By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The People’s Liberation Army – Navy has spy planes and warships on “high-alert” in the South China Sea in response to joint US-Philippines patrols in the area, according to a Chinese-government-backed newspaper.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was at the scene and on high alert when the US and Philippines launched a joint patrol in the South China Sea,” the Chinese Global Times reports.
The paper says that a PLA Navy Type 054A Frigate and Y-9 surveillance plane “kept watch” on the US-Philippines patrol.
While the PLA has escalated language previously, the use of the term “high alert” does seem to break new ground in the realm of growing tensions between the PRC and the Philippines, particularly following the recent incident where a PLA Navy warship collided with a Philippine vessel.
It is not clear how close the PLA Navy warships were in relation to the US-Philippine patrol in the area, yet the growing tensions highlight the continued risks associated with the South China sea, a longstanding “flashpoint” and potential areas of confrontation. Territorial claims and provocative maneuvers on the part of the PLA have been happening in the South China Sea for many years, yet they have fallen slightly beneath the radar due to other global events.
A published US Navy essay refers to its joint patrols with the Armed Forces of the Philippines as a “Maritime Cooperative Activity” designed to show solidarity and “advance combined capabilities in the maritime domain.”
US Navy Comments on Joint US-Philippine patrols
The US Navy’s participation includes the USS Gabrielle Giffords, and independence-variant of the littoral combat ship and a P-8A Poseidon assigned to the “Fighting Tigers” Navy patrol squadron. Armed Forces of the Philippines operated two FA-50PH aircraft
C7F units participating in the MCA are the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), assigned to Destroyer Squadron 7, and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, assigned to the “Fighting Tigers” of Patrol Squadron (VP) 8.
AFP units participating are two FA-50PH aircraft, an A-29B Super Tucano aircraft, and three Philippine Navy ships: BRP Conrado Yap, BRP Jose Rizal, and BRP Gregorio del Pilar.
Reports of the PLA Navy being on “high alert” does not instantly translate into an inevitable military confrontation but does align with a recent increase in PLA more aggressive operations, something Western observes speculate could be related to thoughts that the US could now be distracted by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The possibility of potential US-PLA confrontation in the South China Sea does not seem likely to disappear or even decrease anytime soon and goes back many years. China claims territorial ownership of the entire region, in part due to its “nine-dash-line” claim to the area, a concept or claim dating back hundreds of years to China’s dynastic era. Multiple US allied countries, however, such as the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and other SouthEast Asian countries have territorial claims in the region as well. The tension surrounds the entire island chain throughout the region, particularly a collection of islands called the Spratly Islands.
For many years now, the Pentagon has been conducting what it calls Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) in an effort to challenge what it considers illegitimate Chinese claims. These FONOPS increased as far back as 10 years ago in response to China’s “phony” island building in the area, referred to by the US as Island Reclamation. These PRC efforts to build or “add” land to disputed island areas, captured on video by US Navy P-8 spy planes, were considered by the Pentagon to be illegal and illegitimate PRC claims.
Given that the widely followed US Law of the Sea Convention specifies that 12-miles off the coast of an Island area amounts to that country’s territory, the US Navy sailed its FONOPS within the 12-mile boundary of areas claimed by China to “counter” and “defy” China’s claims to the territory. In response, the PLA Navy has conducted aircraft carrier patrols and regular training operations in the South China Sea.
Therefore, while the PRC and the US and its allies likely seek to avoid miscalculation or any kind of unintended military escalation, the possibility does seem to be increasingly likely given current events and the PLA’s “high alert” response.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
