A Chinese H-6K bomber patrolling over the South China Sea in an undated photo released by Xinhua, the state news agency. Credit Liu Rui/Xinhua, via Associated Press
China said Monday that it had begun what would become regular military air patrols over disputed islands and shoals of the South China Sea, highlighting its claim to the vast area a week after an international tribunal said Beijing’s assertion of sovereignty over the waters had no legal basis.
China’s air force flew a “combat air patrol” over the South China Sea “recently,” Xinhua, the official news agency, reported, citing Shen Jinke, an air force spokesman. The patrol consisted of bombers, fighters, “scouts” and tankers and would become “regular practice,” Mr. Shen said, according to Xinhua.
The announcement of the air patrols, plus a separate statement that China would conduct military exercises in the South China Sea off the coast of Hainan Island, came as Adm. John M. Richardson, the chief of United States naval operations, was in Beijing to discuss the South China Sea and other issues that arose after the tribunal rebuked China’s claims over the waters on July 12.
The landmark decision rejected China’s assertion that it enjoys historical rights over a huge area of the South China Sea encompassed by a “nine-dash line.” China had argued that the tribunal had no jurisdiction in the matter.
China’s announcement of military exercises and patrols as a response to the ruling had been expected by analysts. But Beijing also moved to contain any public anger over the tribunal’s decision. Demonstrators in China called for boycotts at about a dozen KFC outlets on Monday to protest the United States’ role in the South China Sea dispute. But the protests were small compared with previous nationalist outpourings in China, and the state news media warned demonstrators not to disturb social order. The angry mobs of people rallying outside embassies in the Chinese capital, a regular feature in the past when China wanted to vent its grievances, never materialized.
Flying combat aircraft over international waters is also a more mild response than other measures China could have taken, like initiating reclamation work on the disputed Scarborough Shoal or setting up a so-called air defense identification zone in the South China Sea, in which China would require that aircraft entering the zone identify themselves or face a military response, said Euan Graham, the director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia.
“I think China is licking its wounds and taking stock,” Mr. Graham said by telephone. “The real unknown is how this will play out internally.”
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