Polina Konoplyanko
In tense relations between China and the United States, there is no final line in sight and it is unlikely that it will be held in the near future. China’s military exercises on an unprecedented scale since Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, and the current abandonment of military talks with Washington, are just the beginning of curious changes. China is not retreating from its thoughtful policy, and the US still looks like losers.
Beijing continues military maneuvers around Taiwan. The People’s Liberation Army of China said it would conduct anti-submarine attacks and sea raids after a four-day exercise around the island last week.
China’s defense ministry has defended the denial of military talks with the United States in protest of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei last week, writes The Guardian.
In this regard, Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian defended the decision to suspend military channels with Washington, saying that “the current tense situation in the Taiwan Strait is completely provoked and created by the American side on its own initiative, and the American side must bear full responsibility and serious consequences.” for that”.
The trigger for the escalation near Taiwan was indeed the visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives to the island. Pelosi’s unwanted rendezvous with the Taiwanese leadership infuriated the Chinese side, which used ballistic missiles for the first time as part of the exercises, and after that abandoned some lines of dialogue with Washington.
The end of the four-day exercise was expected on Sunday, but the Chinese authorities did not officially confirm this, which led some analysts to a state of alarm due to the possible escalation of the situation in the Taiwan Strait.
The American side does not stand aside. Representatives of the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House condemned the decision of the People’s Republic of China to cancel official negotiations with the participation of the command in the theater of operations.
Tension is also felt in the interaction between the two sides. According to The Guardian, Chinese officials did not return calls from senior Pentagon officials over tensions last week, but they did not see this as a formal sever of ties with high-profile figures such as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Such vicissitudes certainly cannot bring the conflict to an end, but it seems that even smoothing is not foreseen. According to Andrei Vinogradov, editor-in-chief of the journal Problems of the Far East, everything is just beginning in the conflict between the United States and China.
Firstly, the situation is very dynamic, so new factors will constantly arise. They will be connected both with bilateral relations and with the situation in the world,” the expert comments. – The Chinese will constantly adjust their course, they will pursue a consistent line, but not to their own detriment. Second, China will host the 20th Congress of the Communist Party (CCP) this autumn. This congress will certainly make a decision that will relate to Chinese foreign policy – one might even say, China’s geopolitical strategy for the near future. In these decisions, relations with the United States will certainly be present. I think even a new characteristic of the international era will be created.
According to the expert, Beijing’s strategic course will be determined at the 20th Congress. All further decisions will be determined in accordance with the decisions of the highest party body, which is the CCP Congress. That is, in fact, there is a current moment that builds the line of bilateral relations, and there is a strategic moment that will be determined at the congress.
It turns out that now we see a situation where China is absolutely consciously responding to the actions of the American elite, showing its dissatisfaction with the actions of colleagues in relation to part of their country. However, ahead, at least in October of this year, we may witness the most interesting turn in the Sino-American epic.
And it was not in vain that the words of the representative of the Chinese Ministry of Defense, Wu Qian, were heard, who said that “… China’s countermeasures are a necessary warning about the provocations of the United States and Taiwan and the legitimate protection of national sovereignty and security.”
And it is unlikely that this warning will be the last.
