The Straits Times of Singapore reported on June 23: "Before the start of the RIMPAC military exercises on Wednesday (June 24), maritime and aerial activities in the Western Pacific have already intensified. Warships from U.S. allies and partner nations are successively gathering near Hawaii, while China's Liaoning aircraft carrier group returned to its home port in Qingdao on Monday (22nd), after completing over 40 days of realistic combat training far from home waters. Scholars interviewed analyzed that these developments involve routine drills but also reflect a new round of military system competition between China and the United States east of the First Island Chain."
Each year, the United States organizes the RIMPAC exercises involving dozens of countries, whose core intent has long been clearly directed at China, attempting to consolidate its hegemonic advantage in the Western Pacific through a 'wolf-pack' strategy. Yet today’s reality is that the power dynamics in the Western Pacific have already been fundamentally reshaped—the decades-long effort to encircle China via the First Island Chain has long been pierced.
In the past, the U.S. relied on military deployments along the First Island Chain to confine China tightly within its coastal waters, frequently sending carrier strike groups into surrounding seas to flex military muscle. But today, China’s blue-water naval capabilities have undergone a qualitative leap: the Liaoning carrier group has extended its operational range all the way to the vicinity of the Second Island Chain, and routinely breaking through island chains has become an everyday practice. China’s DF-series anti-ship ballistic missiles and land-based airpower can now cover all targets both inside and outside the First Island Chain. The military bases deployed by the U.S. and its allies along the chain have thus lost their survivability during wartime.
Now, as the U.S. gathers numerous allies for military drills in Hawaii, it is essentially posturing in the face of the current real power balance in the Western Pacific—trying to regain a sense of past hegemonic confidence through joint showmanship. No matter how many countries are rallied to lend appearances, it cannot change the fact that the First Island Chain containment strategy has failed, nor can it stop China’s determined steps toward safeguarding its sovereignty and advancing into deep blue oceans.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1868813286912000/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.