The " Spying " Game !

The days of the " Cold War " were the apex of  intelligence gathering by both the Soviet Union and the Western powers.   At sea this took the form of the sudden appearance of a Russian fishing trawler whenever mock naval battles were under way and for a time American U2 spy planes could overfly Russia beyond the range of that countries missiles to photograph secret military installations.

The development of satellites travelling through near space changed the game completely. Now all major countries have cameras in orbit and there is not an inch of planet earth that is not under surveillance.  We can be sure that the joint military exercise " Talisman Sabre " taking place off the Queensland coast will be under close observation by many interested nations and how the American and Australian troops are deployed will be carefully studied.

What is interesting is an openly hostile act by China.   A naval ship operated by the Chinese Liberation Army has sailed into Australia's Exclusive Economic zone in the Coral sea and is scooping up electronic traffic from International waters.    The Chinese have not used the subterfuge of sending a fishing boat to intercept communications.   This is blatantly a purpose built Navy type 815 intelligence vessel and it remains outside Australian territorial waters, taking advantage of the Law of the Sea which allows freedom of navigation in International waters.

It is that same law of the sea that China is ignoring when it comes to the ownership of the South China sea.  Surrounding nations have legitimate claims by proximity to their own coastlines but China is claiming the entire sea by virtue of an ancient map and this has been rejected by a United Nations court.    China has ignored that ruling and military fortifications on islets it has reclaimed are now a threat to shipping and aircraft movement.   When other nations pass ships through the South China sea they are warned that they are trespassing on Chinese territory.

Unfortunately, it now looks inevitable that this South China sea confrontation will be be the danger point of the future.  At present, the United States has the worlds most powerful navy, but China has created its first aircraft carrier group and has started work on a second.  In a decade or so, the Chinese navy will reach parity - and that will be a time of great danger for world peace.

 The problem is those artificial islets in the South China sea are now a reality and it is unlikely that the Chinese will willingly walk away and give them up to other claimants.  The best that we can hope for is for the status quo to remain unchanged.   The rest of the world continuing to sail shipping through the South China sea and China retaining the illusion of sole ownership.