China charged this Sunday once morest the strategy of USA in the Indo-Pacific and urged him not to “contain” or “encircle” his country, following a weekend in which both world powers marked territory in the area through the participation of their defense ministers in a forum in Singapore .
“For us, the US strategy seeks to create conflict and confrontation, and contain and encircle others,” Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe criticized today in a speech at the so-called Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the annual forum largest defense company in the Asia-Pacific.
The meeting, which began on Friday with a meeting on the margins of the summit between Wei and his US counterpart, the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and concludes today following an intense agenda following two years of hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been used by the powers to mark positions in the area.
Wei, who took the stand this Sunday, a day following Austin did, criticized USA for his “attempt to create a small exclusive club in the name of a free and open Indo-Pacific, to hijack countries in our region and once morest a specific target,” he said, referring to himself.
The minister was referring to the alliances that the US has created with countries in the area, such as the Quad (together with Australia, Japan and India) and the AUKUS (also with Australia and the United Kingdom) to counteract the weight of China in the Indo-Pacificmentioned the day before by Austin during his speech at the forum.
Austin stressed that the Indo-Pacific is his country’s “priority theater of operations”, and reiterated his support for his allies in the face of a China “increasingly aggressive”, especially towards Taiwan, although he assured that EE.UU. it does not seek independence for the island, which Beijing considers part of its territory.
Taiwan has been the main battle horse -in public and in private- between the defense chiefs of the two superpowers, especially when the war in Ukraine has raised tension in the region due to parallels between Russia’s invasion of the neighboring country and an eventual similar act by China on the self-ruled island.
Although the drums of war resounded louder in this edition than in others -with the same Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, urging via videoconference on Saturday at the forum to seek diplomatic channels for Taiwan-, the blood did not reach the river and the heads of Defense launched conciliatory messages on this issue.
Austin reiterated his country’s support for the “one China policy” and left in the air what are the red lines for a US intervention. in case of an attack by Beijing on Taiwan, as dictated by “strategic ambiguity” with which Washington traditionally deals with this matter.
Taiwan and the tension between the two great powers
A notable moderation following the president of the United States, Joe Biden, affirmed last month from Tokyo that his country would intervene if Beijing invaded the island, raising tensions between the two powers.
Meanwhile, Wei, despite uttering some bravado these days assuring that China would “crush” any secession attempt from Taiwanmade it clear in his speech on Sunday that the “ideal” path for the reunification of the island – which he calls “rebellious” since the withdrawal of the Kuomintang nationalists there in 1949 – is the peaceful one.
Thus, the door was left open to a possible conflict, but also to more communication, the greatest commitment that Wei and Austin acquired during their private meeting, and which the two heads of Defense of the nuclear powers also echoed in public.
The summit, then, passed with two parallel realities: the studied messages, war rhetoric included, spread from the podium, and the diplomacy in the corridors and in the bilateral meetings, giving indications that the war in Ukraine has reminded everyone of the importance to improve communication.
Apart from holding their first meeting in person, half an hour longer than expected, both defense chiefs met with their partners, and also with those not so close: Wei, for example, held a meeting this Sunday with his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, the first senior between the two countries since 2020.
An important meeting, following more than two years of diplomatic tensions and when China expands its relations with island countries in the South Pacific -with whom it wants to sign a multilateral security and trade pact-, an area under the traditional influence of Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Movements disliked by the US and its partners, but not so much by the countries courted by Chinaincluding Fiji, whose Defense Minister, Inia Batikoto Seruiratu, assured this Sunday in the forum that her country “benefits from all relations.”
“We are grateful to the (North) Americans for what they have offered us, especially following World War II, but things have changed, and we are adapting,” said the Fijian, summarizing the current situation in the Indo-Pacific.
(EFE)
