Ricketts Denounces Communist China’s Actions in Indo-Pacific: “Illegal, Coercive, Aggressive, and Deceptive”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, denounced Communist China’s Illegal, Coercive, Aggressive, and Deceptive (ICAD) actions in the Indo-Pacific.
“Today’s hearing is on an egregious and continuing problem: Communist China’s illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive actions, also known as ICAD, in the Indo-Pacific,” said Senator Ricketts. “You’ll first notice the deliberate use of ICAD, coined by our Filipino friends, rather than ‘grey zone.’ This isn’t just semantics. ’Grey zone’ allows Communist China to muddy the waters with regard to its intention and its involvement. It’s trying to hide what it’s trying to do and ‘grey zone’ allows them to be able to do that. ICAD dispels this ambiguity and allows for more appropriate responses. It’s time to call out Beijing’s behavior for what it actually is. It’s illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive.”
Ricketts praised America’s allies and partners in the region for “bravely confronting Beijing’s ICAD behavior.” Ricketts also called on Congress to do more to combat Communist China and deter future conflicts.
“The United States must do more to even the scales and strengthen their resilience. Ranking Member Coons and I are working together to do just that,” closed Senator Ricketts. “We introduced the Taiwan Energy Security and Anti-Embargo Act, which would facilitate increased American LNG exports to Taiwan; encourage cooperation with Taiwan on nuclear energy use; and ensure commerce with Taiwan continues in a contingency. We also introduced the PORCUPINE Act, which would make it easier to quickly send arms that are critical for Taiwan to respond to and deter some of Communist China’s ICAD activities. And finally, we recently introduced a resolution honoring the 74th anniversary of the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty to ensure Communist China knows that the United States will continue to stand by our ally. But more needs to be done.”
Watch the video here
Hearing witnesses included:
- Mr. Craig Singleton, China Program Senior Director and Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
- Mr. Raymond Powell, Executive Director, SeaLight Foundation
- Dr. Ely Ratner, Principal, The Marathon Initiative
TRANSCRIPT:
Senator Ricketts: “Today’s hearing is on an egregious and continuing problem: Communist China’s illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive actions, also known as ICAD, in the Indo-Pacific.
“You’ll first notice the deliberate use of ICAD, coined by our Filipino friends, rather than “grey zone.”
“This isn’t just semantics.
“’Grey zone’ allows Communist China to muddy the waters with regard to its intention and its involvement.
“It’s trying to hide what it’s trying to do and ‘grey zone’ allows them to be able to do that.
“ICAD dispels this ambiguity and allows for more appropriate responses.
“It’s time to call out Beijing’s behavior for what it actually is. It’s illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive.
“In April, as Senator Coons mentioned, he and I, and Senator Budd, saw Beijing’s firsthand ICAD conduct on full display on a CODEL that we took to the Philippines and Taiwan.
“On a P-8 overflight of the West Philippine Sea, we witnessed firsthand the sheer scope of Chinese illegal violations of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
“Communist China utilizes the full spectrum of ICAD measures to try to turn the West Philippine Sea into a Chinese lake within Beijing’s illegitimate and illegal Nine-Dash Line and undermining the Philippine people’s will to resist.
“Xi Jinping has referred to this as the ‘smokeless battlefield’ that will allow Communist China to win without fighting.
“Thanks to the tireless work of the Philippines, this hostility has been publicly documented, making it impossible for Communist China to deny, or for the world to ignore.
“However, despite the reputational costs, Communist China’s dangerous aggression continues.
“In August, we saw two Chinese vessels collide as they belligerently tried to ram a Philippine Coast Guard ship near the Scarborough Shoal.
“While this was a reckless and embarrassing event for Xi Jinping, it could have been much worse, particularly if there was a fatal collision with the Filipino vessel.
“This could have triggered our mutual defense treaty with the Philippines and started a war.
“Rather than appreciating the severe risks of its aggression, Communist China has instead doubled-down.
“In addition to continuing to ram ships and shoot water cannons, Communist China has resorted to political lawfare, recently declaring Scarborough reef as a nature reserve.
“Let’s be clear – this is in the Philippines EEZ, not Communist China’s!
“In Taiwan, the story isn’t any better, as my colleague just highlighted.
“Taiwan continues to endure disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, blockades of Taiwanese food exports, undersea cable cutting, violations of its airspace and Exclusive Economic Zone, and increasingly larger military exercises simulating quarantines, blockades, and invasion.
“Under President Lai, Taiwan has taken critical steps to strengthen its resilience to Communist China’s ICAD behavior, including increasing national-level planning and conducting civil defense exercises.
“But Taiwan still remains particularly vulnerable to coercion.
“This was evident in a tabletop exercise that Senator Coons and I held with Mr. Singleton earlier this year simulating a Chinese pressure campaign targeting Taiwan’s energy.
“While Taiwanese and U.S.defense planners are right to prepare for a PLA invasion, a more immediate risk might be that Communist China will use ICAD tactics to destroy Taiwan’s ability to push back.
“If we are to successfully neutralize Chinese ICAD tactics targeting Taiwan, it is clear that more needs to be done to bolster Taiwan’s whole-of-society resilience, military preparedness, and level of international support.
“Concerningly, Beijing’s ICAD playbook is not confined to the West Philippine Sea or Taiwan Strait, but is now being used throughout the region.
“In February, Chinese warships sailed through the Tasman Sea and circumvented Australia’s coastline for more than three weeks.
“They staged unprecedented live-fire drills in a show of force meant to intimidate and stress test Australia’s ability to respond.
“Communist China is also increasingly militarizing the Yellow Sea, installing dual-purpose platforms in disputed territory with South Korea.
“Similarly, Beijing has stepped up construction of drilling rigs and other platforms along the median line with Japan in the East China Sea, while it conducts a record number of Coast Guard patrols around the Senkaku Islands.
“So why does all of this matter?
“To steal from Mr. Powell – as Sun Tzu said: ‘Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.’
“This is right out of Sun Tzu’s playbook to be able to win.
“The greatest general never fights a battle, but defeats his enemy beforehand.
“Ultimately, Communist China would rather act as a python, slowing squeezing countries’ will to resist rather than acting as a cobra and striking quickly.
“Communist China’s ICAD tactics are central to this effort, or at the very least, they could provoke a kinetic response and give Beijing a pretext for ‘self-defensive’ military action.
“The good news is that we have allies and partners who are bravely confronting Beijing’s ICAD behavior.
“But they are currently out-matched.
“The United States must do more to even the scales and strengthen their resilience.
“Ranking Member Coons and I are working together to do just that.
“We introduced the Taiwan Energy Security and Anti-Embargo Act, which would facilitate increased American LNG exports to Taiwan; encourage cooperation with Taiwan on nuclear energy use; and ensure commerce with Taiwan continues in a contingency.
“We also introduced the PORCUPINE Act, which would make it easier to quickly send arms that are critical for Taiwan to respond to and deter some of Communist China’s ICAD activities.
“And finally, we recently introduced a resolution honoring the 74th anniversary of the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty to ensure Communist China knows that the United States will continue to stand by our ally.
“But more needs to be done.
“And I look forward to hearing from our witnesses to understand the evolution of Communist China’s use of ICAD tactics, and what the U.S., and, specifically, Congress, can do to combat them.”