28 2GM Tuesday July 28 2020 | the times
Wo r l d
The Royal Canadian Navy will drop the
centuries-old term “seaman” in favour
of a more gender-neutral title, prompt-
ing a backlash from opponents of polit-
ical correctness.
Amid a recruitment slump that has
left the navy with a shortfall of 850
sailors, and as part of a wider inclusivity
drive in the Canadian military,
commanders will instead use the word
“sailor”. The rank of “seaman” is used by
the British, American, French and
Greek navies among others.
Present and former Canadian force
members have expressed anger online
about what they view as excessive
China and the US is not something we
are willing to see,” Wang Wenbin, a
spokesman for the Chinese foreign
ministry, said. He blamed the US for the
deteriorating relations.
In Washington a statement issued by
the Department of State expressed dis-
appointment at the development, add-
ing that the consulate “has stood at thecentre of our relations with the people
in western China, including Tibet, for
35 years. We are disappointed by the
Chinese Communist Party’s decision
and will strive to continue our outreach
to the people in this important region
through our other posts in China”.
China’s foreign ministry issued a brief
notice saying that “competent author-ities” had entered through the front
entrance of the Chengdu consulate
after American diplomats departed.
Before that the US flag was lowered and
workers began removing plaques and
other signs of US sovereignty on the
compound’s exterior.
That conveyed a sense of breakdown
not felt during previous crises, includ-An F/A-18F is manoeuvred into place on USS Ronald Reagan, now in the South China Sea, backed by USS Nimitz. Tensions
The US is increasing aerial surveillance
over the South China Sea to a record
level as relations between Washington
and Beijing deteriorate and fears grow
for the safety of Taiwan.
Spy planes from the US navy, air
force and army are involved in an
apparent three-pronged drive to track
Chinese submarines and monitor
activity by the People’s Liberation
Army (PLA), which has redoubled
training for operations aimed at
Taiwan. In Beijing, procurement docu-
ments from the China State Shipbuild-
ing Corporation have revealed plans to
build an amphibious assault ship ideal
for island invasion.
China has long considered Taiwan a
breakaway province to be brought back
under its control, by force if necessary,
while the US has a pact with the island
to ensure that it has hardware and tech-
nology it needs to defend itself.
Tensions between the two superpowers
have heightened in recent days, with
tit-for-tat closures of consulates.
As many as 50 US military patrols
have been carried out this month
involving a range of surveillance and
signals intelligence aircraft, according
to a think tank in Beijing.
The Pentagon describes such
missions as “routine patrols in inter-
national airspace” but there is evidence
that the number has been significantly
stepped up, particularly in the strategic
Bashi Channel, south of Taiwan.
The Chinese air force has also been
active in recent weeks over the channel,
which runs from the southern end of
Taiwan to the island of Luzon in the
Philippines. China has been increasing
the pressure on Taiwan, launching
military exercises involving amphibi-
ous warfare operations.
The US sent six reconnaissance air-
craft and two refuelling tankers to the
Bashi Channel this month, according to
the South China Sea Probing Initiative,
a think tank linked to Peking Univers-
ity. It said a US air force RC-135 Rivet
Joint electronic surveillance aircraft
was seen entering Taiwan airspace
yesterday.
A US navy EP-3E Orion reconnais-
sance aircraft, thought to be based in
Okinawa, was also spotted yesterday
flying within 60 miles of Guangdon
US sends more planes to keep
South China Sea
Mike Evans
Didi Tang Beijing
David Charter Washington
Canada swaps seamen for PC sailors
change from “seaman” may also be
pragmatic. This month Commander
Deborah Lynn Gates, who is responsi-
ble for navy personnel policy, said that
it would improve safety and boost pride.
Stephanie Carvin, a national security
expert at Ottawa’s Carleton University,
told The Times that the change was
“cosmetic”. She said: “In recent years
the Canadian Armed Forces have been
dealing with issues regarding sexism
and sexual assault, as well as recent
allegations of a small number of indi-
viduals being involved in white
supremacist groups. These kinds of
changes cannot be a substitute for the
real reforms that are necessary to have
a diverse and capable armed forces that
represents Canada.”political correctness, prompting the
deputy commander to admonish sail-
ors with “hateful, misogynistic and
racist beliefs” over the weekend.
“To those of you serving with these
beliefs, I would like to emphatically
state you have no place in our navy,”
Rear-Admiral Chris Sutherland said. “I
am shocked that you think that your
comments would be acceptable, and
that you are not able to recognise that
those you are disparaging are the very
people dedicating their lives to afford
you the freedom to comment.”
The Canadian military is increasing
its recruitment of women, minorities
and LGBT people to better reflect
society, and aims for a quarter of service
members to be female by 2025. TheCanada
Charlie Mitchell Ottawa
Outdoor drinkers face chilly winters
after a decision by the French govern-
ment to fight global warming by ban-
ning bars and restaurants from heating
terraces.
Announcing a series of initiatives to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Bar-
bara Pompili, the ecological transition
minister, called the custom of basking
in the warmth of gas and electric heat-
ers in the winter an aberration.
The ban was among 146 proposals
put forward by voters drawn out of a hat
to sit on a citizens’ convention for the
climate, a body created by President
Macron in response to discontent withOutdoor heater ban gets a
France’s elected representatives.
Among the other proposals that Ms
Pompili said would become law was a
ban on shops and other public buildings
keeping their front doors open while
using heating or air conditioning, and
the creation of two new national parks.
“It is a matter of putting a stop to
practices which constitute ecological
aberrations and the completely unjusti-
fied overconsumption of energy,” she
said.
“You cannot, for the simple comfort
of not having to open a shop door, air
condition an entire street in mid-sum-
mer when it is 30C, and you cannot turn
on the heaters on full blast in mid-win-
ter either when it’s 0C for the simple
pleasure of keeping warm whilst drink-France
Adam Sage Parisprovince, which borders Hong Kong.
US navy P-8A Poseidon anti-subma-
rine aircraft have been part of the
patrols monitoring the Bashi Channel
and the South China Sea for PLA navy
submarine movements.
The surveillance patrols over the
South China Sea have also involved the
US army’s RC-12X Guardrail signals
intelligence aircraft, used for snooping
on enemy communications.
The heightened US surveillance
missions have coincided with an official
statement by Washington rejecting
Beijing’s claims of sovereignty over
islands in the South China Sea. The
statement by Mike Pompeo, secretary
of state, was the first time the US had
taken sides in the long-running region-
al dispute over the ownership of the
islands. The Australian government
also declared that China’s claims were
unlawful.
China has been occupying some of
the disputed Paracel and Spratly
islands, building military facilities and
converting reefs into artificial bases for
runways and locations for air-defence
missiles.
Two US aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz
and USS Ronald Reagan, entered the
South China Sea at the start of the
month for rare combined training
operations. The two carrier strike
forces were joined by a B-52H strategic
bomber from Louisiana. Last week two
B-1B bombers from Andersen air force
base in Guam linked up with the USS
Ronald Reagan and also flew over the
South China Sea.
Security in the South China Sea is
just one of several issues between the
two powers which were formerly com-
partmentalised to facilitate co-opera-
tion on trade and shared foreign policy
goals such as containing North Korea’s
nuclear ambitions. But with China’s
commitment to the first phase of its
trade agreement with President Trump
in question, and the US administration
blaming Beijing for the spread of the
coronavirus, feelings are running high
in Washington about other disputes in-
cluding technology theft, human rights
abuses in Xinjiang and the security
crackdown in Hong Kong.
The US ordered China to close its
consulate in Houston last week, accus-
ing the diplomats there of espionage.
China responded by ordering the
closure of the US consulate in Cheng-
du, in the southwest of the country.
“The current state of affairs between