China drill meant to 'coerce' South China Sea claims

Hanoi [Vietnam], March 15 : As China continues to maintain a no-go zone for a military drill in the South China Sea, analysts believe that this could be used to push its claims in the waterway.
The drills certainly form part of the routine set of exercises that are conducted with greater intensity in recent years, Collin Koh Swee Lea, a research fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told VnExpress International.
"It also appears to coincide with the announcement on defence spending."
Tensions in the South China Sea area have continued to rise in the context of China's naval expansion and the establishment of military outposts on illegally built artificial islands.
The "nine-dash line" claim that China has unilaterally and illegally made, covering almost the entire South China Sea area, has been clearly rejected by the international community.
The drill is a continuation of China's long-term plan of gradually taking over control of the seas within the nine-dash line, which has been roundly rejected by the international community, said Peter Layton, visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia.
To make any future use of force in the South China Sea - known in Vietnam as the East Sea - appear legal, China has devised numerous laws ostensibly extending its domestic enforcement powers across all and any vessels operating in 80 percent of the sea, which it claims, he said.
"These enforcement powers include boarding, inspecting and if necessary using armed force."
Another expert thought China would use this drill to push its claims in the South China Sea when the international community is focused on the conflict in Ukraine.
"This was what China did in 2020 when many countries were focused on dealing with Covid: It undertook many activities to assert its claims in the South China Sea," said Hoang Viet, a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, Vietnam.
Amidst the gravity of bitter fighting in Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin prosecutes his invasion, China announced its defence budget for 2022 on the opening day of its fifth annual session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC).
In 2022, the 7.1 per cent rise in Beijing's defence expenditure is overshadowed by war in Europe.
In monetary terms, China's 2022 defence spending is CNY1.45045 trillion (USD229.39 billion). Indeed, the budget revealed on 5 March confirms a continuing rebound in expenditure. Last year, China increased spending by 6.8 per cent to CNY1.355 trillion (USD209.4 billion).
The overall increase of approximately USD20 billion this year is actually the largest ever (the second largest was USD13.4 billion in 2021, and the largest was USD13.6 billion in 2014).