All the latest military and trade tensions between China and the US
Space, trade, international relations, the military sector. What is really happening between China and the US. The in-depth analysis by Giuseppe Gagliano
The Dragon has certainly increased its containment policy against Taiwan's autonomist ambitions through the deployment of military activities in the Taiwan Strait. Suffice it, in this regard, to think that precisely on 10 August aircraft belonging to the Peking People's Liberation Army crossed, albeit for a very short period of time, the maritime border that separates Taipei from Beijing located in the Taiwan Strait. The reaction of Taiwan was contiguous and proportional to that of China, as shown on the one hand by the visit of the Undersecretary forAmerican Economic Affairs Keith Krach on 17 September and that of the intelligence officer of the Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral, Michael Studeman, held on November 22nd.
However, the most important initiative – at least at present – in the face of the Chinese annexationist political will was certainly the creation of the first nationally produced submarine. The construction of the first submarine is naturally part of a much larger program that involves the construction of eight attack submarines. It is clear that Taiwan's aim is to implement a military policy of deterrence and dissuasion against Chinese power politics. In fact, the use of submarines, in the perspective of Taiwan's defensive military policy, should induce China to avoid an amphibious attack by the Chinese People's Army and above all would allow it to control the Taiwan Strait.
In this regard, we must never forget that when States want to defend their interests – especially in an anarchist system such as that of international relations and that is without a central authority – they must resort to dissuasion which is one of the tools available to States to influence the behavior of other countries. In short, it is a way to exercise power as Pedro Banos aptly emphasizes in the essay “This is how the world is controlled” (Rizzoli, 2020). In order for this to be possible, it is necessary that the State that implements the deterrence has capable and credible forces and means, that is, can count on a political will determined to employ, if necessary, these war skills but above all be able to transmit to the adversary the idea that those means exist and that their own political class could decide to use them to safeguard their national interest.
This decision by Taiwan, which is part of a logic of symmetrical response to the Chinese one, should not be surprising given that in these days the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Beijing State Council confirmed the need to identify all the supporters and promoters of Taiwanese independence in order to be able to pursue them as required by law. This imperative political necessity was made explicit by the spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office, namely Zhu Fenglian.
But China, like any great nation that pursues hegemonic goals at a global level , acts on more than one chessboard, as evidenced by the fact that on November 24 four space modules of the Chang'e-5 were launched from the station. launch of Wenchang, located on the southern coast of the Chinese province of Hainan, in southern China to reach the Moon with the aim of collecting 2kg of rocks and other debris to return to Earth. The launch is naturally part of a broad project that is part of the national medium and long-term plan for scientific and technological development 2006-2020.
Well, this launch demonstrates in an incontrovertible way that China is able to carry out very sophisticated programs on a technological level that will certainly also influence other countries that intend to carry out similar missions, for example on Mars. From the point of view of global competition and extra-terrestrial power projection policy, there is no doubt that China now ranks alongside the United States and Russia, as demonstrated by the fact that on July 23, China achieved the first mission to Mars with the launch of the Tianwen-1 probe which will explore the planet for over three months.
In order to contain Beijing's hegemonic ambitions, the United States is implementing real strategies to contain and encircle the dangerous Chinese competitor: the US International Development Finance Corporation intends to invest 2 billion dollars in the Indonesian sovereign fund – together with Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Japan – with the aim of discouraging any rapprochement initiative between Indonesia and China. Indonesia which in the last period has increasingly sided with China, as evidenced by the fact that it has not accepted Washington's proposal to place spy planes with the aim of monitoring the South China Sea.
But the Dragon, as he has been used to doing for some time now, responds with firmness, consistency and clarity to the containment strategies understandably implemented by the US. The centuries-old game of chess that takes place on oceans, on land and on the space between nations for global competition continues its inexorable march. Let's see how.
First, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that China intends to consider joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (Tpp) promoted by Japan. I believe the purpose of such an initiative is sufficiently evident: to use the age-old logic of divide and rule between the United States and Japan, relying precisely on the fact that Japan was one of the main signatories of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (Rcep). We will see if this will to join will be realized or if it is a provocation by the Chinese president.
China's second move to expand and consolidate its sphere of influence is the $ 400 million contract won by the Metallurgical Corporation of China in Cambodia to build a new wing of Phnom Penh airport. We know the strategy implemented by China by now: investing enormous resources in infrastructure in order to implement the debt trap but also in order to achieve the possibility of placing military infrastructure.
This strategy is symmetrical and specular to that pursued by the United States at the end of the Second World War and during the Cold War with its allies to contain the USSR.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/come-la-cina-prova-a-fare-la-parte-del-dragone/ on Thu, 26 Nov 2020 06:37:18 +0000.