U.S. Trying To Box In China

Nov 8, 2010 by James

The United States, specifically the U.S. military, is pushing for a much larger presence in Chinese territory and in territories currently disputed by China. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on his way to Australia, said that the U.S. wants to expand its role in South East Asia to help thwart piracy, terrorism, cyber threats and aid in disasters. This is the United States’ way of saying we want to meddle in all of your affairs. Gates did say that the U.S was not attempting to “contain China” but isn’t it odd that we want to play war games in areas that China currently has territorial disputes over?

While the U.S does not seek, at the moment, to add any more bases to the region it has said it wants to focus on missile defense and “space surveillance” (spying via satellite) and Gates hopes that there is mutual co-operation with all nations involved. China who now claims all of the South China Sea as its own does not seem to be the main focus as Gates said, “It is more about our relationships with the rest of Asia than it is about China,” but it is certainly the unofficial agenda. Since China is a rising star and threat to U.S interests the U.S certainly wants to show China that it is still number one; at least for now.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia would “welcome the United States making greater use of our ports and our training facilities, our test-firing ranges. That has been the case in decades past and will be the case for decades in the future”. Australia is open to the idea of military co-operation with China though and that is probably the reason Gates is making a trip down there to bolster our military presence. The U.S. can say that it is not trying to box in China but since China claims most of the waters in South East Asia one cannot want to bolster a military presence without essentially boxing another one in.

Things will certainly be interesting over the next decade and I’m sure it will be increasingly more hostile. China is already “defying” the United States by infiltrating many regions the U.S. once had strong ties to. This is also the first time since the Cold War that the United States has been threatened by another super power that isn’t Democratic. It has to be an utter nightmare for the Government to try and come up with a strategy to deal with China when China owns most of our debt. We can’t directly ruffle their feathers or else we go bankrupt and China doesn’t want to ruffle ours for fear of a political headache. With so much tension and the involvement of the military it is certain that nothing good will come of this.

Map provided by BBC:

Quote Source: BBC