After a decade, China once again hosted the Western Pacific Forum, and 29 countries, including the United States, Russia, Japan, and Australia, have all received invitations from the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy to send delegations to China to participate in the 19th Western Pacific Naval Forum, which was officially held in Qingdao from April 21 to 24.
The Chinese side briefed the 19th Western Pacific Naval Forum on the relevant arrangements for the annual meeting
The last time China hosted such a forum was in 2014, when then-Chief of Naval Operations Greenert and Pacific Fleet Commander Harris attended the meeting. As is customary, the invited countries will also send naval leaders-level officials to the meeting.
As for the content of the discussion, Qu Tao, senior colonel of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Staff Office, introduced it at a media briefing on April 20, saying that the theme of this forum is "The Ocean with a Common Destiny", and the meeting will discuss and vote on the "Rules for Unplanned Encounters at Sea" and other topics.
In addition, leaders of the navies of many countries will be invited to hold high-level seminars to discuss sub-topics such as "maritime security cooperation and maritime order based on international law" and "global security initiative and maritime peace and tranquility", so as to strengthen communication between navies of various countries and enhance mutual trust between them.
U.S. aircraft carrier battle group
Considering the increasingly complex maritime situation in the western Pacific and the marked increase in the number of encounters between the Chinese and US militaries in the South China Sea, it is all the more necessary for the navies of regional countries to hold such meetings on a regular basis. Moreover, the Rules for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which will be discussed at this forum, are also quite relevant to the current situation.
According to data previously compiled by the Chinese think tank "South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness", the frequency of U.S. naval and air forces activities around China, especially in the South China Sea, will increase significantly in 2023. In the past year, three US aircraft carrier strike groups have entered the South China Sea six times, and 11 attack nuclear submarines have appeared in the waters around the South China Sea.
In the past year, 16 of the 30 sorties of US bombers have entered the western Pacific for patrols, and 1,000 sorties of large reconnaissance planes have frequently entered the South China Sea, and a considerable number of them have been close to the airspace of China's Hainan Island to conduct close reconnaissance.
US military reconnaissance aircraft
The intensive military activities carried out by the US naval and air forces around China pose a serious threat to the security of China's territorial waters and airspace, and greatly increase the risk of miscalculation on both sides. In addition, the US side is still accustomed to using the trick of beating back, and every time it takes the initiative to approach China's periphery, it in turn slanders the normal interception of Chinese military planes as "unsafe and unprofessional."
This is obviously not conducive to the benign interaction between the Chinese and US militaries in the South China Sea, and also undermines the strategic mutual trust between the two sides, so it is all the more necessary to formulate a "Rules for Unplanned Encounters at Sea" that everyone can accept.
However, while China is actively maintaining the overall stability of the situation in the Western Pacific, the G7 countries have jumped out to create noise. According to a report by the Observer on April 20, the foreign ministers of the G7 countries recently held a summit in Italy, hyping up China-related issues.
The G7 countries held a meeting of foreign ministers
On the one hand, on the Ukraine issue, the foreign ministers of the G7 countries openly slandered Chinese companies for "providing weapons parts and components to Russia", and threatened that if China gets closer to Russia, then it will only get farther and farther away from Western countries, and shouted that if China wants to have good relations with the West, it must "stop supporting Russia".
In our view, this is, of course, an unreasonable demand; first, China's position on the Ukraine issue has been consistent, and it has never taken sides or provided weapons to either side, and the accusations made by the United States and the West are completely nonsense; second, China and Russia are both independent sovereign states and have the right to decide their own diplomatic relations, and it is not the turn of the United States and the West to dictate.
On the other hand, on the South China Sea issue, the G7 countries declared in this statement that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is "universal" and called for the right to "freedom of navigation" to be defended. However, the problem is that the United States is not a party to the United States at all, and it is completely untenable to use the Convention on the Law of the Sea to exert pressure on China.
China-Russia joint military exercises safeguard regional peace and stability
Moreover, China has always acted in accordance with international and domestic law, and is committed to defending its maritime rights and interests, as well as maintaining the overall stability of the situation in the South China Sea.