Has The First Blow Been Struck In China's Plan To Destroy The U.S. Indo-Pacific Defense?

EXCLUSIVE: Has the First Blow been Struck in China’s Plan to Destroy the U.S. Indo-Pacific Defense Strategy?

Lawrence Sellin, Li-Meng Yan and Ding-Gang Wang.

Has the first blow been struck in China’s plan to destroy the U.S. Indo-Pacific defense strategy?

The following information, provided by Lude Media, describes an alleged military incident, which has not yet been reported by the international media. It will be updated as new information becomes available.

From the Central Military Committee of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA): In the afternoon of May 30, 2022 local time, over 10 PLA navy and military-civilian fusion ships (including fishing boats and scientific research ships) conducted a military drill around the Japanese-administered Okinotori Island, during which tetrapod coastal engineering structures meant to sustain the island’s integrity against sea erosion were allegedly damaged by fire from PLA ships. Subsequently, the PLA ships attempted to surround a nearby Japanese civilian fishing vessel, which managed to escape. The PLA ships then left the area before Japanese defense forces could respond.

Perhaps not coincidentally, within hours of that yet unconfirmed event, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian stated in an official press conference that Okinotori is a reef, not an island, and cannot have an exclusive economic zone surrounding it. Thus, Japan’s claim violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Zhao Lijian said that the surface area of Okinotori Reef exposed to the water surface at high tide is less than 10 square meters, but Japan illegally claimed nearly 700,000 square kilometers of jurisdictional sea area around Okinotori Island.

It is true that Japan has tried to sustain and build up Okinotori Island using tetrapod and other structures to bolster its claim for an economic exclusion zone, a claim that has been disputed by China, Taiwan and South Korea.

Nevertheless, China’s objective is far more insidious than just challenging an economic exclusion zone.

In addition to using Okinotori or similar issues as information warfare to resurrect fears of World War Two-era Japanese militarism and expansionism to divide U.S. allies in the region, China plans to destroy the U.S. Indo-Pacific First and Second Island Chain defense structure established during the Korean War to contain the expansion of Communist China.

The map shows the positions of the First and Second Island Chains, which China intends to dominate militarily, the yellow dot indicating the approximate position of Okinotori Island.

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