U. S. -China Strategic Competition in South and East China Seas: Background and Issues for Congress

Description

Updated 12/17/2020: In an international security environment described as one of renewedgreat power competition, the South China Sea (SCS) has emerged as an arena of U.S.-Chinastrategic competition. U.S.-China strategic competition in the SCS forms an element of the TrumpAdministration's more confrontational overall approach toward China, and of the Administration'sefforts for promoting its construct for the Indo-Pacific region, called the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). China's actions in the SCS in recent years--including extensive island-building and baseconstruction activities at sites that it occupies in the Spratly Islands, as well as actions by itsmaritime forces to assert China's claims against competing claims by regional neighbors such asthe Philippines and Vietnam--have heightened concerns among U.S. observers that China is gainingeffective control of the SCS, an area of strategic, political, and economic importance to the UnitedStates and its allies and partners. Actions by China's maritime forces at the Japan administeredSenkaku Islands in the East China Sea (ECS) are another concern for U.S. observers. Chinesedomination of China's near-seas region--meaning the SCS and ECS, along with the Yellow Sea--could substantially affect U.S. strategic, political, and economic interests in the Indo-Pacific regionand elsewhere. Potential general U.S. goals for U.S.-China strategic competition in the SCS and ECS includebut are not necessarily limited to the following: fulfilling U.S. security commitments in the WesternPacific, including treaty commitments to Japan and the Philippines; maintaining and enhancingthe U.S.-led security architecture in the Western Pacific, including U.S. security relationships withtreaty allies and partner states; maintaining a regional balance of power favorable to the UnitedStates and its allies and partners; defending the principle of peaceful resolution of disputes andresisting the emergence of an alternative "might-makes-right" approach to international affairs;defending the principle of freedom of the seas, also sometimes called freedom of navigation;preventing China from becoming a regional hegemon in East Asia; and pursing these goals as partof a larger U.S. strategy for competing strategically and managing relations with China. Potential specific U.S. goals for U.S.-China strategic competition in the SCS and ECS includebut are not necessarily limited to the following: dissuading China from carrying out additionalbaseconstruction activities in the SCS, moving additional military personnel, equipment, andsupplies to bases at sites that it occupies in the SCS, initiating island-building or base-constructionactivities at Scarborough Shoal in the SCS, declaring straight baselines around land featuresit claims in the SCS, or declaring an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the SCS; andencouraging China to reduce or end operations by its maritime forces at the Senkaku Islands in theECS, halt actions intended to put pressure against Philippine-occupied sites in the Spratly Islands,provide greater access by Philippine fisherman to waters surrounding Scarborough Shoal or in theSpratly Islands, adopt the U.S./Western definition regarding freedom of the seas, and accept andabide by the July 2016 tribunal award in the SCS arbitration case involving the Philippines andChina. The Trump Administration has taken various actions for competing strategically with Chinain the SCS and ECS. The issue for Congress is whether the Trump Administration's strategy forcompeting strategically with China in the SCS and ECS is appropriate and correctly resourced,and whether Congress should approve, reject, or modify the strategy, the level of resources forimplementing it, or both.

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