Chinese ships are swarming a reef
In the South China Sea
Are they sheltering from rough seas?
Or taking more territory?
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
Trouble is brewing in the South China Sea.
This is Whitsun Reef.
It’s about 175 miles off the coast of the Philippines. It’s also in the Spratly Islands.
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because the Chinese Communist Party has been building
artificial islands in the Spratlys for almost a decade now.
More about those islands in a moment.
The recent news is, a massive Chinese fishing fleet has anchored at Whitsun Reef,
causing tension with the Philippines.
In early March, the Philippine Coast Guard spotted more than 200 Chinese ships at Whitsun Reef.
The Coast Guard later released this image of some of those ships.
And the Philippine Defense Secretary has asked the Chinese vessels to leave.
That’s because Whitsun Reef is within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone,
according to international maritime law.
But to no one’s surprise, the Chinese Communist Party has ignored international maritime law.
“China ignored the call, insisting it owns the offshore territory
and that the vessels were sheltering from rough seas.”
Territorial claims aside, sheltering from rough seas sounds reasonable, right? The problem is,
that’s a lie.
It’s a lie because these Chinese ships have been at Whitsun Reef since December 2020.
That’s according to Simularity, a tech company that analyzes satellite images.
The satellite imagery shows that large numbers of Chinese ships have been arriving, mooring,
and departing Whitsun Reef since mid-December.
In these images from last week, Simularity counted approximately 200 Chinese ships,
including some which may be Chinese Coast Guard ships.
They also said that only one ship appeared to be visibly fishing.
And in images from March and stretching back to December, you can see these ships moored together.
Which is also what’s happening in this photo released by the Philippine Coast Guard.
As Simularity points out, the ships lashed together like this
are not fishing. They’re also not waiting out rough seas,
because lashing ships together in rough seas can damage them. So that’s also a lie.
So what are these ships doing? Are they playing bumper boats?
Are they LARPing Waterworld?
Maybe they’re forming a fishing vessel MegaZord.
Or doing a historical reenactment of the Battle of the Red Cliffs.
Or they’re getting together for a massive TikTok sea shanty singalong.
But if it’s not any of those, the most likely explanation is the Chinese Communist Party is
trying to occupy Whitsun Reef. Those ships will stay there until everyone else just gives up
and accepts it. And then the Chinese Communist Party will take over the reef,
and eventually start building an artificial island on top.
And that’s even more likely given that at least some of those Chinese fishing vessels
are actually part of China’s Maritime Militia.
In fact, tracking shows that several of these Maritime Militia ships
have been patrolling the area for the last year.
And they’re patrolling in patterns that no normal fishing vessels would ever exhibit.
When faced with accusations from the Philippines that these fishing vessels are actually part of
China’s maritime militia, the Chinese embassy said, “There is no Chinese Maritime Militia.”
Which is another lie. Boy they’re good at that. More after the break.
Welcome back.
If all this Whitsun Reef stuff feels like deja vu,
it’s because a similar thing happened back in 2012. At the Scarborough Shoal.
There was a two-month standoff between Chinese and Philippine ships at the shoal. Until the US
stepped in to negotiate.
“By the end of the meeting between Kurt Campbell, then the top US diplomat for Asia,
and Fu Ying, China’s vice foreign minister for Asia,
the US side believed they had an agreement for both sides to withdraw.”
But the Chinese side immediately broke the agreement.
Because when the Philippines withdrew their ships, the Chinese ships stayed.
And the Chinese regime has pretty much controlled the Scarborough Shoal since then.
When we went to the Scarborough Shoal in 2016 in a Filipino fishing boat,
we could see the Chinese coast guard ships guarding the entrance to the shoal.
And although we were able to get to the shoal, Chinese ships often stop Filipino boats from being
able to go there. The boat we were on had even previously been rammed by the Chinese coast guard.
So far, the Chinese Communist Party hasn’t built an artificial island at the Scarborough Shoal.
They’re content to just hold onto their control over the area.
But that’s not the case in the Spratly Islands, where Whitsun Reef is located.
The Chinese regime has already built 7 artificial islands in the Spratlys.
Since 2013, China has added 3,200 acres of new land in the Spratlys.
One of these new islands, on Hughes Reef, is only 10 nautical miles from Whitsun Reef.
Three of China’s most advanced artificial islands
are in the Spratlys as well: Subi Reef, Mischief Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef.
In 2018, China quietly installed missile systems on those islands.
So if the Chinese regime takes over Whitsun Reef, which was previously unoccupied,
it’s much more likely they’ll build an island there, too.
Especially because many of the areas near Whitsun Reef are claimed by other countries.
The closest occupied reefs are claimed by Vietnam.
Which means Vietnam is not happy about the situation, either.
So this could become an even bigger standoff than the Scarborough Shoal incident back in 2012.
The Philippines is now sending fighter aircraft over the Chinese vessels to monitor the situation.
And the Philippines defense secretary says the “military will also beef up its naval presence
in the South China Sea to conduct ‘sovereignty patrols’ and protect Filipino fishermen.”
Meanwhile, the US has said it backs the Philippines in this standoff.
The US Embassy in Manila also accused China of using “maritime militia to intimidate,
provoke, and threaten other nations, which undermines peace and security in the region.”
You know, the Maritime Militia that the Chinese regime says doesn’t even exist.
But here’s the danger for the Biden administration. President Biden’s Asia czar is
Kurt Campbell. Campbell is the guy who negotiated the failed Scarborough Shoal deal in 2012.
The Obama administration’s mistake still has repercussions today. “The fact that China got
away with reneging on the 2012 Scarborough Shoal deal continues to undermine U.S. credibility.”
US allies like the Philippines believed they had to adopt a friendlier policy
to the Chinese Communist Party because the US wouldn’t be able to help them.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party adopted the “Scarborough model.” It still uses those
same tactics to take over territory elsewhere, bit by bit. They do it all over the South China Sea.
And on the Indian border. And the Party is not going to stop, because it works.
So what happens now at Whitsun Reef?
The best case scenario is: international pressure mounts
until the Chinese ships are forced to leave.
But so far, the Chinese Communist Party is just denying everything and showing no
sign of backing down. Which means the US will likely have to get involved.
The US has said it backs the Philippines.
But would the Biden administration make the same mistake as the Obama administration?
Will they believe the Chinese Communist Party’s lies?
If they do make that mistake, that would be a huge blow to the US
and its ability to keep the peace in the region. And it would be a huge
win for the Chinese Communist Party and its ultimate goal to control the South China Sea.
So let’s hope the US has learned its lesson from 2012.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from a member of the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army,
fans who support the show on the crowdfunding website Patreon.
Ian Jackson asks, “Ahh Chris. You're like a Taiwanese pineapple. Rough on the outside,
sweet on the inside and the CCP is trying to ban you. So,
What's the story with the CCP? When will they learn that trying to ban
something just makes everybody look at it in greater detail? Didn't they get the memo?”
Well Ian, I never really thought about it before, but I guess I am like a Taiwanese Pineapple.
If you didn’t see our episode about it,
China recently banned the import of Taiwanese pineapple.
But that created a huge backlash. In four days,
the people of Taiwan bought the entire year's worth of exports.
And then globally, people began buying up Taiwanese pineapples.
So I guess that’s one bright side to the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive behavior. It often
backfires, blowing up in its face and exposing the true nature of the Party to the world’s people.
Let’s hope the same thing happens with Whitsun Reef.
Thanks for your question Ian.
And thank you for watching. If you’d like me to answer your question on the show,
join the China Uncensored 50 Cent army for as little as a dollar per episode on the
crowd funding website Patreon. Visit patreon.com/chinauncensored for more.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.