MANILA, Philippines — China's recent establishment of new facilities in the South China Sea might be Beijing's way to show the rest of the world that its might was not crippled by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, an analyst has said.
“What we can say for certain is that China clearly wants to demonstrate that it is unimpeded by the pandemic,” said Nguyen Hung Son, director-general of the Institute for the South China Sea under the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.
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If any, what Beijing did not plan was to announce the new establishments this early, but was forced to do so to salvage its tarnished global image caused by the alleged concealment and rapid spread of COVID-19 from Wuhan province.
“Although the pandemic might have pushed them to announce it earlier and the anchoring of the search and rescue vessels in the Fiery Cross (Reef) is also probably recurring Chinese activities. And they planned to do that,” Nguyen said.
Just last month, China announced the establishment of the districts of Nansha (Spratly Islands) and Xisha (Paracel Islands), which would fall under the jurisdiction of its self-declared Sansha City. The Philippines protested the move.
A month before that, state-funded Chinese Academy of Sciences launched research stations on Fiery Cross (Kagitingan) and Subi Reefs in the Spratlys, which are also being claimed by the Philippines.
On top of trying to rebuild its damaged reputation from COVID-19, Nguyen further noted Beijing is speeding up building activities in contested waters as a show of force ahead of the 100th founding anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party next year.
ASEAN stand
China has butted heads with smaller countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, over its all-encompassing claims in South China Sea, which many observers see as a violation of international law.
In July 2016, the Philippines secured a historic victory on this front when the country won a ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration that gave the country jurisdiction over some islands in the West Philippine Sea, an area in the South China Sea that falls within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
But the international ruling was not recognized by China which persisted to construct new facilities in the area. Nguyen reiterated that as one body, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) need to counter China by fostering a more “rules-based” approach in navigation.
“ASEAN needs to encourage and promote the trend relying more on the law of the sea to set and maintain the rules-based order on the South China Sea,” Nguyen said.