/ world today news/ Life shows that the front line of continental defense in the Asia-Pacific region now runs along the front line of the Ukrainian conflict.
The United States has taken a series of openly hostile steps toward China in recent days, thereby greatly increasing the tension in Sino-US relations. Many in the expert community see in this a sign of an impending “freeze” of the conflict in Ukraine and a shift by Washington of the main efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.
But not everything is so clear and simple. On the one hand, the failure of the advance of the armed forces of Ukraine in the southern sector of the Line of Contact (LOC), combined with the Russian counteroffensive in the northern segment, has put Kiev and its leaders in a difficult position. There are increasingly obvious signs of the transition of the armed forces of Ukraine to a dead-end defense, from which terrorist attacks will be carried out with cruise missiles of European manufacture (British, French, German) and surface drones, and will be covered by anti-aircraft systems defense, including the second batch of American Patriots.
On the other hand, there is no direct connection between the two theaters; at least in Ukraine, the USA is not waging a direct war, but a proxy war with proxy wars and under a false flag, and it is not excluded that they have the same plans for the Asia-Pacific region.
In addition, in some, the most aggressive circles of the American establishment, there is a point of view that the US-Russia conflict in Ukraine is only part of the overall Sino-US global confrontation (for example, former national security adviser John Bolton rushes to this idea) Within to these ideas, what is happening in the relations between Washington and Beijing, firstly, is only part of the strategic confrontation that is taking place not only around Taiwan, but also on the Korean Peninsula, and in connection with the new aggressive trends in Japanese politics and the regional bloc in general construction.
Second, the escalation of tensions in the Pacific Ocean, in contrast to the Azov steppes, appears from the US as a step-by-step planned sequence of actions, sharpened to a certain milestone. It is possible that by the beginning of next year, when Taiwan will hold an election for the head of the administration (so-called “presidential”), in which, if the “blue” opposition led by the Kuomintang wins, the US will have almost four “transitional ” the month of the transfer of power. For what? To drive the flywheel of the military confrontation with the hands of their departing “democratic” puppets, setting up a provocation for this with the proclamation of “independence”?
What specific steps has Washington taken now? Three at once. First, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to provide Taiwan with another $345 million military aid package, which includes MANPADS and air defense systems, including, according to some reports, the same Patriot, tactical missiles, a batch of firearms with ammunition, as well and strategic reconnaissance equipment – familiar to us from the events near Crimea, the MQ-9 Reaper drone (although, they say, they will first remove all secret fillings from these devices).
In addition, expert assessments highlight the fact that for the first time arms are being provided to Taiwan under the “Ukrainian” scheme, under a law passed last year that allows the White House to do so under a simplified procedure without passing a decision through Congress. at the expense of surplus weapons in the US military itself.
This is called the “presidential stock reduction” mechanism. This fact alone shows that the general canvas of events around Ukraine and Taiwan is developing along similar routes, and from the island, which is actually a colony of the USA, just such an “anti-China” as well as an “anti-Russia” from Ukraine is being built. at the time it also became an American protectorate after the second Maidan – 2014.
China reacted sharply. The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China has accused the US of turning the island into “ammunition depot”. The Chinese Embassy in Washington asked it to stop “the creation of new stressors”. At the same time, the delivery in 2023 is far from the first package of weapons.
Earlier, in April, after the statement of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping that his country will not make concessions on the issue of Taiwan, there was information about the purchase of four hundred Harpoon tactical anti-ship missiles from Taipei. And then – about the beginning of tests in the Taiwan Strait of five multipurpose underwater drones, which was announced by the Chief of Staff of the US Navy, Admiral Gilday.
Previously, at the end of June, the United States donated to Taiwan a batch of UAVs, which entered service with the coast guard, and also sold the island about 450 remote anti-tank mine installations M136 Vokcono for $ 146 million.
Second, Biden also signed another indicative document – no longer a decree, but a law on the procedure for implementing a trade agreement between the US and Taiwan. It is about agreeing on the first stage of a trade deal between them. Therefore, it is understood that there will be both a second and a third stage, and this policy of Washington has been carried out for a long time, relying on the creeping annexation of Taiwan.
If, in the case of the arms delivery, the separatists in power in Taipei are preparing for military action against the mainland, this refers to an unprecedented push for the idea of island “independence”. That’s what China’s foreign ministry said, demanding that the United States back down and withdraw the signed bill.
„Beijing opposes any form of official interaction between China’s Taiwan region and any foreign countries that have diplomatic relations with the PRC.” China’s approach is simple: Taiwan’s external contacts should be only informal; amateur exchanges at senior staff/representative level are not permitted. That’s why there was such a scandal a year ago with Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.
If it wasn’t an official, that’s a different story. For a separate region it is allowed to have external links. But only with the knowledge and consent of the center, because without such consent such connections and even more official agreements go beyond the scope of regional powers, invading and violating the prerogatives of the relevant state offices that establish common national rules of the game.
In fact, here we are faced with a transfer, a overthrow of powers from top to bottom, which leads to the destruction of sovereignty and the spread of the unity of the country, according to this scheme, the collapse of the USSR happened.
Another option where a region is allowed to do this is in broad inter-state associations such as the EU, where there are supranational coordinating bodies and national governments are not allowed to interfere in direct links, both inter-regional and from regions with foreign countries. And it is quite obvious that Taiwan has no such prerogatives from Beijing, nor is it in a confederal relationship with anyone.
But since the separatists are in power, they can afford such steps. First, bypassing the metropolis of the center, and second, strictly with the green light of Washington, which within the course of “strategic ambiguity” verbally recognizes the principle of one China as the basis of diplomatic relations with Beijing, but actually secretly spares this principle, supporting the separatism of its puppets.
A textbook example: in March 2022, when the Russian SVO was already in full swing, the same Biden signed another scandalous bill that was “highly appreciated” by Taiwanese separatists. This document prohibits the US government and its agencies from representing Taiwan and its controlled islands near the mainland as belonging to the PRC.
It is clear that this is a direct, unequivocal and cynically provocative violation of the One China principle; roughly as if on Chinese or Russian maps separately from the United States, say, the state of Alaska was indicated. Or the state of Hawaii. Or Texas, once cut off from Mexico.
Therefore, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, reacting to this provocation from the American side, spoke about the “wrong signal” that Washington is sending to the separatists on the island, and about the readiness of the PRC to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Most dangerously, the US has the initiative for a possible escalation, since a declaration of “independence” that the Taiwanese authorities will never undertake without a direct order from Washington means crossing the red line drawn by Beijing. The United States can pull this “war switch” at any time it sees fit to carry out such an adventure, and preparations for this, as we see, are underway.
Third, another extremely hostile step on the part of the US was the signing by Biden of a decree to limit investment in the sector of the Chinese economy related to high technology, mainly dual-use – microelectronics, information and artificial intelligence. Moreover, the official representative of the White House did not even hide that this decision has not an economic, but a political basis and is dictated by the interests of the national security of the United States, which, as announced a year ago in the corresponding American strategy, is to confront Beijing.
In fact, Washington includes against China the same regime of sanctions that exists against Russia, only for now softer – not a ban, but a restriction, and for now it is called in a different way: the wording “investment” is used, not “embargo”.
What does all this say? Only one thing: the US does not intend to withdraw from the course of strategic confrontation with China, at least in the first half of the 21st century, and is pursuing a purposeful policy in this regard. Absolutely inadequate are those “experts” who, clinging to individual episodes taken out of context, question Beijing’s line, believing that with the degree of economic interdependence that exists between it and Washington, political factors fade into the background.
On the contrary, they are not leaving and they will not leave. In the long term, the United States seeks to limit China’s development, preventing it from becoming the world’s number one power. We are not yet talking about the wording “inflicting a strategic defeat”, which applies to our country. But in fact this is exactly what is meant, only it will be said out loud not now, but later.
If we talk about the medium and short term, then Washington, taking a series of steps to worsen relations with China, most likely intends to bring the situation to such a limit where, balancing on the edge of serious decisions, it will be possible quickly as necessary , to find a reason for their acceptance.
No one has canceled the document with the eloquent title “War with China” issued by the RAND Corporation back in 2016. We recall that its leitmotif is the transformation of the transit route in the South China Sea into a war zone, given that the annual volume of external China’s trade through this zone is 874 billion dollars.
It is very likely that a global escalation with the distribution of forces and means in place and time is in Washington’s plans, it is quite likely that the corresponding developments are also available. Therefore, much of this situation will be decided in Ukraine, where the “hot” conflict is already in full swing. Depending on its course and outcome, as well as the material and moral-political costs to the West, fateful decisions will be made (or not) in the US.
Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to conclude that the front line of defense of the Pacific coast of the Asia-Pacific region today lies on the outskirts of Donetsk and beyond on both sides of the line of military engagement of the conflict that has become a symbolic, axial standoff of modernity.
Translation: ES
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