Navy deploys TWO warships to South China Sea amid sabre-rattling standoff between Malaysia and China

Two U.S. warships are operating in the South China Sea, the Navy said on Tuesday, with three regional security sources saying they were near an area of a standoff between China and Malaysia.

The Haiyang Dizhi 8, a Chinese government research ship, was spotted last week conducting a survey close to an exploration vessel operated by Malaysia’s state oil company Petronas, months after it undertook a similar patrol off Vietnam.

The incident prompted the United States to call on China to stop its ‘bullying behavior’ in the disputed waters, citing concern over Beijing’s provocative actions towards offshore oil and gas developments there.

The U.S. State Department has said China was taking advantage of the region’s focus on the coronavirus pandemic to ‘coerce its neighbors’.

The USS America amphibious assault ship and the USS Bunker Hill, a guided missile cruiser, have been deployed and were operating in the South China Sea, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command spokeswoman Nicole Schwegman said on Tuesday.

‘Through our continued operational presence in the South China Sea, we are working … to promote freedom of navigation and overflight, and the international principles that underpin security and prosperity for the Indo-Pacific,’ Schwegman said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

‘The U.S. supports the efforts of our allies and partners to determine their own economic interests.’

Rear Admiral Fred Kacher, commander of the USS America Expeditionary Strike Group, told Reuters that his forces had interacted with Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea this week.

‘All our interactions continue to be safe and professional with them,’ Kacher said in a telephone interview from the USS America.

Schwegman did not state the exact location of the warships but security sources said they were close to the Haiyang Dizhi 8 and the Petronas-operated West Capella drillship. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The area is near waters claimed by both Vietnam and Malaysia as well by China, through its sweeping claim to most of the South China Sea within its U-shaped ‘nine-dash line’ that is not recognized by its neighbors or most of the world.

China has denied reports of a stand-off, saying that the Haiyang Dizhi 8 was conducting normal activities.

‘The ‘confrontation’  at sea you mention did not happen,’ the foreign ministry said in a faxed response to Reuters’ questions on Monday.

The Chinese survey vessel’s moves this month come as Beijing ramps up coronavirus diplomacy, donating large supplies of medical equipment and aid to Southeast Asian countries.

A team of Chinese medical experts arrived this week in Malaysia, which has reported more than 5,400 coronavirus infections. 

The United States has accused China of taking advantage of the distraction of the pandemic and becoming increasingly assertive in the region as the coronavirus crisis eases on the mainland while raging elsewhere in the world. 

On Sunday, Vietnam protested after China said it had established two administrative districts on the Paracel and Spratly islands in the disputed waters.  

The U.S. State Department said China was taking advantage of the region’s focus on the pandemic to ‘coerce its neighbors’ with a crackdown in Hong Kong and saber-rattling around Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

In a significant strike against democracy activists in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, police in the city arrested 15 people on Saturday, just days after a senior Beijing official called for the local government to introduce national security legislation ‘as soon as possible.’

The arrests drew a strong rebuke from the United States and Britain.

China has also been flying regular fighter patrols near Chinese-claimed Taiwan, to the island’s anger, and has sent a survey ship flanked by coast guard and other vessels into the South China Sea, prompting the United States to accuse Beijing of ‘bullying behavior.’

‘Now that the domestic coronavirus outbreak has been stabilized, China wants to send an important signal to the world that its military and foreign affairs, previously put on hold, are back on track,’ said Cheng Xiaohe, associate professor of international politics at Beijing’s Renmin University.

China describes Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea as its most sensitive territorial issues.

The most dramatic actions have been close to Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its own. Beijing has been angered by moves by President Tsai Ing-wen during the outbreak to assert the island’s separate identity from China.

In the latest uptick in tensions, China’s navy this month sailed a battle group, led by the country’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, around Taiwan’s east coast and has mounted regular air force drills near the island.

Lo Chih-cheng, a senior legislator with Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said China was showing that its military power had not been affected by the virus and that things had returned to normal.

‘The other aspect is of course to test whether the combat strength of the U.S. military has been reduced due to the impact of the epidemic,’ he said.

The pandemic’s first cases were reported in late December in China’s Wuhan city. China has reported almost 83,000 cases and more than 4,600 deaths, but the situation there is now largely under control.

The United States has by far the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 780,000 infections and over 42,300 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.

The United States has berthed one of its carriers in the region, the Theodore Roosevelt, in Guam, with nearly 14% of the crew testing positive for the coronavirus.

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a short statement: ‘No matter when or where, China resolutely safeguards its sovereignty, security and development interests.’ China’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus expressed serious concern about recent Chinese moves.

‘The United States strongly opposes PRC efforts to take advantage of the region’s focus on addressing the COVID pandemic in order to coerce its neighbors in the region. We call for the PRC to live up to its international obligations,’ she said, referring to the People’s Republic of China. 

The U.S. military has also carried out its own South China Sea drills, and sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, most recently this month on the same day that Chinese fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers drilled in waters close to the island.

Rear Admiral Fred Kacher, commander of the USS America Expeditionary Strike Group, told Reuters that his forces had interacted with Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea this week.

‘All our interactions continue to be safe and professional with them,’ Kacher said in a telephone interview from the USS America, an amphibious assault ship.

China’s navy says the Liaoning was heading for the South China Sea as part of routine exercise plans, and that it would continue with such drills to ‘speed up the increase of the combat capability of the carrier group system.’

Beijing this month denounced criticism from the United States of its recent South China Sea moves, saying Washington had been using the South China Sea issue to smear China.

China claims much of the resource-rich South China Sea, also a major trade route. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei all have competing claims with China.

‘China’s recent activities in the South China Sea and elsewhere in Asia have shown its intention to further militarize the area,’ said Ha Hoang Hop at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Former Philippines foreign minister Albert Del Rosario said on Sunday that China ‘has been relentless in exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic as it continues to pursue its illegal and expansive claims in the South China Sea.’

A senior Taiwan official told Reuters that its interpretation was that Beijing’s aggressiveness was due to President Xi Jinping’s need to boost his prestige at home as Beijing tackles mounting international criticism over the handling of the pandemic, a slowing economy and rising tensions with Washington.

‘If the Communists need a conflict, Taiwan will be their top choice,’ said the official, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter. ‘But it is highly risky for Xi’s regime and we do not think they will rush into danger.’