By Elishya Perera
SYDNEY, Australia (CWBN)_Beijing’s aggressive fishing fleet is heading towards Australia, amidst growing diplomatic tensions between the trade partners.
The significance of China’s massive fishing fleet is that its behavior is officially authorised, organised and overseen by the Communist Party. This was reflected in the remarks of the Party’s General Secretary and President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, who urged the nation to “build bigger ships and venture even farther into the oceans and catch bigger fish”.
According to the Overseas Development Institute, an independent think tank headquartered in London, Beijing now has the world’s largest fleet with 12, 500 deep-water vessels at its disposal, although the communist superpower claims only 3,000 boats operating in international waters.
In the recent months, Australia has seen escalating trade tensions with Beijing, and Australia’s rock lobster was on the rather lengthy list of commodities from Canberra which have been subjected to restrictions. Now, Australia’s fishers are worried that they may be entrapped in the growing diplomatic row, as Beijing has unveiled plans to build a $204 million fishing port on Australia’s doorstep, on the southern Papua New Guinea village of Daru.
Former government foreign policy advisor Philip Citowicki says the reality is that China has seated Papua New Guinea at the center of a tug of war, and is increasingly imprinting itself on the emerging democracies of the Pacific, by its authoritative presence. However, Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marise Payne, has reassured that Border Force vessels would monitor the region to enforce territorial boundaries and joint-fishing treaties.
Australia is not the only country concerned about Beijing’s monstrous fishing fleet. Several South American nations including Colombia, Chile, Peru and Ecuador are also worried that their fisheries are being looted. In November this year, these countries issued a joint statement that would collaborate their limited resources to “prevent, discourage and jointly confront” any illegal fishing operations.
One of the main reasons for Beijing’s destructive operation is that the 1.4 million population of China are seafood lovers with each reportedly consuming an average of 37.8 kilos a year. For this reason, the coastal wasters around the communist superpower has been fished to the point of destruction, as studies suggest that only 15 per cent of the region’s pre-1980s fish population survives.
However, this massive operation is not just a commercial one. It also has a political aspect, as some vessels do not fish at all. Instead, they are assigned to either sit provocatively inside another nation’s territory or intimidate fisher of other nations. And this operation receives unprecedented military support, with armed coast guard ships following wherever the fleet goes.
Blake Herzinger, an analyst at the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) says that although international fishing regulations are being enforced, it is done so only against weaker nations such as Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. He noted that China escapes criticism because of its economic power and potential at-sea backlash.
Beijing, on the other hand, insists that its fleets are innocent, and claims that the entire international fishing system is both chaotic and corrupt.
