How does the Chinese Communist Party, which revels in saying it seeks only respectful friendship with the world, explain this quote: “They come into our waters and kill everything.”
That’s how an Indonesian fisherman described Chinese fishing expeditions in Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone. As the New York Times reported on Tuesday, Chinese coast guard warships are once again escorting Chinese fishing trawlers deep into Indonesian waters. There, they threaten Indonesian fishing crews who complain as they literally scrape the sea clean of life. It’s another one of Xi Jinping’s gifts to the world: stealing from an already impoverished people and desecrating already troubled oceans.
Of course, there’s nothing new about this vintage of Beijing’s naked imperialism.
Chinese vessels have been claiming a baseless and even insane right of control over nearly all of the South China Sea for years now. And not just in Indonesian waters — Communist China is an equal opportunity imperialist. Alongside coast guard escorts that are far closer to warships more than to standard coast guard vessels, Chinese fishing hordes are seizing fishing stocks from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. What happens when fishermen from those nations try and defend their rights? Well, if they’re lucky, China simply bullies them into retreat. If they’re unlucky, China sinks their ships.
Americans wondering what this has to do with them must consider a few important points. First, this is a critical example of where Beijing’s “we just want to be friends” rhetoric meets reality. It’s all a lie. China wants to seize and control without any regard for others. Just as we’ve learned with coronavirus, Xi’s regime cannot be trusted. Yes, it might say the right things and bribe the right Western leaders with investment deals. But in the end, Communist China aims to make itself richer and stronger at our and everyone else’s expense.
The most obvious examples of the relevance here to Americans are China’s industrial-level thievery of American intellectual property and its export of inferior goods. These are concerns we must hold to, especially as President Trump negotiates a stage two trade deal with Xi.
China’s attacks on Indonesian fishermen are, further, a direct threat to the post-World War II liberal international order. That rule-of-law-based order was earned with American blood and is valued for the prosperity it has given us and the rest of the world. But just as it is seizing fishing stocks, China’s military is trying to turn the Western Pacific Ocean into its private retreat — a place where guests must ask to enter, then accept Chinese economic and political hegemony in return for transit and trade. If Xi succeeds in this, he might enrich his nation but only by making the rest of us poorer.
Wishing to support true partners rather than clowns such as Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, the United States should stand resolute. We should draw international attention to Chinese imperialism, diplomatically support its victims, and robustly defend our rights in the face of Xi’s gun.
