Block 6
Earlier this week, a Chinese Coast Guard Vessel in the South China Sea used a high-power laser to temporarily blind Filipino sailors. The harm caused to the sailors was only temporary, but this action is a nearly direct action of aggression against the U.S ally in the South China sea. This raises a series of alarms and questions from the United States as to the abrupt direct militaristic assault on the Filipino vessel. This action likely wasn’t as bad an idea has China had thought it to be, as the nature of the attack was that of a very risky, and possibly war starting assault on a Chinese recognized, sovereign nation.
This interaction of course, a retaliatory response to the Philippines granting the U.S the permission to build 4 new military bases within the country’s territory. The military bases, threatening China’s ability to move around in the case of a war. This raises U.S China tensions to an increasingly low position as there was a lot that could have happened that didn’t on board the Filipino vessel. Although Dazzlers (heavy-duty lasers usually used militarily to blind people) don’t usually have the ability to cause permanent blindness(as it would be against the lasers purpose to cause permanent, actionable damage), the possibility of a blinded sailor getting seriously injured or killed as a result of being blinded is very real and in high chances onboard a smaller coast guard vessel. The Chinese, of course, lucky nothing horrible happened as obviously they do not prefer a war quite yet. In the eyes of the U.S this is clearly a ridiculously unprofessional and careless action, that raises questions as to how brazen the Chinese will be with their actions in the future and their intentions to possibly go to war sooner than expected, if this brazen action was not as brazen to the Chinese as everybody else might think, as if they were planning on going to war soon, it would be little compared to what could happen in the near future.
Connecting these events to class, it is observable the U.S bases in the Philippines are a large threat to China’s strategy in the South China Sea and more. In the perspective of the U.S this is a perceived action of light-weight but surprising aggression coming from the Chinese. Especially as the dazzler lasers are a very indiscriminate and blind(to the risk) way to attack an enemy in the high-tension environment they are playing in. The action also risky for the Chinese, as the U.S has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, very similar to article 5 as to the aspects of forced assistance in defense and security in the event of a foreign assault on one of the countries in bondage, again this can raise questions as to if the risk of this attack was taken in full, and why China might do something so risky if they aren’t ready or planning on going to war sooner than we might expect.