[Epoch Times, May 20, 2022](Epoch Times reporter Cheng Jing comprehensive report) US President Biden’s first trip to Asia since taking office has attracted global attention. The CCP has made frequent moves to reproduce the Wolf Warrior diplomacy. Analysts believe that Biden’s trip to set up the Indo-Pacific economic structure may have a major impact on the CCP.
Biden will visit South Korea and Japan from May 20th to 24th, and in Japan he will announce the establishment of the “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)” led by the United States, and will also hold a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan.
Biden’s trip has drawn global attention. The Voice of America said that the United States has recently lost no time in turning its focus to Asia, further consolidating a united front that runs from North America to Europe, and from East Asia to Southeast Asia to counter the CCP.
The CCP’s major moves are frequent
A few days before Biden’s trip to Asia, the CCP made frequent moves, accusing the United States both explicitly and implicitly.
On May 16, the foreign ministers of China and South Korea held a video meeting. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed the “four enhancements” and said that they should proceed from their own and common interests, and oppose the negative tendencies of “decoupling” and “broken chain”.
On May 18, the Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers held a video meeting. Xinhua quoted Wang Yi as saying that Japan should abide by its commitments, abide by the basic trust between the two countries, and not allow forces trying to undermine China-Japan relations to gain ground.
On the same day, Yang Jiechi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China, had a phone call with White House Security Adviser Sullivan. Yang Jiechi condemned the U.S., saying that “the U.S. side has interfered in China’s internal affairs in a series of cases” and that “any attempt to form factions or engage in separatism and confrontation will never succeed.”
On May 19, Wang Yi presided over a video meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers and said that China opposes the weaponization of international economic and financial cooperation, and opposes coercion of other countries to choose sides… We must be wary of using the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to provoke group confrontation, which will be detrimental to global security. Stability poses a serious threat.
The mainland media used Wang Yi’s words as the headline: “Wang Yi: We must resist the construction of “small courtyards and high walls” by individual countries and the creation of “parallel systems” to divide the world” for overwhelming coverage.
On May 20, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced at a press conference that Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal will visit China from Saturday (21st) to Sunday (22nd) at the invitation of Foreign Minister Wang Yi. China looks forward to consolidating strategic mutual trust. , deepen the all-weather strategic partnership, and more.
In the past few days, Dangmei has published a series of editorials accusing the United States: Xinhuanet and People’s Daily Online: “Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan has new tricks to engage in “small circles”; Chinanews.com: “Biden will visit South Korea and Japan for the first time in Asia: South Korea Do you have different thoughts with Japan?” The Global Times said, “This is a ‘challenge trip’ to publicize ‘targeting China’ in advance” and so on.
Recently, the CCP has frequently dispatched aircraft carrier battle groups to cross the Miyako Strait in Japan and conduct exercises in the Western Pacific region, posing potential threats to Japan, Taiwan, Guam and other places. On the same day as Biden’s visit, the website of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense stated that 14 Chinese military planes flew into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone.
U.S. leads Asian allies into NATO?Great European turn
However, the CCP’s wolf warrior diplomacy has aroused worldwide disgust and is a complete failure.
“Many countries are alienating Beijing not because of the U.S. influence over them, but because of its own aggressive foreign policy,” Ian Johnson, a China expert at the American Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA. The “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy has disgusted many countries.
“So I think it’s not so much the result of how good American diplomacy is, it’s more about China (the CCP) taking it upon itself,” he said.
The Voice of America said that under the leadership of the United States, NATO will not only continue to expand eastward, but may also become a global military alliance that will cast its deterrent force towards Asia.
“For the first time in the post-war era, America’s allies in Europe and its allies in Asia have really come together,” Michael Green, a former White House national security official, told The Associated Press. For the first time, the allies realized that they were at risk together.
Campbell, a senior U.S. official in charge of Asia-Pacific affairs, also said that the participation of Eurasian partners has reached an unprecedented level, and all Asian countries are shocked by the announcement by China and Russia of “unlimited cooperation”, and use this as a warning, and must not allow Similar to the Russian-Ukrainian war repeated in the Indo-Pacific region.
Last month’s NATO foreign ministers meeting, in addition to Ukraine, invited four Asia-Pacific countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand for the first time, and revised the strategic direction and action guidelines for the first time in 12 years, focusing on “China (CCP) factors” .
South Korea recently made a high-profile announcement to join the NATO network. The group, headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, has been characterized by Beijing as an international military organization actively engaged in cyber attacks.
The EU has also opposed the previous practice of trying not to intervene in Asian affairs. In the policy documents of the “Indo-Pacific Cooperation Strategy” and “Global Gateway” released last year, it proposed to strengthen the military presence in the “Indo-Pacific” region, in terms of regional security. Take on a more active and effective role.
Since last year, Britain, France, Germany and other countries have successively sent ships into the Western Pacific.
Since the beginning of this year, China-EU relations have taken a sharp turn for the worse. At the China-EU summit in early April, attended by both Xi and Li Keqiang, neither side made progress on any important issue.
Noah Barkin, a senior visiting scholar at the German Marshall Fund, revealed that Beijing was told “what you don’t do or say now, your silence…all of this is understood as support for Russia. long-term impact on the geopolitical status of
Although Europe’s policy toward the CCP has changed, Zhang Yan believes that the Russian-Ukrainian war has accelerated the change in the tone of Europe’s China policy, “putting the final nail in the coffin for China’s (CCP) efforts to influence Europe. “.
The US Indo-Pacific strategy may have a major impact on the CCP
Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan is to establish the “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework” (IPEF), which includes four pillars, infrastructure, supply chain resilience and clean energy, and also includes discussions on creating a digital trade agreement.
Tang Shaocheng, director and researcher of the International Relations Research Center at National Chengchi University, wrote that at least six countries are expected to sign the agreement, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the Philippines and Singapore.
In Taiwan, the two parties in the United States are still promoting the inclusion. So far, 50 senators and more than 200 members of the House of Representatives have jointly signed a letter to Biden, calling for an invitation to Taiwan to participate in the IPEF, but Xiao Meiqin said on the 19th that Taiwan has not received an invitation to the announcement ceremony. They will continue to communicate with the US and strive for substantial participation.
Did China join? When asked on the 19th, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, replied, “I have no knowledge of the relevant situation you mentioned,” and pointed out that China has always believed that any regional cooperation framework should not target a third party or damage the interests of a third party.
The Indo-Pacific region is an important economic powerhouse. In the past five years, the Indo-Pacific region has accounted for 60% of the global gross domestic product (GDP), and two-thirds of global economic growth has come from the region.
“IPEF may have a major impact on Beijing,” Liao Qihong, a visiting professor at the Department of Economics at UC Davis, told VOA bluntly that many of China’s infrastructure, supply chains, production materials and parts come from Indo-Pacific countries, while the United States The dominant IPEF may require member states to ban exports of certain critical and sensitive resources to China.
Although most ASEAN countries try to avoid choosing between the US and China, especially the “swing countries” such as Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, “once the (IPEF) is established, countries may have to choose sides,” said Liao Qihong. “It would be bad news for Beijing.”
Analysis: Beijing in embarrassing strategic passivity
The “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework” (IPEF) is part of Biden’s first Indo-Pacific strategy report launched in February this year. The strategy released “Ten Actions” pointing at the CCP, and mentioned that “our goal is not to change China, but to shape the strategic environment in which it lives”, forcing Beijing to change by responding to the new strategic environment.
So far, the United States has a security treaty with Japan, a mutual defense treaty with South Korea, as well as the “Quad Security Dialogue” (Quad), the AUKUS military alliance established by the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. A situation of total isolation of the CCP is taking shape.
Wu Qiang, an independent political adviser in Beijing, told Free Asia that in the face of a series of policy changes and diplomatic offensives that have been put forward by the U.S. for the Indo-Pacific strategic framework, “Beijing has fallen into a very passive and embarrassing strategic passive state.”
Many analysts believe that this containment war against the CCP is essentially a confrontation between the liberal democratic system and the communist system, and has become the main line of battle in current international politics.
Responsible editor: Fang Ming