海角大神

A US naval ship conducted a patrol Saturday around a disputed island in the South China Sea, in the second such maneuver in recent months.

The island is one of many in the area subject to competing claims, in a saga that has raised tensions between China and its neighbors.

The United States also has an interest in the region, not only because of its complex relationship with China, but also because the waters represent a key trade route for global shipping.

So this maritime patrol, which centered on Triton Island, is part of the US strategy to ease tensions and weave a precarious path between provoking China and ensuring Beijing abides by international norms.

鈥淭he excessive claims regarding Triton Island are as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention,鈥� said a US Department of Defense statement.

Tensions in the South China Sea have been rising, as China compounds the conflicting claims by beginning a program of building on some of the contested outcrops, including the laying down of airstrips capable of receiving military aircraft, according to analysts.

鈥淭he worry is that China is steadily expanding its presence until its becomes an incontestable fact,鈥� notes the Economist.

The United States, among other nations, takes exception to this.

鈥淭he U.S. government takes in the Spratly Islands, but does take a strong position on what kinds of claims are made to the waters surrounding those features,鈥� states an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In addition, this situation forms part of the wider picture of China鈥檚 gradual rise as a world power, and the only credible challenger to US hegemony. The US also has many allies in the region, some covered by defense treaties, and any escalation of tension would likely require a response by the US.

But the path appears narrow that steers towards a peaceful outcome, and the last thing President Barack Obama wants, particularly in his final year in office, is to provoke a major confrontation with China.

In fact, prior to the first of these patrols, which took place last October, to take action, but ran into 鈥渞epeated stalling鈥� from the White House and State Department, according to Reuters.

鈥淭he concern was that, if we looked like we were responding to something the Chinese had done, it would undermine our assertion that this is a matter of international law, and our rights to navigate the seas,鈥� said a US Defense Department official.

Thus, the US strategy now. The aim, in undertaking these naval patrols, is to assert 鈥渇reedom of navigation鈥� (FON), 鈥渢o ensure that U.S. naval, coast guard, and civilian ships, and by extension those of all nations, at sea," while doing so in such a manner that averts military conflict with China, explain聽Michael J. Green,聽Bonnie S. Glaser, and聽Gregory B. Poling in an article for the CSIS.聽

聽鈥淐hina's sabre-rattling generals would have us believe that their president, Xi Jinping, is so unhinged that he would risk nuclear Armageddon to in the South China Sea,鈥� wrote John Garnaut in The Age.

鈥淭hey promised to strike a 'head-on blow' at any foreign vessel that challenged China's territorial virility by sailing close to the five artificial islands that Xi has been dredging into existence off the Philippines coast.鈥�

This goes some way to explain Obama鈥檚 caution before he first tested the waters, last October. In the event, however, China gave little public reaction, simply issuing a condemnation of the action via its national news agency, Xinhua.

The latest US incursion into disputed waters, around Triton Island, has so far elicited only mild censure via Xinhua, with a Beijing defense ministry spokesman quoted as saying, 鈥渢he U.S. act severely violated Chinese law, sabotaged the peace, security and good order of the waters, and undermined the region' s peace and stability鈥�, adding that the Defense Ministry is 鈥溾��.

Yet perhaps, once again, the muted reaction is a dividend of the careful US approach, relaying to China that the United States will counter excessive territorial claims, but in such a way as to minimise the risk of direct confrontation.

鈥淭he choice of Triton may have been influenced by the than, say, Mischief Reef (in the Spratly archipelago), which many were expecting would be the location for the next FONOP,鈥� said Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, according to The Japan Times.

The United States has been here before. In recent years, the Chinese pushed hard to challenge Japan鈥檚 administration of the Senkaku, or Diaoyu islands, but, as noted by John Garnaut in The Age, they appeared to finally desist when it became clear that Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Obama would only tolerate so much.

鈥淸Chinese leader] Xi's PLA [People鈥檚 Liberation Army] will push, and it will bluster, but it will stop at the point at which it meets credible resistance,鈥� writes Garnaut. 鈥淐ontrary to what we've been led to believe, against the military might of the United States.鈥�