Maritime militia give China the edge in South China Sea

According to reports, China recently warned the United States that it will face defeat if the two superpowers go to war. This warning is a testimony to what China thinks about its military might.

- Prof.Carl Schuster

The threat to the US has come from China in response to the joint military exercise carried out by the US, Japan, Australia, and France last week amidst tension in the East China Sea. Tension is also mounting in the South China Sea with the Philippines refusing to withdraw vessels from the disputed territory.

Despite all these activities by PAFMM, the Chinese government headed by Chairman Xi Jingping has never accepted any link between PAFMM and China’s military. They claim that they are fishermen. This enables the PRC to deny any involvement of the Chinese government in these scuffles.

The PAFMM do not regularly use firearms or other military weapons so their actions cannot be called an ‘act of war’ which might trigger retaliation. It may also compel Manila to seek US support under the US-Philippine Mutual Defence Treaty. That is why the US calls PRC’s actions ‘Grey Zone Operations’, which means they are acts of aggression, but fall short of military actions that would risk triggering a military response.