Two political analysts, commenting on “Sky News Arabia”, trace the change in the intensity and nature of Chinese reactions to Washington, since August 2022, from a mode of calm or motivation, to a mode of attack and deterrence , especially with the increase in opposition and military skirmishes between the two countries in recent weeks.
Successive skirmishes by sea and by air
Earlier this week, the US military announced that a Chinese frigate had carried out a “dangerous” maneuver in front of an American warship sailing near the Taiwan Strait. It came days after Washington announced that a Chinese fighter jet had intercepted a US reconnaissance plane surveying over the South China Sea. On the other hand, China responds with another narrative, namely that Washington has attempted to “infringe” its sovereignty at sea and is conducting spy sorties against warships and sensitive sites under Chinese sovereignty. On Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu defended the navigation of the Chinese frigate in the path of the US warship and with it a Canadian frigate through the Taiwan Strait at the “Shangri-La Dialogue” forum in Singapore, saying that China had no problem with free passage, but “we must prevent attempts that try to use these freedoms associated with navigation to exert dominance over navigation.”
10 months of deterioration
Mazen Hassan, an expert on China affairs, says the US economic and political escalation against China has made Beijing’s reactions different from what they once were of calm.
Hassan sets an example by reviewing Beijing’s responses several times:
The biggest pushes of the year began with former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, despite strict Chinese rejection. To which Beijing responded by carrying out massive maneuvers that it had not done for a long time around the island, highlighting in particular its ability to impose a naval and then air blockade on it. Washington imposed sanctions on Chinese officials, including the defense minister, and announced major arms deals with Taiwan, alongside the imposition of a blockade on the export of microchip products to China. to hit its economy. China’s objections to US military pieces by sea and land is one of the reactions in which it strongly expresses its rejection of these US policies towards it.
As Hassan says, the two countries are now in the midst of a cold war.
The differences between Beijing and Washington in the South China Sea region stem from China’s rejection of any US interference in the affairs of Taiwan, which it considers part of its territory, or support for what it describes it as “separatists”, as well as Washington’s desire to try to compete with Beijing to dominate maritime influence there.
about to explode
For his part, the expert in international relations, Jassim Matar, agrees that China has started to change its strategy vis-à-vis the United States. It is the last.”
International relations expert Jasser Matar warns that the continued pressure and escalation between the two countries will cause the region to explode at any moment, especially as the military interception operations that have become frequent between them “sometimes lead to disasters”.
According to him, “the Chinese (military) interceptions of American ships and planes that Beijing has recently carried out have not been seen for a long time, and if things continue like this, we can say that the confrontation is very close, and the la la situation is about to explode, and the battlefield will be Taiwan.”
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