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March 24, 2023
NEW DELHI “While China is building up its diplomatic presence in the Middle East and possibly looking to a ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia, it is slowly building up strategic advantages in the South China Sea that threaten vital U.S. and U.S. interests. allies. This happened during the years when the US was involved in Afghan, Iraqi and other conflicts in the Middle East. Today, China has become an important military power in the South China Sea, an area through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually and is critical to the defense of Taiwan.
China has become an indispensable assistant to the United States in dealing with North Korea, the climate initiative and other global problems. In fact, China used North Korea as a weapon to intimidate the US and soften its position on other issues. The United States let down its guard, ignored what was happening in the South China Sea, and ignored the fact that China was stealing American intellectual property and spying on its vital trade secrets.
The entire disputed territory in the South China Sea, consisting of 250 islands, atolls, shoals and reefs, including the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands, is claimed by several countries in the region, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan. . Japan's geopolitical interest in the region is undeniable. However, under the auspices of cooperation with the United States, China continued to pursue its own hegemonic interests in the region. China has reportedly completed construction of all seven artificial Spratly Islands with complete military infrastructure, aircraft hangars, docks, satellite communications and shelters for missiles and missile platforms. While China was building artificial islands, he politely said that he was not going to militarize the islands. The region is rich in oil and gas, as well as rich in fisheries.
China's buildup in the South China Sea not only threatens the security of US allies, including Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the Philippines, but also poses a threat to vital industries such as Taiwan's cutting-edge semiconductors. According to US military experts, the strategic advantages that China has gained over the years in the region are irreversible. Only a major conflict could take China out of its strong position in regional geography. In future conflicts, China may interfere in international trade. China accuses the US of interfering in the affairs of the region, implying that the entire region is under its hegemony.
There is an overwhelming bipartisan view in the United States today that China is a major security issue for the country, as evidenced by the spy balloon incident that led to fierce exchanges between the two countries.
In order to play a global role on the world stage, President Xi Jinping has consolidated his power in many ways: military, economic and diplomatic. On March 10, China shocked the world by announcing that it had brokered a deal between two longtime bitter rivals in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and brought them together to reopen their embassies, which had been closed for seven years after the execution. . Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia.
This, of course, is an important diplomatic development that could have a huge impact not only on the leading role of the United States in the Middle East, but also on the complex geopolitical relations of Israel in the region. China is a major trading partner for both Iran and Saudi Arabia. Forty percent of oil imports come from this region, and this is undoubtedly in its interests if there is peace between the two rival countries. Just as China, until recently, quietly built bases in the South China Sea, it is trying to do the same in the Himalayas. After the conflict with India in 1962, it gradually moved forward and skillfully built its bases in the Himalayas and invaded Indian territory despite a number of agreements based on international borders and lines of effective control. In 2020, a major conflict took place in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, during which 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
India knows that an agreement with China means nothing if it is not in China's interests. While the revanchist government is questioning established historical facts to advance its claims, China is trying to rewrite history. He first makes cartographic claims based on his own interpretation of history, and then deftly and gradually bites into small areas, establishing his presence without sounding an alarm; and when its physical condition becomes permanent and irreversible, then it asserts that such is the reality, and the present realities must be accepted as a fait accompli.
China is playing the long term game. His slow and gradual maneuvers leave his opponents at a loss for an adequate response. Whether it's conquering territory in the Himalayas, hill by hill, valley by valley, or rebuilding reefs and atolls in the South China Sea, China's international behavior is destabilizing. While India has yet to figure out how to deal with China's coercive and deceptive behavior, the United States is determined not to let China get away with glorifying it.
The Indo-Pacific has become central to US foreign policy despite Russian aggression against Ukraine, which will eventually ally with Europe when the war is over. In addition to a renewed alliance with the Philippines to establish new military bases and a quadripartite Quad alliance of India, Australia and Japan, President Biden recently signed the AUKUS agreement with the United Kingdom and Australia that would allow Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines ready for confrontation. China challenge.
China's aggressive behavior has alienated its neighbors. Despite the militarization of artificial island bases, China has failed to dominate the region, at least not yet. Other regional powers began to assert themselves. They have also upgraded their military installations on the islands under their control. They began to independently explore oil and gas reserves, thus challenging the efforts of China to establish complete control over the region. Once again, the United States has become indispensable to free trade and security in the region.
The biggest challenge to China comes from the Philippines. When China took control of the disputed Scarborough Shoals, the Philippines went to the International Court of Arbitration and won. But China rejected it. His rejection of international arbitration shows that China does not care about the rule of international law when it does not serve its strategic interests. However, it gave the United States the opportunity to rebuild its security relationship with the Philippines, leading to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (2014), a landmark diplomatic achievement.
Unlike Barack Obama, who has gone out of his way to conquer China as a rising world power, Donald Trump has completely rejected China's hegemonic claims in the South China Sea, a policy that the Biden administration is continuing with more vigor and determination and with full dedication. Republican support. . and Democrats.
In the Middle East, China is seeking peace, but in the Himalayas and the South China Sea, China is behaving like a bully.
(The writer is affiliated with the Diplomatic and International Program at Norwich University Graduate College, USA. He is the author of several books, including the most recent, India in a New Key: Nehru To Modi.)
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