Tensions between China and the Philippines escalated this week when axe-wielding Chinese coast guard personnel boarded Philippine vessels near the Second Thomas Shoal in the East China Sea. They attacked the Philippine crews, damaged their boats, and stole some of their equipment.
The United States must not ignore such Chinese aggression against an ally, and the Biden administration must deliver a forceful response.
The incident took place in waters 142 miles west of mainland Philippines and 534 miles southeast of China’s Hainan Island. The Second Thomas Shoal is thus deep within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, a finding that international arbitrators upheld in 2016.
This matters to the U.S. The Philippines is a treaty defense ally and President Joe Biden has repeatedly and rightly affirmed an “ironclad” commitment to our ally. Let us hope that is so, and our commitment is not instead leaden.
Since replacing Rodrigo Duterte as president in 2022, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos has bolstered his nation’s long-standing ties with America. He has allowed the U.S. to use military bases that would be crucial to a defense of Taiwan. Marcos, unlike Duterte, is no Chinese Communist Party puppet. He has moved to defend the Philippines’ sovereignty against Chinese imperialism.
Escalating tensions should galvanize Washington, for this week’s events follow more than a year of increasing aggression by Chinese maritime militia forces and its coast guard. The Chinese have blocked, rammed, and blared sonic and laser devices against Philippine civilian and military vessels. Now they are boarding Philippine ships and attacking their citizens.
China’s primary intent is to complicate the Philippines’ efforts to resupply a warship, the Sierra Madre, that has been deliberately beached on the Second Thomas Shoal for 25 years. Occupied by Philippine marines, the ship provides physical enforcement of the Philippines’ claims over the shoal. But the ship is falling apart and it is not clear how much longer it will last. China’s harassment is intended to deter the Philippines from either replacing the vessel or making repairs to make it last longer.
Biden should take three urgent actions.
He should publicly and immediately order U.S. destroyers to support the Philippines in resupplying the Sierra Madre and defending Manila’s freedom of navigation in the shoal. He should encourage U.S. allies such as Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom to join this escort. He should publicly question the pro-democratic rule of law rhetoric of other allies such as Canada, France, and Germany if they do not join the patrols.
Second, the U.S. should offer to replace the Sierra Madre with a U.S. Marine Corps vessel that is well suited to the task. It should support that replacement with U.S. military escorts.
Third and perhaps most importantly for the long-term viability of America’s global role, the Biden administration should get serious and immediately set about repairing the utterly inadequate U.S. Navy. The service today lacks sufficient ships and long-range missiles to wage war effectively against China if necessary. It is inexcusable that Biden refuses to provide funds that the Pentagon requested to bolster the defense of Guam (which would be a key PLA target in any conflict over Taiwan). Members of Congress from both parties, including some whom one would expect to know better, such as House Armed Services Committee Vice Chairman Rob Wittman (R-VA), must also take greater responsibility. They have made matters worse by refusing the Navy’s request to scrap warships that are no longer capable of taking on the People’s Liberation Army.
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The Navy is too small to meet the strategic challenge of China and our warship construction base is underdeveloped and inefficient. To address the urgent need for a larger Navy, Biden should work with Congress to allow Japanese, South Korean, and European shipbuilders to surge production and thus build a seagoing service capable of meeting the challenges of the coming decades. Congress must reject pro-PLA legislation from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) that would make building U.S. warships even slower and more expensive.
It is time to wake up to China’s challenge to our Filipino allies and to prepare for much wider threats posed by the hegemonist tyranny in Beijing. Conflict is coming, and America is not prepared for it.