[News] Amidst Uproar Over Nancy Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan, Media Ignores Aggressive U.S. Maritime Action in South China Seas

[Anti-Imperialist News]

covertactionmagazine.com
<https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/08/18/amidst-uproar-over-nancy-pelosis-visit-to-taiwan-media-ignores-aggressive-u-s-maritime-action-in-south-china-seas/>
Amidst Uproar Over Nancy Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan, Media Ignores Aggressive
U.S. Maritime Action in South China Seas
Sara Flounders - August 18, 2022
------------------------------
[image: Watch out Rim of the Pacific, a Rim of China may be on the horizon]U.S.
Carrier Strike Force in the South China Sea. [Source: taiwannews.com
<https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3577714>] *In order to force
high-tech companies to decouple from the People’s Republic of China and
reverse U.S. decline, U.S. imperialism needs a political/military crisis
with China *

Why has there been almost no coverage of U.S.-led naval maritime exercises
in the South China Sea at the same time multi-millionaire Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi was visiting Taiwan?

Consider what is being said, as well as what is totally omitted, in the
U.S. coverage of China’s naval action around Taiwan.

The U.S. naval command RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific Amphibious Assault
Training) was carrying out maneuvers involving 170 aircraft, 38 ships, 4
submarines, and 25,000 military personnel from all the G7 imperialist
countries.

Some 19 other Asia Pacific countries were pulled in for symbolic
participation. RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime
exercise.

This aggressive maritime action took place from June 29 to August 4. In
other words, it was going on as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was
visiting Taiwan.
[Source: militaryliving.com
<https://www.militaryliving.com/28th-rimpac-exercise-scheduled-from-june-29th-to-aug-4th>]
[image: Pelosi Visit to Taiwan May Prompt More High-Level Visits][Source:
voanews.com
<https://www.voanews.com/a/pelosi-visit-to-taiwan-may-prompt-more-high-level-visits-/6687979.html>]


The shaping of information is all-pervasive. Whether it is FOX News, CNN,
AP, *The New York Times* or *The Washington Post,* the multibillion-dollar
media are part of and totally intertwined with U.S. military industries.

They collaborate in hiding U.S. war plans and provocations.

They also neglect the history which suggests that the U.S. has never had
the best interests of the Taiwanese people at heart.

Taiwanese rapper and anti-imperialist commentator Zhong Xiangyu explains
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6zKPHycjHs>: “The U.S. government has
never been a protector of Taiwan. The U.S. Navy was the first country to
attack Taiwan with a warship in 1867. The U.S. Navy supported Japan in
invading Taiwan in 1874. The U.S. government sold weapons to Japan during
the Sino-Japanese War, leading to China’s defeat and forcing China to cede
Taiwan to Japan in 1895.

“Today Taiwan separatism is not true independence. It just means serving
U.S. interests in a hegemonic, unequal relationship.”
*China’s right to self-defense *

The media coverage of China’s military drills around Taiwan never describe
them as self-defense. The media display absolute unity, blocking any
mention of China’s right to safeguard its national sovereignty and
territorial integrity.

Every statement or action taken by China is relentlessly described as
“threatening,” “provocative” or “expansionist.” The same words are used
again and again in news articles and politicians’ statements.
[image: Gen Keane rips 'outrageous' US handling of China threat: 'You'd
think we would have learned our lesson' | Fox News]Typical CNN story that
puts China as the aggressor and fails to provide proper context for the
conflict over Taiwan. [Source: foxnews.com
<https://www.foxnews.com/media/gen-keane-rips-outrageous-us-handling-china-threat-think-learned-lesson>]


There is only one accepted political line. The media repeat that China is
irrational, paranoid, belligerent, menacing and overreacting.

U.S. actions, even military maneuvers in which thousands of troops employ
jet bombers and aircraft carriers, are described as “routine rotations” or
normal schedules—that is, if the mainstream media report on them at all.

The Chinese media are always described as state-controlled propaganda. By
comparison, the U.S. corporate media are always defined as free and
democratic.

This is so relentless that it impacts even social forces who oppose U.S.
militarism and endless U.S. wars.
*Routine threats by U.S. Navy *

RIMPAC is planned and coordinated by the U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet. According
to its commander, their massive training is meant to deter escalation by
China’s military.

Only part of the Third Fleet is engaged in RIMPAC. The fleet’s total size
comes to a combat-ready force of more than 68,000 people, 100 ships and 400
aircraft.
[image: New 3rd Fleet CO Committed to Operating Forward to 'Preserve Peace'
- USNI News]Vice Adm. Scott D. Conn delivers remarks during a change of
command and retirement ceremony after relieving Vice Adm. John D. Alexander
as Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet, aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS
*Theodore
Roosevelt* (CVN-71) on September 27, 2019. [Source: news.usni.org
<https://news.usni.org/2019/09/27/new-3rd-fleet-co-committed-to-operating-forward-to-preserve-peace>]


Moving into place as Pelosi visited Taiwan was the even larger U.S. Navy
Seventh Fleet, the largest of its forward-deployed fleets. At any given
time, it amounts to 50 to 70 ships and submarines, 150 aircraft, and more
than 27,000 sailors and Marines.

The Seventh Fleet is led by the USS *Ronald Reagan*, accompanied by
guided-missile destroyers, nuclear submarines and jet aircraft. This ship
has now been joined by aircraft carrier battle groups of the USS *Nimitz*
and USS *Theodore Roosevelt*.
[image: USS Reagan]USS *Ronald Reagan* off Manila Bay in August 2019.
[Source: newsweek.com
<https://www.newsweek.com/uss-ronald-reagan-us-aircraft-carrier-taiwan-1730066>]


It is comparable to a scenario in which Chinese destroyers were to sail
into the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of New Orleans and Houston.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet consists of approximately 200 ships/submarines,
nearly 1,200 aircraft, and more than 130,000 sailors and civilians. The
U.S. Navy maintains 11 carrier strike groups in international waters.
*Hiding in plain sight *

Isn’t this aggressive and threatening? Yet this vast and deadly armada is
hidden in plain sight. It is barely mentioned, but even when hundreds of
ships and aircraft are involved, they are described as simply participating
in “routine” or “business as usual” exercises.

These continuing assaults are not top news, but they are reported in
military news media, such as the* Navy Times*.

When the guided-missile destroyer USS *Benfold* conducted its third transit
through the South China Sea in a week, the Chinese government was prompted
to label the move as a provocation
<https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/07/20/uss-benfold-transits-taiwan-strait-a-move-china-calls-provocative/>
.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer *Benfold* conducts routine
underway operations in the Philippine Sea on June 24, 2022. [Source:
navytimes.com
<https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/07/20/uss-benfold-transits-taiwan-strait-a-move-china-calls-provocative/>]


The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet has so far this year sent an average of
one guided-missile destroyer per month
<https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-08-05/taiwan-navy-ronald-reagan-carrier-6886874.html>
through the Taiwan Strait as a challenge to China.
[image: An F/A-18 Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the
aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the Philippine Sea, Friday, Aug. 5,
2022.]F/A-18 Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the USS *Ronald
Reagan* in the Philippine Sea, August 5, 2022. [Source: stripes.com
<https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-08-05/taiwan-navy-ronald-reagan-carrier-6886874.html>]


According to the* Navy Times*
<https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-08-05/taiwan-navy-ronald-reagan-carrier-6886874.html>,
China’s foreign ministry protested: “The U.S. military’s actions have
seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security, seriously undermined
peace and stability in the South China Sea, and seriously violated
international law and norms governing international relations.”

China’s long-held position is that “the two sides of the Taiwan Strait
belong to one China and should work together to seek national
reunification.”

The Taiwan Strait is part of the South China Sea, and China has claimed the
area as its territorial waters. However, the United States has consistently
said that it considers the strait to be international waters.
[image: China Protests US Navy, Coast Guard Ships in Taiwan Strait][Source:
voanews.com
<https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_china-protests-us-navy-coast-guard-ships-taiwan-strait/6210079.html>]
*Freedom of Navigation – imperialist piracy *

“Freedom of Navigation” is similar to the grand term “Free Trade.” It is
not about freedom. Freedom of Navigation has meant unrestricted U.S.,
British, French and Japanese access to the looting of China.

Few people in the U.S. are aware of the fact that, more than a century ago,
the U.S. Navy sent fleets of armored ships to patrol Chinese rivers and
coastal waters.
c. 1932. [Source: frankstaylorhistoryandroyalnavyhistory.net
<https://www.frankstaylorfamilyandroyalnavyhistory.net/ChinaStationAndTheFarEast/AmericanRiverGunboats.html>]


Special fleets of gunboats of the U.S. Navy and Marines patrolled Chinese
rivers up to 1,000 miles inland. They were there to enforce U.S. trade
interests and suppress uprisings. Armies of occupation from the U.S.,
Britain, France, Germany and Japan were stationed in Chinese cities.

“Concessions” were forced on China by brutal gunboat diplomacy and
enshrined by onerous unequal treaties that made China pay imperialist
countries huge indemnities and grant such “concessions” as control of its
cities, major ports and largest waterways.

Britain, with U.S. and French participation, fought two Opium Wars in China
to enforce its “right” to sell opium. The merchants called this “defending
free trade” and “protecting freedom of navigation.”

It was the 1949 victory of the Chinese Communist Party that finally ended
these “Freedom of Navigation” invasions into China’s mainland, opening the
opportunity to rebuild a strong, united China which is increasingly able to
defend its coastal waters and resist U.S. imperialist demands.
[image: Brief History of the Communist Party of China]Celebration of Maoist
victory in Chinese civil war and declaration of People’s Republic of China
on October 2, 1949, which ended U.S. freedom of navigation exercises in
Chinese waters. [Source: chinadaily.com
<https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012cpc/2010-09/07/content_15811630_5.htm>]


The corrupt and defeated former military forces, defending the rights of
the old landlord class, withdrew, with U.S. Navy protection, to the island
province of Taiwan. This was hardly a democratic process. It was a totally
militarized U.S. occupation of the island.

China has held a consistent, well-understood position on its sovereignty
and territorial integrity that is recognized internationally in all world
bodies. China has repeatedly asserted its right to resolve this unfinished
national reunification.
*U.S. violates signed agreements *

Washington is openly violating three different signed agreements—Joint
Communiques it made with China in 1972, 1979 and 1982—affirming that China
is one country and Taiwan is a province of China.

Any focus on these signed agreements of “One China” in the Western media
today would expose that the U.S. has broken its promises not to interrupt
China’s efforts to reunify the island peacefully.

Once in a while the truth slips in. Roger Waters, co-founder of Pink Floyd,
an English rock band formed in London in 1965, is now on a final U.S. tour
titled: “This is not a drill.” In an interview with CNN on August 7
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml373MHAtXo&t=31s>, Waters refuted the
narrative about Taiwan.

When CNN host Michael Smerconish said in the interview that “China is too
busy encircling Taiwan,” Waters immediately said, “They’re not encircling
Taiwan, Taiwan is part of China, and that’s been absolutely accepted by the
whole of the international community since 1948.”

Smerconish tried to interrupt Waters, saying that China is “on the top of
the list of human rights offenders.” Waters immediately shot back: “The
Chinese didn’t go to Iraq in 2003 and kill one million people.”
[image: Roger Waters Addresses Politically Charged This Is Not a Drill Tour
in CNN Interview, Defends Russia and China][Source: jambands.com
<https://jambands.com/news/2022/08/08/roger-waters-addresses-politically-charged-this-is-not-a-drill-tour-in-cnn-interview-defends-russia-and-china/>]
*Pelosi and insider trading *

The U.S. corporate media are united in hostility to China. At the same
time, different media can favor either a Democratic or Republican
presidency.

For example, *Fox News*, guilty of a daily barrage of racist stereotypes
against China, was at the forefront of exposing Nancy Pelosi’s husband,
Paul Pelosi, for his multimillion-dollar insider stock trading in a
semiconductor firm just before Congress voted to give $52 billion to chip
manufacturers in the U.S., called the CHIPS Act.
[image: Paul Pelosi pleads not guilty to misdemeanor DUI charges | The
Hill]Paul
and Nancy Pelosi [Source: thehill.com
<https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3586362-paul-pelosi-pleads-not-guilty-to-misdemeanor-dui-charges/>]


Despite this scandal and her role as Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Nancy Pelosi met with the chairman of the Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest
semiconductor manufacturer and a beneficiary of the U.S. legislation.

TSMC plans to build a $12-billion chip factory in the U.S. The
semiconductor industry is a priority for the U.S. “containment” of China.
At the same time, the U.S. government is using various sanctions to
suppress Chinese high-tech companies and break chip supply chains away from
China.
[image: TSMC: Why China wants to own Taiwan … it's all about computer
chips][Source:
stocksdownunder.com
<https://stocksdownunder.com/article/china-needs-tsmc-to-keep-up-with-the-us/>]
*Effort to reverse U.S. corporate decline *

Wang Peng, a research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences,
explained: “The U.S. is using the CHIPS Act to force companies in countries
and regions of key status on the global chip supply and industrial chains
to play by U.S. rules, as well as encircling and suppressing chip
industries in emerging markets.”

The bill’s requirement
<https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202207/1271588.shtml> is for companies to
pick one of only two choices: business ties with China, or subsidies from
the U.S. government.

The problem U.S. imperialists face is how to force countries in the region
to act against their own economic interests.

Taiwan’s annual exports to China come to $126.2 billion, almost double its
exports to the U.S. of $65.9 billion. South Korea’s exports to China, at
$132.5 billion, far outweigh the $74.4 billion to the U.S. Japan’s exports
to China come to $163.8 billion, compared to only $135.9 billion in exports
to the U.S.

In order to force high-tech companies to decouple from the People’s
Republic of China, U.S. imperialism needs a political/military crisis with
China. Every U.S. plan for sanctions on China starts with a manufactured
crisis over Taiwan.

U.S. imperialism’s strategy of restructuring and distorting the global
economy to serve its own short-term interests of maximizing immediate
profits has led to an aggressive U.S. expansion of NATO and provocations in
Ukraine.

The immediate threat to U.S. hegemony was the EU trade with Russia of $260
billion a year—10 times its trade with the U.S. The EU has also been the
largest investor in Russia.

Breaking this growing economic integration of the EU with Russia, and at an
even greater level with China, serves the long-term strategic interests of
U.S. corporate domination that have been in place since World War II.

In 2021 China’s GDP was roughly 10 times larger than Russia’s. China is the
world’s top trading economy and the number-one exporter of manufactured
goods. It is in an increasingly strong position to resist U.S. demands.

The desperate imperialist strategy to reverse the declining global position
of the U.S. will be far more disruptive to the global economy.
[image: Political Cartoon U.S. America first destabilized world falling
apart][Source: theweek.com
<https://theweek.com/cartoons/687091/political-cartoon-america-first-destabilized-world-falling-apart>]


This information on U.S. provocations must be dragged into the daylight by
all the forces determined to prevent another imperialist war.

The role of the U.S. corporate media is to make imperialist threats seem
palatable and entirely reasonable. This is possible only by blocking all
past history of U.S. wars while using racism to smear and demonize China’s
legitimate, reasonable and lawful responses and countermeasures.
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