WASHINGTON – China has a plan to “isolate” India and Japan and project itspower with an aim to control the Indian Ocean region, a US lawmaker warnedon Thursday. Beijing, he said, has its eyes set on Taiwan, which it claimsas part of China. The American lawmaker went on to say that Beijing’s planis to turn neighbouring country Taiwan into “a major nuclear andconventional military base.”
By doing so, China will be able to project its influence into the IndianOcean and be able to control the disputed South China Sea, he claimed.
Expressing concern over China’s growing economic and military power, the USlawmaker warned that Beijing’s long-term plan and ultimate intention is to”isolate both Japan and India” and have a major influence in the IndianOcean region.
The American lawmaker, Richard D Fisher, of the International Assessmentand Strategy Center told lawmakers on Thursday that Beijing has come upwith a strategy for gaining eventual global military access called the”debt trap diplomacy”.
“China may be using debt pressure right now to force Djibouti to limit USmilitary access in that strategic base. It recently gained ownership of anew large port in Sri Lanka, again, by debt default. Vanuatu, Pakistan,Thailand and many others are vulnerable,” Mr Fisher pointed out.
“A good reason to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which could beperhaps as early as the mid-2020s, is that China will turn Taiwan into amajor nuclear and conventional military base,” he said.
“This will then trigger Chinese moves to isolate Japan by consolidatingeven more control over the South China Sea. Beijing will then project itspower into the Indian Ocean to isolate India. In Latin America, China willcontinue to exploit opportunities to cause trouble and gain militaryaccess,” he claimed.
China claims almost all of South China Sea and has also laid claims on theSenkaku islands under the control of Japan in East China Sea. Beijing hasalready resorted to aggressive patrols in the region over the last twoyears. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims over the strategic and key waterway.
The United States periodically deploys its naval ships and fighter jets toassert and ensure freedom of navigation in the region, which is constantlyunder threat from China, he said.
“By the 2030s, the Chinese Air Force air mobile projection could be basedon 100 to 200 large C-17 size Xian Y-20 heavy transports, and both theirlightweight airborne forces and now medium-weight airborne projectionforces are anticipated. China is assembling a power-projection Navy that,by the 2030s, may have the world’s first totally nuclear-powered carrierbattle group,” Mr Fisher highlighted.