US-based Web site The Drive on March 8 reported that China’s largest military transport aircraft, the Xian Y-20 — which is said to have a payload of 66 tonnes, a maximum range of 4,211 nautical miles (7,799km) and a top speed of 500 nautical miles per hour (926kph) — landed at Belgrade airport in Serbia, a landlocked Balkan nation that is of great geopolitical importance, after a short refueling stop in Turkey.
With the HQ-22 medium/long-range semi-active radar homing/radio-command guidance surface-to-air missile developed by China transported by the aircraft, China is no longer being discreet about its ambition of confronting NATO and its intention to replace Russian influence in Serbia, especially now that Moscow is deeply entrenched in a political, military and economic quagmire of its own making.
Following this Chinese long-distance military operation in the Balkans, the democratic camp must not underestimate the butterfly effect of this visit.
In addition, the Solomon Islands last month ignored pressure from Australia and the US, and signed a contract with China to allow it to station troops and build bases in the nation.
The Pacific island nation, 1,000 nautical miles northeast of Australia, with an area less than 80 percent of that of Taiwan and a population of only 650,000, occupies an important strategic position. As a result, there will no longer be any ability to monitor and guard against Beijing’s air and shipping activities between China and the Solomon Islands.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will then get a base in the second island chain in the Pacific, repositioning Taiwan, which is at the center of the first island chain, as a frontline state surrounded by Chinese military power. Moreover, it will also put a great deal of pressure on Taiwan’s western corridor, which relies on supplies and support from the east and the Central Mountain Range.
In addition, given that Chinese aircraft and warships have been unscrupulously harassing the southwest and east of Taiwan, the PLA could also attack Guam and Hawaii, which were originally safe areas, from the rear, making the third island chain between Alaska, New Zealand and Australia the new front line.
In particular, in the 3,000 nautical miles of the waters between the Solomon Island and Hawaii, there are no islands that can serve as a barrier to the east coast of the US, leaving the strategic “status quo” of the Pacific and Indian oceans that has existed for decades vulnerable.
The US’ tolerance of China over the past decades has given Beijing a chance to expand its ambitions, leaving nations like Taiwan, the US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan having to completely rearrange their strategic defense policies.
Only through preparations for combat in theses regions, and the implementation of political, economic and defense mutual assistance, can the security of these nations now be guaranteed.
Lai Ming-huang is an engineer with a doctorate from National Cheng Kung University.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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