The first American Freedom of Navigation exercise in the disputed South China Sea waters during the Biden administration came at the helm of affairs has turned out to be rather unusual. Guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) transited the Taiwan Strait on Thursday with Chinese warships following the transit. Meanwhile, China claims it expelled the American destroyer from the South China Sea waters.
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece Global Times published a short update that read, “The PLA Southern Theater Command tracked, monitored and warned off the USS John S. McCain when it trespassed upon Chinese territorial waters near Xisha Islands (called Parcels Islands by everyone except China) on Friday: command spokesperson.”
Chinese State-owned media house CGTN also published a similar report. Till now, the US has neither denied nor confirmed whether the American warship was actually expelled by China.
So, did China actually expel USS John S. McCain (DDG-56)? And why is the United States silent on this? As for the Chinese military claims, we can hardly trust what the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) says.
Remember, even in December last year, the Chinese PLA’s Southern Theatre Command spokesperson, Senior Colonel Tian Junli had said, “The Chinese PLA on Tuesday expelled US destroyer USS John S. McCain after it trespassed into China’s territorial waters off Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands) in the South China Sea.”
But at that time the US has left China red-faced by busting the PLA’s fake news. Lieutenant Joe Keiley, US Navy’s 7th Fleet spokesperson had then said, “The PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) statement about this mission is false. USS John S. McCain was not ‘expelled’ from any nation’s territory.” Soon, the world at large could understand how China was trying to mislead when it came to expelling the American warship.
It is entirely possible that the Chinese PLA didn’t really ‘expel’ the American warship. At the most, the Chinese PLA might have tried to follow the USS John S. McCain closely during its transit. But the bigger question is, why is the US still silent?
Lieutenant Joe Keiley, the 7th fleet spokesperson did talk about the recent incident. But all he said was, “USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.”
So, why did the US Navy not rebut the Chinese version, if at all what the PLA is claiming is untrue? The bigger question is about Biden’s commitment to keeping the paper dragon in check. Throughout his election campaign, he kept claiming that once in power, his administration would bring together US allies in order to keep Beijing in check.
After coming to power, Biden did try to consult Washington’s Indo-Pacific allies. But he keeps doing things that tend to bring his commitment against China under suspicion. Be it the use of the phrase ‘Asia-Pacific’ instead of the more anti-China ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept, or the replacement of Trump’s “Free and Open” Indo-Pacific with the idea of a “Secure and Prosperous” Indo-Pacific, there is a serious lack of clarity as to whether Biden will continue Trump’s firm stand against China.
But now US allies are bound to wonder what Biden’s vision of a “Secure and Prosperous” Indo-Pacific means. Does it mean that China can expel American warships or at least claim that it did so? And will the US tend to stay subdued in face of Chinese propaganda? Biden has started off at a very low note, as far as the first Freedom of Navigation exercise during his tenure is concerned.
