While the American military has been flexing its muscles for decades in the Middle East, Near East and Africa, China has quietly and steadfastly been building a system of armed forces that could challenge the United States on every level.
Pentagon jargon offers a description of the Chinese military as “A2/AD anti-access/area denial.” New Chinese upgrades, however, include pinpoint ground attack capabilities and anti-satellite weapons destructive to other world militaries. The Pentagon’s jargon does not do the Chinese military justice. China enjoys tanks and aircraft comparable to the United States, too, and high-tech nuclear armed submarines to be utilized by its 2.3 million troops.
It seems we won’t be waiting long for the clash of the super powers, as the war is already festering in the East China Sea.
President Barack Obama has authorized a military “pivot” from the Middle East to the Asian Pacific region, but unfortunately, it is a few years too late. Moreover, boosting the U.S. military bases in the Pacific is causing even more tension between the United States and China.
The tension focuses on a small chain of islands and atolls historically known as Diaoyu (China), which rest along the east border of the East China Sea.
China has an unquestionable geographic claim to the islands. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea designates boundaries of naturally occurring islands off a continental shelf up to 200 nautical miles. The Diaoyu Islands are naturally attached in prolongation to the outer continental shelf, making them, no doubt, China’s.
But Japan alleges that the same islands, which they refer to as Senkaku Islands, are geographically attached to Japan. That claim is not plausible considering that the Okinawa Trough is a natural point of termination from the Japanese island chain.
The United States considered the islands part of its Western Pacific occupation after World War II and put them under Tokyo control. China and Taiwan contest that the United States never had authority to give Japan control of historical Chinese islands, however — something the United States and Japan both dispute.
Needless to say, the islands are extremely rich in gas and oil reserves, making war over them a ticking time bomb.
On Aug. 15, a Chinese vessel sailed from Hong Kong to the islands for the afternoon. The Japanese, who were patrolling the islands, arrested 14 Chinese citizen passengers. That elicited large-scale protests across much of China, a country of 1.35 billion people.
Japan then made the claim they had purchased the islands from a private Japanese owner, and submitted the islands to UNESCO as a Japanese world heritage site. China rejected this claim vehemently and sent Chinese air patrols to survey the islands. Japan, in return, sent war planes over the islands, an act that was clearly provocative.
China dispatched two maritime enforcement vessels to the islands for a standoff with Japan. The United States convinced Japan to stand down, which they have — at least for now.
Every day since then, Japan gets more angry and hostile, and China gets more ardent regarding its claim of sovereignty. The imbroglio between Japan and China causes intense complications for the United States and could entrench the United States in another conflict abroad.
China controls crucial trade route waterways, which could exacerbate the magnitude of the war and bring huge consequences to an already tense global economy.
China is quickly becoming a world superpower. Most countries around the world would not support that, but it’s a reality we cannot ignore. After the last half of the 20th century and the United States’ brutal and unnecessary military expansionism, many countries — notably in Asia, Africa and South and Central America — would side with China.
It’s time to pivot, sure — to diplomacy.