Essay: The "Divine Logic" of America's "Freedom of Navigation" Provoking | China | The United States
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 6th - Question: The "Divine Logic" of the United States' "Freedom of Navigation"
Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Wencheng
At the recent Shangri La Dialogue, in response to the question of "Chinese military aircraft and warships intercepting American military aircraft and expelling American warships," Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Li Shangfu asked in reverse, "Why are these events happening near China's airspace and territorial waters, rather than near the airspace and territorial waters of other countries?"
The questioner came aggressively to cooperate with their recent accusation of the Chinese military's handling of the US provocation as "creating danger". Li Shangfu's rhetorical question reveals the essence of the incident: If the United States manages its own military aircraft and ships well and does not cause trouble everywhere, where does the "danger" come from? Who is the creator of danger? Who is the victim? The answer is self-evident.
Americans travel thousands of miles to show off their power at the doorstep of others, yet they falsely accuse others of restricting their freedom to rampage forward - this is the "divine logic" of America.
In the logic of the United States, American military aircraft and ships flaunting their might at the doorstep of China is "freedom of navigation", and if China does not dispose of it, there will be no danger; The United States, which claims to be a "peace enthusiast" and comes from afar to show off its provocation, has become a "danger maker" while China, which carries out legitimate actions at its doorstep, has become a "danger maker" - how unreasonable!
The US Department of Defense once expressed its ambition in the Asia Pacific Maritime Security Strategy report: "In the area covered by the US Pacific Command, the exclusive economic zone claims to reach 38% of the world's ocean area." If "freedom of navigation" is not implemented in this area, "it may limit the US's ability to conduct conventional military operations and military exercises in one-third of the world's oceans.". The Americans themselves have made it clear that what the United States values most is the unrestricted passage of their military forces in important global waters, without considering the interests of relevant coastal countries.
Behind every kind of "divine logic", there is inevitably an unreasonable face. The "divine logic" of the United States is essentially a hegemonic logic. The term "freedom of navigation" spoken by Americans is actually "hegemony of navigation". The United States has been implementing so-called "freedom of navigation actions" under the banner of maintaining international waterway security and promoting maritime trade prosperity for many years. Americans also boast that their "freedom of navigation and action" is not targeted at specific countries, creating a public, objective, and neutral persona that leaves people speechless.
For the United States, which pretends to have "freedom of navigation", we not only need to expose the essence of its hegemony and see its face clearly, but also need to make ourselves stronger and not allow its hegemonic behavior to be reckless.