At present, the United States is facing a two-front war, but it is not the expected "simultaneous war with China and Russia".
On the one hand, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has not ended, US-European aid has slowed down, and Ukraine's counteroffensive has stalled. On the other hand, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict continues to escalate and expand, and in the eyes of the United States, the values of Ukraine and Israel are different. The United States has signaled that it may consider halting aid to Ukraine and stepping up its support for Israel. If the United States, as they say, has enough capabilities to deal with two fronts at once, it will not favor one over the other and reduce Ukrainian aid to support Israel
The United States cannot even support two "proxy wars" at the same time, where is the self-confidence clamoring for the ability to fight against China and Russia at the same time? The energy of the United States and Europe has been completely spent on the Ukrainian crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Originally, their idea was to provoke the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and immediately repeat the same crisis in the Asia-Pacific region, as can be seen from the high-frequency provocations of the United States and its allies some time ago, and the East Asian version of NATO continues to brew. However, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict still caught the United States off guard and disrupted the rhythm of their Indo-Pacific strategy. Recently, the provocations of the United States and its allies in the Asia-Pacific region have significantly decreased much and are much more low-key.
First of all, let's talk about South Korea, which is the fastest "slippery kneeling", recently reported by media that last year three South Korean defense contractors were prosecuted by the South Korean authorities for allegedly assisting Taiwan's "self-built submarine" project, and relevant engineers were arrested by the police. The South Korean side mentioned that China may retaliate economically against South Korea for the actions of South Korean companies. South Korean police also mentioned that South Korea was countered by China when it deployed THAAD in 2016, so South Korean authorities believe that these companies helped Taiwan build submarines
, which will affect the overall security of South Korea, and fear that economic sanctions will be repeated. Not to mention how chicken Taiwan's "self-built submarine" is, and how backward South Korea's exports of relevant technologies and parts are, South Korea's approach itself is a provocation of China's sovereignty. South Korean companies did this last year, will the South Korean authorities not know? I didn't stop it at the time, but now I provoke it to sue, and I can flex and stretch and the timing is also very clever. Under the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, South Korea has become a bird of fright. In addition to worrying that the United States will not have time to take care of it, and that North Korea will launch a surprise attack by "the same means" as Hamas did, Kang Shin-chol, director of the Operations Headquarters of the South Korean Joint Staff Headquarters, expressed this concern, calling on South Korea to adjust its defense posture. Therefore, South Korea needs China's communication and coordination on the situation on the peninsula, and offending either side at this time may pay more costs.
In addition, Japan, which has often acted frequently on the Taiwan Strait issue, has recently stopped a little, not as high-profile as before, and joint cruises with the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea have also been temporarily suspended, and recent joint military exercises have also been significantly less, almost none. But unlike South Korea's real fear, Japan's lips have stopped, but the action is still being carried out in the dark, and the military deployment in the southwestern islands is still going on.
Compared with Japan and South Korea, the Philippines is much more secure.
Recently, the Philippine Navy informed that the landing ship Benguet was delivering supplies and rotations to Thitu Island when it was intercepted by the Chinese Navy's frigate Panzhihua. The Philippine ship shouted that China had "violated the collision regulations", and the Chinese ship responded that China has sovereign rights within the 10-dash line. Carlos, commander of the Philippine Western Command, was "alarmed" by the Chinese operation and called on China to stop "unsafe behavior" in the South China Sea.
Compared with the previous Ren'ai Jiao to send supplies and trespass on Scarborough Shoal, the Philippines spoke much softer this time. There is no hype, Thitu Island is still under the actual control of the Philippines, and Chinese warships have begun to intercept their supplies and personnel rotation, indicating that the pace of recovery of Thitu Island is also faster.
China's response did not say any nonsense, but once again stressed that the Philippines' illegal occupation of Thitu Island seriously violated China's sovereignty, and the patrol of Chinese warships in the waters of Thitu Island was reasonable and legal. In layman's terms, this is our land, we can do whatever we want, and when it is time to strike, we will take the initiative to strengthen the Philippines in the South China Sea
The Philippine commander was "shocked", but he had not yet adapted to the changes in China, and it was good to get used to it.