![]() Here’s what we learnedĪs both the Philippines and Japan are US mutual defense treaty allies – and as Washington is obligated to support Taiwan’s self-defense – Dong’s abilities to speak with US counterparts to avoid any military escalation in all three areas could be vital to peace.īut if hostilities did break out, Dong could be an important adviser to commander-in-chief Xi, the analysts said. Aviator Gregory Cole/Canadian Armed Forces PhotoĬNN took an 11-day cruise through some of the most-contested waters on Earth. HMCS Ottawa fires its main gun towards the Hammerhead remote training target as USS Rafael Peralta and HMAS Brisbane sail in formation during a Surface Fire Exercise during a joint deployment in the South China Sea on 26 October 2023. Meanwhile late last year, Beijing reopened a key military communication line with Washington that had gone dormant after the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in 2022. In the South China Sea, the China Coast Guard has been in more aggressive encounters with Philippine vessels trying to resupply a Philippine military outpost on disputed Second Thomas Shoal.Īnd in the Senkaku chain, which is controlled by Japan but claimed by China, more than 100 China Coast Guard and other vessels are entering Japan’s contiguous zone around the islands monthly, according to statistics provided by Japan’s Foreign Ministry in December. Tensions are heating up around the region, and diplomacy is becoming ever more vital amid hardening stances and unpredictable events.Ī presidential election in Taiwan this month could have huge ramifications on the island’s relations with China – and tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Though the defense minister position in China is a largely ceremonial role, serving as the public face of military diplomacy with other countries, Erickson and Sharman said Dong, with his experience, will make “a potent interlocutor with foreign counterparts.” Chinese officials say they aim for peaceful “reunification” but have not ruled out using force to take control of the island.Ĭhina’s military has ramped up diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Taiwan under Xi.Ĭhinese jets now frequently cross into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone as well as over the unofficial, but until recently largely adhered to, “median line” that runs down the Taiwan Strait.Ĭrossings of the median line by Chinese warships have also become much more frequent.īeijing is engaged in other sovereignty disputes, too, with Japan over the Senkuku Islands – which China calls the Diaoyus – in the East China Sea and with a handful of governments over contested reefs, shoals and islands in the South China Sea, almost all of which Beijing claims as its territory. Xi, who has made taking control of Taiwan a cornerstone of his broader goal to “rejuvenate” China to a place of power and stature globally, said last month that the “reunification” of Taiwan with China is “inevitable.”Ĭhina’s Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own territory, despite never having controlled it. ![]() ![]() ![]() His resumé “reflects serious joint and naval focus under Xi with growing potential applications to disputed sovereignty claims in the East and South China Seas - none more important than Taiwan,” CMSI analysts Andrew Erickson and Christopher Sharman wrote in their report.Ĭarl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said Dong “has international, joint and extensive naval experience in the two theaters that have been in the forefront of leader Xi Jinping’s most aggressive assertions of Chinese territorial claims.” Dong Jun as China’s defense minister last week, it marked the first time a naval officer has been elevated to that position, and analysts say it gives a clear indication of the Chinese leader’s priorities – Taiwan tops among them.ĭong’s experience, both as head of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as well as operational assignments in the Chinese military’s Eastern and Southern theater commands, gives him an “unprecedented background” in the defense minister position, according to a report from the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island. Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. ![]()
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