[War & Business] The Maritime Militia in 'Avatar' and China

The appearance of the whaling ship 'Sea Dragon,' used for Tulkun hunting, featured in the movie 'Avatar: The Way of Water.' [Image source=Official Avatar movie website]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] "Show me the money!"

This is the line muttered every time Scovis, the villain leading the whaling fleet, appears in James Cameron's sequel to Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, released after 13 years. Captain Scovis, the most memorable villain in this film, meets a very brutal end in accordance with director Cameron's commitment to marine environmental protection.

Scovis appears as a hunter of 'Tulkun,' whale-like creatures living on Pandora, the main setting of Avatar. He and his whaling fleet are armed with various heavy weapons and attack indigenous islanders when necessary, and are even hired as mercenaries in battles against the Na'vi.

Through this character, director Cameron criticizes Japan for continuing whaling activities while simultaneously condemning China, which uses its Maritime Militia to engage in overfishing across the world's oceans. Especially from South Korea's perspective, which directly experiences the tyranny of Chinese fishing vessels in the West Sea every year, this is far from just a fictional story.

China's Maritime Militia is a quasi-military organization established shortly after the Chinese Civil War in 1949. At that time, the Chinese Communist Party, inferior in naval power, hastily formed this group to prevent invasions by the Kuomintang navy from Taiwan. Now numbering 300,000, they undergo military training annually during designated periods, receive government funding, and are equipped with patrol vessels converted from fishing boats and various other equipment, roaming the world's oceans.

They are particularly active not only in South Korea's West Sea but also along the coasts of East Africa and Central and South America. Leading large fleets, they engage in bottom trawling, completely destroying marine ecosystems. In October last year, they decimated squid populations around the Galapagos Islands in Africa and Argentina in South America. The United Nations has urged a halt to ecological destruction, noting that Chinese fishing vessels account for 80% of catches in international waters worldwide.

The problem is not only that they destroy marine ecosystems through overfishing but also that they are at the forefront of territorial disputes. They are frequently found in areas where China is involved in sovereignty disputes, such as the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. Although ostensibly civilians, they dominate specific waters, linking fishing vessels together, installing iron bars on them to create maritime fortresses, and occupying these areas, making it difficult for coast guards or navies of other countries to intervene.

The United States and Western countries criticize this as China's "Gray Zone" strategy. The Gray Zone strategy refers to achieving national security objectives by using quasi-military organizations that appear civilian rather than regular military forces that might provoke neighboring countries. This is similar to Russia's strategy of forming pro-Russian militias in eastern Donbas before the invasion of Ukraine to secure footholds.

Especially amid escalating US-China tensions over the Taiwan Strait, there are concerns that provocations by China's Maritime Militia will intensify this year. South Korea must quickly dispel the security complacency that arose even after the intrusion of five North Korean drones and prioritize a principled response system and swift countermeasures.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.