This Thursday, China showed its strong rejection of the pact reached on Wednesday between the United States and Japan, which represents the greatest reinforcement in six decades of military alliance between Tokyo and Washington. The message has been forceful: “The United States and Japan ignore China's serious concerns, slander and attack China over Taiwan, maritime issues and other issues, violently interfere in China's internal affairs, and seriously violate the basic norms of the international relations,” Foreign Spokesperson Mao Ning said at a routine conference. “China is very dissatisfied and firmly opposed to this, and has made solemn [diplomatic] representations to relevant parties.”
The agreement between the United States and Japan, signed in Washington during the official visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is “the largest modernization of the alliance since it was established” in 1960, according to US President Joe Biden. The renewal of the alliance seeks to address, among others, “the challenges around China,” as the Japanese explained. Both countries will take steps to modernize their joint command and information exchange structures, as well as collaboration in the development of new technologies.
For Beijing, it is a remote-controlled pact, which it interprets as one more step in a dotted line in which Washington's sanctions and technological and commercial restrictions, the Aukus (the strategic military alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States), follow one another. ), the inclusion of the Asian giant in the latest NATO Strategic Concept, and the strengthening of the ties of the Atlantic Alliance with the Pacific democracies. “US-Japan relations should not target other countries or harm their interests, nor should they undermine regional peace and stability,” Mao Ning stressed. China, he added, “firmly opposes the practice of clinging to the Cold War mentality and engaging in small-group politics, and firmly opposes words and deeds that create and intensify conflicts and harm security.” strategic and the interests of other countries.
The Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, was quite explicit on Tuesday during an appearance at the end of a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Beijing. He showed his opposition to the formation of “any small circle” in the Asia-Pacific region. “NATO must not come to our common home,” he emphasized. The state press, closely monitoring the development of events in Washington, has also shown his opposition. The “unstable” group formed by the United States, Japan, and also the Philippines, “fosters conflict and confusion,” says an editorial published on Wednesday by the pro-government newspaper Global Times.
Kishida and Biden plan to meet this Thursday at the White House with the Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and express the support of Washington and Tokyo for the archipelago in the face of pressure from Beijing towards Manila in the South China Sea, where both governments They have a territorial dispute. The growing friction between vessels of both nations around what the Philippines calls the Ayunguín shoal, where Manila maintains a military garrison in an old warship stranded on a reef, has caused sparks to fly in the South Sea, considered one of the most volatile points on the planet.
The most serious incident in recent weeks took place at the end of March, when Chinese ships fired a water cannon at a Philippine supply ship that was carrying supplies to the military garrison of Ayungin Atoll. China accuses the United States of supporting Philippine “provocations”; Washington often replies that the mutual defense treaty signed in 1951 with Manila “extends to armed attacks against the Philippine Armed Forces, public ships and aircraft — including those of its Coast Guard — anywhere in the South China Sea.” Spokesperson Mao Ning assured this Thursday that “China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands of the South China Sea and their adjacent waters.”
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Warships and aircraft from Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the United States carried out joint maneuvers near the Philippine coast last Sunday. It was the first large-scale exercise involving all four countries to demonstrate their “collective commitment” and “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to a joint statement. China responded with naval and air patrols in the area. Also this Thursday, Beijing announced sanctions against two American companies, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems, considering that they are linked to the sale of weapons to Taiwan, the self-governed island that Beijing considers an inalienable part of its territory.
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