On Monday, Japan made a rare expression of strong concern over the Chinese Communist Party’s Liaoning aircraft carrier formation entering the Pacific Ocean via the Miyako Strait. Experts believe Japan’s public statement is of limited use and hope that this month’s U.S.-Japan summit will make progress on cooperation to address the Chinese Communist threat.
The Liaoning aircraft carrier formation, which for the first time includes the largest Type 055 missile destroyer Nanchang, sailed south into the Pacific Ocean between the main island of Okinawa and Miyako Island on April 3.
The Chinese Communist Party’s official media, Xinhua News Agency, reported that it was a routine naval training exercise in the waters around Taiwan.
Richard Fisher, senior fellow at the Center for International Assessment and Strategy, “These deployments [by the Chinese Communist Party] are designed to threaten Japan and intimidate Japan from supporting Taiwan because China [the Communist Party] wants to attack Taiwan, take over Taiwan and wipe out Taiwan’s democratic culture.”
On May 5, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimichi Motegi held about 90 minutes of telephone talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, expressing “strong concern” about the Communist Party’s moves in the East China Sea and “strongly demanding” that the Communist Party take concrete action to solve the problem. The meeting was held in Beijing.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsushin also said at a press conference that he would take all possible preventive and surveillance actions against the CCP’s naval actions.
Experts believe that it is good for Japan to express its attitude publicly, but past experience shows that merely taking a strong stance will not change the Chinese Communist Party.
Richard Fisher, senior fellow at the Center for International Assessment and Strategy: “As long as the CCP wants to be the number one leader in East Asia, or even the global leader. The CCP will ignore the wishes of not only Japan, but all other countries.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt strike group (4th) has entered the South China Sea and is operating in the South China Sea for the third time this year. Hu Bo, director of the South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness at Peking University’s Institute of Oceanography, a parastatal of the Chinese Communist Party, believes that the implication of the U.S. military’s actual combat deployment has been significantly strengthened. However, it remains to be seen whether the Liaoning will enter the South China Sea from the Philippine Sea and directly challenge the USS Roosevelt.
On the 16th of this month, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will visit the United States and meet with President Joe Biden.
Experts hope that the Biden administration will continue the foundation of the U.S.-Japan alliance built during the Trump era and strengthen arms sales to Japan, including the implementation of orders for F-35 warplanes. At the same time, it will promote missile deployment and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Richard Fisher, senior fellow at the Center for International Assessment and Strategy, “The U.S. is very interested in deploying new intermediate-range and even intercontinental missiles at bases in Japan, and it would be in Japan’s best interest to allow them to be deployed to deter a Chinese (communist) attack.”
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