China Takes Advantage of COVID-19 to Challenge and Change the Global Order
CHINO Keiko / Journalist
July 14, 2020
As COVID-19 sweeps the world, China’s unshakable resolve to change the post-war international order is becoming increasingly evident. One such maneuver is happening on Japan’s own turf.
Chinese government vessels navigated in the contiguous water area outside Japan’s territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands (Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture), with occasional intrusions into Japan’s territorial waters, for 74 consecutive days (as of June 26) from April 14. This is the longest such incursion since the so-called nationalization of the Senkaku Islands in September 2012, and the record keeps mounting as of this writing. Whatever their intention may be, this is a startling and worrying situation. What is even more startling is how little sense of crisis is felt in the international community, especially among the Japanese people.
The longest record of such consecutive navigation by Chinese government vessels in the past was 64 consecutive days, from April 12 to June 14, 2019. The next longest record was 43 consecutive days from August 9 to September 20, 2014 followed by the recent navigation lasting for 37 consecutive days from March 6 to April 11, 2020.
In short, the Chinese government vessels navigated these waters for over 110 consecutive days this year, except for a 2-day break on April 12 and 13. Does this constitute a “new normal on the sea” in Chinese eyes?
Given China’s claim that the Senkaku Islands are their inherent territory and constitute their core interest, they would argue that the navigation of their government vessels is purely their domestic matter. Thus they have come to not only assert that these islands are their territory, but to put their assertion into action.
In addition to breaking the navigation record in the Japan’s waters, they escalated their arrogant actions, behaving as if they owned the place. Having intruded into Japanese territorial waters as they chased a Japanese fishing boat on May 8, the Chinese government vessels ignored Japan’s protest of their own infringement and responded imperiously that the fishing boat was conducting illegal fishing in Chinses territorial waters and demanded that Japan refrain from causing new troubles. Disregarding Japan’s warnings, the Chinese government vessels remained in the Japanese territorial waters for a few more days.
Some points out that this follows the first of the Thirty-six Secret Stratagems dating from ancient China: “Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean.” It is an art of war by which you deceive your adversary while wearing a completely innocent face. You openly keep doing one thing multiple times and create a constant state of false alarm until your opponent drops his guard, then you attack at will.
Admittedly, in the past, the appearance of large China Coast Guard vessels in the waters off the Senkaku Islands used to stir up the media. What about now? You will only find a small column tucked into the corner of one national newspaper simply mentioning the number of consecutive days of their appearance. It remains unreported by the rest. It seems that we are all but numbed by now. I am not at all sure to what extent the Japanese people are aware of the reality.
Thus the possibility can no longer be totally denied of a contingency on any day, at any time, where China might take advantage of a momentary lapse of vigilance on our part and land on the Senkaku Islands or engage in some agitation or provocation preliminary to the landing. China’s beef-up of its naval capability, operational integration of its Coast Guard with its Navy, growing self-confidence or even arrogance shown by its authorities and other circumstantial evidences suggest that the likelihood of the Senkaku Islands becoming the next hot spot is in no way diminished but augmented.
It was back in 1992, almost 30 years ago, when China quietly enacted its Territorial Sea Law encompassing the Spratly Islands and the Senkaku Islands. Though an adversarial act, one could grudgingly credit them for such a long-term strategy. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, China finally established its new administrative units, “Xisha District” and “Nansha District”, ignoring the territorial claims of Vietnam and the Philippines for the Spratly Islands. The Spratly Islands have long been regarded as fallen into Chinese hands. Now they have entered the final stage of “Chinalization”.
Who could say that the fate of the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea today would not befall the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea tomorrow? Now that China has the South more or less under control, they may have shifted their focus northward to deal with the Senkaku Islands or Taiwan. We should at least be vigilant. Effective control is everything when it comes to territorial disputes, and once it is taken away, it is too late.
China’s recent hegemonic and heavy-handed actions in East Asian waters might forebode serious consequences as described above. It is high time for Japan to sound the alarm with clearer statements and policies, underlining the nature and urgency of the problem to people at home and abroad. We have come to the limit of entrusting the protection of the sea solely to the Japan Maritime Safety Agency. They deserve our sympathy for being overburdened.
The international community needs a powerful alarm clock to awaken itself to China. If I speak with candor at the risk of being misunderstood, China’s actions at sea could be far more threatening to the peace and security of Japan and East Asia than North Korean missiles.
Chino Keiko is a freelance journalist and Guest Columnist of the Sankei Shimbun.
Chinese government vessels navigated in the contiguous water area outside Japan’s territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands (Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture), with occasional intrusions into Japan’s territorial waters, for 74 consecutive days (as of June 26) from April 14. This is the longest such incursion since the so-called nationalization of the Senkaku Islands in September 2012, and the record keeps mounting as of this writing. Whatever their intention may be, this is a startling and worrying situation. What is even more startling is how little sense of crisis is felt in the international community, especially among the Japanese people.
The longest record of such consecutive navigation by Chinese government vessels in the past was 64 consecutive days, from April 12 to June 14, 2019. The next longest record was 43 consecutive days from August 9 to September 20, 2014 followed by the recent navigation lasting for 37 consecutive days from March 6 to April 11, 2020.
In short, the Chinese government vessels navigated these waters for over 110 consecutive days this year, except for a 2-day break on April 12 and 13. Does this constitute a “new normal on the sea” in Chinese eyes?
Given China’s claim that the Senkaku Islands are their inherent territory and constitute their core interest, they would argue that the navigation of their government vessels is purely their domestic matter. Thus they have come to not only assert that these islands are their territory, but to put their assertion into action.
In addition to breaking the navigation record in the Japan’s waters, they escalated their arrogant actions, behaving as if they owned the place. Having intruded into Japanese territorial waters as they chased a Japanese fishing boat on May 8, the Chinese government vessels ignored Japan’s protest of their own infringement and responded imperiously that the fishing boat was conducting illegal fishing in Chinses territorial waters and demanded that Japan refrain from causing new troubles. Disregarding Japan’s warnings, the Chinese government vessels remained in the Japanese territorial waters for a few more days.
Some points out that this follows the first of the Thirty-six Secret Stratagems dating from ancient China: “Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean.” It is an art of war by which you deceive your adversary while wearing a completely innocent face. You openly keep doing one thing multiple times and create a constant state of false alarm until your opponent drops his guard, then you attack at will.
Admittedly, in the past, the appearance of large China Coast Guard vessels in the waters off the Senkaku Islands used to stir up the media. What about now? You will only find a small column tucked into the corner of one national newspaper simply mentioning the number of consecutive days of their appearance. It remains unreported by the rest. It seems that we are all but numbed by now. I am not at all sure to what extent the Japanese people are aware of the reality.
Thus the possibility can no longer be totally denied of a contingency on any day, at any time, where China might take advantage of a momentary lapse of vigilance on our part and land on the Senkaku Islands or engage in some agitation or provocation preliminary to the landing. China’s beef-up of its naval capability, operational integration of its Coast Guard with its Navy, growing self-confidence or even arrogance shown by its authorities and other circumstantial evidences suggest that the likelihood of the Senkaku Islands becoming the next hot spot is in no way diminished but augmented.
It was back in 1992, almost 30 years ago, when China quietly enacted its Territorial Sea Law encompassing the Spratly Islands and the Senkaku Islands. Though an adversarial act, one could grudgingly credit them for such a long-term strategy. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, China finally established its new administrative units, “Xisha District” and “Nansha District”, ignoring the territorial claims of Vietnam and the Philippines for the Spratly Islands. The Spratly Islands have long been regarded as fallen into Chinese hands. Now they have entered the final stage of “Chinalization”.
Who could say that the fate of the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea today would not befall the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea tomorrow? Now that China has the South more or less under control, they may have shifted their focus northward to deal with the Senkaku Islands or Taiwan. We should at least be vigilant. Effective control is everything when it comes to territorial disputes, and once it is taken away, it is too late.
China’s recent hegemonic and heavy-handed actions in East Asian waters might forebode serious consequences as described above. It is high time for Japan to sound the alarm with clearer statements and policies, underlining the nature and urgency of the problem to people at home and abroad. We have come to the limit of entrusting the protection of the sea solely to the Japan Maritime Safety Agency. They deserve our sympathy for being overburdened.
The international community needs a powerful alarm clock to awaken itself to China. If I speak with candor at the risk of being misunderstood, China’s actions at sea could be far more threatening to the peace and security of Japan and East Asia than North Korean missiles.
Chino Keiko is a freelance journalist and Guest Columnist of the Sankei Shimbun.
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
コロナ禍に乗じて国際秩序変更に挑戦する中国
千野 境子 / ジャーナリスト
2020年 7月 14日
新型コロナウイルスが世界を席巻する中、中国の戦後国際秩序変更への揺るがぬ意志がいよいよ明らかになってきた。しかもその一つは日本のお膝下で進行中だ。
中国公船が尖閣諸島（沖縄県石垣市）周辺の領海外側の接続水域で、時に領海侵入しつつ、4月14日以来74日（6月26日現在）間にわたり航行し、尖閣諸島国有化（2012年9月）以降の連続日数最長記録を更新中だ。意図はどうあれ驚愕に値する憂慮すべき事態と言えるが、この事実に国際社会はもとより日本人の間でさえ危機感の薄いこと、これまた驚くばかりである。
これまでの連続航行記録は2019年4月12日から同6月14日までの64日だった。次は2014年8月9日から9月20日までの43日、次いで直近の今年3月6日から4月11日までの37日だ。
つまり今年、中国公船は4月12日と13日の中２日休んだだけで、110日以上連続航行しているのだ。中国はこれを海のニューノーマルとでも称するのだろうか。
中国にすれば、尖閣諸島は固有の領土であり、核心的利益なのだから公船の航行は完全に国内事案との理屈で、今や尖閣諸島を領土であると主張するだけでなく、有言実行の挙に出ているわけだろう。
だから記録更新に加えて我が物顔ぶりの行動もエスカレートしている。5月8日に領海侵入した際は日本漁船を追尾し、日本の抗議に自分を棚に上げ、「漁船は中国の領域で違法操業を行っていた。日本は新たな騒ぎを起こさぬよう希望する」といかにも上から目線で日本の警告を無視し、公船はその後も数日間日本の領海内に留まっていた。
これは中国の兵法三十六計の「瞞天過海（まんてんかかい）」だとの指摘がある。「天を瞞（あざむ）きて海を過（わた）る」から何食わぬ顔をして騙す兵法を言う。そう、敵に繰り返し行動を見せつけて慣れさせておき、油断を誘って攻撃するのである。
確かに中国海警局の大型船が尖閣諸島海域に姿を現すと、かつてはそれだけでメディアは色めき立ったものだ。今はどうか。連続ＸＸ日と全国紙一紙の片隅に小さく報じられるだけで、残りはそれすら報じない。もう麻痺同然なのだ。国民にこの現実がどこまで伝わっているかも甚だ心もとない。
こうした状況は、もはやある日ある時、一瞬のスキを突き、尖閣上陸やその前段としての扇動・挑発など不測の事態が絶対に起きないとは言えなくなったことを意味する。この間の中国海軍の増強ぶり、海軍と海警局との一体化、中国当局の自信いや奢り、諸々の状況証拠を慮れば、尖閣が次のホットスポットとなる可能性は高まりこそすれ減じてはいない。
中国が南沙や尖閣を領土に組み入れた領海法をさり気なく制定したのは、30年近くも前の1992年だった。敵ながらあっぱれとも言える長期戦略だ。コロナ危機の最中、南沙諸島で領有権を争うベトナムやフィリピンを無視し、遂に行政区「西沙区」と「南沙区」を新設した。中国の手に落ちたと言われて久しい南沙諸島だが、中国化の最終段階に入ったわけである。
南シナ海の南沙・西沙諸島が明日の東シナ海の尖閣諸島ではないと誰が言えるだろうか。南が一段落した今、中国は目を北方に向け、尖閣諸島、あるいは台湾の事案処理に乗り出したのかもしれない。少なくともそれへの用心が必要だ。領土は実効支配がすべてであり、一旦奪われた時は既に遅し、なのである。
このような深刻な結末さえ予期させる中国の昨今の東アジアの海洋における覇権的、強権的行動に、日本はもっと明確な言説と政策で警鐘を鳴らし、問題の所在とその緊急性を内外に明らかにすべき時が来ている。海上保安庁だけに海の守りを託すのは限界に来ているし、気の毒だ。
今、国際社会には中国への強力な目覚まし時計が要る。誤解を恐れずに言えば、北朝鮮のミサイルより、中国の海上行動の方が日本と東アジアの平和と安全にどれほどか危険というものである。
筆者はフリーランスジャーナリスト、産経新聞客員論説委員
中国公船が尖閣諸島（沖縄県石垣市）周辺の領海外側の接続水域で、時に領海侵入しつつ、4月14日以来74日（6月26日現在）間にわたり航行し、尖閣諸島国有化（2012年9月）以降の連続日数最長記録を更新中だ。意図はどうあれ驚愕に値する憂慮すべき事態と言えるが、この事実に国際社会はもとより日本人の間でさえ危機感の薄いこと、これまた驚くばかりである。
これまでの連続航行記録は2019年4月12日から同6月14日までの64日だった。次は2014年8月9日から9月20日までの43日、次いで直近の今年3月6日から4月11日までの37日だ。
つまり今年、中国公船は4月12日と13日の中２日休んだだけで、110日以上連続航行しているのだ。中国はこれを海のニューノーマルとでも称するのだろうか。
中国にすれば、尖閣諸島は固有の領土であり、核心的利益なのだから公船の航行は完全に国内事案との理屈で、今や尖閣諸島を領土であると主張するだけでなく、有言実行の挙に出ているわけだろう。
だから記録更新に加えて我が物顔ぶりの行動もエスカレートしている。5月8日に領海侵入した際は日本漁船を追尾し、日本の抗議に自分を棚に上げ、「漁船は中国の領域で違法操業を行っていた。日本は新たな騒ぎを起こさぬよう希望する」といかにも上から目線で日本の警告を無視し、公船はその後も数日間日本の領海内に留まっていた。
これは中国の兵法三十六計の「瞞天過海（まんてんかかい）」だとの指摘がある。「天を瞞（あざむ）きて海を過（わた）る」から何食わぬ顔をして騙す兵法を言う。そう、敵に繰り返し行動を見せつけて慣れさせておき、油断を誘って攻撃するのである。
確かに中国海警局の大型船が尖閣諸島海域に姿を現すと、かつてはそれだけでメディアは色めき立ったものだ。今はどうか。連続ＸＸ日と全国紙一紙の片隅に小さく報じられるだけで、残りはそれすら報じない。もう麻痺同然なのだ。国民にこの現実がどこまで伝わっているかも甚だ心もとない。
こうした状況は、もはやある日ある時、一瞬のスキを突き、尖閣上陸やその前段としての扇動・挑発など不測の事態が絶対に起きないとは言えなくなったことを意味する。この間の中国海軍の増強ぶり、海軍と海警局との一体化、中国当局の自信いや奢り、諸々の状況証拠を慮れば、尖閣が次のホットスポットとなる可能性は高まりこそすれ減じてはいない。
中国が南沙や尖閣を領土に組み入れた領海法をさり気なく制定したのは、30年近くも前の1992年だった。敵ながらあっぱれとも言える長期戦略だ。コロナ危機の最中、南沙諸島で領有権を争うベトナムやフィリピンを無視し、遂に行政区「西沙区」と「南沙区」を新設した。中国の手に落ちたと言われて久しい南沙諸島だが、中国化の最終段階に入ったわけである。
南シナ海の南沙・西沙諸島が明日の東シナ海の尖閣諸島ではないと誰が言えるだろうか。南が一段落した今、中国は目を北方に向け、尖閣諸島、あるいは台湾の事案処理に乗り出したのかもしれない。少なくともそれへの用心が必要だ。領土は実効支配がすべてであり、一旦奪われた時は既に遅し、なのである。
このような深刻な結末さえ予期させる中国の昨今の東アジアの海洋における覇権的、強権的行動に、日本はもっと明確な言説と政策で警鐘を鳴らし、問題の所在とその緊急性を内外に明らかにすべき時が来ている。海上保安庁だけに海の守りを託すのは限界に来ているし、気の毒だ。
今、国際社会には中国への強力な目覚まし時計が要る。誤解を恐れずに言えば、北朝鮮のミサイルより、中国の海上行動の方が日本と東アジアの平和と安全にどれほどか危険というものである。
筆者はフリーランスジャーナリスト、産経新聞客員論説委員
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟