US Condemns PRC For Paracel Missile Shots

WASHINGTON: For those who’ve been mesmerized by the Republican National Convention, you may have missed that the US flew a U-2 into airspace China has declared off-limits, imposed sanctions on two dozen Chinese companies for their part in building the illegal fake islands, and issued a blunt public statement condemning China’s launches of so-called carrier killing missiles toward the Paracels.

The Defense Department “is concerned about the People’s Republic of China (PRC) recent decision to conduct military exercises, including the firing of ballistic missiles, around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on August 23-29,” DoD says in a statement today.

The missile firings, which include some of the vaunted DF-21 anti-ship missiles, “further destabilize the situation in the South China Sea. Such exercises also violate PRC commitments under the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to avoid activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability, and call into question its motivations with ongoing negotiations for a Code of Conduct between China and ASEAN,” the statement adds.

But these are just “the latest in a long string of PRC actions to assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvantage its Southeast Asian neighbors in the South China Sea. The PRC’s actions stand in contrast to its pledge to not militarize the South China Sea and are in contrast to the United States’ vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, in which all nations, large and small, are secure in their sovereignty, free from coercion, and able to pursue economic growth consistent with accepted international rules and norms.”

On top of all that, even though the US “alerted the PRC” that it expected the Chinese to reduce its militarization and coercion of its neighbors in the South China Sea: “The PRC chose to escalate its exercise activities by firing ballistic missiles. We urge all parties to exercise restraint and not undertake military activities that could threaten freedom of navigation and aggravate disputes in the South China Sea.”

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department belatedly imposed sanctions on the companies who helped China destroy some of the world’s most pristine coral reefs and build fake islands with military bases on them.

The Commerce Department’s release today makes the case pretty clearly:

“Since 2013, the CCP has dredged and constructed more than 3,000 acres across seven features in the South China Sea, which include air defense and anti-ship missile features. In addition, the PRC’s dredging and construction of certain outposts violates the sovereign rights of the Republic of the Philippines, as determined by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in its July 2016 award in a case brought by the Philippines against the PRC.”

While China is pressing hard in Europe to play smiley-face and ensure our trans-Atlantic brethren really believe the PRC doesn’t practice mass surveillance, torture, violate the human rights of many ethnic groups and the people of Hong Kong, the Peoples Liberation Army demonstrates clearly to its neighbors its real intent with these latest missile tests.

“The most destabilizing event in the 21st century is going to be when China can achieve conventional parity at a time and place of its choosing,” Maj. Gen. Tracy King, the Marine Corps’ Director of Expeditionary Warfare, said today. He pointed to a series of war games the Navy has been running to figure out its future force structure, which will depend heavily on what China is expected to do. “These war games are reinforcing that fact. So when they are able to do that, and when they can decide whether or not we’re going or fight or not, that’s going to be extremely destabilizing.”

Here are the sanctioned companies. You know what to do if they try to work with you or your suppliers:

• China Communications Construction Company Dredging Group Co., Ltd.
• China Communications Construction Company Tianjin Waterway Bureau
• China Communications Construction Company Shanghai Waterway Bureau
• China Communications Construction Company Guangzhou Waterway Bureau
• China Communications Construction Company Second Navigation Engineering Bureau
• Beijing Huanjia Telecommunication Co., Ltd.
• Changzhou Guoguang Data Communications Co., Ltd.
• China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, 7th Research Institute (CETC-7)
• Guangzhou Hongyu Technology Co., Ltd., (a subordinate institute of CETC-7)
• Guangzhou Tongguang Communication Technology Co., Ltd. (a subordinate institute of
  CETC-7)
• China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, 30th Research Institute (CETC-30)
• China Shipbuilding Group, 722nd Research Institute
• Chongxin Bada Technology Development Co., Ltd.
• Guangzhou Guangyou Communications Equipment Co., Ltd.
• Guangzhou Haige Communication Group Co., Ltd.
• Guilin Changhai Development Co., Ltd.
• Hubei Guangxing Communications Technology Co., Ltd.
• Shaanxi Changling Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.
• Shanghai Cable Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd.
• Telixin Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.
• Tianjin Broadcasting Equipment Co., Ltd.
• Tianjin 764 Avionics Technology Co., Ltd.
• Tianjin 764 Communication and Navigation Technology Co., Ltd.
• Wuhan Mailite Communication Co., Ltd.