Recently, a series of movements of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the direction of the western Pacific indicate that China is likely to have chosen a battlefield for the "general showdown" between China and the United States in the Asia-Pacific region. This battlefield is not Taiwan, China, nor the South China Sea, a vital waterway, but the Pentagon's "heart" and the US military base in the Ryukyus.
According to the latest statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense, China's naval and air forces are appearing more and more frequently in the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific region. First of all, the 799 electronic reconnaissance ship sailed for the Sea of Japan, followed by a ship formation led by the Huainan ship, which also passed through the Tsushima Strait and entered the waters of the western Pacific. Subsequently, the Changchun and Changzhou ships sailed through the Amami Strait and began to operate in the waters around the Ryukyu Islands. Finally, the Y-9 reconnaissance plane also flew over the Sea of Japan and entered the western Pacific through the Miyako Strait.
These movements of the PLA, at first glance, are nothing to make a fuss about. In recent years, as the PLA Navy has produced more and more "dumplings", it has become very common to break through the first island chain and conduct joint naval and air exercises in the Western Pacific. The PLA's operation was also very low-key, without publicity, and many pictures of ships and aircraft were tracked and released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense for the first time. However, there is a saying that is called listening to thunder in a silent place. This time, the direction in which the PLA's forces are concentrated has made both Japan and the United States tremble.
As we all know, the United States and Japan have always hoped to detonate the powder keg by China's side, or directly at China's home. Needless to say, the South China Sea, which guards the Strait of Malacca, is China's key shipping route to Africa, Oceania, and Europe. The calculations of the United States and Japan are very clear and very vicious, that is, they want to provoke a war in the place where China suffers the most, so that even if they are incapable and lose in the conflict, it is China's field that will be smashed, and they will not feel distressed.
But now, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is not going to eat that at all and is beginning to concentrate its forces towards the Ryukyus.
This layout is completely a lore against the United States and Japan. Why? Because the Ryukyus are the biggest pain point in Asia. First, the U.S. military base in the Ryukyus is the place where the United States projects the most troops and influence in the first island chain and even in the world. The Pentagon has nearly 400 military bases overseas, about one-third of which Japan alone has deployed, and the total number of US soldiers deployed exceeds 50,000. And this group of Americans, in turn, is mainly concentrated in the Ryukyus.
This situation is determined by a combination of geographical and historical factors. Geographically, the Ryukyu Islands are located at the southernmost tip of Japan, making it convenient to project influence in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, so they are particularly valued by the United States. Historically, Japan had carried out massacres in the Ryukyus, and strictly speaking, the current Japanese government only "trusteeship" the Ryukyus, so from the very beginning, Japan felt that the Ryukyus were "not of our race, and their hearts must be different", and they were happy to hand them over to the US military to spoil. The common people of the Ryukyus have demonstrated with the Japanese government every year, demanding that the US troops get out of the Ryukyus, but the Japanese government will always turn a blind eye.
Second, China's attack on the Ryukyus was justified and advantageous. Because the document that laid down the post-World War II international order clearly stipulates that the sovereignty of the Ryukyus does not belong to Japan, but the Ryukyus were killed too badly, so they were temporarily handed over to the United States for trusteeship. Later, in order to win the Cold War, the United States supported Japan, so it secretly transferred the management of the Ryukyus to the Japanese government. In other words, the current Japan has no sovereignty over the Ryukyus, and everything it does is not justified, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has done justice in the past.
Therefore, the PLA's recent series of deployments facing the Western Pacific and the surrounding Ryukyus is to tell the United States and Japan that since you are so hollow out to turn East Asia into a battlefield, then don't think about it alone, and the PLA has the power and strength to define the battlefield. As long as China makes a move, it is very likely that the first unlucky person will not be in the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea, but the American GIs in the Ryukyu base.
As long as these two countries dare to take action, China will "draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle" and directly raise their base camps, and no one in the world can find fault in morality and legal theory, and the People's Liberation Army is going to liberate the ordinary people of the Ryukyus who are persecuted by the Japanese Government and US imperialism.