VietNamNet Bridge – It is possible that the accelerated rehabilitation and construction activities on the reef Gac Ma (Johnson) and Chu Thap (Fiery Cross) are part of China's strategic intentions of giving the international community with a fait accompli before the International Court of Justice makes a judgment.

Recently, the South China Morning Post (SCMP - Hong Kong) newspaper quoted Chinese experts as saying that China could turn the Fiery Cross Reef into the largest artificial island in the Truong Sa Archipelago (Spratly Islands) of Vietnam.

This reef currently has an area of approximately 1 km2 and the land reclamation here can still be ongoing. The process of expansion is occurring faster than expected and it is likely that this reef will surpass Ba Binh (Itu Aba), the largest island in the Spratly Islands.

Overall, this is just the next step in the artificial island plot which some experts have predicted that China will continue to use in the future. So what is behind this plot?

"Status Quo" Chinese style

The construction of an airport on the Johnson Reef has caused fierce criticism and condemnation from many ASEAN countries and the world. The pictures provided by the Philippines show that this airport has two runways and two long berths cross through the reef. China itself did not refuse to certify as before. They have openly challenged countries in the region and the world that "It is the right of China!"

Compared to the construction of an airport on the island of Phu Lam (Woody Island), the airport on Johnson Reef was built in an incredibly speedy manner. The photos provided by the Philippines show that China mobilized six giant dredgers which operated day and night like a great construction site on the waters of Vietnam. It was similar on the Fiery Cross Reef. When the entire world knew its activities on the Johnson Reef, China announced its construction of an airport on the Fiery Cross Reef.

According to Taiwan's Kanwa Newspaper, China not only built airports on Johnson and Fiery Cross reefs but also urgently renovated six reefs in the Spratly Islands which they used to rob from Vietnam and turn into artificial islands. Its project to "renovate and build scale islands" in the disputed areas is a strategic measure to monopolise the South China Sea (Bien Dong Sea, East Sea), through the realization of the "U-shaped line".

Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi, former Deputy Director of the General Department of Sea and Island Affairs, said: "The change of the status quo in the East Sea is to help strengthen China’s claims of sovereignty, creating a strategic advantage over the East Sea."

Obviously, these actions are essentially an invasion, in contrast with the statement about peace and no aggression and expansionism made by China's leaders.

This is not the first time China has used a gradually invasive measure. The key solution to handle the tension on the East Sea given by the United Nations is maintaining the "status quo" has been used by China in its own style.

On the one hand China intentionally made provocative acts, changed and then applied the "status quo" as it did with Hoang Sa Archipelago (Paracel Islands) of Vietnam in 1974 and has kept the “status quo” by occupying the islands until now, and attacked and robbed the Johnson Reef and others of Vietnam in 1988, and has “held” them, turning the territorial waters of other countries into 'disputed territory' with China.

From the early 20th century, when China began to really "eye" the East Sea, the regular tricks of China are proactively provocative acts, illegally occupying and trying to encroach and expand. China’s "U-shaped line" claim takes in Indonesia’s territorial waters. The military measures to break through the status quo will pave the way for subsequent civil remedies. In particular, the civil remedies are used in various ways, with unpredictable evolution.

After pulling the 981 oil rig into the waters of Vietnam, China drove nearly 10,000 fishing vessels into Vietnam’s waters. This was followed by construction and renovation on the reefs of Johnson, Fiery Cross, and Chau Vien (London Reefs), which belong to Vietnam's Truong Sa.

Conspiracy of presenting the International Court of Justice with a fait accompli

China conducted illegal construction activities on Johnson Reef of the Spratly Islands of Vietnam. Photo: Armed Forces of the Philippines.

In 2012, the Philippines took drastic action by lodging a complaint against China with the International Court of Justice after China occupied the Scarborough Shoals (China calls it Huangyan). The Philippines also accused China of occupying its islands and conducting construction activities to turn reefs into artificial islands.

China previously made a solemn commitment to ASEAN countries and the world of "keeping peace and stability in the East Sea," but after the Scarborough Shoals event, China continued to occupy James shoals, which is claimed by Malaysia, in 2013.

China does not recognize the role of the International Court of Justice in handling the petition of the Philippines, but in fact China is still interested in it. Along with a frantic diplomatic campaign to split the ASEAN countries, China is aggressively presenting the international community with a fait accompli before the International Court of Justice issues a verdict.

It is likely that the accelerated rehabilitation and construction on the reefs of Johnson, Fiery Cross and London is in China’s strategic intentions. The Taiwanese press as described in details the survey trip of Chinese generals down to the Spratly Islands and made many statements as: "China will declare jurisdiction over the reefs of Johnson and Fiery Cross very soon."

According to Colonel Nguyen Don Hoa, former vice president of engineering of the Navy, China has been building airports on Woody Island (in the Paracel Islands of Vietnam) and Johnson Reef (of the Spratlys Islands of Vietnam) that they have occupied by force since 1974, and in 1988 they were involved in furtive tricks in terms of geopolitical and political aspects, rather than military. The military airports built by China on Woody Island and Johnson Reef are used only by helicopters. Fighter aircraft cannot make a landing due to their limited length.

Moreover, military power at sea does not depend on "unsinkable aircraft carriers" as the Chinese press stated but on warplanes and warships. During its deployment of the 981 oil rig in Vietnam’s waters, Chinese military aircraft also took off from the airport on the island of Hainan, not from the Woody Island, which is closer.

Col. Don Hoa compared China's tricks like "a fox that wants to enter the house of a rabbit to eat the rabbit and it enters the house by sticking out each leg one by one. When all the legs are in, the fox will jump on it to swallow the rabbit. China is step by step doing it in that way!"

According to Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi, after consolidating its bases in Spratly Islands, China will ask for national jurisdiction in the exclusive economic zones to control all commercial activities through the East Coast. This is a sinister plot by China to strengthen forces and then control the entire international maritime routes.

Duy Chien