SINGAPORE (Washington Insider Magazine) – According to three defense officials, the country’s top general has instructed his staff to compile data on all interactions between the U.S. and Chinese militaries over the past 5 years to assess the rising number of encounters with the Chinese armed forces in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, issued the order after a video conference call with his Chinese counterpart on July 7, according to the officials. The U.S. claim that there has been an increase in aggressive behavior by Chinese war ships and aircraft against U.S. and allied armies operating in international waters that China views as its own territorial regions was refuted during the call by Gen. Li Zuocheng, the head of the Joint Staff Department for the People’s Liberation Army of China, according to NBC NEWS.
Col. Dave Butler, Milley’s spokesman, said Milley emphasized the significance of the People’s Liberation Army partaking in substantive discussion on enhancing crisis communications and lowering strategic threat, but did not go into further detail regarding the strategic threats, in the formal readout of the call between Milley and his counterpart, which was publicly disclosed on July 7.
At an Asian security summit last month, Secretary Of defense Lloyd Austin stated that there has been a worrying rise in the number of dangerous aerial intercepts and at-sea clashes by PLA aircraft and ships.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Conference in Singapore, Austin said that in recent weeks, alliance aircraft flying legally in the South and East China Seas have come under dangerous intercepts from PLA fighter planes. Austin also issued a warning about possible encounters in the Taiwan Strait.
The Joint Staff is now analyzing hundreds of exchanges to determine when the level of hostility grew and how frequently Chinese ships and aircraft may be putting American military personnel in risk.
A FONOP (Freedom of Navigation Operation) was conducted by the American destroyer USS Benfold on July 13 in the South China Sea, passing within striking distance of the disputed but Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands. Following Benfold, the Chinese forces gave the order for the ship to evacuate the region. In a statement, the Chinese military said that the US had violated Chinese sovereignty by trespassing into Chinese territorial waters.
The U.S. Navy said the Chinese intimidation did not drive the American ship out of the region and denied any wrongdoing.
According to Harrison Pretat, an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and an authority on maritime conflicts in the Asia-Pacific area, U.S. FONOPs started under the Obama administration, picked up during the Trump administration, and are now routine.
Most exchanges between the Chinese and American militaries are regular, professional, and safe, according to U.S. military and defense officials. Additionally, they claim that almost every time the U.S. forces conduct FONOPs in the South China Sea, near China’s artificial islands, or when it transits the Taiwan Strait by sea or air, the Chinese military deploys planes and ships to pursue the American assets.
A U.S. sailor or pilot can describe a contact as unsafe, safe, and professional after it has occurred. The U.S. can report an event as unprofessional or unsafe when ships or pilots operate too closely, make abrupt or erratic movements, or suddenly cut in front of a U.S. aircraft or ship. However, the classification is fairly arbitrary and often relies on the pilots and sailors to use their judgment.
The Chinese are often well-trained, so even when they operate an aircraft or ship in a way that seems risky, the U.S. side might not report it as such. The American pilots and sailors do not feel as threatened as they would do in the presence of a less skilled military.
Pretat claims that there has been an increase in reported incidents that have been regarded unprofessional or unsafe in recent years, both in the air and on the water, however it is unclear whether this is due to the rise in actual events or in the reporting of those occurrences to the public.
According to Pretat, the ongoing FONOPs and transits across the Taiwan Strait have not significantly altered the situation in the region and have not addressed the disagreements over the ownership of certain fishing rights and the supply of gas and oil.
