This week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, calling for peace in the South China Sea. At the same time, the People’s Liberation Army
Navy violated the territorial waters of both Japan and the Philippines, threatening Japan with an aircraft carrier group and firing water cannons at Filipino vessels.
The United States remains the primary enforcer of UNCLOS maritime norms, while China continues to be the most significant violator.
On June 8, 2025, a Chinese naval group led by the aircraft carrier Liaoning entered Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) near Minamitori Island, the easternmost point of Japan’s territory, for the first time.
The Liaoning was accompanied by two missile destroyers and a supply ship. After briefly entering Japan’s EEZ, the group exited the area and conducted military exercises, including fighter jet and helicopter drills.
The next day, two heavily armed Chinese coast guard vessels entered Japanese territorial waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands (known as Diaoyu in China).
According to the Japan Coast Guard, the Chinese vessels came threateningly close to a Japanese fishing boat operating within the 12-nautical-mile zone that Japan claims as its territorial waters.
Japanese patrol vessels intercepted the Chinese ships and ordered them to leave. The Chinese vessels remained in the area for at least two days, marking the third Chinese incursion into these waters this month.
Simultaneously, two more Chinese coast guard ships were detected in the contiguous zone surrounding the territorial waters, marking the 234th consecutive day of Chinese coast guard activity in the broader area.
The Chinese coast guard ships involved were equipped with deck-mounted autocannons. The Japan Coast Guard denounced the incursion as a violation of international law.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry maintains that the islands are part of China’s “inherent territory,” asserting that Chinese vessels are operating within their sovereign rights.
Last month, Chinese coast guard ships used water cannons to obstruct Philippine fisheries vessels operating within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) near Scarborough Shoal.
Four vessels from the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) had attempted to deliver fuel subsidies to more than 20 fishing boats.
The Chinese presence reportedly included six coast guard ships, two navy warships, and several maritime militia vessels.
The Chinese coast guard accused the Philippines of violating China’s sovereignty and said it took “necessary measures.”
However, Scarborough Shoal lies approximately 140 miles west of Luzon, well within the Philippines’ 230-mile EEZ, and nearly 700 miles from China’s nearest coast.
The Philippine government, through its National Maritime Council, condemned the actions as violations of international law and the 2016 Hague arbitral ruling.
Despite China’s rhetoric about regional peace, its actions in the South China Sea tell a different story.
China has built and militarized artificial islands within disputed waters, including areas inside the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of the Philippines and Vietnam.
These outposts, equipped with airstrips, radar systems, and missile platforms, serve as forward bases to enforce Beijing’s expansive claims under the so-called “nine-dash line”, a claim the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 has no legal basis under international law.
China rejected the ruling, dismissing the case as political manipulation and continuing to assert control through gray-zone tactics, including the use of maritime militia, civilian vessels that operate in coordination with the Chinese military.
These forces have repeatedly harassed foreign vessels, including incidents where Chinese ships fired water cannons at Filipino boats attempting to resupply troops at the BRP Sierra Madre in Second Thomas Shoal, an area well within the Philippines’ EEZ.
Similar confrontations have occurred with Vietnamese and Malaysian vessels.
Beijing also exploits its economic and political influence to divide ASEAN and block consensus on maritime issues. Cambodia and Laos, reportedly under Chinese pressure, have repeatedly refused to endorse joint communiqués that mention the South China Sea, undermining ASEAN’s ability to present a unified stance.
At the 2025 Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual intergovernmental defense summit held in Singapore, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addressed China’s regional behavior. He stated:
“In the South China Sea, China harasses its neighbors, many of which are here in the room today. China seeks to intimidate you in your own waters. We’ve all seen the videos and pictures of water cannons, ship-to-ship collisions, and illegal boardings at sea. We’re also seeing the illegal seizing and militarizing of lands in the South China Sea. These actions reveal a lack of respect for neighbors and they challenge sovereignty, freedom of navigation, and overflight.”
China has maritime disputes with at least six countries, primarily in the South and East China Seas, involving overlapping claims to islands, reefs, and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).
Allowing Beijing to assert control over these areas would undermine international law, particularly UNCLOS, erode the sovereignty of smaller nations like the Philippines and Vietnam, and give China strategic military dominance in the region.
It would threaten freedom of navigation in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, grant China access to vast natural resources, fragment ASEAN, and set a dangerous precedent for territorial expansionism, including toward Taiwan.
To counter this, the U.S. Navy must remain firmly committed to upholding maritime law.
The U.S. 7th Fleet conducts regular freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea to challenge illegal claims and assert American resolve.
Peace through strength has so far been the most effective doctrine to prevent war with China, but the threat remains that if China ever feels sufficiently strong, or believes the U.S. is sufficiently weak, Beijing will strike.
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