The United States stirs up the evil intentions of the Asia-Pacific region (global hotspot)

Source: Overseas Network

On August 22, rallyers held placards in Seoul, South Korea, to oppose the U.S. military exercise in South Korea.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Yiliang

Recently, from the Indonesian island of Java in Southeast Asia to the Hawaiian Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, from the northern base of Australia to the Korean Peninsula, multiple JOINT MILITARY EXERCISEs led by the United States have been rolled out at many points. Experts pointed out that in the context of the United States stepping up the "Indo-Pacific strategy", the United States and its joint allies and partners try to build a so-called "integrated deterrent" militarily, which will seriously impact peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Big show muscles

According to foreign media reports, since August 19, about 100 aircraft and 2,500 military personnel from 17 countries have gathered at Darwin and Tindal bases in northern Australia to carry out a three-week "Pitch Black-2022" joint air exercise. Pitch Black is a biennial regular exercise between the Australian Air Force and its allies that has been interrupted for four years by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Australian Air Force, the exercise will provide military personnel from the Indo-Pacific region and other countries with experience in operating aircraft, systems and working methods in the unique environment of northern Australia.

The outside world has noticed that the scale of the "pitch black" military exercise has set a record for the largest series of military exercises, and the participating countries are from North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia. Among them, Germany, Japan and South Korea are participating for the first time. According to foreign media reports, since August 15, Germany has sent a number of fighters to the Asia-Pacific region. This was the first time after World War II that Germany had sent fighter jets to the Asia-Pacific region. Analysts pointed out that the military exercise was ostensibly led by Australia, but in essence it was led by the United States.

In addition, according to South Korean media reports, from August 22 to September 1, South Korea and the United States once again launched the "Eulji Shield of Freedom" joint military exercise after a gap of nearly five years. According to the report, taking this exercise as an opportunity, the ROK and the United States will return to normal the joint exercises and training that have shrunk in scale for a long time and further strengthen the strong alliance relationship and joint defense posture.

In fact, since the beginning of this month, the United States and its allies have intensively carried out a series of joint military exercises in the Asia-Pacific region, frequently "bright fists" and "muscles", and continue to stir up the regional security situation.

From August 1 to 14, the United States, together with Indonesia, britain, Japan, Australia and other countries, carried out exercises called "Super Condor Shield" in Sumatra and other places in Indonesia. The number of participants in the exercise exceeded 4,000, setting a record high.

From August 8 to 14, the United States and South Korea conducted joint training on the use of Aegis ships to respond to ballistic missiles around Hawaii. Japan's Kyodo News Agency said that this is the first time since December 2017 that Japan, the United States and South Korea have announced the implementation of ballistic missile-related joint training. It is reported that the training was held during the "Pacific Dragon-22" military exercise, which was led by the US Third Fleet and participated in the exercise by Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Canada, and Australia and Canada participated in the exercise for the first time this year.

Behind the plot

"The recent military exercises led by the United States have at least two direct goals: One is to integrate the forces of allies. The participating countries cover multiple continents, including multiple allies of the United States. The second is to show off force to the outside world. Many of the exercises set record size and numbers, allowing the United States to send new deterrent signals to so-called 'competitors'. Guo Xiaobing, director of the Arms Control Research Center of the China Academy of Contemporary International Relations, pointed out in an interview with this reporter.

According to the information that has been made public, many military exercises have strong significance. For example, the ROK-US "Shield of Freedom" joint military exercise will reflect the new changes in the form of war that have occurred in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, such as drone attacks and cyber warfare, and adopt a realistic script that may occur in wartime. In the "Pitch Black-2022" joint air exercise, as many as 140 various types of aircraft participated in the exercise, including fighters, tankers, transport aircraft, etc. The US military may also dispatch early warning aircraft and electronic warfare aircraft. The exercise subjects cover air combat, ground-to-sea attacks, aerial refueling, and reconnaissance and early warning, identification of friend or foe, and electronic countermeasures.

Guo Xiaobing pointed out that at present, the United States is stepping up its efforts to implement the "Indo-Pacific strategy" and put forward the concept of "integrated deterrence" militarily. The U.S.-led military exercises are coordinated with their geostrategic thinking and pursue two "integrations": the integration of operational methods and the strengthening of capacity building in the global combat space of the sea, land, air and space network; Allied integration, that is, the United States and its allies, the United States' Asia-Pacific allies and European allies to strengthen coordination and cooperation.

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, pointed out to this reporter that one of the security obsessions of the United States is to establish a regional and international security structure based on the military strength of the United States and its allies and embodying the dominant position of the United States. In the context of the eastward shift of the US strategic center of gravity and the intensification of the implementation of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy", the United States will inevitably focus its ally resources on the Asia-Pacific region. For some time now, the United States has frequently created conflicts and confrontations in the Asia-Pacific region, playing up and creating regional and global tensions to achieve the rising dependence of its allies on its security. At the same time, the United States is trying to create an "imaginary enemy" in the Asia-Pacific region by organizing cross-regional and large-scale military exercises, and to enhance military coordination between itself and its allies in the shortest possible time, so as to gain the upper hand in the conflicts that may be provoked in the future, and thus maintain its regional and global hegemony.

Threat to peace

Recently, a number of South Korean citizen groups held a rally in Seoul to urge South Korea and the United States to stop large-scale joint military exercises and maintain peace and stability on the peninsula. Some of the delegates pointed out that the joint MILITARY EXERCISE between South Korea and the United States will trigger a war crisis on the Korean Peninsula and will only make the Korean Peninsula more and more distant from the goal of peace and denuclearization. The South Korean government's accession to the U.S. "Indo-Pacific Strategy" has allowed the Korean Peninsula to fully assume the tensions in the region.

South Korean analysts believe that the large-scale joint military exercises held by the ROK and the United States are not conducive to the peaceful settlement of the Peninsula issue through dialogue and consultation, and will endanger the security of the region. Gou Tae-hwan, former president of the Korea Institute of Unification Studies, pointed out that such a strong, non-defensive joint military exercise will not help to restart dialogue with the DPRK, but is only a "poison" that should be interrupted.

"In modern times, human history has shown time and again that if the arms race is not controlled in time, the end will be either a 'cold war' or a 'hot war', which will lead to the deterioration of the regional and global security situation." Li Haidong pointed out that in the past few decades, the Asia-Pacific region has been the driving force of global economic growth. Seeking win-win development through peaceful cooperation is the common aspiration of the people of all countries in the region. It is extremely irresponsible for the United States and its allies to devote a large amount of resources to the military field and ignore the actual needs of the economic development and people's livelihood security of relevant countries, which will lead to regional and even global development imbalances, weaken the ability and effectiveness of international cooperation and international governance, and damage the regional and global political, economic and security order. The United States and its allies blindly believe in force and pursue their own absolute security, which will only ultimately leave themselves and the world in insecurity.

According to an annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, global military spending will exceed $2 trillion for the first time in 2021, with the United States accounting for 38 percent; The United States and its NATO allies together account for 55 percent; If you count America's Pacific allies Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, that number rises to 61 percent.

In this regard, Guo Xiaobing pointed out that in recent years, the United States has been upgrading its arsenal and seeking to establish a multi-integrated military strike capability, changing from emphasizing so-called "preparation for war" to emphasizing "cross-regional coordinated operations." The United States has led a series of large-scale and strong combat exercises in the Asia-Pacific region, which will accelerate the trend of militarization, collectivization, and confrontation in the region, and bring a serious impact on the regional security situation. (Reporter Li Jiabao)

People's Daily Overseas Edition ( 2022-08-25 Issue 06)