Sound The Trumpet : U.S. Watches As Beijing Forges Ahead With S China Sea Oilfield Plans

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“U.S. Watches As Beijing Forges Ahead With S China Sea Oilfield Plans”
by Want China Times
November 26th, 2014

The Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil drilling platform sets out from Guangzhou, headed for the disputed Paracels, June 14, 2012. (Photo/CFP)

China's recently published Resource Development Strategic Action Plan (2014-2020) says the country plans to establish a large oilfield in the disputed South China Sea in the next six years capable of producing around ten million tonnes of oil a year, according to Duowei News, a media outlet run by overseas Chinese.

From the end of 2013 China has accelerated land reclamation projects in the area, with Fiery Cross Reef, which is also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan, being expanded to 0.9 square kilometers as of Oct. 16, making it now the largest island in the disputed Spratlys. Estimates based on a satellite image taken on Nov. 17 suggest that the reef has now grown in area to 1.3 square km and that the reclaimed land is structured like a landing strip. Under previous administrations China had pushed for the shelving of disputes and the joint exploration of resources in the region by claimant nations out of diplomatic considerations, Duowei stated. Due to the land reclamation projects and moves to build airports as well as calls for bids to exploit oil resources by other claimants, however, the shelving of disputes is no longer on China's agenda. Under Xi Jinping's leadership, there has been an increased military presence in the region and moves that suggest China is moving forward with its plans to exploit resources.

In 2009, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia all protested to a map China submitted to the UN featuring the 9-dash-line that Beijing uses to assert its claims over the entire South China Sea. In August this year the US called for a freeze on actions in the region, and on Nov. 21 Washington called for China to stop land reclamation on Fiery Cross Reef, which China calls Yongshu Reef. Beijing sees this as signaling US support for the claims of Vietnam and the Philippines in the region in an attempt to "contain" China. However, there seems little chance of the US resorting to military action over the issue, as China has pushed forward with establishing Sansha prefecture comprising disputed island groups such as the Spratlys, the Paracels and Macclesfield Bank and deployed a garrison to the region, as well as taking administrative control over the disputed Scarborough Shoal, without US military interference.

The People's Liberation Army now patrols the area regularly and a new airport under construction will likely lend air support. China deployed an oil drilling platform to a region Vietnam claims as its exclusive economic zone in May of this year, prompting anti-China riots in many parts of Vietnam.

The South China Sea is important for China both in terms of military strategy and in terms of resources and fishing, and China's actions in the region over the last year have been a long time in the planning. Back in 2006, China National Offshore Oil Corporation had already begun research and development on an ocean oil platform that could dig to a depth of 3,000m. The Haiyang Shiyou 981 deployed in teh Paracels earlier this year is a sixth generation deep-water semi-submersible oil drilling platform and the first to be developed with indigenous Chinese technology, according to Duowei. China got into a standoff with the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 and then after the establishment of Sansha, Beijing encouraged fishermen to fish in the area and increased the number of military facilities on the islands.

After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward China's aims to be a major maritime power, the Politburo engaged in collective study on maritime strategy. On an official visit to Greece in June this year, Premier Li Keqiang outlined China's maritime outlook for the first time while attending a China-Greece forum on ocean affairs. On a visit to the US during the standoff between Vietnam and China over the Haiyang Shiyou 981 platform, chief of the headquarters of the General Staff of the PLA Fang Fenghui said, "the drilling near the Xisha [Paracel] islands must forge ahead" as "China can't afford to lose an inch of land that the ancestors passed down to us." The spokesperson for China's defense ministry Geng Yansheng said that "there is no room for negotiation" on China's territorial claims in the region.

An editorial in UK-based Jane's Defence Weekly stated that China is the only claimant, with the exception of Brunei, that has not got an airstrip in the Spratlys, as the Philippines has one on Thitu, Malaysia has one on Swallow Reef, Vietnam has one on Southwest Cay and Taiwan has one on Taiping, the largest natural island in the chain. China is engaged in several land reclamation projects in the Spratlys, but the one on Fiery Cross Reef is the largest. China is extending the reef using a cement platform which will be used as a runway, according to Duowei. The PLA is also digging on the eastern side of Fiery Cross Reef to build a new port capable of docking large oil tankers and naval warships.

Xi Jinping has distinguished himself from his predecessor Hu Jintao with an adjustment in military policy in the region and more emphasis on concrete action. Near misses between Chinese and US naval vessels and fighters in the region suggest that China is enforcing its territorial claims more assertively than before.

China has stated that foreign interference is one of the main reasons that territorial disputes in the South China Sea have not been resolved. According to Duowei, the US proposal that all parties in the region halt attempts to reclaim territory that was under the administration of other countries in 2002 when the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea was signed and its call for China to halt land reclamation, the exploitation of oil and construction on islands, is to protect the interests of the Philippines and Vietnam, which cannot currently compete with China in the region. As the US has not signed any military agreement with the Philippines or Vietnam however, it's unlikely that the US will back this up with a military intervention in the event of a military conflict between China and other claimants.

Although China has often stated that it is committed to peaceful development since the reform and opening up policy was launched, it sees territorial disputes as attempts to undermine Chinese sovereignty and is therefore unlikely to shy away from using force to assert itself, as it did during the Johnson South Reef Skirmish with Vietnam over the Spratlys in 1988. Duowei used the words of Mao Zedong when describing China's current policy in the South China Sea, "fighting for peace ensures that peace flourishes, whereas trying to seek peace through compromise is the death of peace."

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