In this April 8, 2008, file photo, guided missile destroyer USS Lassen arrives at the Shanghai International Passenger Quay in Shanghai, China, for a scheduled port visit.Eugene Hoshiko/The Associated Press
The Dragon's blowing smoke.
Beijing's Communists were huffing and puffing Tuesday after President Barack Obama sent a U.S. warship deep into the South China Sea.
There was much bluster from Beijing but no confrontation.
Chinese warships have shown plenty of swagger in recent years – sometimes ramming ships of smaller nations with overlapping claims as the Communist regime seeks to turn the South China Sea into a Chinese lake. But squirting water hoses and threatening weaker neighbours – both standard Chinese naval practice in recent years – doesn't impress the world's sole remaining superpower.
So China resorted to salvos of rhetoric. "The actions of the U.S. warship have threatened China's sovereignty and security interests, jeopardized the safety of personnel and facilities on the reefs, and damaged regional peace and stability," Beijing's Foreign Ministry fulminated.
U.S. Ambassador to Beijing Max Baucus was called in for a talking to.
And China's official government spokesman Lu Kang warned vaguely of worse to come.
"If any country wishes to disrupt or impede China's reasonable, justifiable and lawful activities on our own territories by playing some little tricks, I would advise these countries to cast off this fantasy," Mr. Lu said.
Hours earlier, USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer sailed serenely past Subi Reef and Mischief Reef – both newly created islands where Beijing has been pouring billions of dollars into fabricating deep-water harbours and warplane-ready runways atop formerly awash rock outcroppings in an brazen effort to shore up its controversial claim to all of the South China Sea.
The Chinese navy didn't show up.
And just to make sure Beijing couldn't pretend to be surprised, the Obama administration has been warning for weeks that it would send warships and planes anywhere it chose over international waters – including inside the 12-mile limit asserted by Beijing.
Washington regards the South China Sea no differently than the Strait of Hormuz and the Northwest Passage; all navigable international waterways open to free passage. No matter that Iran's ruling mullahs or successive Canadian governments or, now, Beijing concoct territorial claims with little or no basis in international law.
"Make no mistake, the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do around the world, and the South China Sea is not and will not be an exception," U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter said earlier this month, echoing a line that successive high-ranking officials have used for decades.
Twice now when dealing with China's overreach, Mr. Obama has applied Teddy Roosevelt's famous recipe for good foreign relations.
"Speak softly, and carry a big stick."
Two years ago, Beijing unilaterally announced an "air defence identification zone" over the East China Sea where, in a long-running dispute with Japan, the Chinese government has been similarly aggressive in asserting its claims against smaller nations.
Mr. Obama promptly responded by sending a pair of Cold War-era B-52 intercontinental bombers, capable of carrying scores of nuclear bombs or missiles, directly through China's "air defence identification zone." The warplanes' crews pointedly didn't ask Beijing's permission and the Pentagon described the bombers' flight as "a demonstration of long-established international rights to freedom of navigation and transit through international airspace."
This week's sail-by was no different. And to reinforce the point, the Pentagon is already planning similar forays with other U.S. warships. A tour of the South China Sea by a nuclear full battle group, centred on one of America's mighty aircraft carriers accompanied by a fleet of warships is likely. So, too, are joint patrols of the South China Sea with a U.S. warship sailing alongside one from the Philippines or perhaps Vietnam.
The Sino-American relationship remains vital for Mr. Obama, especially as he attempts to make action on curbing greenhouse gas emissions part of his legacy of achievement. To that end, Mr. Obama needs China as a partner at the forthcoming Paris conference on climate change. But as this week made clear, Mr. Obama's isn't about to sacrifice international maritime law nor the United States' status as the sole remaining superpower just to keep Beijing onside.
For Beijing, seeking to transform itself from a regional power with global aspirations to a legitimate superpower, hard choices lie ahead.
Either it must back up bellicose bluster by attempting to stop U.S. excursions into the South China Sea – and run the risk of a showdown with a far stronger navy – or Beijing will need to tailor its rhetoric to match international law and big power realities.