South China Sea: the century's 'cold war' between Washington and Beijing
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Recent skirmishes and verbal clashes over the South China Sea between Beijing, Hanoi and Manila are a cover for the greatest challenge of the 21st century, namely the rivalry between China and the United States for the control of trade, natural resources and uninhabited islands in the Pacific.
As defence establishments in Washington and Beijing travel the region to beef up old alliances and find new partners, the United States announced it would deploy 60 per cent of its ships in the Pacific by 2020. This represents a radical shift in the balance of power, which was once centred in Europe and the Americas.
Last week, Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie flew on a strategic trip to Cambodia where he met local and other Southeast Asian counterparts. For China, the "consultative meeting" with the defence ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was a diplomatic coup, especially since it is at odds with the Philippines and Vietnam over the South China Sea, through which one-third of global seaborne trade passes.
Phnom Penh and Beijing signed a number of agreements that enhance China's presence, including the establishment of a military training facility in the country.
The United States was quick to respond. Last Friday, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta dominated the Shangri-La meeting organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in Singapore.
He announced that Washington would shift the bulk of its naval fleet to the Pacific by 2020 as part of a new strategic focus on Asia. In eight years, the US would have 60 per cent of its ships in the Pacific. Currently, it has a 50-50 split between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic, which covers Europe.
The balance of geopolitical power and trade is thus moving from the Europe-US axis centred in the Atlantic to the Pacific with new emerging world powers, China above all, but also others like Brazil.
The old Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union in the 20th century could be replaced by one between the United States and China, each with its own alliance systems.
Not surprisingly, Russian President Putin chose the Chinese capital for one of his first foreign forays.
In the pages of the People's Daily, the South China Sea is again a hot topic. For China's official English-language mouthpiece, the United States has a stake in the South China Sea issue, even if it is not directly on the sea. Indeed, China cannot stop Washington from establishing alliances with countries around the sea; however, territorial disputes in the area between "China and other claimants" are "no business of the United States," it wrote.
Similarly, despite America's "return to Asia" strategy to "form a regional alliance against China", "Times have changed."
For the paper, Washington's "new Asia strategy contradicts the continent's general development." For this reason, "it is necessary to draw a red line for the United States, so it will know what it can and cannot do".
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