Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 64-year-old Gen. Mark Miley accused China of more aggressions in the Pacific Rim, especially in the South China Sea, where the Peoples Liberation Army [PLA] has built naval bases on shallow shoals in the Spratly Islands. Miley claims that Pacific Rim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines, all say that China has intercepted vessels operating in international waters. China rejected a 2015 court ruling in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, saying the Philippines had every right to patrol international waters in the South China Sea. Since China rejected the Hague’s ruling, things have been tense in the South China Sea with Beijing routinely monitoring safe passage through international waters, all claimed by Beijing. Beijing thinks that the South China Sea is part of Mainland China.
Beijing—along with France that lost a $50 billion submarine contract with Australia–was furious when the U.S. inked a nuclear submarine deal with Canberra designed to give Australia the range to patrol the South China Sea. “The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more aggressive in this particular region,” said Miley, asking his staff to compile a list of China’s aggressive actions in the region. Miley’s too close to the water to see the big picture that the Biden administration has antagonized Beijing to the point of conflict since taking office Jan. 20, 2021. At a get-to-know-you summit March 18, 2021 in Anchorage, Alaska, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan accused Beijing of genocide against Muslim Uyghurs in Western China. Senior Chinese officials, led by Wang Yi, said the U.S. abuses human rights.
Miley doesn’t help U.S. foreign policy pandering to Pacific Rim countries complaining about Chinese aggression. Biden has created such a foul relationship with China, it’s close to coming to blows. Biden didn’t help things May 23 saying that he would defend Taiwan against the Mainland Chinese invasion. Since 97-year-old former President Jimmy Carter signed the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. agreed to recognize only one China, the one in Beijing. Biden’s May 23 remarks ends nearly 70-years of “strategic ambiguity” by the U.S. government with respect to protecting Taiwan. When Carter signed the Taiwan Relations Act it ended the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty that had the U.S. officially committed to defending Taiwan against the Chinese invasion. Biden’s publc remarks rang a loud bell in Beijing, infuriating 69-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Xi doesn’t want to hear anything about the U.S. government supplying lethal weapons to Taiwan or, worse yet, agreeing to take military action against the Peoples Republic of China [PRC] to defend Taiwan. Biden finds himself squeezed in a vise, already in a proxy war in Ukraine against the Russian Federation. No one could have imagined that the U.S would be at war with the Russian Federation. No one in the European Union or NATO wants to see war on the European Continent. But Biden decided unilaterally March 26 in Warsaw Poland, to talk openly about getting rid of 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. China backs Russia’s War against Ukraine, because the PRC blames Biden for arming Ukraine to the teeth on the Russian border. Xi sees the parallel in Taiwan with the U.S. supplying Taipei with advanced U.S. weapons, including F-35 fighter jets.
Xi sees Biden doing the same thing in the Pacific Rim that he did in Ukraine, arming countries against the Russian Federation. Xi thinks U.S. efforts to bolster Pacific Rim countries as U.S. allies, like Ukraine, violates the delicate balance that existed for years in Indo-China. Biden, who currently suffers from a bout of Covid-19, said he plans to talk to Xi in the next few weeks. What does Joe think he’ll be told by Xi, to keep arming Taipei? Clearly, Biden is on a collision course of a two-front war, one in Ukraine and the other in Taiwan. “Gen. Lit Zuocheng, China’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, told Miley that Beijing has “no room for compromise” when it came to Taiwan. Miley acts clueless talking about Chinese aggression when the U.S. in currently in a proxy war in Ukraine to topple Putin. Xi understands exactly what’s going on in Ukraine and doesn’t want it to happen in the Pacific Rim.
When 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she was taking an official Congressional delegation to Taipei, China reacted harshly. China’s Foreign Minister Spokesman Zhao Lijinan said China would react severely to any attempt by Pelosi to visit Taiwan. Biden said July 18 that the Pentagon told him Pelosi’s upcoming trip to Taiwan was not a good idea. So Miley keeps accusing Beijing of aggression, while Biden says he plans to talk with Xi in the next few weeks about what? China’s aggression? “This is an area in which China is trying to do outreach for their own purposes. And again, this s concerning because Chins is not doing it just for benign purposes,” Miley said infuriating Beijing. Miley walks on thin ice slamming China publicly while his boss has the worst diplomatic relations with Beijing since the 1949 Maoist Revolution.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
