US maritime security expert bares China's 'expansionist ambitions' in SCS

The Manila Times

US maritime security expert bares China's 'expansionist ambitions' in SCS  Maritime security expert Raymond Powell, a former US Air Force senior defense official, sheds light on China’s expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea. The Philippines’ strategic approach involves weaving a network of alliances with countries such as the United States and Japan, aiming to dissuade China from its assertive actions.  Video and Interview by Ezrah Raya  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #themanilatimes  #tmtnews  #raymondpowell  #westphilippinesea  #china  #philippines  #maritimedispute

Transcript

00:00 I'm Ezra Araya, reporting on this week's burning issues and the biggest stories.

00:05 This is the Manila Times.

00:07 China slams what it calls a "gunboat diplomacy" as the Philippines and the United States kicked

00:12 off their annual Balikatan exercises, or joint military exercises, Monday.

00:19 During the Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao, to which the Philippines was absent,

00:25 Vice Chairman of the China Central Military Commission Zhang Yujia slammed the Philippines

00:31 and the US for provocative military drills.

00:35 Despite China's aggressive actions, Zhang said China remains committed to resolving

00:39 maritime disputes through dialogue.

00:43 Filipino and American troops kicked off their military exercises last April 22.

00:48 The training focused on defending Philippine territory against external threats.

00:53 Other countries from Asia and Europe also took part as observers.

00:57 The joint drills is set to run until May 10.

01:02 Joining us from Washington, DC, is maritime security expert and director of Sea Light,

01:08 shedding light on maritime grey zones.

01:11 Let us welcome former US Air Force Colonel Raymond Powell.

01:16 Welcome to the Manila Times, sir.

01:18 Good morning.

01:19 How are you?

01:20 Sir, for my first question, China criticizes the latest joint military exercises between

01:26 the Philippines and the US and claims they remain committed to resolving maritime issues

01:33 through dialogue.

01:34 So, this was a few days before their latest aggressive maneuvers in the West Philippine

01:40 Sea.

01:41 So, my question is, why is there a disconnect between what China is saying versus what they're

01:46 doing?

01:47 Well, the disconnect is really between China's stated aspirations and its actual aggressions.

01:55 So China has, you know, for a long time expressed an interest in having dialogue and resolving

02:01 matters peacefully and those kinds of things.

02:04 The problem is that its ambition is to be, is to dominate the West Philippine Sea.

02:10 And that comes into direct conflict with the Philippine sovereign rights.

02:14 So those two things can't be reconciled.

02:17 And so China essentially tries to sort of wrap its ambitions in a covering of reasonableness

02:26 and sort of a gentle approach.

02:31 And yet, of course, the pictures that we see that come out of the West Philippine Sea that

02:34 were released by the AFP or by the Philippine Coast Guard show that that's not actually

02:40 their approach.

02:41 So it's quite confusing, right?

02:43 Because a few months ago, there's their presence in the West Philippine Sea or what

02:48 they claim the South China Sea is constant.

02:51 And just a few months ago, hundreds of naval ships were there.

02:55 So the Philippines has been in this long time, a long running maritime dispute with China,

03:01 right?

03:02 And then, which they took to the International Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2013.

03:07 And we, and the Philippines won in 2016.

03:09 But China, however, has consistently refused to recognize the ruling.

03:15 So ignoring a series of protests that we make almost every month here in the Philippines.

03:21 So why do you think is that?

03:23 Well, China knew going in that the ruling was going to go against them because their

03:28 claims fall outside the structure of international law.

03:33 It's easy to overlook what a remarkable achievement the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was

03:39 when it was put together back in the 1980s.

03:43 And China eventually signed the convention and therefore, you know, agreed to its oversight.

03:52 But it's 9-line claim or a 10-line claim has always fallen outside of that.

03:59 And so China has tried to do both at the same time, claimed to be agreeing with international

04:04 law and yet cutting out, you know, the, it's South China Sea claim, something separate

04:10 from international law to say, well, this international law doesn't apply to this part

04:15 because this is historically ours.

04:18 And so those two things were not going to be reconciled in the Hague.

04:21 It was always going to go the Philippines way unless something, you know, nefarious

04:26 from outside intervened, but it did not.

04:28 The judges decided fairly, which is why China decided not to participate at all.

04:34 It had no chance there.

04:35 In your recent podcast entitled, "Why Should We Care If China Is the World's Biggest Navy?"

04:41 you talked about China's growing naval power.

04:44 So what do you think are its implications for peace?

04:48 Well, what it does is it makes China exceptionally confident that it can eventually prevail in

04:57 the West Philippine Sea.

04:58 And so that is a big problem because a highly confident PLA Navy, a highly confident China,

05:07 when it comes to this long-term endeavor, means that you have a China that's going to

05:13 be less likely to want to negotiate on even terms.

05:19 It's going to push its claims to the very limit.

05:22 And it believes that it can out-escalate the Philippines because it has more capacity,

05:28 which is why the Philippines recently has recognized that its best option is to network

05:34 itself in with strong allies and partners like the United States and Japan to try to

05:40 dissuade China to interrupt or diminish China's confidence so that China has to recalculate

05:48 and maybe not think that its ambitions are quite so close as perhaps they would otherwise.

05:55 So the G7, the group of countries expressed support on the Philippines' claims on the

06:00 West Philippine Sea.

06:01 So did all the other countries.

06:04 However, China seems to dispute those claims.

06:07 So how else can we achieve a common ground in this issue?

06:11 Well, I think common ground is going to be very hard to come by because China's ambitions

06:15 are so expansionist and so large and so, frankly, unreasonable.

06:20 So what the Philippines has been doing has been trying to increase its leverage so that,

06:25 first of all, again, China does not feel like it has already won, but it has to feel like

06:31 it must continue to push.

06:34 So unfortunately, this does not lead to a resolution of the matter, but perhaps it can

06:41 push out China's belief that it can quickly get this done into the future, perhaps to

06:48 a time when the Philippines' leverage improves.

06:52 So that's essentially what the Philippines has been doing, is trying to, through international

06:57 support and additional expenditures on its maritime forces, just trying to improve its

07:04 leverage so that when it goes into a room to negotiate with China, it doesn't feel like

07:09 it's standing there alone and unequipped.

07:11 All right.

07:12 Thank you for that, sir.

07:13 Maritime security expert and former U.S. Air Force Director of Sea Light Raymond Powell.

07:19 And if you want to know more about maritime gray zones, catch him in his podcast.

07:23 All right.

07:24 Thank you so much, sir, for your time.

07:26 Thank you.

07:34 Bye.

07:35 Bye.

07:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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