U.S.-Japan Military Exercise around Diaoyu Islands to Backfire

Japanese media reported that the U.S. and Japan are planning a massive military exercise around the Diaoyu Islands, with a scenario of Chinese occupation of the island. They reported that this will be the first U.S.-Japan exercise with China as an enemy since World War II. While holding an exercise in the Yellow Sea, they are already aiming their sword toward China, but they still have a pretext — North Korea. However, if they hold an exercise which mimics war on the Diaoyu Islands, it will be an outright provocation against China’s rights and territorial integration. The Chinese and their government will certainly react strongly to the exercise, and they definitely will have to eat their own bitter fruit.

The plan to hold an exercise of taking back the Diaoyu Islands is a wrong idea, because the global order has been reshuffled, and the U.S. simply cannot keep dreaming of being the sole superpower by solidifying the U.S.-Japan alliance. While depending on China for the economy, its military siege against China will only harm the U.S.’ interests.

The global order with the U.S. as the sole superpower since the Cold War has been broken by the U.S. itself. The global financial crisis caused by the U.S. has brought it down from its economic-power pedestal; its outrageous bullying against other countries has also brought doom to its political hegemony. In the lengthy Iraq war, the U.S. paid a heavy price. The U.S. has not only lost support from the international community, but has also lost the clout it once enjoyed in relation to those hostile countries. The U.S. military hegemony is going downhill. However, the U.S. hegemony is dying hard. After pulling through the bog of the Middle East, it’s moving its strategic center to the Asia-Pacific region to contain China and Russia by strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance.

The planned exercise of taking back the Diaoyu Islands is aiming to strengthen the so-called first island chain that is located between China and the Pacific Ocean. The exercise also targets Russia’s outlet to the Pacific Ocean, the Kuril Islands. However, where there’s containment, there’s anti-containment. While the U.S. cannot even conquer those small countries of weak military and economic power, how can it contain the rising China and the traditional superpower, Russia? The U.S. is maintaining more than 1,000 military bases and 13 aircraft-carrier teams. Now its provocation against China and Russia will only lead to its defeat.