Chinese fishermen with a paramilitary role

A story I wrote for The Times but not used: THE sixth century BC Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu said the mark of a great leader was not the winning of a hundred battles but to win without fighting. China’s secretive naval militia force which operates disguised as fishermen is expected to fulfil this dictum as Beijing pursues its policy of trying to dominate the South China Sea by occupying and militarising islands whose sovereignty is disputed by countries in the region. The Pentagon has been warning about the role played by the China Maritime Militia (CMM) since 2017. This Chinese military “fishing fleet” has rapidly increased its operations not just in support of Beijing’s programme to convert islands in the East and South China Seas into military bases but also in snooping operations against foreign ships operating in international waters in the Asia-Pacific region. The China Maritime Militia is known as Beijing’s third “sea force”, operating in conjunction with the navy and coast guard. In its annual report on China’s military published in 2018, the Pentagon wrote: “In August 1917 China conducted a coordinated PLA Navy, China coast guard and People’s armed forces maritime militia patrol around Thitu Island [part of the Spratly Islands archipelago claimed by Beijing] and planted a flag on Sandy Cay, a sandbar within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef [also in the Spratly Islands and occupied by China] and Thitu Island.” “The use of militia and coast guard forces is designed to keep the threshold of violence below that of open war,” Andrew Krepinevich, a former Pentagon official, said. It was part of Beijing’s policy to win “the international community’s de facto acceptance of China’s control of the South China Sea”, he said. “Chinese fishing boats are also used to contest other states’ sovereignty, such as by fishing in waters belonging to other countries,” Mr Krepinevich said. In its first acknowledgement of the maritime militia’s growing role in the South China Sea the Pentagon said in its 2017 report: “In the South China Sea, the CMM plays a major role in coercive activities to achieve China’s political goals without fighting, part of a broader military doctrine that states that confrontational operations short of war can be an effective means of accomplishing political objectives.” In the past the CMM rented vessels from companies or individual fishermen. But Chinese leaders realised the value of having fishing vessels used as a coercive addition to the navy and coast guard. Beijing subsequently ordered the construction of 84 large militia fishing vessels, the Pentagon said. In May last year the maritime militia was accused of being responsible for laser attacks against an Australian naval helicopter flying over the South China Sea. The helicopter managed to land safely back on its ship and no member of the crew was injured. The then outgoing US chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson warned in an interview with the Financial Times last year that Chinese “civilian” fishing vessels operating with the maritime militia would be treated as combatants if they were caught acting against American warships.