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‘Anti-China’: The Quad launches maritime surveillance plan | News


Committed to providing “tangible benefits” to countries in the Indo-Pacific region, the leaders of the Quartet have launched a maritime surveillance plan that analysts say is the most significant move to date against China.

The Quad – an informal alliance comprising Japan, the US, India and Australia – says the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) will help Pacific islands and Countries in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean track illegal fishing and other illegal activities in their waters in real time. Although the Quad does not mention China by name, the initiative is intended to address longstanding complaints from countries in the region about illegal fishing by Chinese vessels in their exclusive economic zones. as violation of China’s maritime militia vessels in disputed waters in the South China Sea.

Quad did not provide details on the initiative, but an unnamed US official told Britain’s Financial Times that the group plans to fund commercial satellite tracking services to provide Free maritime intelligence to Indo-Pacific nations.

By monitoring radio frequencies and radar signals, the initiative will also help countries track ships even as they try to avoid detection by turning off transponders, known as the System. automatic information (AIS). This intelligence will then be shared across an existing network of regional surveillance centers based in India, Singapore, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

Greg Poling, a Southeast Asia expert at the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, describes IPMDA as “ambitious” and says it “could be very helpful” to developing countries throughout the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. This effort could significantly reduce costs and increase the ability to monitor illegal fishing and the behavior of China’s maritime militia, he said.

With an estimated 3,000 ships, China’s far-flung fleet is by far the largest in the world.

Highly subsidized by the Chinese government, this fleet is ranked the worst on the Global Illegal Fishing Indexmonitor illegal, illegal and unregulated fishing around the world.

Chinese vessels have been accused of fishing without a license at least 237 times between 2015 and 2019, while a number of Chinese vessels have been arrested for illegal fishing or trespassing in Vanuatu, Palau, Malaysia and Korea in recent years. Hundreds of Chinese ships have also discovered squid fishing in North Korean waters turned off the transponder.

In addition to illegal fishing, the Chinese fleet also accused targets endangered and protected marine life throughout the world’s oceans, including sharks, seals and dolphins, according to Environmental Justice, a campaign group based in the United Kingdom.

Beijing lay off accused of illegal fishing, saying it is “strictly compliant” with international regulations. It said it has also tightened surveillance of its far-water fleet and imposed voluntary fishing practice units to conserve resources, including in the northern Indian Ocean.

‘Clearly anti-China’

However, regional concerns about China’s maritime behavior go beyond illegal fishing.

Experts also suggest that China uses its fishing boats as a paramilitary fleet in the resource-rich South China Sea. Beijing claims almost the entire waterway, and fishing vessels have played a key role in seizing disputed territories, including the Paracel Islands from Vietnam in 1974. Mischief and Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 1995 and 2012.

In May last year, Manila once again sounded the alarm over what it called “the relentless deployment, prolonged presence and illegal activities of Chinese fishing vessels and maritime assets.” ” in the vicinity of Thitu Island, also known as Pag-asa Islands. It said it had spotted about 287 boats moored in the area.

Beijing said there was “no Chinese maritime militia as alleged” and that the fishing boats simply took shelter in bad weather. But the US says boats have been loitering in the area for months in increasing numbers, regardless of the weather, while critics of Beijing say they are concerned the plot could be part of an Their grand plan is to advance little by little in the disputed waters.

Flames and huge plumes of black smoke as the Indonesian navy searches for ships from other countries found to be illegally fishing in its waters
The Indonesian Navy had previously sunk foreign ships, including those from China, illegally fishing in Indonesian waters. [File: Fiqman Sunandar/Antara Foto via Reuters]

Ramon Pacheco Pardo, professor of international relations at King’s College London, said: “China’s maritime behavior is “a concern not only for the Quad but also for nations in Southeast Asia.” “. “So I hope more countries will join [the IPMDA]. ”

“In my view, this is the first clear anti-China step Quad has taken, as it is clearly aimed at China,” Pardo said, noting that Quad’s biggest initiative for to date is related to the supply of a COVID-19 vaccine. “But we’ll have to see how effective it is.”

In Beijing, news of the Quad’s latest move drew scorn and concern.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters that China “actively fulfills its obligations under relevant international law” and said the “building of small groups and inciting confrontation between the blocs is a real threat to a peaceful, stable and cooperative maritime order.”

Meanwhile, a Communist Party-owned Global Times tabloid called IPMDA “ridiculous”.

Hu Bo, Director of the Initiative to Check the Strategic Situation in the South China Sea, wrote: “It seems a joke that the Quad’s first substantive security action was against Chinese fishing boats. The initiative, he said, is only intended to stigmatize China and deprive China of its right to use the sea for peaceful purposes.

“The move to target Chinese fishing boats may be just a ‘starter’, the Chinese government and Coast Guard ships, as well as warships, will also become the next target of surveillance. This is possible for Quad’s broader surveillance system,” he added.

Others argue that IPMDA is likely to escalate tensions between China and the Quad.

Einar Tangen, a Beijing-based analyst, told Al Jazeera: “The US-led Maritime Perception Partnership (IMPDA) is the thinly veiled rationale for creating launched a surveillance network, aimed at criticizing China’s fishing industry.

“It will act as another stimulant in the deteriorating international relationship.”



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