Thayer Consultancy Background Brief:

ABN # 65 648 097 123

China’s Outrage at U.S.
FONOPS Is Pure Hyperbole
Carlyle A. Thayer
May 4, 2020

We request your assessment of conflicting reports regarding U.S. Navy patrols in the
South China Sea and China’s responses.
Q1. On April 29th, China claimed it has expelled a US warship from the South China
Sea after deploying ships and fighter jets in what has been regarded as a serious
escalation of Beijing's offensive moves in the contentious maritime region. The
Chinese military said it set in action a procedure to “track, monitor, verify, identify and
expel” the US ship.
But on April 30th, according to NationalInterest.org, A Navy official said that USS Barry
was not expelled as China claimed, and the destroyer, which is named after the
"Father of the American Navy" Commodore John Barry, proceeded as planned without
encountering any unsafe or unprofessional behavior from Chinese military aircraft or
warships.
What exactly does ‘’Expelled’’ mean? And is there an impartial monitoring body that
can tell us exactly what happened, or is this a war of propaganda, and whoever can
shout the loudest will win?
ANSWER: Every time the United States Navy conducts a freedom of navigation
operation in the South China Sea, China issues the same kind of statement that it
tracked, monitored and expelled the U.S. warship. This is sheer hyperbole.
China has the surveillance means to identify when a U.S. warship enters waters that
China claims are its own. China usually dispatches an aircraft and stalks the U.S.
warship at sea. There is often communication between the U.S. warship and the
People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) stalker. After the U.S. warship has completed
its mission and left Chinese-claimed waters, China claims it expelled the U.S. ship.
China is using information warfare to warn regional states they will suffer the same
fate if their ships intrude into waters claimed by China. China is also addressing a
domestic audience to demonstrate that the Xi Jin-ping regime is staunchly defending
Chinese sovereignty against U.S. militarism.
The U.S. 7th Fleet spokesperson would have made it clear if China conducted any
unprofessional military activities against the USS Barry (DDG-52). For example, in the
incident involving a PLAN warship charging dangerously at the USS Decatur (DDG-73)
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in September 2018, the U.S. released video footage of the encounter to prove its
point.

In the case of the USS Barry, a U.S. Navy spokesperson stated that, “the operation
proceeded as planned without encountering any unsafe or unprofessional behavior
from Chinese military aircraft or warships.”
We should not treat the public statements of China and the United States equally.
When China uses the term “expelled” it is a figment of PLAN propaganda.
Q2. What is the significance of the movements of USS Barry in the South China Sea
during that time? Is that part of USS Barry’s routine movements, or was the warship
sent there for a purpose?
ANSWER: The USS Barry conducted a standard freedom of navigation operation patrol
(FONOP) to challenge what the U.S. claims is the illegal requirement to give prior
notification imposed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam on entering waters around the
Paracel islands. China promulgated straight base lines around all the features in the
Paracels. We do not have details of the USS Barry’s precise movements but it is likely
it was challenging China’s excessive claim to waters outside Parcels based on these
baselines.
It is now clear there has been a shift in U.S. FONOPS under Acting Secretary of Defense
Mark Esper to bring U.S. naval operations more in line with the National Defense
Strategy of the United States issued in 2018. The policy document called for U.S.
military forces to “be strategically predictable, but operationally unpredictable.” The
USS Barry’s patrol was followed the next day by an unprecedented back-to-back
FONOP by the USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) in waters around Gaven Reef1 in the Spratlys.
Q3. On a related topic, with the tensions between the two countries regarding the
origination of virus corona, the US’s accusation of China mishandling or rather kept
the virus outbreak a secret when it just happened, what do you think of Beijing’s
advice of suggesting the US military go home and focus on COVID-19 prevention,
"rather destabilising regional peace and security".
ANSWER: Facts speak louder than words. Regional peace and security in Southeast
Asia, not to mention globally, have been severely affected by the coronavirus that first
appeared in China. It is clear that from the beginning, China suppressed domestic
reporting on COVID-19, and was not transparent in conveying to the international
community that the virus was transmissible between humans and was extremely
lethal.
China’s self-serving actions led to the spread of COVID-19 to infect 3.4 million people
in at least 187 countries, causing the deaths of nearly 250,000. The two most recent
U.S. FONOPS have come and gone without any palpable deterioration in regional
security. In fact, just the opposite is the case, China is being lambasted for taking
advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to step up its assertion of maritime claims to

1
According to the Arbitral Tribunal that heard the claims brought by the Philippines against China,
Gaven Reef (North) is a rock, while Gaven Reef (South) is a low-tide elevation.
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the South China Sea and regional states privately welcome the presence of the U.S.
Navy.
Q4. Any other thoughts you would like to share on this topic?
ANSWER: There is another dynamic at play. The coronavirus infected U.S. sailors on
the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Kidd. China has tried to make a propaganda meal
out of this by arguing that the U.S. is operating from a position of weakness. The U.S.
is trying to overcome a public relations setback, by demonstrating the U.S. can
maintain a naval presence in the South China Sea nonetheless. In this respect, the USS
Barry sailed twice through the Taiwan Straits in April before deploying to the Paracels.
The USS Bunker Hill joined the USS America in waters off East Malaysia to demonstrate
presence when the China Coast Guards and drill ship Hai Yang Dizhi 8 were harassing
oil exploration operations by Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned oil company.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “China’s Outrage at U.S. FONOPS Is Pure

Hyperbole,” Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, May 4, 2020. All background briefs
are posted on Scribd.com (search for Thayer). To remove yourself from the mailing list
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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.