There is an ugly arms race heating up in East Asia that has Taiwan trapped in the middle, and there do not appear to be any easily achievable means of resolving the tensions.
However, what would help is a united stance by those directly at risk, as well as their allies, against China, which is relying on bullying tactics to get its way.
Satellite photographs of two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers and a radar system on Woody Island (Yongxing Island, 永興島) that US broadcaster Fox News aired on Tuesday led to the usual obfuscation efforts by China.
Beijing on Thursday admitted that it has put weaponry on the island, but besides claiming that the unnamed equipment had been there for decades, it tried to play the victim card, accusing Western media of hyping the story and claiming it has the right to put “defensive facilities” on “its own” territory.
Yet, as US Secretary of State John Kerry reminded the world on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) promised during a news conference at the White House last year that there would be no militarization of the South China Sea.
While Xi was actually referencing the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), not the Paracels (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), of which Woody Island is the largest, it would be a good idea for all concerned to hold Xi to the region at large.
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) on Thursday tried to evade the issue by saying that the limited defensive facilities deployed in China’s territory have nothing do with militarization, while Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said that deploying national defense facilities on the island was not new and is “legitimate, reasonable and justified.”
Yet, as the Philippine military commander responsible for the South China Sea said, any such missile deployment is of concern to the international community because “there is no reason to deploy them if you are not going use them... If they have that there, they have the intention to use it.”
However, it is not just the usual voices that have spoken out about the missile deployment.
Unusually forthright language has come from some unexpected quarters, such as Klaus Botzet, head of the political section of the EU delegation in Washington, who said that China’s policy of military buildup is “forcing its neighbors into alliances against itself; positions its neighbors otherwise wouldn’t take” and that the EU “strongly supports the American guarantee of international law in Asia.”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that while Canberra does not take sides on the competing claims in the South China Sea, there “is a massive vested interest in reducing tensions.”
There has been a reluctance on the part of the US and others in the past to confront Beijing too strongly on its militarization of international waters because of the perceived need for its cooperation in reaching deals involving other high-risk issues — a nuclear accord with Iran, sanctions on North Korea over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear arms tests and various conflicts in the Middle East.
However, that policy has ignored Beijing’s own key role in stoking those crises through direct sales of military equipment and nuclear technology — or by ignoring sales by people like Li Fangwei (李方偉), also known as Karl Lee.
It also ignores that Beijing’s influence over North Korea has waned since Kim Jong-un came to power.
The time for politeness is past. Putting shelters for fishermen, medical facilities, weather and radar stations and coast guard facilities on islands in the region, as Taiwan has on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), is one thing. Missile batteries is another.
If Xi wants to prove China’s aims are peaceful, Beijing must remove the missiles from Woody Island.
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