/ world today news/ Donald Trump announced the punishment for the Chinese “destroying the freedom of Hong Kong”. In response, Beijing announced the imposition of sanctions against the United States. Against the background of rapidly heating up the rhetoric of threats, we are already talking about a military confrontation between the two powers – the State Department has forbidden China to dispose of the South China Sea as a maritime empire. Does America have the strength to carry out its threats?
A day ago, President Donald Trump announced the removal of economic privileges for Hong Kong. Now the US attitude towards the former British colony will be “the same as towards mainland China”. In addition, the head of the White House signed a law to prosecute individuals and organizations “involved in the destruction of Hong Kong’s freedom.”
At the same time, China intends to impose sanctions on individuals and organizations “linked” to the Hong Kong Autonomy Act in the US. “The affairs of Hong Kong are exclusively China’s internal affairs, and no foreign country has the right to interfere,” the People’s Republic’s foreign ministry stressed.
Against the background of mutual sanctions, the US and China are approaching a forceful confrontation at sea. So on Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea illegal. China, Pompeo emphasized, has no legal basis for an exclusive economic zone around Scarborough Reef and the Spratly Islands, nor does it have a right to Mischief and Second Thomas Reefs. Washington also does not recognize Chinese claims to waters outside the 12-mile zone around the Spratly Islands and to waters disputed by Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.
In addition, the US side believes that China has not provided legal grounds for its policy. The State Department recalls that in 2016, the Hague Arbitration Court, at the request of the Philippines, rejected Beijing’s claims to territories in the South China Sea. Washington has also declared illegal “any actions” by China that “endanger other countries’ fisheries or hydrocarbon development.”
“The world will not allow China to dispose of the South China Sea as a maritime empire,” Pompeo stressed, adding that the U.S. will support its allies and partners in the region “in defense of its sovereign rights.” It should be noted that China has long had territorial disputes with Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines regarding the Paracel Islands (Xisha) and the Spratly Islands (Nansha).
Beijing diplomats have called the accusations baseless, pointing out that the State Department is ignoring efforts by China and ASEAN countries to ensure peace and stability in the South China Sea. The US is also deliberately misrepresenting facts and international law, including the UN Convention, and “trying to sow discord between China and other littoral countries.”
According to Beijing, the situation in the South China Sea remains peaceful and continues to improve. “The United States is not a party directly involved in the disputes. However, they continued to interfere in the problem. Under the pretext of maintaining stability, they are flexing their muscles, causing tension and inflaming confrontation in the region,” diplomats say.
This is also proven by the fact that in early July, the US sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the South China Sea to participate in naval exercises led by the Ronald Reagan and Nimitz aircraft carriers, with the aim of giving an “unequivocal signal” to Washington’s partners.
The expert community is confident that the US will continue to help countries that have territorial disputes with China. Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian Council of International Affairs, does not rule out the possibility of further moving part of the US fleet from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea. According to the political scientist, China is used to solving disputes at the bilateral level, while the Americans are trying to internationalize the problem, realizing the difficulties of the Beijing dispute in private.
“Obviously, the US naval presence in the South China Sea will increase. The intensity of the exercises in partnership with the countries of the region will increase, because for the United States it is not so much the territory that matters, but the preservation of the principle of freedom of navigation. This is a traditional principle of American policy, which the United States has followed for many decades,” said Kortunov, who expects “the next round of the American-Chinese confrontation.”
For his part, the editor of the magazine “Arsenal of the Fatherland” Alexei Leonkov points out that the number of Chinese surface ships and submarines in the region exceeds the capabilities of any fleet in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, “therefore, a serious confrontation is not expected in this region in the near future between the US and China.” “The Americans simply do not have enough forces for this. And China started the program to develop its fleet in 2005 and is now successfully continuing it,” said Leonkov.
At the same time, the Pentagon allocated more than $20 billion to the Indo-Pacific Command of the US Armed Forces to prepare for the confrontation with China. At the same time, the Americans are actively arming Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India.
Since 2008, however, China has begun to build defenses in the near and far sea areas. “The closest one, which includes the disputed territories of the South China Sea, is already equipped – a fleet has been created and places of its basing, both on the mainland and on the islands. Now China fully controls 1,000 kilometers of the adjacent water zone and is developing the far sea zone,” the expert emphasized.
The Chinese are also actively developing anti-ship weapons programs. They are successfully testing hypersonic anti-ship missiles. They plan to arm submarines and coastal defense systems with them “that will be on those very disputed islands and control a large perimeter of territory.” It is true that China has repeatedly fallen behind the United States in the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and is forced to conduct an arms race with the Americans.
“All this is dictated by the fact that the main route for transporting goods and cargo from Asia to Europe passes through the South China Sea and Malacca. And the one who controls this zone will have a huge influence in the entire Indo-Pacific region,” Leonkov summarizes.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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