The US is encircling China from the south
МОСКВА, 22 сентября 2021, Институт РУССТРАТ.
Austin Scott, a member of the US House of Representatives from Georgia, filed on September 10, 2021 an application for introducing an amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act for the 2022 fiscal year: the creation of a joint command of the United States and Taiwan (The United States–Taiwan Defence Command). It is proposed that the US Secretary of Defence create this command no later than 180 days from the date of entry into force of the National Defence Law for the 2022 fiscal year.
It should be noted that the United States Taiwan Defence Command was located on the territory of Taiwan from December 1954 to April 1979. However, on January 1, 1979, the United States and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations, and the last American soldier left Taiwan on May 3, 1979.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, Washington has officially followed the “one China policy” and supports three joint communiques between the governments of the People’s Republic of China and the United States of 1972, 1979, and 1982.
At the moment, the Austin Scott amendment is under consideration and the decision on its approval or disapproval will be taken in the US Senate. It is obvious that the adoption of the amendment will have extremely negative consequences for US-Chinese relations. In this case, the United States will actually abandon the “one-China policy”, while it was precisely the recognition of this principle by the United States that allowed the countries to establish diplomatic relations since January 1, 1979.
On September 15, 2021, another very significant event occurred on the “anti-Chinese front”, if we can call it like that. The United States, Britain and Australia announced the formation of a new security partnership focused on the Indo-Pacific region. This initiative has received the abbreviation AUKUS: A – Australia, UK – United Kingdom, US – USA.
It is planned to exchange military and foreign policy information through AUKUS, promote deeper integration of science, technology, industrial bases and supply chains related to security and defence. The agreement should strengthen cooperation between the three countries in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies.
This document plans significant efforts to increase the level of combat capability of the Australian Armed Forces, primarily in the field of missile weapons. A plan for the creation of multi-purpose nuclear submarines should be developed in 18 months.
We are talking about eight submarines. They will carry missiles with a conventional warhead. Most likely, an American project will be chosen for construction – a Virginia-class submarine. It can be assumed that the main combat task of these submarines will be to fight against submarines of China. Australia also announced its intentions to equip its Hobart-type destroyers with American Tomahawk cruise missiles.
When the AUKUS partnership was founded, it was officially stated that it was created to maintain peace in the Indo-Pacific region and is not directed against other countries. However, it is absolutely clear to everyone that this bloc was formed specifically to contain China.
The next event of the anti-Chinese company is scheduled for September 24, 2021. It is planned to hold the first face-to-face meeting of the heads of state of the QUAD (The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) partnership. It includes the United States, India, Japan and Australia.
The venue is the United States. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will personally fly to the meeting with US President Joe Biden.
QUAD was founded in 2007. However, the activation of this format by the United States occurred during the presidency of Donald Trump, after the appearance of the American Indo-Pacific Strategy. Joe Biden also supported QUAD. With his participation, on March 12, 2021, the first summit of the leaders of the countries participating in the dialogue was held, the meeting was in a virtual format. By the way, the QUAD is often positioned in the foreign press precisely as an “Asian NATO” in contrast to the growing power of China.
Thus, the United States is very actively and consistently working to form and strengthen military-political alliances in the Indo-Pacific region. All these initiatives have a pronounced anti-Chinese character, are aimed at containing China and weakening its influence.
(@russtrat)
