China Daily Editorial
Not content with instigating the crisis in Ukraine and continuing to pour oil on the flames of the conflict there, the United States is also intent on fueling tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.
The remarks by Admiral Samuel Paparo, the commander of the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet, on Monday, should sound the alarm as they indicate that the US is trying to draw a link between the crisis in Ukraine and the Taiwan question in an attempt to lead the world into a similar quagmire in the Asia-Pacific region.
By saying during a roundtable discussion with Washington-based correspondents from Indo-Pacific countries that “China is undoubtedly watching what’s happened in Ukraine, taking notes, and learning from it”, and making adjustments to its plans to forcefully unite the island with the mainland, Paparo not only portrayed China as an aggressive power, he also highlighted Washington’s bid to form an entente against China in the region.
To this end, Washington has not only breathed new life into the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, but also formed a new trilateral military alliance for the region with the United Kingdom and Australia.
In a move that will only further fuel the arms race in the Asia-Pacific region and increase the possibility of military confrontation, AUKUS, as the tripartite group is known, announced on Tuesday that it is seeking to develop hypersonic missiles.
China has repeatedly said the Ukraine crisis and the Taiwan question are different in nature, as Ukraine is an independent, sovereign state, while Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. It has also made clear that it pursues peaceful reunification, but it will resort to force should the secessionists on the island cross the redline.
Those stoking cross-Straits tensions by making a connection between the Ukraine crisis and the Taiwan question, are doing so in a bid to portray China as a coercive power in the region, while at the same time endeavoring to keep Beijing in a state of constant high alert, since the continual provocations over the Taiwan question have not only ratcheted up tensions in the Taiwan Straits but also further consolidated the Chinese mainland’s resolve to realize national reunification.
The US strategic maneuvering on China’s periphery is worsening China’s security environment, prompting the country to take counter and preemptive measures. What the US and its allies are doing therefore seems intended to turn the Taiwan Straits into the battlefield for another proxy war like the one in Ukraine.
Washington is the world’s biggest source of turbulence and the real putter of the flame to the fuse of wars. Countries in the Asia-Pacific should beware being suckered into its games. The region has many scars to show what happens when Washington decides to get involved in its affairs. – AFP
