China to use Taiwan as nuclear, conventional military base to isolate India, Japan, warns US lawmaker
Financial Express
PTI Washington
May 18, 2018
China
claims almost all of South China Sea and also laid claims on the Senkaku
islands under the control of Japan in East China Sea and resorted to aggressive
patrols in the last two years.
China will turn Taiwan into a major nuclear and
conventional military base, a move which will allow it to project power into
the Indian Ocean and consolidate more control over the disputed South China Sea
to “isolate” both India and Japan, a US lawmaker has warned.
China will turn Taiwan into a major nuclear and
conventional military base, a move which will allow it to project power into
the Indian Ocean and consolidate more control over the disputed South China Sea
to “isolate” both India and Japan, a US lawmaker has warned. Expressing concern
over China’s growing economic and military power, Richard D Fisher of the
International Assessment and Strategy Center told lawmakers yesterday that
Beijing had a new strategy for gaining eventual global military access called
“debt trap diplomacy”. “China may be using debt pressure right now to force
Djibouti to limit US military access in that strategic base. It recently gained
ownership of a new large port in Sri Lanka by debt default. Vanuatu, Pakistan,
Thailand and others are vulnerable,” Fisher said.
A good reason to deter a Chinese invasion of
Taiwan, which could be perhaps as early as the mid-2020s, was that China will
turn Taiwan into a major nuclear and conventional military base, he said. “This
will then trigger Chinese moves to isolate Japan, consolidate control over the
South China Sea even more, project power into the Indian Ocean to isolate
India. In Latin America, China will continue to exploit opportunities to cause
trouble and gain military access,” he said. China claims almost all of South
China Sea and also laid claims on the Senkaku islands under the control of
Japan in East China Sea and resorted to aggressive patrols in the last two
years. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter
claims over the waterway.
The US periodically deploys its naval ships and
fighter planes to assert freedom of navigation. By the 2030s, the Chinese Air
Force air mobile projection could be based on 100 to 200 large C-17 size Xian
Y-20 heavy transports, and both their lightweight airborne forces and now
medium-weight airborne projection forces are anticipated. China is assembling a
power-projection Navy that, by the 2030s, may have the world’s first totally
nuclear-powered carrier battle group, Fisher said. It will have an initial
amphibious projection of about 12 large ships by probably as early as the early
2030s. And the Chinese marines are reforming into a force of about 100,000.
Other lawmakers also echoed Fisher’s concerns over China. Congressman Devin
Nunes, Chairman House Intelligence Committee said during a Congressional
hearing, that previous attempts to appease China had failed to improve the
bilateral relations.
“In fact, China has only become emboldened and may
now be the preeminent threat to American security, our economy and our values,”
Nunes said. “From its One Belt Road initiative to its unlawful maritime claims
in the South China Sea, China is using its economic and military power to
subvert international norms, undermine US national security, threaten our
friends and allies, and reshape the global balance of power,” Nunes said.
Ranking Member Congressman Adam Schiff said China’s military growth had taken
place alongside the Belt and Road initiative. China’s massive Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) seeks to build rail, maritime and road links from Asia to
Europe and Africa in a revival of ancient Silk Road trading routes.
“Through the BRI and other tools such as the Asian
Infrastructure Bank, China seems to be leading in economic engagement and then
backfilling with greater military capacity as its capabilities grow,” Schiff
said. The Chinese Army base in Djibouti follows decades of Chinese investment
in diplomacy in Africa and increasing oil imports by China, much of which
passes through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Djibouti and Yemen, he said.
“Similarly, Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea reflects a
deliberate approach that seeks to protect core Chinese economic and strategic
interests that have long predated the island reclamation effort and the buildup
there,” he said.
Dan Blumenthal from the American Enterprise
Institute said under the BRI initiative, a lot of the major construction and
investment projects were going to places like Pakistan and Bangladesh, which
will provide outlets for China into the Indian Ocean that don’t have to go
through the Straits of Malacca and other areas that the US dominate. “It really
is a cash or investment-for-access deal, in many of these places,” he said.
“The BRI will never achieve, in my view, what Xi Jinping has said, which is to
establish a Silk Road. But, through targeted investments, China will gain a lot
in terms of access…The base in Djibouti is a very big deal, a very, very big
deal, and is the fruit of cash for diplomacy, as well,” he said
Comments
Post a Comment