Original title: Privy Council No. 10: This time the US ship “double-crossed” the Taiwan Strait, is it paving the way for docking in Taiwan?
The US military recently played a “double wear”: the “Burke” class guided missile destroyer “Kid” (DDG-100) and the US Coast Guard “Legend” class national security frigate “Monroe” (WMSL-755) Passing through the Taiwan Strait on the 27th, the destroyer “Kid” sailed from south to north through the Taiwan Strait, and the “Monroe” sailed from north to south through the Taiwan Strait. This is the first time that Biden has passed through the Taiwan Strait simultaneously by a U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ship. And is this rare two-ship crossing a simple routine “freedom of navigation” operation? Lao Liu believes that it is really not that simple. If we integrate the maritime patrol memorandum signed by the United States and Taiwan at the beginning of the year and set up a “marine patrol working group” to deal with the “Maritime Police Law” promulgated by mainland China, the “Maritime Police Law” that appeared during this crossing will not be ruled out. “Monroe” may also be after the U.S. plane’s pop-up airport, to ask for directions in order to call at Taiwan ports or outlying islands at some later time.
Let’s take a look at one of the protagonists of this “Double Wear” “Monroe”. According to the previous statement on the official website of the US Seventh Fleet, the 4,600-ton “Legendary” national security ship “Monroe” (WMSL-755) of the US Coast Guard will conduct patrols and related tasks in the Western Pacific in accordance with the instructions of the Seventh Fleet.
And for such a ship with less than 5,000 tons and limited firepower, is it more threatening to cross the Taiwan Strait than a guided missile destroyer? Not to mention, in peacetime, in the context of performing certain tasks, such as crossing the Taiwan Strait and “free navigation” in the South China Sea, it may provide the US military with more ways to combine forces.
The picture shows the “Monroe”Take the two ships crossing the strait as an example, the “Monroe” and another “Burke” class destroyer. Cross the Taiwan Strait from two directions, rather than forming a formation to cross together. What are the reasons for this?
Lao Liu believes that what the U.S. military is doing is probably to make the Chinese warships and planes that are tracking and monitoring have to divide their forces, so that there is more room for “cat and mouse”, and at the same time, it can also allow the U.S. military’s strategic reconnaissance aircraft to approach reconnaissance. More opportunities to collect data from PLA airborne, shipborne radar, and shore-based radar.
According to Taiwan’s “Liberty Times”, on the day the US ship crossed the Taiwan Strait, the People’s Liberation Army dispatched a number of warships to monitor the navigation in the rear, and also dispatched -8 anti-submarine aircraft and Z-8 helicopters to the southwest airspace of Taiwan with the intention of disrupting the operations of the US ship. The United States sent a RC-135W reconnaissance plane to the southwest airspace of Taiwan to help out. “The RC-135W flew back and forth in the southwest airspace for up to 6 hours, and the meaning of countering common aircraft is quite obvious.”
The picture shows the flight route map of the US military RC-135W released by the South China Sea Situation Awareness Platform, which is highly overlapped with the flight route of the PLA military aircraft released by Taiwan’s defense department.After consulting public reports, Lao Liu found that this is not the first time that the US military “Burke”-class Canadian sea cruiser has crossed the Taiwan Strait. The “Berthoff” (WMSL-750) and the United States on March 24, 2019 The Burke-class destroyer “Curtis Webber” (USS DDG-54) once passed through the Taiwan Strait with two ships.
The picture shows the “Bosov”However, Liu believes that the two-ship crossing is completely different from the previous threats. The United States and Taiwan signed a memorandum on the establishment of a “Maritime Police Working Group” in March this year. According to the American Association in Taiwan (AIT) statement, the establishment of the Coast Guard Working Group will improve the communication between the US Coast Guard and the Taiwan Coast Guard and establish cooperation between the two parties. And share information. “In addition, this memorandum confirms that each other has a common goal of conserving marine resources, reducing illegal, undeclared and illegal fishing, and participating in joint maritime search and rescue and marine environmental response incidents.”
The United States’ approach seems to be downplaying its military color. In fact, there is a whole set of “sausage cutting” strategic ideas in its bones. Sharing information is actually sharing intelligence, and then you can engage in joint law enforcement and joint exercises, and you can even sell some retired Coast Guard ships and helicopters to Wanwan, and even organize more Taiwan “Marine Patrol” personnel to go to the United States for training. . In the future, it may be to find opportunities to try to dock on islands and reefs such as Taiping Island in Taiwan, or even provide supplies, such as avoiding wind and waves, and the need for treatment for sudden illnesses on board personnel.
From the perspective of the cooperation between the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard ships can cross the Taiwan Strait alone, or they can cross the strait with the Burke class as they did recently. There are multiple modes for two-ship crossing: one is the two-ship formation crossing in the same direction, and the other is the two-ship crossing from the strait in two directions.
Why is it that, to some extent, the threat of Coast Guard ships is far greater than that of a guided missile destroyer? Let’s first take a look at what is the position of the US senior management of the Coast Guard around China? According to U.S. media reports, Biden specifically mentioned a new partnership between the U.S. Coast Guard and Taiwan in his speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in May. ), and stated that this “will help ensure that we are in a favorable position to better respond to common threats in the region and carry out coordinated humanitarian and environmental missions.”
Screen shots of articles about Biden’s statements in the US mediaAn article in the American “Wall Street Journal” said it more bluntly. In early December last year, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Myrtle Hazard patrol boat sailed overnight and anchored near Palau, the Pacific island nation. The crew subsequently boarded a group of Chinese ships and helped seize tens of thousands of dollars worth of illegal fishing. Sea cucumber. This rapid-response patrol boat is located approximately 6,600 miles from the continental United States and approximately 750 miles from its home port on Guam. It is part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s latest patrol area: the purpose is to help counter China’s The growing naval power in the Pacific.
The duties of the U.S. Coast Guard are becoming more and more like an excuse, such as breaking ice in the Arctic Ocean, intercepting drugs near the coast of Central America, fighting illegal fishing in the Pacific, and playing a leading role in intercepting smuggled weapons in the Persian Gulf…
In particular, their actions in the Indo-Pacific region are becoming more and more like that of a US “Second Navy.” Even the “Wall Street Journal” of the United States has to say that although the Coast Guard is affiliated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, its cooperation with the Pentagon is increasing. U.S. government data shows that in 2019, Coast Guard ships had 326 days to provide support to the U.S. Department of Defense, compared with an average of only 50-100 days in the previous five years. All these deployments in 2019 are in the Indo-Pacific region.
Screenshot of a March article in The Wall Street JournalAccording to public information, the US Coast Guard will invest more than $19 billion in at least 8 national security patrol vessels, 25 maritime patrol vessels and 58 rapid-response patrol vessels. If everything goes according to plan, at least eight of these patrol ships will be deployed against China. The specific location of the deployment is unknown to Old Liu, but it is inferred from common sense that Americans will definitely use good steel in places that make the Chinese uncomfortable, such as the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
Looking at this time the U.S. ship crosses the Taiwan Strait again from this perspective, we may be able to read more complicated meanings.
However, it is not only Americans who have coast guards. A recent message from the Chinese Coast Guard has also attracted great attention from relevant parties, including Taiwan. Taiwan’s “United Daily News” reported on the 30th that according to a recent announcement by the China Maritime Safety Administration, foreign nuclear-powered ships, submersibles and other marine tools are required to report to the maritime administration before entering the territorial waters of the Chinese mainland, otherwise they will be dealt with in accordance with relevant regulations. . This measure will take effect from September 1. Some Hong Kong media analyzed that China may use the right to use weapons specified in the “Maritime Police Law.”
Screenshot of “United Daily News” report on the 30thThe “United Daily News” also stated that outsiders believe that if mainland China strictly enforces this new regulation in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, it will inevitably lead to an increase in the regional crisis. However, Lao Liu is surprised. What kind of situation will heat up if China exercises its proper jurisdiction in the waters under its jurisdiction? Someone came to my house to sneak up on the dogs. I drove these people away. Could it be that the situation has heated up? This is the gangster logic of whose house.
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