China Faces Threat of the U.S. in Three Directions

A Chinese weekly magazine issued in Beijing reported on February 21 that China feels a serious security threat from the fact that the U.S. is surrounding China, its potential antagonist, from three sides: east, west, and south.

The weekly says that the U.S. considers Japan and Taiwan as the first encircling net in the east and accordingly tries to strengthen its military alliance with Japan, sell advanced weapons to Taiwan, and push forward the establishment of an air base in Shadidiao.

Also, the U.S. is nurturing Guam as it core military base in Asia, setting the island as the second encircling net. To that end, the country augmented B-52 and B-2 strategic bombing planes, and deployed 64 air-launched cruise missiles to regions other than the U.S. mainland for the first time ever. It also decided to station three attack nuclear submarines at all times and deploy a Carrier Battle Group.

Meanwhile, the U.S. completed the western encircling net against China by setting up its military base in central Asia, while carrying out wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The country currently has 13 military bases in nine central Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tadzhikistan. Against this backdrop, China faces a direct military threat from the U.S. also on land for the first time ever.

The U.S. is trying to bolster the first encircling net through Japan and Taiwan by reviving the military alliance in the past centering the Philippines and Singapore. The country is also cooperating with countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, and Australia to set up military bases in the name of the war on terrorism.

The Chinese weekly says, “The U.S.’ encircling net against China exceeds the density that the country used to have in place against the Soviet Union in the Cold War era,” adding, “The U.S.’ strategic checking of Japan is basically completed.”

In the meantime, the Taiwanese media reported on February 21 that Taiwan is planning to conduct a joint training on computer war game along with the U.S. and Japan in “Han Kuang 21,” an annual military training scheduled for March.

China is expected to protest strongly against the plan, as it is the first joint training of the three countries on the assumption of China’s invasion of Taiwan.

Yoo-Seong Hwang yshwang@donga.com