Following U.S. President Biden 's visits to Asia and Europe, on the 29th of last month, the Rim of the Pacific military exercise activities led by the United States officially began.
Before the start of this large-scale military exercise coordinated by the United States and 25 other countries, the U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet announced the theme of the event, saying that this military exercise aimed to strengthen coordinated operations among participating countries. As well as defense capabilities, it also allows countries to quickly respond to "aggression" by other countries, thereby promoting the construction of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
It is not surprising that this military exercise originally led by the United States has this theme. After all, the purpose of multinational joint military exercises is to strengthen the coordination capabilities of all parties. However, judging from remarks made by U.S. President Biden during his visit to Asia about "China's frequent military activities in the South China Sea," the real intention of this activity may be to use China as an imaginary enemy and to strengthen the response of various countries to the United States. The so-called "China threat" capabilities proposed.
Before the exercise began, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin told the media after concluding his meeting with the Chinese Defense Minister: There are also "risks of disorder" like the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Asia, and reiterated that the U.S. government is very It attaches great importance to the "security" of countries in the Asia-Pacific region and will strengthen military cooperation with allies in the region.
Judging from the attitudes of Biden, Austin and many US officials towards China, the United States seems to be very "concerned" about China in recent times, and this large-scale military exercise has given the United States a "demonstration towards China" "Opportunity".
According to data released by the U.S. Navy, in addition to the United States and NATO members, Japan, South Korea, and India, the three "Indo-Pacific region" countries that have recently interacted more with the United States, also have Brunei , The five South China Sea countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore and the small South Pacific country of Tonga all dispatched their own troops to participate in this military exercise.
With troops from 25 countries coming to "support" the United States, a total of 38 surface ships , 4 submarines and 170 aircraft were dispatched for this military exercise. The number of participants is expected to exceed 25,000.
As the "leader" of this Rim of the Pacific military exercise, the United States let its "heavyweight" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "USS Lincoln" lead the team, and deployed the first US Marine Corps on the aircraft carrier. F-35C squadrons and stealth carrier-based aircraft. As a result, the combat capability of the U.S. aircraft carrier has been improved by no means a little bit.
It can be seen that in order to play a "leading role" in this military exercise, the United States is very willing to "make money".
However, even though the United States has dispatched aircraft carriers and fleets with strong combat capabilities, the American media and the U.S. government have been very "modest" when talking about this matter.
Many American media seemed to deliberately emphasize in their reports that "Asia-Pacific allies have sent a strong lineup to this military exercise."
Among them, the "Izumo" quasi-aircraft carrier dispatched by Japan made its debut after being modified. Moreover, this quasi-aircraft carrier already has the ability to cooperate with the American vertical short takeoff and landing stealth fighter .
This quasi-aircraft carrier conducted takeoff and landing tests with the US F-35B carrier-based aircraft in October last year. Today, the "Izumo" was sent by Japan to participate in military exercises as soon as it was refitted. This will inevitably lead to speculation that the United States will cooperate with Japan again on this quasi-aircraft carrier. So far, the United States and Japan have not cooperated in military exercises on the quasi-aircraft carrier. However, some analysts believe that in the next few days, the U.S. F-35B carrier-based aircraft is likely to fly on the quasi-aircraft carrier again. A takeoff and landing exercise is conducted on the aircraft carrier.
According to reports from Yonhap News Agency and US media, the South Korean Navy has sent the largest force to participate in the military exercise since it participated in the military exercise in 1990.
Among the military ships dispatched by South Korea, their displacement ranges from 1,800 tons to about 15,000 tons. In addition, one P-3 anti-submarine patrol aircraft and two "Lynx" helicopters participated in the exercise. It can be said that the "heavyweight" ships and equipment of the South Korean military have been moved out.
Some analysts believe that with Biden announcing his "Indo-Pacific Strategy" and repeatedly "showing goodwill" to Japan and South Korea, South Korea wants to use this military exercise to demonstrate its military strength to the United States and the international community. Let the United States see that South Korea can play a more important role in military activities in order to win further "attention" from the United States.
The United States must also understand the purpose of South Korea's move, so the US media focuses its reports on the military lineups sent by "allies" such as Japan and South Korea to emphasize that these allies have very "reliable" capabilities. military combat capabilities.
However, other analysts believe that the purposes of the other 25 countries participating in this military exercise are not necessarily the same as those of the United States. The US media took advantage of the Rim of the Pacific military exercise to promote the strong military capabilities of its Asia-Pacific allies and suggested that it was preventing China from "expansion" in the Western Pacific. However, many countries participating in the exercise did not indicate that they would "cooperate" with the United States. "In unison" to "demonstrate" against China.
Therefore, let us regard this US-led military exercise as a "sea party".
