Communist China Continues Illegal Actions in the South China Sea
by Judith Bergman • August 13, 2021 at 5:00 am
"The Chinese government's position on the arbitration is clear, 'not accept, not participate, and not recognize'... The 'arbitral award' deemed by China as 'a piece of scrap paper' has long been thrown into the dustbin of history." — Wu Shicun, President of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, Global Times, July 12, 2021.
"China's military recently deployed electronic warning and surveillance aircraft and helicopters on two disputed islands in the South China Sea in what analysts say is a sign that the People's Liberation Army has begun routine air operations from the bases." — The Washington Times, July 13, 2021.
In March, a huge Chinese fishing fleet descended on Whitsun Reef, which lies within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. The Philippine government called on China to cease "militarizing the area".
China also claims sovereignty over -- and has militarized some of -- the Paracel Islands, which it has occupied since 1974, and are also claimed by both Vietnam and Taiwan.
It has been five years since the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in a legally binding decision known as the South China Sea Arbitration Case, ruled against Communist China's claims to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.
The Philippine government filed the case against China in 2013 after China seized a reef over which both countries claim sovereignty. In addition to ruling against China's claim of historic rights to the South China Sea, the court found that China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone by interfering with its fishing and petroleum exploration, as well as by constructing artificial islands in the Spratly Islands archipelago, which had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment".
