This is CBS. I On the World. I'm John Batchel with Gordon Chang at Gordon G. Chang, my colleague and co-host and friend.

And we're headed to the U.S. Navy in the East Asian corridors, the South China Sea, the Philippines, Japan, defending our allies from the predations of the People's Republic

of China and its PLA Navy. I read from the U.S. Naval Institute website. Chinese ships, aircraft,

block Philippine research mission in South China Sea.

That looks like a story we've done before, although this time the Chinese are arrayed with

matching orange nests and flying the Chinese red flag.

For some reason, they want us to know they're there.

We welcome James Fennell, co-author of embracing communist China, America's greatest

strategic failure. He's a government fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy.

He's a retired U.S. Navy Captain and Intelligence Officer. Jim, a very good evening to you.

The Chinese playbook has only one play at it. Push, push, push. And the Philippines stood up when it

had the equipment. It stood down what it didn't. Now they're back harassing research missions.

What is the overall mission that you perceive from the PLA Navy? Why do they keep running the same

off tackle play? What do they get out of it? Good evening to you.

Good evening, John and Gordon. The Chinese Communist Party wants to take possession of the

South China Sea. They believe it is their waters and they don't adhere to the principles of the

United Nations Convention Law of the Sea.

And so therefore, they believe it's theirs, and they're continuing their pressure campaign.

It's been called the salami slice.

They keep slicing pieces of salami just enough off so that they can get a bite,

but they don't cause a greater confrontation. And in this latest episode, you had two civilian ships, about 100 feet long, 30-meter-long

ships from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, civilian ships that were basically

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