China Will Test the New US Administration, but the Questions Are How and Where
Joe Varner | 02.05.21
China Will Test the New US Administration, but the Questions Are How and Where
Within days of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Beijing was stoking the fire with a further crackdown in Hong Kong and bellicose warnings to Taiwan that any attempts at independence for Taipei would mean war.
Beijing also passed a law allowing its coast guard to use force to protect its interests in the South China and East China Seas. This compounds an already tense set of disputes that have seen China construct militarized islands and even set up two municipal units to govern the area it claims. China’s claim includes the waters and territories of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Even Indonesia’s Natuna Islands are under Chinese pressure and incursions into its waters. More than half of global shipping tonnage passes through the strategic Strait of Malacca, Sunda Strait, and Lombok Strait, most of which moves on into the South China Sea. Without question the region is one of the most strategic waterways in the world. Beijing’s claims have been denied by the International Court in a 2016 ruling, its neighbors in the Western Pacific, and the United States, which conducts freedom of navigation operations with its own warships and those of its allies to deny those claims. With a new administration in the White House, there are a few potential flashpoints in the South China and East China Seas that Beijing might use to test American resolve to defend its allies and, thereby, shake regional confidence in the United States’ security guarantee. The disputed Scarborough Shoal and Thitu Island come to mind, as do Japan’s Senkaku Islands and Taiwan’s Pratas Island.
https://mwi.usma.edu/china-will-test-the-new-us-administration-but-the-questions-are-how-and-where/
