The United States reached out to countries around the South China Sea to attack China.
Since 20 1 1, the Philippines and Vietnam have taken a tough stand on the South China Sea issue, with constant frictions and escalating conflicts between China and Vietnam. China's maritime neighbors tend to "unite" and * * * balance China. The United States announced the deployment of an offshore ship in Singapore and a marine corps in Australia, marking the first time since the Vietnam War that the United States has expanded its long-term military presence in the Pacific region, targeting China. The tough stance and behavior of the Philippines and Vietnam have received the commitment and support of the United States to a great extent. At the East Asia Summit held in June, 1 1, except Cambodia and Myanmar, all other 16 countries talked about maritime security, and most of them expressed their concern about the South China Sea issue.
The development of China's maritime power has further aroused the vigilance and worry of neighboring countries about the trial of aircraft carriers. Dealing with the regional power imbalance caused by the rise of China has become one of the most important problems and challenges for the United States and neighboring countries. The situation that neighboring countries depend on the United States for security and try to share China's economic achievements economically will not change in the short term. The South China Sea dispute is not only the starting point for the United States to increase its strategic investment in the Asia-Pacific region, but also an important means for neighboring countries to balance China's influence and shape China's future direction. The sovereignty dispute in the South China Sea has become the focus of the strategic contest between China and the United States.
20 1 1 China no longer claims that the South China Sea issue is the core interest of China, but its determination to defend national sovereignty cannot be changed. In the white paper "Peaceful Development of China", China formally defined China's core interests for the first time: "China resolutely safeguards the country's core interests. China's core interests include: national sovereignty, national security, territorial integrity, national unity, the stability of the national political system and the overall social situation established by China's Constitution, and the basic guarantee for sustainable economic and social development ". Through simple logical reasoning, we can find that the ownership of the islands and reefs of Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha is obviously the core interest of China, because it involves sovereignty disputes.
Japanese diplomacy presents concentric circles, and the US-Japan alliance is constantly strengthening.
On 20 1 1 March11day, a triple disaster of devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear leakage occurred in northeastern Japan. The international rescue operation of the earthquake in Japan and the rescue situation in Japan can clearly reflect the order of Japan's foreign relations.
The Japan-US alliance is CNNC；;
The second level is indirect allies, mainly Britain, France, South Korea, Australia and other countries and regions under the American alliance;
The third level is those countries in Southeast Asia with deep historical roots and the same values as Japan.
The fourth level is Russian, Indian, Mongolian and other countries that can balance China's strength.
Specifically, the Japan-US alliance, which is at the core, shows unparalleled superiority in rapidly coordinating combat capabilities;
The second-level indirect allies also played the advantage of rapid assembly and rescue;
The third level of relationship mainly embodies the good friend relationship of "emotional input feeds back and gives back";
The fourth stage mainly plays the role of balancing hands. The above four levels have obvious strategic intentions to target and contain China. Although China was deeply concerned about the disaster after the earthquake and gave great assistance in material aspects, Japan was quite cautious in choosing to accept China's assistance. Judging from Japan's attitude towards other international disaster relief, it fully shows its strategy of "making friends far away and attacking near".
The devastating earthquake in Japan has also accelerated the adjustment of international relations in the Asia-Pacific region. The disaster further strengthened the US-Japan alliance. In 20 10, the strong opposition from Okinawa prevented the Japanese government from fulfilling the Futenma base relocation agreement. After the earthquake in Japan, the rapid and large-scale disaster relief operations of the US troops stationed in Japan showed the Japanese people the effectiveness of the US-Japan alliance. Although Okinawa was not greatly affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, the US military's disaster relief efforts eased the Japanese people's feelings for the US military base to a certain extent, weakened Okinawa's opposition to the relocation of the base, and contributed to the stability of the alliance. Prime Minister Noda, who came to power after the disaster, regarded the US-Japan alliance as the basic axis of Japanese diplomacy, which also contributed to the deepening of the US-Japan alliance. Judging from the interaction between Japan and South Korea after the disaster, bilateral relations have got rid of the chaotic period when both sides tried to change each other because of historical problems, and are developing towards the integration stage of admitting differences and starting to listen. The territorial dispute between Russia and Japan was also temporarily eased after the disaster; However, disaster relief diplomacy has little effect on eliminating the distrust between China and Japan.
It is difficult to dispel the defensive national policy, and neighboring countries are worried that the region will set off a new round of arms race.
After entering the 2 1 century, the military expenditure of China's neighboring countries has maintained an overall growth trend, which may last for a long time. At present, the United States is the absolute military overlord in the world, which brings the greatest uncertainty to the world; Russia is constantly consolidating its position as a military power; India's all-round offensive military strategy has become a "rising threat" factor around China; Southeast Asian countries have stepped up their armament construction, especially naval armament. In the long run, the increasing military expenditure of countries is not conducive to the construction of security and mutual trust in the Asia-Pacific region, which may lead the Asia-Pacific region into a "vicious circle" of an arms race and worsen the existing security dilemma.
In the eyes of neighboring countries, China's military spending is growing too fast, and China's intentions are very uncertain, which leads to an increase in anxiety. China's "military threat theory" has been amplified with the growth of China's military strength. Although the military expenditure and strength of the United States are much higher than that of China, most neighboring countries have a higher awareness of China. This is mainly manifested in the following aspects: Australia has focused its military defense on China; Southeast Asian countries, especially the Philippines and Viet Nam, which have territorial disputes with China, are very conscious of China. Japan listed China as the main defense target; More importantly, the intention of neighboring countries to strengthen military cooperation and jointly check and balance China is becoming more and more obvious.
The United States is an absolute military hegemonic country in the Asia-Pacific region, which has a decisive influence on the security pattern and political pattern in the Asia-Pacific region. For some time to come, East Asia will be the primary region of American military strategy, and China will be the focus of its prevention. On the chessboard of the strategic deployment of the United States, Southeast Asia is the place where its strategy relies, and its strategic deployment has matured and stabilized, while Central Asia and South Asia are the areas where its power is mainly expanded. Geographically, the United States is strengthening the strategic chain connection from East Asia and Southeast Asia to South Asia and Central Asia. Once the connection and reinforcement are successfully completed, the circular encirclement is completed, forming a semi-circular encirclement of China in Eurasia.