Beijing announced on Friday (27) that it would hold naval exercises in the South China Sea, one of the hotspots with the United States. The maneuvers, informed by the Maritime Security Administration, are scheduled for this Saturday (28).
The region, strategic for world trade, is made up of more than 250 small islands, reefs, sandbanks and small landmasses. Through it, 80% of oil and gas passes to China.
The new exercise comes in the same week that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pays a visit to eight island nations in the Pacific, a region that has become a priority for Beijing’s diplomacy, with the aim of signing agreements in the area of ​​security, and one day after the regime led by Xi Jinping returned to exchange accusations with the government of Joe Biden.
On Thursday (26), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Beijing of trying to alter the geopolitical order through domestic repression and external surveillance — especially in the Pacific.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Webin said Chinese officials felt slandered by the US. “[O discurso] spreads false information and interferes in Chinese internal affairs, as well as slandering domestic and international policies,” he said. “The aim is to block China’s development.”
Wang also accused the Washingtons of forming a “small bloc” with other regional nations to contain China and again claimed that territories such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang and Tibet, places where Beijing has advanced, are all Chinese internal affairs.
The spokesman said China was “firmly opposed” to Blinken’s speech and urged the US government not to underestimate what he described as Chinese determination to defend its sovereignty.
Also on Friday, the South China Sea was at the heart of a speech by President Joe Biden to graduates of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He, who just a few days ago returned from his first trip to Asia as president, said the Indo-Pacific will be the “vanguard” of the American response to humanitarian disasters.
The Indo-Pacific is a geopolitical concept that has become more widely used recently, especially by Washington and its allies, but is not recognized by powers such as China and Russia. The term designates a region located between the coast of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, covering countries such as Japan, Australia and the USA itself.
“You will guarantee the future of the Indo-Pacific, which is free and open, you will guarantee freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and that sea lanes remain open and safe,” Biden said. “These long-standing principles are the foundation of global stability.”
