After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States became the world's sole superpower, and its ambition to dominate the world began to gradually expand. NATO, led by the United States, has begun to expand eastward, and in recent years, in addition to threatening Russia's border security, it has also extended to the Asia-Pacific region.
In the past 2023, NATO has continued to maintain close ties with Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand countries in the Asia-Pacific regionAt the NATO summit in July, the so-called "NATO+" alliance was promoted. Japan and South Korea have long joined NATO's Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, which has become NATO's "outposts" into the Asia-Pacific region.
A few days ago, Japan passed the military budget for 2024 at a cabinet meeting, an increase of 1 from 202313 trillion yen, a year-on-year increase of more than 16%. This has not only set a new record for Japan's annual military budget, but has also increased defense spending for 12 consecutive years. In addition, Japan also reviewed the "Three Principles for the Transfer of Defense Equipment" and its implementation guidelines, and provided the United States with "Patriot" land-based interceptor missiles, which was Japan's first lethal equipment to the outside world.
In addition, Japan also plans to order 15 F-35 stealth fighters from the United States, which is the country with the most F-35 fighters outside the United States, counting the 147 already owned, which will further enhance Japan's military power. Japan's purchase of these fighters is far beyond the market, but in order to arm itself, Japan does not care, and deploys in important sea areas under the pretext of "counterattack and self-defense", in fact, in order to be able to achieve a preemptive offensive capability, and the strategic intention of "turning defense into offense" is very obvious.
However, Japan was a defeated country in World War II, and this kind of military power is obviously intended to bypass the constraints of the pacifist constitution and the principle of "exclusive defense" and use the United States as an endorsement to make itself a country with strong military power, which will also bring great instability to the Asia-Pacific region.
In addition to Japan, South Korea has long been coerced by the United States into a chariot and has been constantly making a fuss about the Korean Peninsula issue, not only holding large-scale air and space military exercises, but also launching military provocations against North Korea, making the Korean Peninsula a fuse that could trigger a world war or a nuclear war at any time.
As for New Zealand and Australia, they are themselves members of the "Five Eyes" alliance and have a natural alliance with the US hegemony, and in the context of global geopolitical turmoil, the two countries are also actively moving closer to the West, hoping to have more influence in the international community.
At the annual press conference in 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also set the tone for China-US relations in 2024, and there will still be "good shows" in the coming year.
Blinken's rhetoric was typically hawkish, declaring that the United States would deal with China "from an advantageous position." In order to emphasize that the United States does have this qualification, Blinken reiterated that the United States has a huge partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as alliances such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and will deepen cooperation with global allies in the future to deal with the so-called "China threat."
These allies include 35 countries, including NATO, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and the Philippines. This means that NATO, an organization established during the Cold War, has become a tool for the United States to coerce its allies and achieve global strategic hegemony. Whether it is the "Asia-Pacificization" of NATO or the "NATOIZATION" of the Asia-Pacific allies of the United States, other local Asia-Pacific countries, including China, should remain vigilant enough against the backdrop of major changes unseen in the world in a century.
In this regard, Putin highly praised Russian-Chinese relations at his annual press conference in 2023, calling them one of the important guarantees of global stability. The normalization of relations between Russia and the West is proceeding slowly because the West ignores Russia's interests.
Putin also sharply pointed out that NATO is the Atlantic bloc, so what does Asian affairs have to do with you?However, NATO continues to escalate the situation in Asia, but Russia and China have not done so.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has entered its third year, and Russia is deeply affected by NATO's eastward expansion, so it naturally knows what kind of impact NATO's Asia-Pacific will have. As far as the current Sino-Russian relations are concerned, Russia needs to rely on China to develop its economy, and will never sit idly by and watch China be surrounded and sanctioned.
Dead lips and cold teeth are the foundation of Sino-Russian relations.
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