During his visit, Biden said, “The United States and Japan together with 11 other countries will launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (VoIP). It is a commitment to work with our close friends and partners in the region on the most critical challenges to ensuring economic competitiveness in the 21st century.”
According to analysts, the US initiative clearly aims to provide an alternative in the Asia-Pacific region to China, the world’s second economic power with increasing influence in the region.
Beijing feels deliberately excluded, and has already announced this, as the Chinese Foreign Minister said that the United States is working “to form small blocs in the name of freedom and openness,” noting that “its goal is to contain China and is doomed to fail.”
And on Friday, the British newspaper, The Guardian, revealed a draft document showing China’s pursuit of more cooperation with the Pacific countries from its allies, pointing out that Beijing is seeking to conclude a comprehensive regional economic security agreement with the Pacific countries that would significantly expand its influence in this region. .
The draft agreement covers a wide range of areas, including trade, finance, investment, tourism, public health and health support in response to COVID-19, as well as cultural exchange, Chinese language integration, training and scholarships, as well as disaster prevention and relief.
According to the British newspaper, the new regional situation after the signing of the agreement will witness a significant expansion of China’s participation with the security services in the region, as the draft agreement proposes “expanding law enforcement cooperation, jointly combating cross-border crime, and establishing a dialogue mechanism on law enforcement capacity and police cooperation.” “.
In the midst of a struggle for influence, over the past months, the United States has woven several alliances and revived others that were in limbo (Ocos – Quad – Phoebe), in an attempt to curb the rise of China, as Washington places confronting Beijing at the heart of its national security policy, and describes competition with it as “” The biggest geopolitical test.
Attempts to break the siege
Commenting on this, Anas Al-Qassas, an expert in international and strategic affairs, said that China is seeking to break the US siege on it in the Pacific by starting from behind the siege line through a strategy of “siege siege” that has been in place for nearly a decade.
Al-Qassas added, to “Sky News Arabia”, that “the United States is imposing a siege on China from the north, starting with the Japanese Yokosuka and the sea port of the American Seventh Fleet, and in the south there are South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines, which has the largest base of land forces in the Pacific, and Guam, which is located The US strategic forces, passing through Darwin, north of Australia.
He explained that all of these areas represent a security arc for China’s blockade, and Beijing is currently building its plan through the idea of breaking the siege imposed on it, which has been a continuous pursuit for more than 10 years through Chinese security agreements with the Philippines and consultations with Malaysia, and recently a security agreement with the Solomon Islands.
He pointed out that “the controversy accompanying the Chinese Foreign Minister’s visit to the region is natural, as it (the region) represents potential bases, and there is the Hawaii base, which is the center of the American deployment in the Pacific Ocean,” stressing that “any Chinese attempt to change the region’s strategy hastily will push towards major conflicts in the region.” The region, and Beijing knows this, which is why it is working on its plan gradually.”
He considered that the US “Voep” alliance, which affirms that the Indo-Pacific region is free and open, was announced 4 years ago, but it did not have any prominent activity, and Biden sought to revive it during his Asian tour after Beijing’s move in the Solomon Islands.
He pointed out that “America has the ability to absorb shocks and get behind the Chinese attempts,” stressing that “the nature of the place is sensitive and strategic because it is an archipelago of islands extending as far as East Timor, and if they were able to control it, and succeeded in other agreements with other countries, there would be American damage.”
He stressed that “the United States has a great position in the region through relations with countries, an army of more than 200,000 soldiers, nuclear submarines, and others that surpass China. In return, Beijing is turning to weak islands such as the Oceanus Islands and Fiji, which are unreliable, but they are attempts to gain land and plant bases.” Military, but breaking the US alliance is almost impossible, despite Chinese attempts.
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