Page 10 - Rethinking China Policy

Rethinking China Policy

The incident occurred in international waters about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay Naval Air Station in
the Philippines, Davis told reporters.

Calling for International Law Compliance

“The UUV is a sovereign immune vessel of the United States. We call upon China to return our UUV immediately
and to comply with all of its obligations under international law,” Cook said.

Bridge-to-bridge communications took place between the Bowditch and Chinese ships, but demands to have the
UUV returned were ignored, Davis said.

“The USNS Bowditch and the UUV — an unclassified ‘ocean glider’ system used around the world to gather
military oceanographic data such as salinity, water temperature, and sound speed — were conducting routine
operations in accordance with international law,” Cook said.

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1032611/statement-by-
pentagon-press-secretary-peter-cook-on-incident-in-south-china-sea

This UUV was onboard a Military Sealift Command ship which is manned by civil mariners.

This a clear act of piracy and needs to be dealt with as such, and the Chinese thrown out of any future
counter-piracy operations until they stop conducting piracy.

Hopefully, this will lead to a U.S. rethink about how to man MSC ships and to deal with any pirates or
adversaries who think they have a free ride to simply stop by and take what they want from MSC ships.

But this is not simply an act of piracy, but an act embedded in the overall strategy of the PRC leadership –
engage in and defeat the United States in Information War.

Simply getting the drone back is not really the issue –- nailing the PLAN is and identifying it for what it is – a
force engaged in operations across the Range of Military Operations or ROMO including acts of piracy.

The low end of the ROMO spectrum for the USN-USMC team is humanitarian assistance; for the PLAN it is
piracy.

Giving the PRC a path to in their terms “a smooth resolution” already cedes to the PRC an IW victory.

The PLAN needs to be called out for what it is, a Navy learning from their kindred spirits the Barbary and
now Somali pirates,

They deserve little professional respect from any navy operating from the civilized world.

SHAPING AN EFFECTIVE SOUTH CHINA SEA POLICY: THE NEED FOR A NEW
INTELLIGENCE APPROACH

By Danny Lam

There are few territorial disputes as muddled as the South China Sea.

Republican China (ROC), despite its irrelevance from 1950 onwards, steadfastly maintained a claim – initially
made in 1947 when the government was on the verge of defeat – to vast stretches of the seas in the 9, 10, or
11 dash line claim. The People’s Republic of China, as a UN member, acceded to the UNCLOS II in 1982

Second Line of Defense

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