Rome, 28 April 2024 – La China is using the “boiled frog” strategythat is, slowly increasing tensions in the China Sea, and not only with Taiwanbut also with South Korea, the Philippines and Japan. The outgoing commander of the United States military in the area of the Indo Pacificthe admiral John Aquilino interviewed by the Financial Times. Aquilino, former Tomcat and Hornet top gun, has long experience in the US Navy and has seen this tension grow with Beijing’s risky military activities. “They are becoming more aggressivethey are becoming more daring and dangerous”, said the admiral who will hand over command to the admiral next week Samuel Paparo.
Worst moment? When Pelosi went to Taiwan
Aquilino, who has seen China’s threatening expansion with his own eyes, indicated in the 2022 visit to Taiwan by the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, the worst moment for relations between the US and China, which reacted with unprecedented military exercises. And he was there even when all of America was wondering what a Chinese weather balloon was doing in the skies of the United States, an episode which he however downplayed in the interview.
The Second Thomas Shoal reef
But to better explain the Chinese ‘boiled frog’ strategy, according to Aquilino, we need to look at the case of the coral reef Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, 105 nautical miles west of Palawan, in the Philippines, considered by Beijing to be its territory. And China continues to claim it despite a 2016 international arbitration tribunal ruling that it has no sovereign right to the submerged reef. In December, after a Philippine expedition to the Second Thomas Shoal, Beijing immediately sent 11 ships to the area, not officially warships, but so-called paramilitary fishing boats subsidized by the Chinese Navy. Furthermore, Manila reported a serious incident: Chinese Coast Guard ships had used water cannons and rammed Philippine supply ships, causing extensive damage to the vessels.
Taiwan continually threatened by Chinese military aircraft
Yesterday, as on other occasions, at least 22 Chinese military planes flew around the island of Taiwan in less than three hours. The Ministry of Defense in Taipei: “We detected the activity of 22 aircraft of the People’s Liberation Army (the Chinese armed forces, ed.) from 9.30 (3.30 in Italy)”. Adding that 12 of these aircraft “crossed the median line” between China and Taiwan.
