China syndromeCoast Guard offers U.S. new tool in disputed South China Sea

Published 20 May 2019

A rare U.S. Coast Guard exercise in the South China Sea this month shows that the United States is broadening its reach in a disputed waterway, a new pressure point between Washington and the sea’s chief claimant Beijing.

A rare U.S. Coast Guard exercise in the South China Sea this month shows that the United States is broadening its reach in a disputed waterway, a new pressure point between Washington and the sea’s chief claimant Beijing.

On 14 May the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bertholf joined two Philippine coast guard vessels for training in “maritime security” and “law enforcement capabilities” in the sea, the U.S. Indo Pacific Command said in a statement. They spotted two Chinese vessels in a disputed area of the South China Sea that day near Scarborough Shoal west of the Philippine island of Luzon, Philippine media reported.

China and the Philippines dispute sovereignty of the shoal, which Chinese vessels took in 2012. China claims about 90 percent of the whole surrounding sea, including tracts that five other governments including the Philippines call their own.

While U.S.-Philippine joint exercises are routine, the Coast Guard seldom gets involved, maritime experts say. The last U.S. Coast Guard vessel in the Philippines, a treaty ally since 1951, visited more than seven years ago.

The U.S. sent its cutter last week to diversify resistance against Chinese expansion in a sea where Washington has multiple allies and China is becoming more sophisticated toward defense, scholars believe.

“That’s about interoperability, that’s about increasing their capabilities,” said Stephen Nagy, senior associate politics and international studies professor at International Christian University in Tokyo. “That’s a message to Beijing that the United States is engaging in the region at four or five different levels, not just a military level.”

More than the navy
The United States makes no claim to the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea, but it wants to keep the waterway open internationally. The U.S. Navy routinely has sent vessels into the sea 11 times since President Donald Trump took office in 2017. The most recent sailing came Sunday (May 20) when the USS Preble passed within 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometers) of Scarborough Shoal.

A broader, Navy-plus strategy began showing in 2016 when the U.S. government lifted a ban on selling certain weapons to Vietnam. In March this year, two pairs of U.S. B-52 bombers flew over the disputed sea.