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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="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/">covertactionmagazine.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Amidst Uproar Over Nancy Pelosi’s Visit
to Taiwan, Media Ignores Aggressive U.S. Maritime Action in South China
Seas</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Sara Flounders - August 18, 2022<br></div>
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<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/watch-out-rim-of-the-pacific-a-rim-of-china-may-b.jpeg?resize=696%2C462&ssl=1" alt="Watch out Rim of the Pacific, a Rim of China may be on the horizon" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="304">U.S. Carrier Strike Force in the South China Sea. [Source: <a href="https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3577714">taiwannews.com</a>]
<h2><strong>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 </strong></h2>
<p>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? </p>
<p>Consider what is being said, as well as what is totally omitted, in the U.S. coverage of China’s naval action around Taiwan. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Some 19 other Asia Pacific countries were pulled in for symbolic
participation. RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime
exercise. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/word-image-44267-2.jpeg?resize=225%2C225&ssl=1" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="225" height="225">[Source: <a href="https://www.militaryliving.com/28th-rimpac-exercise-scheduled-from-june-29th-to-aug-4th">militaryliving.com</a>]
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/pelosi-visit-to-taiwan-may-prompt-more-high-level.jpeg?resize=408%2C230&ssl=1" alt="Pelosi Visit to Taiwan May Prompt More High-Level Visits" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="408" height="230">[Source: <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/pelosi-visit-to-taiwan-may-prompt-more-high-level-visits-/6687979.html">voanews.com</a>]
<p>The shaping of information is all-pervasive. Whether it is FOX News, CNN, AP, <em>The New York Times</em> or <em>The Washington Post,</em> the multibillion-dollar media are part of and totally intertwined with U.S. military industries.</p>
<p>They collaborate in hiding U.S. war plans and provocations. </p>
<p>They also neglect the history which suggests that the U.S. has never had the best interests of the Taiwanese people at heart.</p>
<p>Taiwanese rapper and anti-imperialist commentator Zhong Xiangyu <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6zKPHycjHs">explains</a>:
“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. </p>
<p>“Today Taiwan separatism is not true independence. It just means serving U.S. interests in a hegemonic, unequal relationship.” </p>
<h2><strong>China’s right to self-defense </strong></h2>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/gen-keane-rips-outrageous-us-handling-of-china-t.jpeg?resize=696%2C391&ssl=1" alt="Gen Keane rips 'outrageous' US handling of China threat: 'You'd think we would have learned our lesson' | Fox News" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="257">Typical CNN story that puts China as the aggressor and fails to provide proper context for the conflict over Taiwan. [Source: <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/gen-keane-rips-outrageous-us-handling-china-threat-think-learned-lesson">foxnews.com</a>]
<p>There is only one accepted political line. The media repeat that
China is irrational, paranoid, belligerent, menacing and overreacting. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>The Chinese media are always described as state-controlled
propaganda. By comparison, the U.S. corporate media are always defined
as free and democratic. </p>
<p>This is so relentless that it impacts even social forces who oppose U.S. militarism and endless U.S. wars. </p>
<h2><strong>Routine threats by U.S. Navy </strong></h2>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/new-3rd-fleet-co-committed-to-operating-forward-to.jpeg?resize=696%2C390&ssl=1" alt="New 3rd Fleet CO Committed to Operating Forward to 'Preserve Peace' - USNI News" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="257">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 <em>Theodore Roosevelt</em> (CVN-71) on September 27, 2019. [Source: <a href="https://news.usni.org/2019/09/27/new-3rd-fleet-co-committed-to-operating-forward-to-preserve-peace">news.usni.org</a>]
<p>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.</p>
<p>The Seventh Fleet is led by the USS <em>Ronald Reagan</em>,
accompanied by guided-missile destroyers, nuclear submarines and jet
aircraft. This ship has now been joined by aircraft carrier battle
groups of the USS <em>Nimitz</em> and USS <em>Theodore Roosevelt</em>. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/uss-reagan.jpeg?resize=696%2C447&ssl=1" alt="USS Reagan" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="294">USS <em>Ronald Reagan</em> off Manila Bay in August 2019. [Source: <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/uss-ronald-reagan-us-aircraft-carrier-taiwan-1730066">newsweek.com</a>]
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<h2><strong>Hiding in plain sight </strong></h2>
<p>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. </p>
<p>These continuing assaults are not top news, but they are reported in military news media, such as the<em> Navy Times</em>. </p>
<p>When the guided-missile destroyer USS <em>Benfold</em> conducted its third transit through the South China Sea in a week, the Chinese government was prompted to <a href="https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/07/20/uss-benfold-transits-taiwan-strait-a-move-china-calls-provocative/">label the move as a provocation</a>.</p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/word-image-44267-9.jpeg?resize=696%2C464&ssl=1" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="305">Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer <em>Benfold</em> conducts routine underway operations in the Philippine Sea on June 24, 2022. [Source: <a href="https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/07/20/uss-benfold-transits-taiwan-strait-a-move-china-calls-provocative/">navytimes.com</a>]
<p>The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet has so far this year sent an <a href="https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-08-05/taiwan-navy-ronald-reagan-carrier-6886874.html">average of one guided-missile destroyer per month</a> through the Taiwan Strait as a challenge to China.</p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/an-f-a-18-super-hornet-launches-from-the-flight-de.jpeg?resize=696%2C434&ssl=1" alt="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." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="286">F/A-18 Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the USS <em>Ronald Reagan</em> in the Philippine Sea, August 5, 2022. [Source: <a href="https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-08-05/taiwan-navy-ronald-reagan-carrier-6886874.html">stripes.com</a>]
<p>According to <a href="https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-08-05/taiwan-navy-ronald-reagan-carrier-6886874.html">the<em> Navy Times</em></a>,
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.” </p>
<p>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.” </p>
<p>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. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/china-protests-us-navy-coast-guard-ships-in-taiwa.png?resize=696%2C392&ssl=1" alt="China Protests US Navy, Coast Guard Ships in Taiwan Strait" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="258">[Source: <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_china-protests-us-navy-coast-guard-ships-taiwan-strait/6210079.html">voanews.com</a>]
<h2><strong>Freedom of Navigation – imperialist piracy </strong></h2>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/word-image-44267-12.jpeg?resize=530%2C339&ssl=1" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="293">c. 1932. [Source: <a href="https://www.frankstaylorfamilyandroyalnavyhistory.net/ChinaStationAndTheFarEast/AmericanRiverGunboats.html">frankstaylorhistoryandroyalnavyhistory.net</a>]
<p>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. </p>
<p>“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. </p>
<p>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.” </p>
<p>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. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/brief-history-of-the-communist-party-of-china.jpeg?resize=450%2C305&ssl=1" alt="Brief History of the Communist Party of China" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="450" height="305">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: <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012cpc/2010-09/07/content_15811630_5.htm">chinadaily.com</a>]
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<h2><strong>U.S. violates signed agreements </strong></h2>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml373MHAtXo&t=31s">interview with CNN on August 7</a>, Waters refuted the narrative about Taiwan. </p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.” </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/roger-waters-addresses-politically-charged-this-is.png?resize=696%2C362&ssl=1" alt="Roger Waters Addresses Politically Charged This Is Not a Drill Tour in CNN Interview, Defends Russia and China" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="238">[Source: <a href="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/">jambands.com</a>]
<h2><strong>Pelosi and insider trading </strong></h2>
<p>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. </p>
<p>For example, <em>Fox News</em>, 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. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/paul-pelosi-pleads-not-guilty-to-misdemeanor-dui-c.jpeg?resize=696%2C395&ssl=1" alt="Paul Pelosi pleads not guilty to misdemeanor DUI charges | The Hill" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="260">Paul and Nancy Pelosi [Source: <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3586362-paul-pelosi-pleads-not-guilty-to-misdemeanor-dui-charges/">thehill.com</a>]
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/tsmc-why-china-wants-to-own-taiwan-...-its-all-abo.jpeg?resize=696%2C417&ssl=1" alt="TSMC: Why China wants to own Taiwan … it's all about computer chips" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="274">[Source: <a href="https://stocksdownunder.com/article/china-needs-tsmc-to-keep-up-with-the-us/">stocksdownunder.com</a>]
<h2><strong>Effort to reverse U.S. corporate decline </strong></h2>
<p>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.” </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202207/1271588.shtml">bill’s requirement</a> is for companies to pick one of only two choices: business ties with China, or subsidies from the U.S. government.</p>
<p>The problem U.S. imperialists face is how to force countries in the region to act against their own economic interests. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>The desperate imperialist strategy to reverse the declining global
position of the U.S. will be far more disruptive to the global economy. </p>
<img src="https://i0.wp.com/covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/political-cartoon-u-s-america-first-destabilized.jpeg?resize=335%2C292&ssl=1" alt="Political Cartoon U.S. America first destabilized world falling apart" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="335" height="292">[Source: <a href="https://theweek.com/cartoons/687091/political-cartoon-america-first-destabilized-world-falling-apart">theweek.com</a>]
<p>This information on U.S. provocations must be dragged into the
daylight by all the forces determined to prevent another imperialist
war. </p>
<p>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. </p>
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