A version of this story appeared in the daily Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each weekday.
The Philippine government has adopted a cautious approach to aggressive Chinese coast guard actions in the South China Sea, and the Biden administration has filed formal diplomatic protests with Beijing, a senior State Department official said on Monday.
Kurt Campbell, deputy secretary of state and the Biden administration’s senior policymaker on China, said Beijing does not fully support the warming alliance between Russia and North Korea, underscored by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang last week.
Mr. Campbell said the United States and the Philippines took steps to strengthen security cooperation, but he declined to be more specific during remarks at the kickoff event for the Council on Foreign Relations’ China Strategy Initiative.
“We’ve also significantly demarched the Chinese interlocutors,” he said. A demarche is a formal diplomatic protest note.
In the latest clash over sovereignty claims in the strategic South China Sea, several Chinese coast guard vessels stopped and boarded Philippine boats attempting to resupply a marine detachment aboard a grounded Philippine naval ship at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. Manila claims control of the grounded ship as part of its territory.
A video made public by the Manila government showed Chinese personnel seizing weapons and smashing equipment on the boats. It was one of the most aggressive actions in recent months as Beijing steps up efforts to block supplies to the Sierra Madre, the grounded ship.
Asked when the United States would invoke the mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, Mr. Campbell said senior U.S. officials had drawn red lines that would trigger U.S. intervention.
“We’ve had close consultations with the Philippines about those circumstances,” he said.
Military commanders have said the treaty would be invoked if an incident results in a loss of life.
China also has rammed supply boats and used water cannons on Philippine vessels.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned the Chinese action but said Manila hoped to resolve the dispute diplomatically.
“I do think it’s important to say … that the Philippines are very cautious at this juncture,” Mr. Campbell said. “They do not see a crisis with China. They are seeking dialogue. They’re seeking discussion, and they want the United States to be purposeful with other allies and partners about our goals to maintain peace and stability and to send a very clear message of deterrence and reassurance.”
Mr. Campbell said the United States has “sent a clear and unambiguous message of our determination to stand by our Philippine friends.”
Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, said earlier that the U.S. military is ready to support Philippine supply missions, but no requests have been made.
Mr. Campbell said Washington and Manila have undergone “a renaissance” of dramatically increased diplomatic and military relations in recent months. The Chinese appear to be testing the Philippines and the United States through the activities near Second Thomas Shoal, he said.
“The most important thing in this time frame is to be resolute to be very clear, publicly, in our support for the Philippines to draw very clear, public and private lines of what we believe is essential for the maintenance of peace and stability, and then follow through on that,” Mr. Campbell said.
He said the State Department is working with more than a dozen regional states to maintain peace and stability in the face of mounting Chinese aggression. Many other East Asian states have similar clashing sovereignty claims with China over parts of the vast sea.
Russia and North Korea
Mr. Campbell said the pact between Russia and North Korea announced last week represents a “dramatic step up” in bilateral ties.
North Korea has sent large amounts of 155 mm artillery shells, some long-range missiles and other capabilities that were detected going to Russia on trains and ships, he said. The State Department is concerned that Russia, in exchange for the weaponry, could supply nuclear weapons and long-range missile goods to North Korea, he said.
Mr. Campbell said he spoke with South Korean officials Sunday night about the next U.S. moves to “step up deterrence more clearly” against North Korea. He said Chinese officials have watched Mr. Putin’s moves toward Pyongyang with unease.
“I think it is fair to say that China is somewhat anxious about what’s going on between Russia and North Korea,” he said.
Mr. Campbell said discussions with Chinese officials revealed “some tension” over the increased Russia-North Korea ties.
Even though Russia and China work closely together in Ukraine as part of a strategic partnership, “it is undeniably a defining feature in global politics today that there are tensions,” he said. “There are tensions in the Arctic, there are tensions in [Central Asian states once part of the Soviet Union] — the countries that have traditionally been closer to Russia but increasingly economically commercially attracted to China, and now we’re seeing them on North Korea,” Mr. Campbell said.
Beijing is probably worried that North Korea will provoke a crisis in Northeast Asia, he said, and U.S. intelligence is closely monitoring the region. North Korean movements across the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas included brief exchanges of fire, and North Korea has increased the use of provocative language.
North Korea appears to be “basically redefining their role in global politics,” said Mr. Campbell, noting Pyongyang’s “recurring pattern of absolute clear determination to avoid diplomacy with the United States, Japan or South Korea on any terms.”
Countering disinformation
Mr. Campbell said the U.S. and its Asian and European allies are actively countering Chinese disinformation efforts.
“I think if you asked me what is the thing that concerns me the most, it is the effectiveness of disinformation in a variety of places,” Mr. Campbell said. “It is not just the case that we face it in Europe and Ukraine; we face it globally, and those narratives are dangerous, penetrating and difficult to counter.”
Asked what could be done to separate China from Russia, Mr. Campbell said Chinese President Xi Jinping has made close ties a national project, especially as both countries’ relations with the U.S. have deteriorated. Mr. Xi met with Mr. Putin more than 50 times for hundreds of hours of talks and enormous numbers of China-Russia exchanges.
Some officials in China and Russia are ambivalent about the close ties, but they have not had any impact on the relations, he said.
Mr. Campbell said the “no limits” pact between Beijing and Moscow combined elements of the 1950s communist ideology with the 1930s territorial ambitions, “and it’s quite daunting in its breadth and ambition.”
Senior officials in both nations often focus on U.S. efforts to try to split the alliance.
Mr. Campbell said the China-Russia relationship is facing enormous challenges.
“Maybe not now. It is definitely aligned by a deep sense of antagonism towards Western interference, American perfidy, a belief that we are involved in efforts at sustained regime change globally,” he said. “I think there will likely in the future be a resurgence of tension between Moscow and Beijing, but it’s impossible to predict what that situation looks like in decades.”
A major worry is that Russia will give China submarine technology and other military technology it withheld in the past, he said.
Asked whether China’s 300,000 students in the United States pose a threat to sensitive American technology, Mr. Campbell said many universities and research institutes have tightened security.
“Frankly, I’d like to see more American students studying in China to learn more about its culture, its politics and so on,” he said.
The deputy secretary said he also would like more Chinese students in the United States to study the humanities and social sciences instead of particle physics.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.