Author: Wang Dehua
A report released by the US Department of Defense on the 6th smugly said that in 2016, the United States exercised the right of free navigation against 22 countries and regions with "excessive maritime rights claims". The Pentagon's list also includes U.S. allies and other claimants in the South China Sea dispute, as if the United States were "treated equally" and "six relatives do not recognize."
In the list of countries released by the Pentagon on the 6th, from the distribution point of view, 13 are located in East and South Asia, 4 are in Europe, 2 are in the Persian Gulf, 2 are in South America, and 1 is in North Africa.
A total of 12 countries have been challenged multiple times, nine of which are in Asia, including China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and the Maldives. The other three countries are Iran in the Middle East, Albania, a small European country, and Venezuela in South America.
Freedom of navigation is a right under the United Nations Convention on the International Law of the Sea. The United States has signed the Convention but has not yet ratified it. "The Pentagon says that the free navigation action of the United States is comprehensive and fair", in fact, it means that the United States can go wherever it wants, of course, it is best for Russia to go around.
When answering a question from Chinese and foreign reporters on the 8th, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in response to a question from Chinese and foreign reporters on "whether they are worried about the outbreak of military conflicts between China and the United States in the South China Sea", "the Chinese view of the ocean respects Zheng He and values maritime cooperation; while some people believe in Mahan and are keen on controlling sea power." What does it mean?
Mahan was a prominent American military theorist who twice served as president of the U.S. Naval Academy, and his most famous view was that "sea power is all that makes a nation a great nation by or through the sea." This view still deeply influences the United States today. The so-called "free navigation" of the United States is nothing more than the practice of the "theory of sea power."
Only the oceans are connected in the world, and if we want to become a global power, we must first and foremost be a maritime power. Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy said, "Controlling the oceans means security, controlling the oceans means peace, and controlling the oceans means victory." Don't think how much the United States likes Aquino III and the International Court of Arbitration, because China's south China Sea claims have hindered America's maritime hegemony, and the United States has treated the Pacific Ocean as an inland lake since World War II.
The 21st century is the century of the ocean, a topic that has been overstated, and a heavy mission for China. It was only 200 years after the world entered the ocean that China began its own marine era. On the one hand, China is unprecedentedly dependent on the ocean, developing resources, exporting commodities, importing resources, and entering and exiting the ocean; on the other hand, China's ability to control the oceans and defend its maritime rights and interests is lagging behind, while the United States controls the world's 16 most important shipping routes.
The "free navigation" of the United States challenges 22 countries and regions, and the essence is to point the sword at China. Because the United States wants to build and maintain world hegemony for a hundred years, and among the 22 countries and regions, only China has the most strength to end the UNITED States world hegemony; China pursues a multipolar world and creates a "world without hegemony."
Whether it is the "free navigation" of the United States to challenge 22 countries and regions, or THAAD's entry into South Korea, or the US-Japan alliance, the US-ROK alliance, and so on, the ultimate goal of the United States is to build an encirclement against China, trapping China on land and unable to go to the sea, and making The dream of China's rise dead.
Let us gaze at the blue ocean that transcends time and space for a long time; "dare to go up to the moon for nine days, dare to go down to the five oceans to catch turtles", that is a compulsory course for the Chinese nation to take off!