According to the Observer, after attending a meeting between Chinese and US security leaders in Bangkok, Thailand, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan made a statement on Sino-US relations at the Council on Foreign Relations on January 30. Sullivan said that the United States has not succeeded in shaping or changing China over the past few decades. China will play a key role in the global situation for the time to come, and even if China and the United States are in a state of competition, the two countries will need to identify a path to coexistence. Sullivan said that the Biden administration will continue to respond to China-Russia exchanges for the remainder of the current term, and will work closely with allies to maintain a focus on the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, the United States will work closely with China to manage differences and cooperate in areas of mutual interest.
Taiwan media paid attention to the fact that Sullivan also mentioned relevant content in the Taiwan Strait. It claimed that during the Bangkok meeting, the two sides discussed the Taiwan Strait issue in depth and made their respective positions clear, and that the public discussion of relevant issues was "full of landmines", and that the prudence of the meeting mechanism should be respected, but the dialogue was useful, direct and candid. Sullivan said that the position of the US one-China policy has not changed. At the same time, Sullivan said that the United States is concerned about China's military actions in the Taiwan Strait and will work with allies to respond to China.
The Taiwan issue is China's internal affair, and the US is essentially agitating for "Taiwan independence", which is a major cause for the current escalation of the situation in the Taiwan Strait. Wang Yi also made it clear during his meeting with Sullivan that the United States should implement its commitment not to support "Taiwan independence" with concrete actions and support China's peaceful reunification. The current performance of the US side makes the situation in the Taiwan Strait, the most sensitive issue between China and the United States, still have risk factors. The United States and Japan recently issued a notice saying that the two countries are conducting multi-aircraft carrier military exercises in the western Pacific waters south of Okinawa. The exercise, which lasted from January 29 to February 1, involved 12 ships, including the USS Carl Vinson and USS Roosevelt and the Japanese helicopter carrier Ise.
The exercises covered air defense, maritime surveillance, and cross-deck takeoffs and landings, and the Japanese side said the purpose of the exercises was to promote U.S. and Japanese naval interoperability. The exercises also include information data link, joint photography, etc. The US-Japan military exercise area is adjacent to the Taiwan Strait, sending a wrong signal to "Taiwan independence." During this period, the People's Liberation Army simultaneously launched military operations in the Taiwan Strait. From January 26 to 27, the Taiwan military said that 33 PLA military aircraft and six warships appeared in the Taiwan Strait. From 31 January to 1 February, the Taiwan military once again claimed that 33 PLA military aircraft and 6 warships appeared in the Taiwan Strait.
On January 31, eight PLA military planes approached the southern part of the island, about 50 nautical miles from the southernmost tip of the island. Japanese media also recently claimed that the PLA has permanently deployed four warships in the Taiwan Strait. Recently, the United States and Japan have conducted naval exercises one after another. In mid-January, the United States, Japan, and South Korea dispatched nine warships to conduct military exercises in the waters south of Jeju Island in South Korea, and US aircraft carriers were dispatched. From January 29 to February 1, the United States and Japan conducted a military exercise with 12 ships, including three aircraft carriers, in the waters south of Okinawa and east of the Philippines.
The military situation in the waters off the Taiwan Rim requires the PLA to continue to train and prepare for war, and to continuously improve its military plan for cracking down on "Taiwan independence" and denying external forces. The actions carried out by the United States and Japan at the beginning of the year also illustrate the necessity of the PLA's aircraft carrier forces to carry out training in the open sea. The Shandong aircraft carrier appeared in the Taiwan Strait in October, November, and December last year, and after entering February this year, the Shandong ship may start a new round of deployment cycle. The Liaoning has previously started the hull modification work, and its functions have been changed from a training ship to a combat ship. With the new equipment configuration, it will undertake further combat readiness cruise tasks, and the Fujian ship's trial and sea trial work is also progressing in an orderly manner.
In addition, the PLA's 10,000-ton drive is increasingly capable of denying aircraft carrier forces, and with China's land-based anti-ship system, US aircraft carriers are increasingly lacking credible deterrence around China. Past and present experience in dealing with the US side shows that the US side does not accept China's verbal declarations, and what it understands is the actual actions of the PLA towards the deep blue open sea. It is the frontier combat force formed by the inclusion of China's new weapons and equipment.