“While All Eyes Are On The Middle East, All Is Not Quiet On The Pacific Front” While All Eyes Are On The Middle East, All Is Not Quiet On The Pacific Front (Source thefederalist.com) Foreign policy news these days is dominated by the Russia investigation, the Afghanistan war, or the demise of the Islamic State and the deteriorating civil war in Syria. Far less attention is given, however, to a much more consequential development: the rise of China as a global superpower. But make no mistake, Beijing has its eyes squarely fixed on this goal, and its recent actions clearly indicate that. On Sunday, two Chinese fighter jets intercept-us-navy-plane/index.html” intercepted a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane that was flying over the East China Sea (ECS). According to Pentagon spokesman, one of the Chinese jets rapidly approached the U.S. plane then flew directly in front of it—within 300 feet—triggering a collision alarm system. This kind of provocation on China’s part has, until recently, been a rare occurrence. In May, there were two similar incidents, one in the airspace over the South China Sea (SCS) and the other over the East China Sea. The East China Sea, which stretches between China and Japan and is claimed by both, has gotten less coverage because China has not built the kind of military installations or man-made islands there as it has in the SCS. The ECS is currently controlled by Japan, but in the past few years China has increased its naval patrols of islands in those waters. China has continued to call U.S. surveillance planes flying over the SCS and ECS “provocations” and  HYPERLINK “http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/china-says-intercepting-us-surveillance-plane-was-legal-and-necessary/story-s0Ad1jeezBVPDwOctsg0NM.html” said the interception on Sunday was “legal and necessary.” But that airspace, just like the waters beneath it, is international. It is entirely within any country’s purview to fly and sail through them. Indeed, some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes run through parts of the SCS that Beijing claims belong to China. China’s insistence that U.S. surveillance flights constitute provocations is an attempt by Beijing to treat its assertion of sovereignty in the region as a fait accompli. If China can establish control of its man-made islands, including the installation of military equipment, runways, airbases, civilian residents, and now  HYPERLINK “http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/07/23/asia-pacific/china-opens-movie-theater-disputed-island-south-china-sea/” \l “.WXZsYzOZNmA” a movie theater, it can force other nations to recognize that this is the new normal. The South China Sea isn’t the only venue in which China is increasing its activities. Last week, Beijing held the country’s  HYPERLINK “http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/20/asia/china-navy-expansion-baltic-russia-drills/index.html” first-ever joint naval drills with Russia in the Baltic Sea, of all places, leaving observers wondering the purpose of the week-long war game in which one of China’s most advanced missile-guided destroyers participated. Moscow has lately been making a lot of trouble in the Baltic Sea, causing NATO allies and countries like Finland to  HYPERLINK “https://www.wsj.com/articles/beneath-helsinki-finns-prepare-for-russian-threat-1500024602” prepare for a possible invasion, and China now seems to want a piece of the action.
China also established its  HYPERLINK “http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/12/asia/china-djibouti-military-base/index.html” first overseas military base, conveniently located in Djibouti, near a valuable global shipping lane and just four miles from a U.S. installation. In addition, Chinese warships have been  HYPERLINK “https://qz.com/1036691/the-double-standard-of-chinese-spy-ships-and-coast-guard-vessels-operating-in-foreign-waters-australia-japan-alaska/” popping up all over the globe, including near Alaska, Japan, and Australia. While their movement thus far has been through international waters, and therefore not in violation of any international law, it is a clear sign of China’s desire to be taken seriously as a global military power.