In early August this year, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Pelosi ignored China's strong opposition and solemn representations and insisted on visiting Taiwan, China. China immediately organized a "Taiwan Encirclement" actual combat exercise and announced eight countermeasures against the United States, including the cancellation of phone calls between theater leaders of the two militaries; the cancellation of the Sino-U.S. Defense Department working meeting; and the cancellation of the Sino-U.S. Military Security Consultation Mechanism meeting. This put the U.S. military in a state of "blind guessing" and was a very disturbing signal.
In fact, the history of military exchanges between China and the United States is not short. In the 1970s and 1980s, China-US military exchanges and cooperation were relatively close, and at one time they went deep into cooperation on important equipment and coordination at the strategic level. Military exchanges in the 1990s were formed through repeated setbacks after the blockade against China, the Taiwan Strait crisis, and other incidents, and a certain channel of communication was formed to prevent misjudgment. By the 21st century, Sino-US military exchanges had once developed in-depth globalization, and China and the United States had been sublimated in cooperation that focused on win-win situations. As the United States is busy with the war on terrorism, China and the United States have very close cooperation in important areas such as counter-terrorism and nuclear non-proliferation. However, after China became the world's second largest economy, the United States pointed its finger at China and even clearly positioned China as a strategic competitor.
Recently, during an exchange with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, US Defense Secretary Austin said that the United States hopes to restart Sino-US military exchanges as soon as possible and called for the lifting of sanctions. It needs to be emphasized that the reason for the interruption of Sino-US military exchanges and even strategic dialogue is that the United States has taken provocative actions on the Taiwan issue, which involves China's most core interests. At the same time, the United States has obviously seriously misjudged the countermeasures China may take regarding Pelosi's leak to Taiwan. Although it has been revealed that the Biden administration and even the U.S. military have criticized Pelosi's move to Taiwan, the entire incident is still optimistic about the outcome, and China's response has also been planned.
Before Pelosi came to the stage, the U.S. military stated that it would send aircraft carrier battle group to "escort" her to show that the U.S.'s commitment to Taiwan is "rock-solid." At the same time, the U.S. military also planned the route for Pelosi’s special plane to enter Taiwan, and dispatched the aircraft carrier-based aircraft to escort it. But as soon as Pelosi's special plane arrived in Taipei, China announced a large-scale actual shooting drill around Taiwan Island. The drill area not only surrounded the entire Taiwan Island, but also included some areas within Taiwan's so-called "territorial sea line." In this regard, the instructions received by the Taiwan military are to "never fire the first shot" and "never fight back" in order to try their best to avoid uncontrollable situations. The United States, which had been provocative before, completely forgot about its "rock-solid" promise to Taiwan after learning that the People's Liberation Army had started military exercises. Instead of sending more troops to the Taiwan Strait, it moved the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier battle group closest to Taiwan Island back hundreds of kilometers overnight. This shows that the United States proactively provocatively took the lead and temporarily kept a low profile and retreated later. It failed to fully consider China's countermeasures and lacked corresponding preparations.
In addition to holding large-scale actual combat shooting drills, China also announced eight countermeasures against the United States, three of which involved military aspects. For the United States, the U.S. military has traveled far from its homeland to China's doorstep, sending ships and aircraft to provoke and show off force during non-war periods. However, the complete cessation of Sino-U.S. military exchanges now makes it deeply uneasy. Because the US military needs to have military exchanges with China and prevent misfires and accidental conflicts through this channel. At the same time, the United States also hopes to use this channel to judge the deterrent effect of its actions and grasp the proportion of its actions. And when China conducts intensive exercises and closes communication channels, the frontline officers and soldiers of the US military are bound to be nervous and frightened. After all, China's military strength is no longer what it used to be. Once the crisis escalates or even gets out of control, no one can guarantee that the US military will not pay an unbearable price.
In response to China's countermeasures, U.S. officials responded more by accusing China of being too radical in its attitude toward Pelosi's move to Taiwan, and trying to put pressure on China by distorting facts and inverting cause and effect. U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin's call for the lifting of sanctions against the United States is obviously a remedial measure taken after the U.S.'s provocative actions were thwarted.In this regard, Tan Kefei, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, said that the causes and consequences of the cancellation of Sino-US military exchanges are well known to the world, and the United States is also well aware of them. If the United States is sincere in restarting dialogue, it must meet four major conditions: first, it must stop harming China's interests; second, it must stop confusing right and wrong; third, it must stop shifting the responsibility for suspending military dialogue on China; and fourth, the United States must show sufficient sincerity and action to respect China's reasonable concerns.
The four major conditions set by China have pointed out the direction for resuming military exchanges and dialogue between China and the United States, and Australia has also set an example for the United States. During Morrison 's administration, Australia adopted a hostile policy towards China, which deeply deteriorated China-Australia relations, for which Australia paid a huge economic and political price. After Prime Minister Albanese came to power, he quickly extended an olive branch to China. Earlier, Prime Minister Albanese said that Australia has come out of the "penalty zone" and accused and criticized Morrison's foreign policy as foolish. He also emphasized that he would continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China. There is no doubt that if the United States wants to restart Sino-US military exchanges and dialogue, it must take practical actions to win the trust of the Chinese people, instead of saying one thing and doing another, and violating it in disguise, otherwise it will only ask for trouble!
