This spring, authorities in the Philippines said they’d found evidence that China was trying to build an island over a small reef in the Spratly Islands. The reef is about 110 km (~70 miles) from the Philippines—but some 1,000 km (~600 miles) from mainland China. So Manila sent one of its largest coast-guard ships, the Teresa Magbanua, to drop anchor there as a deterrent. This was in April.

China’s navy, its coast guard, and even some of its fishing vessels then moved in on the ship and began to harass her—even spraying her with water cannons. Eventually, one Chinese vessel rammed the Teresa Magbanua, tearing a three-foot hole in her hull, before she finally turned around and made her way back to port in early September.

It was an unusual duel—but by now, not unique. In June, during the Teresa Magbanua’s standoff, Chinese coast-guard ships rammed and boarded other Philippine navy vessels at a different reef in the Spratly Islands, confiscating and damaging their equipment. One Filipino sailor lost a finger when a Chinese boat collided with his dinghy.

These weren’t the only clashes in the South China Sea, either. Chinese ships have also confronted vessels from Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States. While Beijing claims most of the sea as its territorial waters, international courts have ruled against those claims as overly broad. But that hasn’t stopped it from continuing to seize reefs and, in some cases, build military bases on them. Why is China doing this?

Isaac B. Kardon is a senior fellow for China studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the author of China’s Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order. Kardon says you can’t understand what China is doing in terms of one strategic goal: It wants to be the dominant military power in the South China Sea; it wants to protect its most important maritime trade routes, and—not least—it wants to prepare for a potential invasion of Taiwan. But becoming the top power also means dislodging the U.S. from its position as the region’s leading security player. And there, China is taking a risky gamble …

Michael Bluhm: What’s China been after, picking on the Philippines like this?

Kit Sanchez

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