Security in the Pacific – Confrontation with China

AUKUS, The security agreement between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, announced in mid-September, marks the beginning of a new geopolitical game in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The purpose of the Security Pact is to stop Chinese influence and expansion. It is a clear message to China that the concept of the West and its friends will stand together – in the East.

China’s phenomenal growth It changes the geopolitics of Asia dramatically. With nothing but verbal opposition, the United States’ friends in Asia had to argue that China had occupied the reefs and islands in the South China Sea, and expanded them into military fortifications, even though countries like the Philippines and Vietnam lay claim to the islands themselves. Although the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that China’s expansion was illegal. Last year, a clash occurred between China and India in which a number of border soldiers were killed in both places. The Chinese air force and navy deliberately encroach on the territory of Taiwan, and Chinese leaders have repeatedly suggested the possibility of invading the island, asserting that it is part of China.

Biden took over Trump

China is working Trade war with boycotts of goods against countries that don’t dance to their tunes, like South Korea and Australia. When Australia demanded an investigation into how the coronavirus first originated in China, China responded by halting all imports of Australian food and wine, a major market for Australia.

Chinese aggression Against neighboring countries has the character of systematic bullying. China appears to have a strategy of forcing its neighbors to cooperate where the goal is to create a China-centric world, where neighbors relate to China as client states, and do what China says. The Middle Kingdom will surround itself with partners that they can control, and there is a security logic in this, given that the geographic starting point is Beijing, and since the perspective – from where to watch the world – is critical to what you see. And there is an economic logic to this, because China is going to be the pivot around which the others revolve.

But even so Carrots in the giant and global investment project, one road, one belt project, which means large investments in the countries it includes, China is using the whip more seriously than the carrot. Many of America’s allies and friends in the region were looking for an adult when they were bullied by China. But the United States has so far seen a different path. With the AUKUS security agreement, Joe Biden now sees the US in white, sending a clear signal of support for his friends in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

More desperate than ever

The agreement makes it Australia will have at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, with the latest technology, and access to enriched uranium, from which nuclear warheads can be made. In addition, AUKUS offers the latest technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence and space defence. But the spirit of the new security agreement offers more. This weekend, leaders met at another new security structure in Washington, D.C., called the Quadruple, made up of the USA, Australia, India and Japan, and it’s also about standing together and preventing China’s expansion. In addition to these two security structures, South Korea and the Philippines are US allies, and Vietnam – yes, Vietnam – applies under the US security umbrella.

In his speech at the United Nations Last week, Biden promised turbulent, energetic diplomacy as an alternative to American warriors. This means, among other things, that the United States will seek cooperation with China, for example, in the environment and disease control. But do not cooperate at any cost. On the contrary, the signal now is that continued Chinese expansion and bullying of neighbors will have a price – namely.

At least one bad day at work

What a price However, it is not clear. The most extreme picture of the price of the confrontation will be the defense budgets of countries. The United States is nearly four times as high as China, in contrast, China’s defense budget this year has increased by 6.8%. The ambition is to build and modernize it by 2035, so that by 2050 it will be on par with the United States. This is at least the ambition of President Xi Jinping.

There is more and more China nationalist and chauvinistic that US-backed security structures in Asia will be curbed. In his time, Xi Jinping pursued an aggressive, confrontational and combative foreign policy. Now this diplomacy is facing a more organized resistance. The major geopolitical and seismic movements of our time occur around China.