BBC Documentary Our World Flashpoint: South China Sea - Close Pro

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Closed Caption:

for 70 years
America's aircraft carriers have sailed
the western Pacific virtually unopposed
now China is building its own aircraft
carriers submarines and long-range
missiles in the South China Sea
Beijing is trying to force the
Philippines and Vietnam off disputed
reefs and its spending billions building
new island basis
they don't have any really good islands
so they're literally dredging up soil
dumping it into the reef and creating
new islands
what is China's plan china it's the
prepared to fight for territory
how can small poor countries like the
Philippines stop them in this outrageous
this expensive vegas and excessive its
allies are looking to America for help
the US Navy is running the single
greatest contributors to the security
and stability in the Asia Pacific region
we have been for nearly 70 years
how far is America ready to go to stop
China
called the Spratlys in Chinese than
and in the Philippines the kalyan
there is no easy way to get to
and no comfortable way either on the
evening of our second day at sea we spot
land on the horizon a tiny desert island
we have to anchor outside the reef only
way a short is an even smaller vote they
started building appear here 10 years
ago that the ship bring the building
materials got stuck on the reef
it's still here today slowly rotting
away
how are you
yeah
yeah
the Philippines is about 400 kilometers
back over there
Vietnam is 400 kilometers in that
direction and China is over a thousand
kilometers in this direction
this place really is the definition of
the middle of nowhere
so why come here well because this
island and a few others scattered around
here and now the center of a struggle
for the control of the South China Sea
the Spratlys may be tiny many no more
than reefs
but they are strategically right at the
heart of the South China Sea
some are controlled by the Philippines
some by Vietnam but most importantly all
the Spratlys and the whole of the South
China Sea claimed by China and it is a
claim that china is now starting to
enforce once back in the nineteen
seventies philippine dictator Ferdinand
Marcos had big dreams of turning this
tiny island into a military stronghold
today those dreams a long gone the
anti-aircraft guns are useless rusted
solid years ago the concrete bunkers are
slowly slipping into the sea
the Philippines is a military weekly but
why would anyone fight over this tiny
scrap of land
yeah
take a look from above and the gases
significance suddenly becomes clear the
significance of this place is really
this
it has a runway and a long one there are
really only two islands in the whole of
this part of the South China Sea that
have runways and the other is controlled
by Taiwan
if you want to control the see any
aircraft and if you've got aircraft you
need runways you can well understand why
China would love to get his hands on
this place
unable to defend itself militarily the
Philippines is trying something else
colonization around 20 families live in
this ramshackle village on the island
about a hundred people in all they have
a school in the clinic and the solar
power station settlers like melody have
not come to picasa out of any great
patriotic duty
they come because the government pays
them to be here in a country with twenty
percent of its population living below
the poverty line
that makes sense you in dino and for
sale now
I see Panama know my palate now I'm
gonna go hi I'm oh hi Cassie pro-india
mana
ok lon dito kami sa peau
like on par and I mean from morning I
mean doing something bland at 72 for
supper glass there as far as i know this
is the only island in the Spratlys where
there is a permanent civilian population
it's not easy life there's no regular
both service there are no regular
flights if you get sick you have to hope
that the Air Force will send a plane to
pick you up
but having this village here is
significant because it strengthens the
Philippines claim to this island and it
makes it much more difficult for China
to kick them out
there's not a huge amount to do on
picasa it's sunday and that means a
fishing expedition
but even here
politics in truth
settlers tell me overfishing by Chinese
trollers has destroyed the fish stocks
on these reefs
it's hard to tell if it's true but
today's catch doesn't look like it's
going to feed many people
on the boat watching all this is mary
joy it's her job to make sure this tiny
community on picasa survives very very
important that we have a school and
people there because China may be
thinking up we can go or not like that
so sorry what will happen if you leave
here you think if people leave here what
will happen
oh maybe China can go papa
then approached apagaste I learned to
become a China territory maybe that's my
opinion us my view
maybe if if the civilian go out we go
back to the mainland
just my view that maybe can China may be
a tour or what
more than 2,000 kilometres to the west
of picasa are now aboard a US Navy
aircraft that tiny . in the vast expanse
of the pacific ocean is a US aircraft
carrier and we are about to land on it
do you have any our items already have
to go around here otherwise are going to
stop for the night
the waiting for the example we're not on
fire
that's condensation from the air
conditioning system without final
approach
heading out to land multiple
USS George Washington
the power head drop area when we landed
will be arrested landings
egg we will go from about 150 miles and
out
rub
two seconds
pretty brutal landing
yeah
ok welcome aboard the USS George
Washington
around out of the Pacific Ocean
somewhere off the post
come out here
exercising me 10 years
there are there is the USS George
Washington carrier battle group there is
the USS Carl Vinson song carrier battle
group and there are more than 200 Navy
and Air Force plane taking part in this
enormous exercise the USS George
Washington is the embodiment of US naval
power and see it carries more than 60
fighter jets
it is a 100,000 ton floating air base in
high temple operations they can launch a
plane off this deck every 30 seconds
we've just seen 11 aircraft launched
from the back of the George Washington
and now we're watching
however more being fat book back on
board you can see the last one just
about to land behind me here between is
slow
maybe we can do that if I were really
out where in the Pacific for one reason
no one will say it openly but this is
about practicing republic of china
the man in command of this huge
operation is Rear Admiral mark
montgomery the US Navy is one of the
single greatest contributors to the
security and stability of asia-pacific
region we have been for nearly 70 years
and i think that the u.s. the u.s. Navy
plays a good role whether it's in the
South China Sea East China Sea
philippine sea within the Korean theater
both stabilizing things assuring our
partners in dissuading any adversaries
from taking actions that are that are
non transparent or illegal
that is a polite way of saying that the
US will not sit back and watch beijing
turn the western Pacific into a Chinese
lake
this chinese government video shows the
Chinese Navy's proudest new possession
it's a very own aircraft carrier the
Liaoning
this year the learning sailed into the
south china sea for the first time it
was a very deliberate show of force and
intent
china is building new ultra silent
submarines and powerful long-range
missiles so-called carrier killers
they're all designed to keep America's
precious carriers out of the South China
Sea
how to deal with these threats is now a
big headache for US Navy Columbus when
we talk about our capabilities right
about our capabilities to operate in a
generally unrestricted way in the waters
of our choice and as some countries have
increasingly complex anti-access or
area-denial weapons we have to develop
our tactics techniques and procedures to
continue to operate in an unfettered
manner
some are cast members from for
black-market apartment as if on cue the
George Washington comes under simulated
attack part of the ship is reported to
be on fire baby issues dogmatic shop ID
response from the federal problem for
the last decade
China's leaders have insisted its rise
will be peaceful and America has
responded by insisting it wants to
engage with China not contain but out
here in the Pacific
is distinct feeling that the moon is
changing
yeah
back out in the South China Sea we have
left PAGASA behind and are now on the
hunt for China's islands in fact China
doesn't control any real islands in the
Spratlys at least it didn't until a few
months ago in the distance we spot what
looks like land an island where there
shouldn't be one of my gps and this has
the latest software on it it says
elevated house with a modern
have a ring
very clear that this ahead is not a reef
it's an Italian
unfortunately just as we approach
that has turned absolutely fouling the
with the rain is now shipping down we
actually called see anything so you can
have to take my workroom
right behind me here just about 6,000
meters away
is a brand new island literally didn't
exist
three or four months ago
our fishing boat captain is shocked by
what we've seen here
yeah
a few hours later the rain lift after
the east we pass a tiny Vietnamese
outpost perched on top of a submerged
reef then ahead
another artificial island this one much
bigger and it is a hive of activity
this behind me here is called Johnson
South wreath and until the end of last
year this was another submerged reef
controlled by the Chinese there was a
construction and there was a white block
house in the middle that you can still
see there that was the only structure
there but in the last few months
this place has been completely
transformed Chinese started off by
bringing dredges and dredging up huge
amounts of material to fill in the
wreath and create this artificial island
now there is a big construction site you
can see on top of this new island
what exactly they're building here no
one is really sure they may just be
making a bigger island
they may be building a new port here but
there are some reports especially from
the Philippine government
this is where the Chinese are going to
build their new South China Sea Air Base
China took this reef from vietnam in a
brief vicious battle in 1988 in this
Chinese video you can see the vietnamese
troops standing waist-deep on the
submerged reef
you're not watching out of a partner who
fired the first shot is still disputed
that the result is not 70 vietnamese
troops dead
- ships sunk china victorious for 25
years China did almost nothing here
until this year
last year it was still a coral at all
by februari this year a huge dredging
operation began pumping millions of tons
of sand into the reef by the end of
March a new island had emerged in Manila
China's island building is causing
consternation in this outrageous
it is expensive like I said excessive
and without basis under international
law when they're doing it because they
can and and and i think they're right
I bet you're going away in april this
year China's claims very nearly erupted
into open conflict with Vietnam Chinese
Coast Guard boats repeatedly ram
Vietnamese fishing boats inside Vietnam
zone 200-mile exclusive economic zone
I think of china is the prepared to
fight for territory for several decades
and at nighttime
if they say they are ok we need to that
will do it so you see where they have a
separate butter butter tsp butter our
walls or metal clashes with the soviet
union with India with whit now with that
what are the the in the war in the clear
so whenever Chinese government to feel a
are we feel this is a kind of threat
the main take that meant reaction to
read the in responding to these are
well challenge the one thing the
Philippines has that Vietnam does not is
a mutual defense treaty with the United
States in terms of our Philippine and US
relations very 1951 with the defense
treaty and especially during the last we
see of President Obama
he reiterated the USS ironclad
commitment to to the treaty obligation
to watch the Philippines
yeah
when you see just how weak the
Philippine military is you can well
understand why
Manila wants the US and its side on
board our little fishing boat who spent
another night at sea
now with the dawn rising a new
silhouette appears on the horizon
a rusting world war two Hulk stuck a top
another reef
this ancient rust bucket is the Sierra
Madre the Philippine Navy scuttled this
ship here back in nineteen ninety nine
in a desperate attempt to stop the
Chinese from moving in and claiming it
on board a tiny garrison of ten Marines
all that stands in the way of another
take over
yeah
the Sierra Madre is more death trap and
refuge
the deck is peppered with holes that are
passed with anything they can find the
ship's guns are useless
the radio antennas broken you can only
imagine what it must be like on here
when there's a storm for the Marines it
is a constant battle to ward off boredom
and hunger food is often so scarce name
is catch will grow their own they can
only bathe when they've collected enough
rain water
meanwhile just beyond the reef - shiny
new Chinese Coast Guard ships Rome up
and down the coast of the Philippines is
about 120 nautical miles in that
direction
the coast of China on the other hand is
800 miles in that direction but those
two Chinese ships sitting just off the
roof behind me are here to enforce
Beijing is claimed that this submerged
reef is actually chinese territory for
the last year the Chinese ships have
been blockading the Sierra Madre trying
to prevent resupplies from getting
through
and we're down their morale
yeah
the philippine air force had to resort
to dropping food consignments by plane
not all of this successful
it's a someone as application issues in
terms of our family
no it's just a typical I oh so its own
someone sacrifices
this is clearly not a contest of equals
10 men on a rusty ship and not any real
barrier to a chinese takeover the
beijing knows the Philippines has a
defense treaty with the United States
and perhaps because of that it is biding
it's time
some have described China's actions out
here as salami slicing or in Chinese as
cabbage slicing
right right
the by its own statements China's
ambitions are clear to control this see
and to keep America and its allies out
yeah
America says it will not allow that to
happen and that means these two mighty
countries are now on a potentially very
dangerous collision calls
yeah
yeah
yeah
Oh
yeah
yeah
after anchor outside the reef only way a
short is an even smaller vote they
started building appear here 10 years
ago the ship bringing the building
materials got stuck on the reef
it's still here today slowly rotting
away
yeah
yeah
yeah
the Philippines is about 400 kilometers
back over there
Vietnam is 400 kilometers in that
direction and China is over a thousand
kilometers in this direction
this place really is the definition of
the middle of nowhere
so why come here well because this
island and a few others scattered around
here and now the center of a struggle
for the control of the South China Sea
the Spratlys may be tiny many no more
than reefs
but they are strategically right at the
heart of the South China Sea
some are controlled by the Philippines
some by Vietnam but most importantly all
the Spratlys and the whole of the South
China Sea claimed by China and it is a
claim that china is now starting to
enforce once back in the nineteen
seventies philippine dictator Ferdinand
Marcos had big dreams of turning this
tiny island into a military stronghold
today those dreams a long gone the
anti-aircraft guns are useless rusted
solid years ago the concrete bunkers are
slowly slipping into the sea
the Philippines is a military weekly but
why would anyone fight over this tiny
scrap of land
yeah
take a look from above and the gases
significance suddenly becomes clear the
significance of this place is really
this
it has a runway and a long one there are
really only two islands in the whole of
this part of the South China Sea that
have runways and the other is controlled
by Taiwan
if you want to control the sea in each
aircraft and if you've got aircraft you
need runways you can well understand why
China would love to get his hands on
this place
unable to defend itself militarily the
Philippines is trying something else
colonization around 20 families live in
this ramshackle village on the island
about a hundred people in all they have
a school in the clinic and the solar
power station settlers like melody have
not come to picasa out of any great
patriotic duty
they come because the government pays
them to be here in a country with twenty
percent of its population living below
the poverty line
that makes sense india and persona
lycée panoramic development gonna go hi
ho hi
I guess you pull in amana ok lon and he
told me that before
nikon partner in a min from morning I
mean doing something planned
called the Spratlys in Chinese the
and in the Philippines the cation
there is no easy way to get
and no comfortable way either on the
evening of our second day at sea we spot
land on the horizon a tiny desert island
we have for 70 years
America's aircraft carriers have sailed
the western Pacific virtually unopposed
now China is building its own aircraft
carriers submarines and long-range
missiles in the South China Sea
Beijing is trying to force the
Philippines and Vietnam off disputed
reefs and its spending billions building
new island basis
they don't have any really good islands
so they're literally dredging up soil
dumping it into the reef and creating
new islands
what is China's plan china is the
prepared to fight for territory
how can small poor countries like the
Philippines stop them in this outrageous
this expensive vegas and excessive its
allies are looking to America for help
the US Navy is one of the single
greatest contributors to the security
and stability in the Asia Pacific region
we have been for nearly 70 years
how far is America ready to go to stop
China
above and the gases significance
suddenly becomes clear the significance
of this place is really this
it has a runway and a long one there are
really only two islands in the whole of
this part of the South China Sea that
have runways and the other is controlled
by Taiwan
if you want to control the see you need
aircraft and if you've got aircraft you
need runways you can well understand why
China would love to get his hands on
this place
unable to defend itself militarily the
Philippines is trying something else
colonization around 20 families live in
this ramshackle village on the island
about a hundred people in all they have
a school in the clinic and the solar
power station settlers like melody have
not come to picasa out of any great
patriotic duty
they come because the government pays
them to be here in a country with twenty
percent of its population living below
the poverty line
that makes sense indiana 140 man
my sea buena mano my palate nah I'm
gonna go high , y se por fin de semana
que la nandito for me is a poor like
comparing a min family and I mean doing
something bland at 72 plus upper class
now as far as i know this is the only
island in the Spratlys where there is a
permanent civilian population
it's not easy life there's no regular
boat service there are no regular
flights if you get sick you have to hope
that the Air Force will send a plane to
pick you up
but having this village here is
significant because it strengthens the
Philippines claim to this island and it
makes it much more difficult for China
to kick them out
there's not a huge amount to do on
picasa it's sunday and that means a
fishing expedition
but even here
politics in truth settlers tell me
overfishing by Chinese trollers has
destroyed the fish stocks on these reefs
it's hard to tell it's true but today's
catch doesn't look like it's going to
feed many people
on the boat watching all this is mary
joy it's her job to make sure this tiny
community on picasa survives a very very
important that we have a school and
people there because China may be
thinking up we can go or not like that
so sorry what will happen if you leave
here you think if people leave here what
will happen
oh maybe China can go haha
then approached a Picasso I learned to
become a China territory maybe that's my
opinion us my view
maybe if if the civilian go out we go
back to mainland just maybe that maybe
can China may be a tour or what
maybe
more than 2,000 kilometres to the west
of PAGASA are now aboard a US Navy
aircraft that tiny . in the vast expanse
of the pacific ocean is a US aircraft
carrier and we are about to land on it
do you have any our items already have
to work around here
otherwise are going to stop
press the lighting of all the example
we're not on fire that's condensation
from the air conditioning system on our
final approach heading out to land the
multiple USS George Washington
how head drop area
arrested landings
the day we will go from
150 models and out
02 seconds
it's a pretty brutal landing
yeah
ok welcome aboard for us to Russell
around
out of the Pacific Ocean somewhere off
the pole
come out here
finite
exercise in me 10 years
there are there is the USS George
Washington carrier battle group there is
the USS Carl Vinson song carrier battle
group and there are more than 200 Navy
and Air Force planes taking part in this
enormous exercise the USS George
Washington is the embodiment of US naval
power and see it carries more than 60
fighter jets
it is a 100,000 ton floating air base in
high temple operations they can launch a
plane of this deck every 30 seconds
we've just seen 11 aircraft launched
from the deck of the George Washington
and now we're watching a little more
being back pull back on board you can
see the last one just about to land
behind me here between years old
maybe we can do this and we're really
out where in the Pacific for one reason
no one will say it openly but this is
about practicing for conflict with China
the man in command of this huge
operation is Rear Admiral mark
montgomery the US Navy is one of the
single greatest on the evening of our
second day at sea we spot land on the
horizon a tiny desert island
we have to anchor outside the reef only
way a sure is an even smaller vote they
started building appear here 10 years
ago that the ship bring the building
materials got stuck on the reef
it's still here today slowly rotting
away
yeah
ok
yeah
the Philippines is about 400 kilometers
back over there
Vietnam is 400 kilometers in that
direction and China is over a thousand
kilometers in this direction
this place really is the definition of
the middle of nowhere
so why come here well because this
island and a few others scattered around
here and now the center of a struggle
for the control of the South China Sea
the Spratlys may be tiny many no more
than reefs
but they are strategically right at the
heart of the South China Sea
some are controlled by the Philippines
some by Vietnam but most importantly all
the Spratlys and the whole of the South
China Sea claimed by China and it is a
claim that china is now starting to
enforce once back in the nineteen
seventies philippine dictator Ferdinand
Marcos had big dreams of turning this
tiny island into a military stronghold
today those dreams a long gone the
anti-aircraft guns are useless rusted
solid years ago the concrete bunkers are
slowly slipping into the sea
the Philippines is a military weekly but
why would anyone fight over this tiny
scrap of land
yeah
take a look from a for 70 years
America's aircraft carriers have sailed
the western Pacific virtually unopposed
now China is building its own aircraft
carriers submarines and long-range
missiles in the South China Sea
Beijing is trying to force the
Philippines and Vietnam off disputed
reefs and its spending billions building
new island basis
they don't have any really good islands
so they're literally dredging up soil
dumping it into the reef and creating
new islands walked his China's plan
china is a prepared to fight for
territory
how can small poor countries like the
Philippines stop them in this outrageous
this expensive vegas and excessive its
allies are looking to America for help
the US Navy is one of the single
greatest contributors to the security
and stability in the Asia Pacific region
we have been for nearly 70 years
how far is America ready to go to stop
China
called the Spratlys in Chinese the
and in the Philippines the cation
there is no easy way to get
and no comfortable way either