The aggressive war-wolf diplomacy of the Chinese Communist Party has sparked a growing backlash, as regional powers in the Indo-Pacific region: Japan, India and Australia, among others, are getting closer to the U.S. position and are all taking active steps to counterbalance the power of the Chinese Communist Party in the region. Analysts say it is the CCP’s approach that is pushing these countries into the U.S. camp.
China-Australia Relations Continue to Deteriorate
Australia’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party continues to deteriorate. The Voice of America reported that the Chinese Communist Party announced on May 6 that it would “indefinitely suspend” all activities under the Strategic Economic Dialogue mechanism with Australia. The Chinese government has made no secret of the fact that this is all related to Australia’s recent decision to halt several projects with the Chinese Communist Party.
In late April, the Australian government announced the cancellation of two agreements signed between the state of Victoria and the CCP to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative.
On May 3, Australia’s new defense minister, Peter Dutton, announced the cancellation of two agreements with the Chinese Communist Party. Peter Dutton said the government had begun a new security review of China Lanqiao Group’s lease agreement for the port of Darwin in Northern Australia. Some media outlets have pointed out that the agreement may be forced to cancel on Australia’s national security grounds.
Dutton also said in April that the possibility of a conflict with the Chinese Communist Party over Taiwan “should not be underestimated. He also said Australia would work with its allies in the region to try to maintain peace.
In addition to Defense Department officials, other Australian officials have become increasingly “hawkish” in their approach to the Chinese Communist Party. Mike Pezzullo, secretary-general of Australia’s Department of Home Affairs, said he would work with allies in the region to maintain peace. Mike Pezzullo, secretary-general of the Australian Department of the Interior, reminded democracies that the possibility of war is increasing and that liberal democracies need to prepare for it and seek peace at a time of heightened global tensions.
The growing assertiveness of Australian politicians and military figures toward the Chinese Communist Party has been linked to Beijing’s diplomatic and economic coercion of Australia since last year.
Sino-Australian relations have deteriorated since 2018, when Australia banned Chinese tech firm Huawei from building its 5G network. 2020 saw a worsening of relations after Australia called for an international investigation into the source of the Chinese Communist Party virus.
The Chinese Communist Party has taken a series of retaliatory economic “punitive measures” against Australia, including restrictions on imports of certain products and punitive tariffs on industries such as wine, lobster, barley and coal mining.
However, the Chinese embargo on Australia has not affected Australia’s economic growth, and Australian products are finding new markets in other countries and outstripping demand from the Chinese market.
James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, said the Australian federal government’s cancellation of the Belt and Road agreement was also meant to send a strong message to Beijing. That is, “at any time, at any event, in any way, we are not afraid to tear ourselves apart, and we are not afraid of the Chinese (Communist Party) response.”
He also believes that the Communist Party’s economic coercive measures have actually pushed Australia further into the U.S. camp.
He said, “In recent years, the U.S. has clearly positioned itself as a strategic competitor to China (Communist Party), and of course will seek to secure alliances and cooperation with countries against China (Communist Party). It is at this time that China (Communist Party) is again releasing frequent hostility towards Australia, even actual economic sanctions, which is clearly pushing Australia into the U.S. camp.”
He said that given Australia’s geographic location, it neither shares a border conflict with the CCP as India does, nor a maritime dispute with its proximity to the CCP as Japan does, and really does not need to explicitly choose sides.
New Zealand Turns to Growing Differences with the Chinese Communist Party
New Zealand is the only country in the “Five Eyes Alliance” (an organization formed by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States to share military and secret intelligence) that is currently on good terms with the Chinese Communist Party.
New Zealand has refused to be as tough on the Chinese Communist Party as several of its allies, leading them to question New Zealand’s “fear of criticism of China (the Communist Party).
However, New Zealand seems to be turning the corner recently. New Zealand’s parliament unanimously declared on May 5 that serious human rights abuses had been committed against Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang region.
New Zealand’s foreign minister said on May 7 that she hopes to build a more mature relationship with the CCP. She said the relationship should not be limited to bilateral trade relations, but should also allow room and space for differences between them, especially on human rights issues.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Ardern (Jacinda Ardern) said a few days ago that as Beijing’s role in the world continues to grow and change, the differences between New Zealand and the Chinese Communist Party are becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile.
India: Unlikely to see Communist China as friendly neighbor
A bloody conflict that erupted on the Sino-Indian border last year has cast a shadow over relations between China and India. More recently, cold-blooded mockery of the Indian epidemic by Chinese Communist Party officials has drawn even stronger resistance from India.
On May 1, a tweet posted on the official microblog of the CPC Central Committee’s news website, @ChinaChangan.com, juxtaposed a photo of a Chinese Communist Party rocket preparing to lift off with a photo of an Indian cremation woodpile hit by a Chinese Communist Party virus, and used the caption “China lighting a fire vs. The caption “China lighting a fire vs. India lighting a fire” is an attempt to highlight the failure of Indian democracy and the success of the Chinese Communist Party.
This official move by the Chinese Communist Party has caused a strong backlash from Indian netizens, and even netizens around the world. They condemned the CCP for its callousness and ruthlessness.
As the epidemic in India worsened, the Chinese Communist Party claimed to be willing to provide support and help. However, according to reports, the Indian side has not yet decided whether to accept the CCP’s help.
Harsh Pundit, a professor of international relations at King’s College London, said that the Chinese government has not yet decided whether to accept the Communist Party’s help. Harsh Pant, a professor of international relations at King’s College London, said India can no longer consider the Chinese Communist Party as a “friendly neighbor” because of the border conflict.
Last August, in the wake of the Sino-Indian conflict, an Indian poll showed that nearly 60 percent of Indians were willing to go to war to resolve the border dispute with the Chinese Communist Party. 90 percent of Indians supported a permanent ban on various Chinese cell phone applications and the termination of contracts with Chinese companies.
The Indian government announced last June that it had banned 59 Chinese applications, including the well-known Chinese social networking software ShakeYin and WeChat, and Alibaba’s UC browser, on national security grounds.
The latest reports say India has suspended approval of imports of Chinese wifi modules for several months, causing major manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lenovo to delay the launch of their products in India.
The Indian telecom ministry’s May 4 announcement to the public also showed that Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE were not approved to participate in 5G communication experiments with Indian telecom operators. Although Indian officials have not explicitly banned the use of Huawei and ZTE’s telecom equipment and technology, they are effectively excluded from the trials.
Senior Research Fellow at the Danish Institute for International Studies, “How did China fail? How China Loses: The Pushback Against Chinese Global Ambitions” (How China Loses: The Pushback Against Chinese Global Ambitions), a book by Luke Patey, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. The conflict between the two countries on the Himalayan border really destroyed all hope that the two countries could become regional partners,” said Luke Patey. …… Since then, India has shaken off its initial hesitancy and increased its engagement with the Quartet.”
Japan’s Concerns About China
Recently, Sino-Japanese relations have seen new friction over a controversial tweet by Chinese Communist Party Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. On his personal Twitter account, Zhao Lijian posted a satirical illustration modified from the iconic Japanese ukiyo-e print “Kanagawa Surfari” to criticize Japan’s decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the sea. This drew protests from Japan and demands that the post be deleted.
On April 17, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga issued a joint statement after talks with U.S. President Joe Biden that touched on nearly all of the Communist Party’s “core interests.
The statement expressed concern about the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang, and stressed the importance of peace in the Taiwan Strait.
In addition, the statement criticized the CCP’s behavior as “contrary to the rules-based international order, including economic and other forms of coercion,” and the two countries recognized the importance of “deterrence” to maintain regional peace and stability.
On April 27, Japan released its diplomatic blueprint. In the blue paper, Japan made clear that it would strengthen cooperation with the United States and other Western allies to curb the CCP’s maritime expansion in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and that it would join the international community in strongly condemning the CCP’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
In this diplomatic blue paper, Japan for the first time referred to the CCP as a “strong concern” for the security of the international community. The blue paper continues last year’s position that Taiwan is an “important partner and friend” and supports Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly.
Analysts say Japan’s concerns and defenses against the CCP began more than a decade ago, when Shinzo Abe first proposed an “arc of freedom and prosperity” with Japan, India, the U.S. and Australia as democracies to counter the CCP threat during a visit to India in 2007 during his first term.
In December 2012, when he became Prime Minister again, Shinzo proposed the idea of a “Diamond of Democracy and Security in Asia,” which was still not responded to by the United States. These two ideas of Shinzo Abe should be the prototype of the later “Quadrilateral Security Dialogue Mechanism” between the U.S., Japan, India, and Australia.
In 2017, the Quadripartite Security Dialogue was reactivated after years of silence as the Chinese Communist Party’s military strength and increasingly aggressive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region increased, and has received special attention, with some calling it an “Asian version of NATO.
On March 12, 2021, under the auspices of President Biden, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue held its first summit-level talks. Analysis suggests that the elevation of the Quadripartite Security Dialogue and its coordinated action is largely thanks to Beijing.
According to Wilson Center Senior Fellow Shiboko Goto, Japan has done more than that to defend itself against the regional threat of the Chinese Communist Party. After the U.S. withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Japan exercised its leadership in evolving the TPP into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), ensuring that the other 11 countries co-signed the agreement and, as a result, securing the trade order in the Asia-Pacific region.
Today, the CPTPP has a seat reserved for the United States. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also expressed interest in joining again, but analysts point out that the CPTPP threshold remains a bit high for the CCP.
Growing Discontent with the CCP in the Philippines and Vietnam
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has adopted a strategy of friendship with the Chinese Communist Party since taking office, but the recent dispatch of hundreds of Chinese vessels to resource-rich disputed waters has escalated tensions between the two countries.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s legal adviser first warned that the incident could harm relations between the two countries and lead to “unnecessary animosity. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs summoned the Chinese Communist Party ambassador to the Philippines as a result.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Rodrigo Lochin tweeted on May 2 in a crude message asking the Chinese Communist government and militia vessels to leave the waters over which the Philippines claims sovereignty.
The latest news said the Philippine government has refused to accept a ban on the Communist Party’s seasonal fishing moratorium in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, encouraging Philippine fishing vessels to continue fishing in Philippine territorial waters.
The Philippine South China Sea Task Force said in a statement on May 4 that “the fishing ban does not apply to our fishermen.”
Recently, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte showed toughness toward the Chinese Communist Party when he asked the Chinese embassy to take back 1,000 donated Sinopharm vaccines.
Duterte said that given that the Sinopharm vaccine has not been approved and can cause multiple side effects, “let’s throw them out so there is no problem.”
He himself has taken the vaccine, for which he has been criticized, and urged others not to follow his example because it is “very dangerous. “We’re sorry,” he said.
Vietnam’s relations with the Chinese Communist Party have been relatively quiet in recent days. But a report released in March by the Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative, part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, said Vietnam has deployed military equipment to islands in the South China Sea under its control over the past two years and is already deterring any attacks from the Chinese Communist Party.
Chinese Communist Party Fails to Get Other Countries to Accept Its Leadership
Harsh Pant, a professor of international relations at King’s College London, said the Chinese Communist Party has failed to get other countries to accept its leadership. Harsh Pant, a professor of international relations at King’s College London, summed up the current situation facing China by saying, “The more the Chinese Communist Party advances its belligerent agenda against regional countries, the more it provokes resistance from other countries. China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ project already has many problems. The geopolitical map of the Indo-Pacific region is getting stronger, the Quadripartite Security Dialogue mechanism is revitalized, and more and more regional countries are starting to engage more and act in a more coordinated way.
He noted that a country’s strength refers not only to a country’s inherent capacity, but also to a country’s ability to get other countries to accept its leadership. He said that although the Chinese Communist Party has grown economically in the past decade, it has not yet been able to get others to accept its leadership, let alone global leadership, nor has regional leadership.
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