A new Chinese law authorizing the China Coast Guard to fire on foreign ships in the South China Sea and the East China Sea will likely not deter the U.S. Navy from conducting its provocative freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) in the South China Sea and elsewhere in Asia.
The law is the first serious foreign policy challenge facing the new administration of President Joe Biden, who only took office on January 20. The Biden administration is expected to file a strong protest against the law, as will Japan.
China has revealed a new law that for the first time explicitly allows the China Coast Guard to fire on foreign vessels -- including military vessels -- in a dangerous move that makes the prospect of an armed conflict with the United States and Japan more likely.
The contentious Coast Guard Law empowers the China Coast Guard to "take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons when national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organizations or individuals at sea."
The law also allows coast guard personnel to demolish other countries' structures built on Chinese-claimed reefs and to board and inspect foreign vessels in waters claimed by China.
The bill empowers the China Coast Guard to create temporary exclusion zones "as needed" to stop other vessels and personnel from entering. The National People's Congress standing committee, China's top legislative body, passed the law on Friday.
Western military analysts said the law intends to cement China's illegal claim of ownership of the South China Sea against seven other Asian countries, and to frighten the Japanese into yielding the East China Sea.
Christian Le Miere, founder of Arcipel, a strategic advisory firm based in London and The Hague, said the new law "strikes at the heart" of America's policy of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
"China's coast guard is already doing most of the heavy lifting in maritime coercion in the near seas, so it's worth examining the new legislation just passed on this issue," he said.
The U.S., however, will likely disregard the law and has consistently declared illegal China's claim to own almost the entire South China Sea. In July 2017, the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague nullified China's nine-dash line claim, which asserts control of most of the South China Sea. The Philippines brought the case against China to the International Court of Arbitration.
The U.S., under the former Trump administration, increased the pace of its FONOPS in Asian waters. On New Year's Eve, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) and USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) conducted a two warship transit of the Taiwan Strait, drawing China's anger.
In an official statement, the U.S. Navy said the FONOP by the USS John S. McCain and USS Curtis Wilbur was "routine" and "in accordance with international law."
"The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," said the Navy statement.
On December 22, McCain performed a FONOP in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, which Taiwan, China, and Vietnam all claimed to own. Two days later, the destroyer reappeared off Vietnam for another FONOP in the vicinity of the Con Dao Islands in the South China Sea in an unusual warning to Vietnam.
On December 18, the USS Mustin (DDG-89) also conducted a Taiwan Strait transit. A few days later, the PLAN's newest aircraft carrier, the CNS Shandong (CV-17), moved through the strait en route to the South China Sea.
