The US-Japan-ROK exercise has begun, and the US nuclear aircraft carrier has come to the field to suppress the battle, is it just to deter North Korea? Japan seized the opportunity to expand its territory and wanted to row away 120,000 square kilometers of international waters, but China did not agree! Japan is gradually loosened, why is the United States mainly responsible?
The presence of American aircraft carriers, Japan took the opportunity to expand its territory?
As the spillover effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict intensify, the Korean Peninsula, the largest powder keg in Northeast Asia, will inevitably suffer. In particular, after Putin's recent visit to the DPRK and the signing of a series of sensitive cooperation treaties with the DPRK, the entire peninsula can be regarded as a war cloud, and the war of words between the Russian government and the South Korean government has not stopped to this day.
In the face of this new normal in Northeast Asia, the United States, which has proclaimed itself the "world's policeman," is not a big deal to see the excitement, and has also started a new round of military exercises in the surrounding areas. According to a report by NHK on June 27, the Japanese Ministry of Defense reported that the United States, Japan and South Korea launched a joint military exercise codenamed "Freedom Blade" in the East China Sea for the first time, and the total planning duration of the exercise was about three days.
In terms of arranging the strength of the exercise, the United States has dispatched the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Roosevelt," the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force has dispatched the Aegis air defense destroyer "Atago," and the warships of the three countries have dispatched a total of seven, and the ROK side will dispatch a fleet of KF16 fighters to provide air cover. In terms of the subject of the exercise, the three countries will focus on anti-ballistic missiles, air defense, anti-submarine, defense against cyber attacks, and other practical subjects, which has a very obvious implication against the DPRK, so it has also triggered a strong reaction from the DPRK side.
We do not know whether this exercise will ultimately succeed, but one thing is certain: the intervention of the naval and air forces of the United States, Japan, and South Korea has not only cooled down the situation on the Korean Peninsula, but has pushed the atmosphere of confrontation to a new climax. And geographically, the East China Sea itself is quite close to China, which makes one wonder if the U.S. military exercises are ostensibly a response to the North Korean crisis, but in fact a rehearsal to strike at China.
What is even more surprising is that Japan, as a participant in the US-Japan-ROK joint military exercise, seems to have started a new round of "big gambles" on the territorial issue because of the fact that it was "pressing" by the US aircraft carrier on the spot, in a vain attempt to "expand its territory" by taking advantage of this tense atmosphere.
Japan has carved out 120,000 square kilometers, but China will not agree
According to a report by Japan's Kyodo News Agency on June 26, the Japanese government passed a resolution to amend the decree in the cabinet meeting the previous day, defining most of the "Ogasawara Sea Terrace" east of Chichijima Island of the Ogasawara Islands in the Pacific Ocean as Japan's "continental shelf", and the total area of this sea area has reached 120,000 square kilometers, and the relevant decree will be officially implemented on July 20.
Japanese government officials said in interviews that the 120,000 square kilometers, equivalent to half the size of Japan's Honshu Island, would allow Japan to exercise its "sovereign right to explore and exploit natural resources." Kyodo News also mentioned in the report that the existence of "cobalt-rich crusts" has been found in this area, and cobalt is a key rare metal used in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries.
In fact, the Japanese government's desire for the "expansion" of the continental shelf has not been overnight, as early as 2014, the Japanese government has made relevant decisions, but only now it has been finally implemented, it can be said that for the 120,000 square kilometers of resource exploitation, the Japanese government has laid out for up to 10 years.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning commented on this on June 27, saying that China has taken note of the relevant information, and as early as 2012, the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf had proposed amendments to Japan's continental shelf delimitation in the Ogasawara Islands. To date, however, the Japanese government has not made any amendments in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations, but has further expanded its claim to territorial waters on this basis, in a completely opposite direction. China stresses that no State party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea shall encroach on the international seabed area or harm the interests of the international community as a whole.
Obviously, China's attitude towards this move of the Japanese government is resolutely opposed, and if a country only needs to revise its own laws and regulations and announce this news to the outside world, it can expand its territory for no reason, then there will be no so-called international waters in the world for a long time. Japan's actions are completely contrary to the existing international norms, and they have made a bad start in the world, and if many countries follow suit and make claims about international waters, then the next stage will inevitably lead to a global war.
Japan has broken through the bottom line step by step, and the United States is the source of the disaster
In fact, if we look at what Japan has done politically over the past few years, we will find that Japan is gradually turning from a political cripple into a so-called "normal country." According to the Potsdam Proclamation issued during World War II, Japan's territory was limited to the major islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido, while the remaining small islands were designated by the "Allied Powers".
In the past, Japan's annexation of the Ryukyus and the renaming of Okinawa as an administrative region had already crossed the line, but now it has intensified its efforts and does not buy the United Nations, taking the initiative to expand the continental shelf and further encroach on international waters.
However, in the whole process, the United States, which is supposed to play the role of supervising Japan, turned a blind eye to these issues and even helped in the construction of certain sensitive equipment.
For example, according to Japan's pacifist constitution, Japan's Self-Defense Forces are not allowed to own aircraft carriers, but now that the Kaga has been renovated, it is already a real aircraft carrier, and when Japan asked the United States to purchase F35B carrier-based aircraft, the excuse it came up with was actually a "rescue use" that no ghost could believe, but the United States still allowed Japan's purchase request.
So, in a way, Japan's step-by-step challenge to the current international order has a lot to do with the inaction of the United States. The main reason behind this is not difficult to understand: At a time when the balance of power in East Asia is gradually tilting in favor of China, the United States hopes that Japan will assume more defense responsibilities, so it will use the concessions at the political level as a "bone" to reward Japan, so that Japan will become a normal country step by step, but once Japan finally achieves its goal and regains the right to belligerent, it will inevitably have a great negative impact on the situation in the entire East Asian region.