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The Asia-Pacific Pandora's Box has opened, and the risk of military agitation in Germany and Japan has risen sharply

2022-08-24T04:14:51.280Z


The "Pandora's Box" of Asia-Pacific geopolitics has opened, and the focus of global tension has shifted to the Asia-Pacific. After the People's Liberation Army "round-the-island military exercise" around the six major regions of Taiwan, the Western joint military exercise began to move frequently


The "Pandora's Box" of Asia-Pacific geopolitics has opened, and the focus of global tension has shifted to the Asia-Pacific.

After the People's Liberation Army's "round-the-island military exercise" around Taiwan's six major regions, Western joint military exercises have begun to move frequently, especially NATO's intention to encroach on the Asia-Pacific.


The five countries of the United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Australia held the "Pacific Dragon 22" military exercise at the Pacific Range in Hawaii from August 5 to 15.

During the meeting, the United States, Japan and South Korea conducted joint training on using Aegis ships to deal with ballistic missiles from the 8th to the 14th.

Kyodo News reported that this is the first time since December 2017 that Japan, the United States and South Korea have conducted joint ballistic missile-related training.

Military expert Song Zhongping believes, "This military exercise strengthens the anti-missile system from multiple perspectives and regions, and establishes an anti-missile system for China, Russia and other countries; in addition, the construction of the anti-missile system can also further consolidate the United States, Japan and South Korea. A military alliance, there is no doubt that China is one of the targets.”

The air joint military exercise code-named "Dark 2022" also started in northern Australia on August 19 for a period of three weeks.

The 17 countries participating in the joint military exercise, the largest number in history, are Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates.

It not only covers major countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania, but also covers East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

If you look closely, you will find that it combines NATO, the "Five Eyes Alliance", "AUKUS" (Australia-UK-US alliance), the security mechanism of the four Indo-Pacific countries, and the "I2U2 Group" and other US-led "friend circles" or "alliances" ?

Among them, Germany, Japan and South Korea participated in the military exercise for the first time.

Although the "dark" military exercise is a "routine business", the timing of the launch of the "dark 2022" military exercise is very delicate, that is, at the time of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the tension in the Taiwan Strait and the tension on the Korean peninsula. Obviously, this is a A group show where the United States and its allies "show their muscles" in the Asia-Pacific region.

After the People's Liberation Army's "round-the-island military exercise" around Taiwan's six major regions, the Western joint military exercises began to take place frequently.

(Hong Kong 01 cartography)

In addition, the United States and South Korea's annual "Ulchi Freedom Shield" joint military exercise kicked off on August 22.

It will be the largest joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea in years.

U.S. and South Korean officials said a return to normal-scale military exercises would strengthen the defense against North Korean threats.

But some analysts believe that the consolidation of the U.S.-South Korea military alliance is also important for curbing China's regional military expansion.

Germany increases military spending for first fighter jets into Asia-Pacific

In World War II, Japan and Germany were both defeated countries, and then long-term military restrictions were imposed on the two countries: strictly control the number of troops of the defeated countries, the defeated countries could only have basic self-defense troops, and they could not study nuclear energy and biological and chemical weapons in the military field. , and cannot possess offensive weapons, cannot rapidly expand armaments, and cannot act aggressively except in self-defense, and so on.

But it is clear that the United States is allowing Germany and Japan to escape military restrictions little by little.

Some things are changing.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany will spend an additional 100 billion euros in military construction this year, and that military spending will exceed the 2% threshold of GDP in the future. .

This means that the basic orientation of Germany's defense policy established since the end of World War II has undergone a sudden change.

Moreover, Germany has begun to assist Ukraine with advanced heavy weapons.

The German government in July published a full list of weapons supplies to Ukraine — a package of German military aid to Ukraine in 2022 that includes shipments from Bundeswehr warehouses, as well as lethal and non-lethal equipment by industry.

This includes the transfer of weapons, ammunition, fuel, medical supplies, uniforms, tents, and more.

German funding for Ukraine has also increased to 2 billion euros as part of the 2022 budget process.

From this list, Ukraine will be able to receive German-made IRIS-T SLM medium-range air defense systems, as well as PzH-2000 self-propelled howitzers (7 units), Tekken III bazooka (3,000 pieces), Stinger missiles ( 500 pieces), "Arrow-2" man-portable anti-aircraft missiles (2,700 pieces), "Cheetah" anti-aircraft tanks still in preparation, and "Weasel" infantry fighting vehicles.

U.S. President Joe Biden holds a joint news conference with German Chancellor Scholz in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on February 7, 2022.

Olaf Scholz announced that military spending will exceed the 2% threshold of GDP each year.

(AP Photo/Alex)

In this 17-nation joint military exercise, German military aircraft flew thousands of miles into the Asia-Pacific to participate in many joint military exercises.

The Luftwaffe sent 13 fighter jets to the Asia-Pacific region, including six "Typhoon" fighter jets, the main fighter in active service.

There are also 4 A400M transport aircraft and 3 A330 multi-purpose tankers.

This is the first time since the Second World War that Germany has sent its fighter jets to the Asia-Pacific region, and the signal released is worthy of vigilance.

Germany may take an active part in military affairs in the Indo-Pacific region in the future.

NATO Air Command posted on social media a few days ago, "The endurance and coverage of the Luftwaffe and NATO's global partners in combat Allied air power."

As Yevseyev, a military expert at the Russian Valdai Club and an expert at the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies, pointed out, the United States has dragged Germany into a major geopolitical game with dangerous consequences for regional security.

The United States' attempt to establish a military-political alliance in the Asia-Pacific region is obvious.

Japan breaks through the "peace constitution" quasi-aircraft carrier is a sign

As we all know, Japan has gone further and further down the road of right-wing militaristic expansion.

For a long time, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has mainly sought to amend Article 9 of the "Peace Constitution", which renounces the right to war, in order to upgrade the Self-Defense Forces to the "National Defense Forces", thereby improving national defense capabilities.

After Shinzo Abe took office for the second time, Japan's security strategy entered a new period of strategic transformation, accelerating the pursuit of "normal nationalization" of Japan.

Abe has made a high-profile declaration of "Japan's return", and has always cherished the dream of amending the constitution and spared no effort to this end, pushing Japan to go further and further on the road of militarization.

The Kishida government claims to continue Abe's path of military expansion, vigorously pushing military spending to more than 2% of GDP, and "completely strengthening defenses" within five years.

Abe's assassination a few days ago has directly promoted the constitutional revision process of the Kishida government and the enhancement of Japan's defense forces.

Japan Self-Defense Force: The picture shows a photo posted on the Facebook page of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force on December 13, 2021.

(Facebook @Japan Air Self-Defense Force_ENG)

With the resurgence of militarism, Japan's various actions have become more and more dangerous: the Self-Defense Force recruits troops, purchases more advanced weapons, builds the ability to actively attack enemy bases, and continues to increase defense spending... These are full of The action of the smell of gunpowder has long exceeded the needs of exclusive defense.

The Kishida government forcibly linked the Ukrainian crisis with the Taiwan issue, made irresponsible remarks about the Taiwan issue and the South China Sea issue, and exaggerated the "increasingly severe security environment around Japan and the international situation", which also paved the way for Japan to amend its constitution and expand its military.

Japan's "Yomiuri Shimbun" quoted sources as saying on August 21 that considering factors such as "something in Taiwan", the Japanese government is studying whether to install more than 1,000 long-range cruise missiles and deploy them from the Southwest Islands to Kyushu. It is to fill the "missile gap" that exists between China and China.

Japanese media said that the reason why the Japanese government wants to have a large number of long-range missiles is because the gap between the missile attack capabilities of the United States and Japan and China is too large.

But its essence is an expanding ambition, as everyone knows.

Hu Jiping, vice president of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, also pointed out that the range of Japan's shore-to-ship missiles was only more than 100 kilometers in the past, but the cruise missiles to be developed now have a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, which means that the target of attack has expanded from the past offshore targets, including China's southeastern coast and South Korea are all within its reach, as well as some Russian targets.

This means that Japan has completely changed from the past policy of "defensive defense" and has begun to develop "counterattack capabilities."

In other words, in the past, we focused on self-defense, but now we develop cruise missiles that can directly hit the territory of China and other countries, and can launch attacks, not just self-defense.

This is a huge shift in defense policy.

In addition, what is particularly symbolic is the installation of the quasi-aircraft carrier.

Japan is carrying out the aircraft carrier modification of the "Kaga". Unlike the previous "Izumo", the "Kaga" will undergo a "head replacement": a new bow will be replaced, thereby increasing the deck area and carrying more carriers. It also meets the short-range take-off and landing requirements of the F-35B stealth fighter.

The "Kaga" is a quasi-aircraft carrier built by Japan in the name of a helicopter destroyer. At the beginning of its design, there was room for aircraft carrier transformation.

According to the plan of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, after the "Kaga" is completed, it will carry 28 carrier-based aircraft, including at least 12 F-35B fighter jets, 8 "Osprey" transport aircraft and 8 "Sea Hawk" anti-submarine helicopters.

Kaga frigate (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force/CC BY 4.0)

On the whole, the "Kaga" is almost the same as the latest US-class amphibious assault ship in the United States. It is completely imitating the concept of the "Lightning Aircraft Carrier" proposed by the United States, which belongs to the category of light aircraft carriers.

Once the modification is completed, the Sea of ​​Japan will install an aircraft carrier, which means that the sea has changed from the original defensive defense to an ocean-going attack.

The reason why Japan dares to have an aircraft carrier is the result of the connivance of the United States.

Japan's possession of an aircraft carrier is a new move by the country to break through the "peace constitution".

Looking at it this way, in fact, compared with Germany, the US military "relaxing" Japan appears to be more blatant.

Of course, this is understandable.

The purpose of the United States is also very clear, that is, to use Japan to contain China.

It is also the foothold and springboard for strengthening the control of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region.

Using Pelosi's visit to Taiwan and military exercises to test global public opinion, what did Beijing see?

The two camps have a dark military exercise - 2022 will debut in the East - 2022 is coming soon. The United States and South Korea will start a joint military exercise on August 22 for an 11-day period. China, Russia and India "Dongfang-2022" VS. 17 countries "Darkness-2022" Faction military confrontation?

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-08-24

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