[단독]40km of Baengnyeongdo Island, Chinese warships openly threaten the West Sea

Last month, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army naval guard moved in the west sea, crossing 124 degrees east longitude and entering east. 124 degrees east longitude is a line drawn by China unilaterally, saying it is the boundary line of their maritime operations area (AO).

Chinese warships did not stop at this line and entered another 10 km. It entered the sea on the Korean side and approached the sea area 40km away from Baengnyeongdo Island.

The Navy immediately dispatched a battleship that was guarding the West Sea Northern Limit Line (NLL) to the scene, and began to monitor and check Chinese patrol ships.

A government source who requested anonymity said on the 26th, “The Chinese patrol ships are sailing closely at 124 degrees east longitude, crossing this line almost every day, and heading toward Baengnyeongdo Island.” “Last December was an unusual case of deep entry.”

Of course, the sea area 40km away from Baengnyeongdo is high seas. However, the very close proximity from the sea is a show of military territory.

According to the data obtained by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Navy, Rep. Shin Won-sik, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Navy, several guard ships of the Chinese Navy appear almost every day in the seas between 123 and 124 degrees east longitude. The same is true in the air. Chinese naval patrol aircraft fly several times almost every day in the air above 123-124 degrees east longitude.

China is blatantly advancing into the’West Sea Project’ to make the West Sea an inland sea. Following the aggressive expansion of the territory in the South China Sea and blocking the entry of US troops, it is a strategy to make the West Sea into China’s front yard by expanding the scope of its activities by gradually approaching the naval and air forces toward Korea in the West Sea.

An anonymous government source said, “The Chinese Navy has mainly mobilized security ships, but in the future, it is expected to use a’salami strategy’ to increase the intensity by putting destroyers as well as aircraft carriers in the sea area of ​​124 degrees east longitude. It is the military’s task to block the inland waters.”

The Chinese military even exposed submarines, a strategic weapon, openly. The secret that submarines do not reveal their location is its greatest strength. However, in August of last year, a scene of a Chinese navy’s yuan (元ㆍ039A) class submarine (3600t) sailing out of the waters between 123 and 124 degrees east longitude was captured by the navy.

It is a new submarine launched by the Chinese Navy in 2005. According to the US think tank, the US Naval Research Institute (USNI), it is an attack submarine capable of carrying YJ-18 missiles with a maximum speed of Mach 3 (about 3675 km per hour) and a maximum range of 537 km.

The comfort-class submarine is a conventional submarine with a diesel engine, but it can be submerged for 2 to 3 weeks with the’conventional unnecessary propulsion system (AIP)’. Nevertheless, the fact that he had sailed on the surface to reveal his appearance was interpreted as deliberately revealing his existence. It was analyzed by the intelligence authorities at the time that this place emitted an implicit message of’the sea of ​​China’.

In the sky of the West Sea, Chinese military aircraft are in full swing. According to the data submitted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Rep. Won-sik Shin, Chinese military aircraft have entered the West Sea Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) more than 60 times in the past three years.

KADIZ was drawn along 124 degrees east longitude. The air defense identification zone is not airspace, but it is customary to notify the country first if foreign military aircraft enter the air defense identification zone. But China is different from time to time. “In some cases, it is notified, but in many cases it is not,” a military source said. Rep. Shin Won-sik pointed out that “the defense of maritime sovereignty from neighboring countries has fallen on fire”.

The boundary line of the Maritime Operations Area (AO) of 124 degrees east longitude drawn by China on the sea is a line that is not binding under international law. It was just a one-sided setting by China in 2013 without consultation with Korea. In July of that year, Wu Seong-ri (吳勝利), then the Chinese naval commander (commander), asked former Joint Chiefs of Staff Yoon-hee Choi (Naval Chief of Staff at the time of his visit to China) who visited China, asking “The ROK Navy should not cross this line (124 degrees east longitude).” did.

In a call with JoongAng Ilbo, the former Chairman Choi refuted that, “To this request, 124 degrees east longitude is high seas under international law, and North Korean submarines and submarines cross 124 degrees east longitude and infiltrate our seas, so we have no choice but to do an operation to prevent this. ”

But China was My Way. Since 2013, when a Korean naval battleship moves west from 124 degrees east longitude, the Chinese navy is sending out a warning message saying, “Go out immediately.” Lee Ki-beom, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said, “The Chinese navy, of course, does not have the international legal authority to demand an eviction from the Korean navy.” Now China has crossed the stage of’don’t go over it’. The Chinese army demanded that the ROK Navy not enter from 124 degrees east longitude, and they cross this line and are approaching the Korean territorial waters.

Why is China trying to use the West Sea as its courtyard? Another government source pointed out, “After President Xi Jinping issued an order to strengthen maritime sovereignty in 2013, there are spies that China is insisting on 124 degrees as the borderline.”

For China, in the West Sea, there is Tianjin, the gateway to Beijing, the capital of China. China’s first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, belongs to the North Sea Fleet in charge of the West Sea.

The North Sea Fleet has its headquarters in Qingdao, Shandong Province. The second carrier, Shandong, was built in Dalian on the Liaoning Peninsula in the West Sea. According to the Navy, the two carriers had trained more than 20 times last year in the west seas, including offshore Qingdao and Bohai Bay.

Usually, for self-protection, a carrier is set as an absolute range within a radius of 50 to 80 km around the carrier. In order for Chinese carriers to navigate freely, the sea areas that can be maneuvered in the West Sea must be increased.

In addition, in Pyeongtaek, which faces the west sea, there is Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas US military base. From Pyeongtaek to China’s Qingdao (600 km) and Dalian (520 km), it is not far from the naval forces’ operational distance. China’s concern is that the U.S. could potentially trap China’s North Sea Fleet in the West Sea.

The sea area of ​​123-124 degrees east longitude is relatively deep in the west sea. The Chinese North Sea Fleet’s Korean (091)-class nuclear propulsion submarine has to go through this area to go to the far sea, so there is a reason to make it into the sea of ​​the Chinese military.

The ROK military’s response to this is lukewarm. Above all, in the West Sea, the Navy’s primary goal is North Korea, not China. Former Chairman Choi Yoon-hee said, “The main duty of the navy in the West Sea is to protect the NLL,” and “with the current naval power, there is no time to pay attention to the Chinese navy.”

A military source said, “The naval forces try their best, but the numbers are pushed by the Chinese forces.” “If you barely take one naval battleship out of the North Korean mission and send it to 124 degrees east longitude, most of them meet several Chinese naval battleships.

Yoon Seok-joon, a researcher at the Korea Military Research Institute, said, “If Korea is silent about 124 degrees east longitude, it will recognize the operating area of ​​the Chinese Navy and eventually give the West Sea to China.” It is necessary to continue dialogue between the North Sea Fleets, and sometimes dispatch naval battleships to 123 degrees east longitude for the Korean version of the’Freedom of Navigation’ operation.”

Reporters Cheoljae Lee and Yonghan Park [email protected]