Taiwan’s Spratly Island (Itu Aba Island) pier launched a new round of expansion plans, is expected to be completed in 2023, when the 4,000-ton patrol ships can dock. Taiwan’s former defense chief recently admitted that there is a U.S. factor in this. The official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, the Global Times, published an article on the 16th, saying that the pier on Taiping Island has been built and built again, “in preparation for the docking of U.S. ships”?
Taiwan media “New Head Shell” reported that the Taiwan Oceanic Commission pointed out that the situation in the South China Sea is treacherous, and the surrounding countries are actively building various transportation infrastructures and deploying large-scale ships of all kinds. In order to effectively enhance Taiwan’s patrol power in the sea, Taiwan is expanding the Nansha Taiping Pier.
In addition to strengthening the existing simple dock facilities, the newly expanded Taiping Island pier will be “a port within a port” with a new upright inner dike and a special seat for 100-ton boats with anti-surge gates, and both sides of the pier will be dredged to 7 meters for 4,000-ton patrol vessels to berth on the inner pier to reduce the probability of being attacked by waves.
In this regard, Taiwan’s former Defense Minister Yang Nianzu said bluntly in a recent media interview that there must be a U.S. factor behind the Taiping Island expansion plan, and may dock U.S. ships, “which is an unspoken matter.
Yang Nianzu said, at present, Taiwan and the United States do not have diplomatic relations, since you can not rely on Taiwan ports, then rely on the Taiping Island, which in the eyes of the United States is considered a workaround method. If the future expansion of Taiping Island is shaped, it may dock some large ships, such as sea patrol ships can dock, “which is equivalent to playing ball”.
Yang Nianzu also said that there was a big controversy over the development, expansion and extension of the airstrip on Taiping Island, but now all of a sudden everything has been resolved, “I believe there is a US influence”.
The Global Times, the official media of the Communist Party of China, also put the words “helping U.S. warships dock” in the headline when reporting, showing sensitivity to the matter.
In fact, as early as 2017, the Global Times published an article saying that the expansion of the dock on Taiping Island was in preparation for the berthing conditions of U.S. ships, i.e., as a support point for the U.S. military against Chinese Communist forces in the South China Sea.
At that time, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee had just passed the National Defense Authorization Act, agreeing to regular calls by U.S. warships to Taiwan’s Kaohsiung port or other appropriate ports, and allowing the U.S. Pacific Command to accept Taiwan’s requests for warships to enter the port.
A senior Taiwanese official analysis pointed out that if this bill is implemented, Taiwan’s military and naval patrol vessels will be able to follow the procedures to the U.S. side to propose berthing or general supply and “goodwill” mission, once the military tensions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, some ships can also go to the U.S. Pacific Command under the jurisdiction of the various port bases to evacuate berthing, as the Air Force The ship can also go to various port bases under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Pacific Command for berthing in the event of military tensions on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, just as the Air Force does for the preservation of combat aircraft.
If all the conditions are put to the widest, the U.S. Pacific Command will become Taiwan’s “great rear”. The major naval bases in the Eastern Pacific where Taiwan’s warships can berth include Point Loma, San Diego, Pearl Harbor and Guam, California; in the Western Pacific and Far East, there are Sasebo and Yokosuka, Japan, Jinhae, South Korea and Changi, Singapore, etc.
According to Ming Chuan University Adjunct Assistant Professor Lin Yingyou, if war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s naval vessels can berth in U.S.-controlled ports, and in addition to receiving supplies from U.S. ports, they also have the opportunity to “counterattack” Taiwan’s mainland along with reinforcements.
In 2018, the pro-communist Hong Kong media also published an article on the matter, saying that the South China Sea has become the focus of the Sino-US game. The South China Sea is an important route for U.S. trade and oil, as well as an important channel for the U.S. Asia-Pacific headquarters to deploy troops to the Indian Ocean, especially to the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. The U.S. frequently sends warships into the South China Sea for “free navigation” and accuses the Chinese Communist Party of “militarization of the South China Sea”, which is obviously aimed at the Chinese Communist Party’s military.
Taiping Island is the largest island in the South China Sea and the only one with fresh water resources. It is the key to the entrance of the Taiwan Strait, the Bus Strait and the Balintang Strait, and is of great strategic importance, known as the “heart of the South China Sea”. If U.S. ships can berth on Taiping Island, they will have a stronghold to deter the South China Sea.
Both the Chinese Communist Party’s official media and the pro-Communist Hong Kong media, while expressing their concern about Taiwan and the United States working together to confront the Chinese Communist Party, have not forgotten to insult Taiwan’s elected government and continue to belittle Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Now the situation in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea is even more tense, and a few days ago there was the spectacle of the U.S. SHIELD-class destroyer USS Mastin and the Chinese Communist aircraft carrier USS Liaoning traveling side by side, and the U.S. has recently repeatedly promised to defend the security of the Taiwan Strait, and President Joe Biden’s close friend is on a friendly visit to Taiwan.
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