China Annexing the South China Sea—
and the Pacific Ocean
On July 25, Global Times, the Chinese tabloid run by People’s Daily, warned the Philippines that China might build a military base on Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing claims and calls Huangyan Dao.
“China reserves the right to take all necessary measures,” said Chen Xiangmiao in the words of the Global Times. Chen, director of the World Navy Research Center at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, noted that these measures “could include constructing permanent facilities on Huangyan Dao, an exercise of China’s sovereign rights under international law, which permits a state to take measures within its own territory and territorial waters.”
China is moving hard against the Philippines in the South China Sea, but now Beijing is setting its sights on an even bigger prize: the Pacific Ocean. Xi Jinping in recent months has become bolder in his attempts to annex the global commons. His actions, consequently, attack freedom of navigation, thereby undermining American interests and the basis of international trade.