New Political Commissar for Hong Kong Garrison Appointed Amid Growing Tensions in South China Sea

People's Liberation Army soldiers at the Shek Kong barracks— part of the Hong Kong garrison —on June 30, 2017. Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images

Beijing appointed Rear Admiral Lai Ruxin as the political commissar of the Hong Kong garrison of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on March 28.

Lai is the garrison’s ninth Chinese Communist Party political commissar and the first commissar with a Navy background.

Before taking office, Lai was deputy director of the Political Work Department of the Northern Theater of the Chinese military.

Lai has earlier served in various roles in the PLA Navy, including being director of the cadre department of the Political Department of the South China Sea Fleet and the political commissar of the Guangzhou Marine Police District.

In June 2018, Lai served as the political commissar of the Naval Academy of China. In December of that year, he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral, and then transferred to the deputy director of the Political Work Department of the Northern Theater Command.

Lai’s appointment follows Beijing adding two warships to the garrison from the South China Sea Fleet on Oct. 26, 2021. The vessels Suqian and Jingmen are part of China’s new generation of light frigates.

The CCP’s naval reinforcement came at a time when the United States warned Beijing against its aggressive moves in the disputed South China Sea while Beijing claims that U.S. activities in the area “raises the risk of conflict.”

Since 2014, Beijing has claimed a wide swath of the sea, which the U.S. State Department says is inconsistent with international law as reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.

Chinese structures and buildings at the man-made island on Johnson reef at the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea on March 20, 2022. AP Photo/Aaron Favila

Beijing is currently locking horns with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan in a territorial dispute over reefs, islands, and atolls in the South China Sea. As part of that, China has built at least seven outposts in the Spratly Islands and 20 in the Parcel Islands.

China has fully militarized at least three of the islands that the regime built in the disputed area, Adm. John Aquilino, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said on March 20.

Military Exercises

From March 28 to April 8, the United States and its ally the Philippines have been conducting a live-fire military exercise, one of the largest in seven years, in the northern part of the Philippines.

The annual exercises, called Balikatan, (shoulder-to-shoulder), involve 8,900 defense personnel, of whom 5,100 are American. “It’s a way to make sure we can act together with our allies,” said Andres Centino, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

U.S. Marines take part in a joint amphibious assault exercise as part of the annual 'Balikatan' (shoulder-to-shoulder) U.S.-Philippines war exercises, off the waters of South China Sea on March 31, 2022 in Claveria, Cagayan province, Philippines. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

Currently, nearby Malaysia is hosting the armed forces from four nations—Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, in the annual Bersama Shield 2022 training exercise.

The exercise is ongoing from March 19 to April 22, involving 36 aircraft and three ships.

Not long ago, the United States, Australia, and Japan had conducted a trilateral joint military exercise in the South China Sea, which ended on March 15.

‘9-dash line’

A 2016 international ruling rejected the Chinese regime’s “nine-dash line” claim to about 85 percent of the South China Sea’s 2.2 million square miles. The ruling said that China’s claims had no historical basis and Beijing had violated the sovereignty of the Philippines by asserting territorial claims with its artificial islands built on reefs and sea rocks.

The CCP has rejected the ruling. It has deployed coast guard ships and Chinese fishing boats, which sometimes have fishermen with military training aboard, to intimidate foreign vessels, block access to waterways, and seize shoals and reefs.

Frank Fang contributed to this report.