports:

Beijing announced the manoeuvres will be held in waters between its southernmost territory, Hainan island, and the contested Paracel Islands from July 5 to 11. International shipping and aircraft are prohibited from entering the waters during that time.

The military exercises will conclude the night before an international tribunal in The Hague prepares to rule on a case brought by The Philippines challenging China’s claims in the strategic waterway.

Manila lodged the suit against Beijing in early 2013, saying that after 17 years of negotiations it had exhausted all political and diplomatic avenues to settle the dispute.

Beijing, which asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea despite rival claims from Southeast Asian neighbours, insists that the Permanent Court of Arbitration has no jurisdiction over the issue and has boycotted the proceedings.

It insists it is simply exercising its ancient right to the entire South China Sea.

CHINA DIGS IN ITS HEELS

Basing its claims on a vaguely defined "nine-dash” Chinese map dating back to the 1940s, it has rapidly turned reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes, missiles and troops.

Manila contends that the "nine-dash” line has no basis under international law and Beijing has no "historic” claim to the ocean.

Vietnam has staked its claim to the Paracel Islands, while The Philippines is concerned about Chinese activity in the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal.

Tensions in the South China Sea have alarmed other nations, and most notably the United States which has key defence treaties with many allies in the region, and in a show of strength has sent warships close to some of the Chinese claimed reefs.

But President Xi Jinping said in a speech last week that China will never compromise on sovereignty, and that the country was "not afraid of trouble”.

In an apparent stab at the US, Xi said: "We will not show up at other people’s front doors to flex our muscles. That does not show strength or scare anyone.”

Now, it is flexing its own muscle in anticipation of an unfavourable court ruling.

Official Chinese news agency Xinhau reported the country’s foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei as repeating the assertion that the international arbitral tribunal has no jurisdiction as territorial sovereignty over the South China sea "is beyond the scope of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”

"The Philippines’ act is an abuse of international law and the international arbitration mechanism,” he said.

THE GREAT WALL OF SAND

The past year has seen steadily mounting military activity in the South China Sea as the United States and others engage in ‘freedom of navigation’ operations to demonstrate the sea’s status as an international waterway.

Late in July, the United States sailed two of its enormous nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and their accompanying warships, through the region in a clear signal to Beijing.

India, Japan and even Australia have sent patrol aircraft and ships close to the chain of artificial islands China insists establish its territorial sovereignty over the sea.

As recently as last month, Chinese fighter jets intercepted a US surveillance aircraft, indicating Beijing’s displeasure at its presence.

Beijing has also this deployed combat aircraft and surface-to-air missiles to a new runway on Woody Island, the largest Chinese facility in the disputed Paracel islands.

Indonesian vessels, meanwhile, have fired warning shots near Chinese fishing vessels it says had intruded into its territorial waters.

The latest Chinese military exercises represent yet another step in a growing game of brinkmanship.

Trillions of dollars worth of international trade passes through the waterway, which also contains rich stocks of oil and gas, as well as vital fisheries.