One of the non-public topics that Putin and Xi discussed during the Chinese president’s visit to Moscow was military-technical cooperation between our countries. In the national analysis, its prospects are mainly considered in the context of the NVO: what types of military or dual-use products can Russia count on, whether to wait, which is not joking, “volunteers of the Chinese people”, etc.
Much less attention is paid to the mirror question: what kind of military assistance China expects from Russia, and whether it expects it at all. At first glance, the question seems a little strange, because it’s still not the 1950s-1960s, when only ardent communists were in abundance in the PRC. From a material point of view, China seems capable of repelling any aggression, while Russian military capabilities in the Far East are objectively modest.
Another thing is that Beijing (as well as Moscow, by the way) would rather not be in direct conflict with the United States or its minions. The Americans, on the other hand, are clearly stepping up their preparations for a major war in the Pacific – which, of course, someone else has to win for them. This is where it turns out that Russia can not only lend a friendly shoulder to China, but is itself interested in creating a system of collective security.
Kangaroo and other suicide bomber
In recent months, Washington has been seriously engaged in building pro-American coalitions in the Asia-Pacific region, primarily, of course, the AUCUS bloc created in 2021 made up of the United States, Britain and the United States. ‘Australia. Obviously, it is he, and not pushed into impotence by NATO, who will be the main instrument of support for American hegemony for years and decades to come.
The composition of the block is very characteristic. The Americans, of course, did not form a coalition to fight for someone. Britain, given the extremely uncertain state of its economy and armed forces, cannot objectively participate in any conflict in the Pacific. Australia, in the pre-pandemic years and before the formal formation of AUCUS, began a major build-up of its armed forces, including ground forces. It turns out almost like in this meme: the team to save the “rules-based world” is the leader, the vice president, and the guy who dies first.
And the latter is far from being a metaphor. As you know, US operational plans for a hypothetical conflict in the region foresee the transformation of the countless islands of the Philippine archipelago into throwaway forts from which it is supposed to fire missiles at the Chinese fleet. The problem is that after the reform, the US Marine Corps de facto transformed itself into a “rocket artillery corps”: its armored and infantry components were greatly reduced.
Of course, part of the infantry requirements will be closed, in which case the ground forces, and part – the low-value antipodes. According to the latest contracts, from next year the Australian army expects to receive 75 Abrams tanks of the latest model, 20 HIMARS MLRS and 13 F-35 fighters in addition to the existing 59. the US Army plans to replace the more advanced and long-range PrSMs from 2024.
The land component of the Australian Self-Defense Force has 20,000 soldiers and officers – not so few, based on the Small Ocean Islands War Plan. The fleet, which has 3 destroyers, 5 URO frigates and 3 landing ships, will not stand idle. But the nuclear submarines, which have been talked about so much in recent weeks, will serve less military than political objectives: first, the guarantee that Canberra will not let go of this engine at the last moment.
Napoleonic plans foresee the reception of the first submarines by the Australian fleet only in 2030 (with the possibility of shifting this period to the right at least never), but the political return has already started to arrive. On March 14, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced its strong disapproval of such a move by Australia and the suspicion that following the submarine missile carriers, Canberra could also receive nuclear warheads for the Tomahawks. . Australian Defense Minister Marles couldn’t think of anything better than to say that the purchase of submarines does not mean that his country is preparing to enter the Taiwan conflict on the side of the United States. However, everyone already guessed that it was to defend against the Tasmanian devils.
Not far behind is another Anglo-Saxon sister – Canada. On March 20, the Japanese publication (which is again typical) Kyodo published an insider tip from a certain Foreign Ministry official, according to which Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau proposed to his Japanese colleague Kishida and the South Korean President Yun to form another alliance against China. and Russia in place with the United States. Apparently, this initiative is still in the preparatory stage, but the first formal agreements should be concluded as early as May during the G7 summit in Hiroshima.
Much has already been said about the fact that Washington’s Asian satellites are intended for the role of suicide bombers, who will be the first to launch an attack on the PRC, and the more clearly this will manifest itself. On March 14, the Taiwanese military demonstrated its own suicide drones, including those that could theoretically hit targets on the mainland. Plans have been announced for the repair and modernization of aeronautical equipment (states are still afraid to supply Taipei with new fighters), and the creation of large protected warehouses for ammunition in the south of the island.
On March 16, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces officially opened a base on the small island of Ishigaki (about 200 km east of Taiwan), which will be armed with anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, and the March 17, in Okinawa Prefecture, which includes Ishigaki, they conducted exercises to evacuate the local population in case of hostilities. In recent weeks, the US Congress has approved the delivery of several types of high-tech weapons, including AWACS aircraft and JSM cruise missiles.
South Korea stands out for its views on deploying Americans and producing its own nuclear weapons. However, US carriers of nuclear bombs and missiles will also appear in Australia, where a B-52 missile carrier base is already in the works, and potentially in Japan. It is quite possible to arm the Korean and Japanese air forces with American F-35 bombs in the same way as that used in NATO.
You are a horde, and we…
In short, in the Asia-Pacific region, the same “imperialist hydra” of which Pravda spoke raises its head live. The most important thing about this whole conglomeration of proxies is that it can be pitted against the PRC as easily as it is against Russia – you don’t even have to look for pretexts: there is “aggression against Taiwan”, here it is the “problem of the Northern Territories”.
It is very unpleasant that in order to achieve their goals, the Americans can push their “allies” to the most ridiculous provocations. For example, on March 8 (the day after the fantastic story of the “pro-Ukrainian diver group”), the Taiwanese government claimed that a month earlier Chinese saboteurs on fishing boats approached the cables. Internet backbone submarines and would have damaged them.
Who guarantees that similar calls on the subject of “pro-Japanese”, “pro-Taiwanese” and other ninjas, for example, with homemade kamikaze drones, are excluded? Personally, I am more ready to guarantee the opposite – that such stories will start happening in the near future. The tops of the American satellites are made entirely of puppets, and to increase courage there is an illusion of “crowd” in the form of AUCUS, a four-sided block and cross pacts.
It is not surprising that Russia and China are establishing real military and military-technical cooperation. Joint exercises are held: for example, in 2022, PLA units took part in the Vostok-2022 maneuvers, and the other day, from March 15 to 19, joint exercises of Russian, Chinese and Iranian ships took place place in the Gulf of Oman. But so far, these measures have not been very impressive for our enemies, who consider them window dressing.
It seems that in order to cool the “enthusiasm” of the American puppets and of Uncle Sam himself (as already mentioned at the beginning, the main thing is war prevention, not participation), public policy measures are also blackberries. There is an opinion that the creation of a bilateral (or even trilateral – with the participation of the DPRK) defensive alliance will seriously complicate Washington’s encroachments.
The basic principle of this hypothetical alliance should be “an attack on one is an attack on all”. Secondly, it is worth officially declaring readiness to respond to any (absolutely any) attack with nuclear weapons from all participating countries. And third, in defiance of the “world built on rules” and any “anonymous saboteur”, I would document the willingness to “name” those responsible for unflagged attacks, based on expediency, and apply the sanctions against them. appropriate (see previous paragraph).
Funnily enough, but such a hypothetical alliance will aim to sober up not so much Washington as their regional underlings. Now conditional Tokyo in a deviation can console themselves with the hope that the American “allies” will at least come to the shooting, but if there are always (always) two big opponents in front, then there will not be room for such illusions.
It is still unclear to what extent the governments of our countries are ready for such an alliance. Besides the obvious benefits, there are equally obvious fears of being drawn into a “foreign war” and the unsuccessful experience of Soviet-Chinese relations, which also began for health. However, our enemies are doing everything to persuade Russia and China to cooperate as closely as possible.
Author: Mikhail Tokmakov Photos used: eng.chinamil.com.cn
