China nearly triggers another confrontation with US
AGLOBAL flashpoint was narrowly averted over the South China
Sea, one of the world’s most strategically sensitive areas, when a
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fighter jet flew dangerously close
to an American military reconnaissance plane. This sabre-rattling is part
of a pattern where the Chinese military precipitates or comes close to triggering hostilities, as the Tawang and Galwan Valley incidents testify. In a
similar incident in 2001, the PLA pilot had miscalculated and the plane
had collided with a US reconnaissance plane in what is known as the
Hainan incident. The Chinese pilot had lost his life, while the PLA captured the crew after the US plane made an emergency landing. This time,
the Chinese pilot got away after coming perilously close to the US plane.
The West had then compromised over the Hainan incident. Having
transferred its supply chain to China and profiting handsomely from
it, western nations were blindsided by Beijing about its long-term
intentions. Since then, Chinese aggressiveness in the South China
Sea, through which nearly one-third of the world’s shipping trade
passes, has repeatedly threatened to disrupt merchant shipping. Further East, China conducted a strike drill around Taiwan involving
dozens of fighter jets. PLA planes entered Taiwanese airspace over
1,700 times in 2022. The unsafe and unprofessional military manoeuvres by China, whether in the high ranges of the Himalayas or in
South China Sea, make it the only nation in the Indo-Pacific region
that refuses to abide by international laws.
The South China Sea is critical to fulfilling the needs, from energy
to semiconductor chips, of almost the entire globe. This entails freedom to fly, sail and operate at sea and in international airspace with
due regard for the safety of all vessels and aircraft under international law. The failure of the recent Biden-Xi summit to defuse tensions
is another indicator of Chinese incorrigibility. The dispute is unlikely
to be resolved in the near-term and that is why the Quad should quickly enlarge and evolve into a functioning multilateral organisation that
ensures a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Accident claim