Linn Maung
The US and the Philippines will conduct joint naval exercise in the area near the South China Sea and Taiwan next week–taking place only a few days after the first trilateral summit between Japan, America and the Philippines in Washington DC and the March 7 joint naval and air drills by the troops of Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the US in the South China Sea.
According to Barron’s, a US-based news outlet, more than 16,700 Filipino and American naval personnel will participate in the annual Balikatan “shoulder to shoulder” joint military exercise, which will go on from April 22 to May 10.
The US-Philippines joint naval drills will take place in the Southeast Asian country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) which has been in the news in the recent past owing to regular clashes between the Philippines and China over their competing claims on this part of the South China Sea. Analysts say the choice of location for the joint naval drills show that it is targeted at China.
“The Philippines needs to be fully aware that when countries outside the region are brought into the South China Sea to flex muscles and stoke confrontation, tensions could get worse and the region will only become less stable. To hand over one’s security to forces outside the region will only lead to greater insecurity and turn oneself into someone else’s chess piece,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said.
However, the US and its allies have vowed to “resolutely respond” to any attempts by Beijing to unilaterally change the status quo in the East and South China Seas. In fact, China has of late intensified military activities in the East and South China Seas and the Taiwan Strait. This has generated a profound sense of fear among members of the international community as they feel that the region could turn into a major flashpoint, impacting peace and security in the Indo-Pacific.
Even Japan’s annual diplomatic Bluebook, which was released by the country’s Foreign Ministry on April 16, has expressed its concern about the “complex” situation in its neighbourhood.
“China is attempting to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and South China Sea, including the Senkaku Islands, and is continuing and strengthening military activities in the area, making the security environment around Japan the most severe and complex in the post-war era,” Japan’s Bluebook said in its report.
Calling China’s military build-up in the region “unprecedented,” Japan’s annual diplomatic policy paper has stressed on strengthening of cooperation among Tokyo’s allies and like-minded countries such as the G-7, the Quad and trilateral relationship with the US and South Korea.
“Japan has resorted to the same old false accusations against China and hype of “China threat” in its 2024 Diplomatic Bluebook. We firmly oppose this and Japan’s meddling in China’s domestic affairs. We urge Japan to change its wrong course of actions, stop stocking bloc confrontation, truly commit itself to advancing a strategic relationship of mutual benefit with China and work to build a constructive and stable China-Japan relationship fit for the new era,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said.
Overall view of Japan towards China, presented through the Bluebook, is not optimistic. Instead, it acknowledges several “challenges and concerns” in its relationship with China which has in turn expressed its worries over Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force’s (MSDF) announcement of dispatching a special security unit to the Indo-Pacific region to offer capacity building support to Coast Guards of the Philippines and other countries of the region.
As per the Japanese news outlet NHK, the MSDF will dispatch its special security unit in May or later to help regional Coast Guards in enhancing their capabilities in conducting inspections of suspicious ships and other skills. This will be the first time when the MSDF’s special unit, formed in 2001, will be providing capacity building support to Coast Guards of foreign countries.
Global Times said the move is aimed at deterring China’s influence in the region. The Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece further said that by sending its special security unit to different countries, Japan wants to widen its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region and “it must be met with high vigilance by the international community.”
These moves are being adopted by Japan in the region following Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to the US where he participated in the trilateral summit with America and the Philippines.
In the recent past, Japan has introduced several changes in its defence policy in view of the security situation in the Korean Peninsula, East and South China Seas and the Taiwan Strait. But what has created a flutter in China’s strategic circle is Japan’s upgrading of its helicopter carrier into an aircraft carrier—the first since World War II.
Japan plans to deploy the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter on the upgraded carrier, said The South China Morning Post. The upgraded Japanese carrier’s name is Kaga, a name that still rankles Chinese people as a former Japanese ship with the same name was involved in the bombing of Shanghai in the 1930s.
“I don’t understand why the Japanese always prefer to use the names that were used by the Japanese army in World War II,” Wu Qian, a Spokesperson for China’s Defence Ministry was quoted by the Hong Kong-based English daily newspaper as saying.
However, Japan seems to be resolute in its deterrence plan against China. Its Self-Defence Forces have started training to operate US-made land-based Tomahawk cruise missiles that the country plans to deploy from 2025. According to Kyodo News, Japan plans to purchase 400 Tomahawk missiles from the US over three years from 2025. The move is in consonance with Japan’s National Security Strategy which calls for obtaining counter strike capabilities for hitting military targets in an adversary’s territory in cases of emergency.
In nutshell, the US, Japan, the Philippines, and like-minded countries are gearing up to counter China’s challenges in the Indo-Pacific region—all by joining several strategic and security dot lines in the region. Yet the question is: Will China mend its expansionist behaviour? No international powers want Beijing to escalate tension in the region by raising irredentist claims on territories and resources of its neighbours on one pretext or another.
