The USS Roosevelt carrier battle group and the USS Makin Island amphibious alert group conduct a formation cruise in the South China Sea, April 9, 2021. (Courtesy of the U.S. Navy)
The USS Roosevelt Carrier Battle Group (TRCSG) recently re-entered the South China Sea (known as the South China Sea in China) for routine operations. The Chinese Navy’s Liaoning carrier group also conducted training in this area. The gathering of warships from both countries in the South China Sea and their frequent operations also seem to presume an increase in tensions in the region.
U.S., Philippines Hold Joint Military Exercise
The United States and the Philippines on Monday (April 12) launched the two-week joint military exercise Balikatan drills for 2021.
Due to the new crown epidemic, this year’s exercise will be conducted under strict health protocols. The Philippine military will have about 736 participants and the U.S. military will have about 225 participants.
Philippine Deputy Defense Secretary Cesar Yano said that through this year’s “shoulder-to-shoulder” exercise, “we are reinvigorating the friendship, partnership and alliance between the Philippines and the United States, a bilateral relationship built on our shared history of support for peace, security and cooperation among nations. bilateral relationship.”
U.S. Marine Corps Col. Aaron Brunk also cited the importance of the joint military exercises. He said, “I am honored to be here today and to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies and friends in the Philippines. By training together, our troops help each other and strengthen each other. I hope this exercise and the experiences of the coming weeks will strengthen our partnership and friendship.”
Earlier, the gathering of some 200-plus search Chinese fishing boats on Whitson Reef, known in China as Bull Yoke Reef, sparked concern on the Philippine side. Whitson Reef is located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
The New York Times reported that keeping a large number of fishing boats in disputed waters is a new Chinese strategy to achieve goals that cannot be achieved through diplomacy or international law, and to some extent, it seems to be working.
The report also quoted Greg Poling, head of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative, as saying, “Beijing clearly believes that if it uses enough coercion and pressure for long enough, it can squeeze the Southeast Asians out.”
The U.S. and Philippine defense secretaries had a phone call last weekend to discuss Chinese fishing boats, the situation in the South China Sea and recent regional security developments, among other topics. Defense Secretary John Kirby said U.S. Defense Secretary John Austin proposed several measures to the Philippine defense chief during the call to deepen defense cooperation, including “enhancing threat situational awareness in the South China Sea,” which Kirby did not elaborate on.
The South China Sea is rich in fisheries, shipping lanes and undersea fossil fuel reserves. China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam are all claimants to all or part of the sea.
The Chinese government claims that 90 percent of the waters are under its jurisdiction, citing historical records of use to support this claim. China has been reclaiming islands in the disputed waters in recent years, and has even deployed military equipment on some of the islets.
China’s military exercises and frequent ship movements in South China waters have also prompted the United States to send warships to the area. The U.S. Navy confirmed last week that the USS Roosevelt Carrier Battle Group (TRCSG) had re-entered the South China Sea on April 4 to conduct routine operations.
China’s Foreign Ministry has criticized the United States as a “spoiler” and “troublemaker” of peace and stability in the region. It also said that the United States is doing everything possible to stir up trouble in the South China Sea out of “selfish interests”, to divide regional countries from China, and to “interfere with and undermine the efforts of China and ASEAN countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea”.
U.S. Military Conducts “Cognitive Warfare” Against Chinese Communist Party
The U.S. Navy over the weekend released a photo taken in the South China Sea on April 4. In the photo, Lt. Cmdr. Robert J Briggs, commander of the destroyer USS Muscatine (DDG-89), and Lt. Cmdr. Richard D Slye, deputy commander, are watching the Liaoning aircraft carrier from outside the navigation room.
According to the Central News Agency, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense think tank and National Defense Security Research Institute scholar Su Ziyun and former Navy Captain Xinjiang and instructor of the Naval Academy’s Military Discipline Department Lu Lishi believe that the U.S. military’s move is a “cognitive war” against the Chinese Communist Party, and Lu Lishi believes that based on the formation, the Liaoning does not currently pose a threat and that the Communist Party’s combat capabilities still need to be strengthened.
The report also quoted Su Ziyun as saying that the U.S. military released the photo of the surveillance of the Communist forces in order to “highlight the fact that the U.S. military does not take the Liaoning’s combat capability seriously, which is what the photo is intended to reveal.
The Central News Agency also reported that Lv Lishi believes that the past impression of “cognitive warfare” is that centralized countries such as Russia and the Chinese Communist Party are targeting Western democracies, but this photo of the U.S. military represents that the U.S. is conducting cognitive warfare against China.
According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, Andrei Chang, editor-in-chief of the Canadian military magazine Kanwa Defence Review, the photo is a “warning to the PLA” and shows that the U.S. has a full understanding of the Liaoning carrier formation. The photo is a “warning to the PLA” and shows that the United States is fully aware of the Liaoning carrier formation.
U.S. and Chinese Warships Operating in Taiwan Strait
The Chinese Communist Party has also been conducting frequent activities in the Taiwan Strait in the northeastern part of the South China Sea, which has generated a great deal of international attention. The Liaoning aircraft carrier formation recently conducted training in the waters around Taiwan, and the Chinese Navy has declared that it will organize similar exercises and training activities on a regular basis as planned.
The USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) made a “routine” passage through the Taiwan Strait last week amid tensions in the Taiwan Strait, with the U.S. Navy saying in a statement, “The ship’s passage through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. U.S. forces will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.”
Newsweek has reported that some analysts see the U.S. military’s passage through the Taiwan Strait as a signal that President Biden is keen to emphasize regional security and stability at a time when countries like Taiwan and Japan are increasingly concerned about military expansion on Beijing’s part.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last Sunday, Secretary of State John Blinken said the U.S. is concerned about “increasingly aggressive actions by the Chinese Communist Party against Taiwan, which have increased tensions on both sides of the Taiwan Strait “.
Blinken said the United States “has a bipartisan commitment to Taiwan …… that has existed for many, many years to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and to ensure that we maintain peace and security in the Western Pacific.
Blinken added that “we support those commitments” and that “I can only tell you that it would be a grave mistake for anyone to try to change the status quo by force.”
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