Recently, a major incident occurred in the waters around the mainland that has attracted much attention in the international community, which is related to the future relationship between China and the United States, that is, the discovery of a WC-135R nuclear reconnaissance plane carrying out a reconnaissance mission in the airspace area of the Yellow Sea in the East China Sea.
It is understood that the reconnaissance plane was dispatched by the US Air Force from Japan's Kadena Air Force Airfield, and the reconnaissance plane went straight to the mainland from the time of takeoff, and passed through the Yellow Sea and directly entered the sea area south of Qinghai on the mainland, only 21 nautical miles from the nearest point of the mainland sea.
How far is 21 nautical miles, about 38 kilometers away, such a close reconnaissance operation is undoubtedly a highly sensitive reconnaissance mission, but in today's tense Sino-US relations, why should the United States insist on carrying out such blatant reconnaissance activities?
Moreover, we envisage that if this reconnaissance aircraft were a different kind of aircraft, the reconnaissance activity might at any time pose a real threat to the territory of the mainland and put the mainland on alert.
Therefore, this reconnaissance operation of the United States may actually pose a threat to the mainland and cross the border of the international community.
Not only that, senior U.S. officials have had many conversations with the mainland before the incident, hoping to solve each other's problems through communication, but in the face of this reconnaissance operation, it may prove how provocative their conversations and behaviors are.
Remember not long ago, when South Korea was going to hold a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the alliance, there was a major news that the US and Canadian navies were going to conduct large-scale landing exercises in the waters around South Korea and the Yellow Sea?
At that time, the USS America continued to conduct various activities in the western Pacific, and even on August 23, the U.S. Navy formation led by the ship conducted exercises in the South China Sea with Japanese and Australian aircraft carriers and ships.
At that time, Japan's declared purpose of the exercise was to blatantly "target China", which shows the unknown caution of the United States to continue to go north and prepare for the Yellow Sea exercise with South Korea after bidding farewell to the South China Sea exercise.
Not only that, it is said that for the first Yellow Sea exercise, Washington also increased a large number of air force activities in the Yellow Sea area, and just as Sino-US tensions were intensifying, he also conducted an air force exercise to dispatch B-1B strategic bombers.
Moreover, most of the recent exercises conducted by the United States in the Asian region are regular joint exercises agreed upon by the same vote of the three countries at the Camp David summit, and the purpose of the United States' actions is basically to contain the will of China and South Korea and establish trilateral cooperation to contain China.
At the beginning of the year, the amphibious combat ship "America" at the Sasebo base of Japan conducted exercises in the waters of the East China Sea, and the aircraft carrier "Carl Vinson" and the amphibious assault ship "Essex" in the South China Sea continued to move north, from the US mainland to the aircraft carrier "Lincoln" in the western Pacific waters.
We know that the US Navy generally dispatches an aircraft carrier battle group as a deterrent cruise, and when the regional situation is tense, there will be two aircraft carriers to be prepared, and three aircraft carriers mean facing an emergency crisis or showing off their strength, commonly known as "showing muscles", and sending four aircraft carriers at that time is completely showing their strength.
The same incident of the gathering of four aircraft carriers happened once, in the waters of Okinawa, when many countries gathered four aircraft carriers to deter the PLA from invading Taiwan, which touched the extremely sensitive international Taiwan issue at that time, and the participants were the United States, which carried out armed deterrence against the mainland and interfered in the situation in the Taiwan Strait.
Returning to this Yellow Sea reconnaissance activity in the East China Sea, with the lessons learned from US deterrence actions such as the Yellow Sea exercise, we will naturally be a little cautious about this incident, and will consider whether its actions are aimed at some specific intelligence targets and whether it is intended to send some kind of signal to the mainland.
First of all, we must be clear about what kind of performance the US nuclear reconnaissance aircraft departed from Japan's Kadena Air Base in this incident, and it is rumored that the reconnaissance aircraft has a nickname called "Immortal Bird" because of its long-term endurance shape ability.
However, although it is called "Immortal Bird", and as a nuclear reconnaissance aircraft, it does not have any nuclear-powered engine device, and the so-called nuclear means that it has equipment specially collected nuclear weapons-related objects and can directly detect nuclear-related intelligence information.
For the US military, nuclear reconnaissance aircraft has always been an indispensable part of the intelligence collection system, and its main function is to detect and reconnoitre other countries' nuclear facilities and obtain important military trends and nuclear intelligence, which can be said to be of decisive significance to US security and foreign policy.
In this regard, we may be able to guess that the purpose of the US military sending this nuclear reconnaissance plane is not to carry out airspace attacks or direct provocations in mainland waters, but to judge whether the mainland is conducting nuclear tests.
After all, the recent problem of Japan's discharge of nuclear water and the mainland's status as a major power with nuclear weapons may lead the United States to mistakenly believe that the mainland has a nuclear test program to combat nuclear sewage pollution, and has conducted reconnaissance activities to explore this issue.
And why did the United States choose to conduct nuclear reconnaissance activities in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea this time? Naturally, because the Yellow Sea in the East China Sea, as the waters surrounding the mainland, can simultaneously obtain important naval and air intelligence in the northern part of the mainland, understand the trend of China's maritime military forces, and make response and deployment decisions for its own strategy.
Moreover, in addition to being a national security strategic means and political and military contradictions, repeated reconnaissance activities on the borders of other countries are also a means of demonstrating military strength and authority, and the United States may intend to take this opportunity to send a signal to the mainland and emphasize its threat to China's hegemony in Asia.
It is understood that when the Chinese and Russian navies conducted military exercises last year, the United States quietly carried out reconnaissance operations similar to nuclear reconnaissance aircraft.
This incident was announced in the "Strategic Situational Awareness of the South China Sea" at that time, and the same US RC-135U electronic reconnaissance plane set off from the US military station in Ryukyu, set out in a northwesterly direction, crossed the East China Sea air defense identification zone on the mainland, approached the coastline and continued to go north near the sea to reach the Jiaozhou Bay area.
During the flight, the EC-135U was similar to Operation WC-135R, and had been conducting high-intensity close reconnaissance operations, most likely spying on the situation inside the Chinese mainland.
Although it and the WC-135R and reconnaissance aircraft are not traditional and harmful fighters and bombers, in fact, reconnaissance aircraft like them are the most terrible in peacetime, as long as they set out with a mission, they can always carry out stealing acts, and the consequences are endless.
And the EC-135U series reconnaissance aircraft at that time was a modified version, the United States was only equipped for the first time at that time, the characteristics of the reconnaissance aircraft is that it can use its supporting professional electronic signal reconnaissance device, receive radio signals in the flight range, record, and transmit back to the US military laboratory as an electronic strategic reference.
At that time, the US military dispatched the reconnaissance plane to conduct a voyeuristic operation, which was considered a 100% provocative act, and in the face of such frequent reconnaissance operations by the United States, the mainland has always been vigilant against its conspiracies.
Therefore, the mainland government has already issued a clear response to this, saying that the US behavior is a provocative act that infringes on China, and we strongly protest this behavior that may harm the sovereignty and security interests of the mainland.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense also said that the Chinese military has taken necessary measures to counter this potential threat, and we will take all necessary measures to safeguard our territorial integrity and national security.
The US government has also responded positively to this matter, repeatedly saying that the nuclear reconnaissance plane has not carried out any illegal acts, and the purpose of the act is only to collect some intelligence to support the interests and security of the United States, and hopes that the resulting conflict can be alleviated through diplomatic means.
However, although such high-intensity reconnaissance by the United States is legitimate internationally, due to complex international relations and relatively sensitive geopolitics, such behavior will essentially have a great impact on regional peace and stability.
Therefore, in the face of such provocative behavior by the United States, the mainland believes that it undermines peaceful and stable regional relations and violates international principles. For this reason, no matter what the explanation of the high-level US behavior, this behavior will not ease the tension of confrontation, but will deepen it.
Since recent years, the United States has been strengthening diplomacy with Japan and South Korea, constantly strengthening China's peripheral military deployment forces, and repeatedly creating disputes with China, whether it is the Taiwan Strait issue or reconnaissance operations, in fact, there is only one purpose, that is, to disrupt and exert pressure on China's strategy and development.
But doesn't the mainland have the means to cope with the long-term pressure on the United States? The answer is yes, the United States has actually not taken advantage of such a long period of action, let alone deterred China according to these small means and made China submit.
Although the provocative actions of the United States cannot take much substantial advantage on the mainland, we still need to be vigilant and strive to reduce future disputes through diplomatic means in international cooperation.
Therefore, in response to this incident, we expressed mutual understanding and respect for the interests of both sides with the United States in high-level conversations, but to seek a two-pronged solution, more rational discussions and agreements are required, whether it is this military reconnaissance and intelligence search or other areas in the future.
In view of any friction and competition between China and the United States, we hope to calm down and talk slowly, ease tensions while respecting, and establish stable relations between countries while ensuring regional stability.
Of course, this does not mean that we should admit to the provocations of the United States, but that we must carry out the necessary peace diplomacy, and in the face of the so-called repeatedly provoked confrontation, we need to ease and reduce the struggle that will continue in the future, rather than countering violence with violence, we are not hegemonism, and we will never succumb to hegemonism.