Chinese paper says country should prepare for South China Sea armed clash

China should prepare itself for military confrontation in the South China Sea, an influential newspaper said on Tuesday. In editorials published a week ahead of a decision by an international court on a dispute there between China and the Philippines, the state-run Global Times said the dispute, having already been complicated by U.S. intervention, now faces further escalation due to the threat posed by the tribunal to China’s sovereignty. “Washington has deployed two carrier battle groups around the South China Sea, and it wants to send a signal by flexing its muscles: As the biggest powerhouse in the region, it awaits China’s obedience,” it said.

Even though China cannot keep up with the U.S. militarily in the short-term, it should be able to let the U.S. pay a cost it cannot stand if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force.

The state-run Global Times

Tensions have been rising ahead of a July 12 ruling by an arbitration court hearing the argument between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea in the Dutch city of The Hague. About $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year though the energy-rich, strategic waters of the South China Sea, where China’s territorial claims overlap in parts with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Beijing has been constructing airstrips and military bases on atolls scattered across the seas, which has alarmed the U.S. and other military powers. “The reality is that nobody wants a conflict, nobody wants to resolve our conflict in a violent manner, nobody wants war,” Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay, told ANC television.

South China Sea