CENTRE FOR AIR POWER STUDIES

The US strategy is to constrain China within the first island chain area comprising the three seas, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea, which will allow unfettered military manoeuvre for the US in the vast oceanic theatre. [...] Gaining military superiority both in the maritime and aerial domains in East Asia is crucial to fulfilling China’s long-held dream of unifying Taiwan with the mainland, regaining the disputed territories in the East and South China Seas, and becoming a ‘recognised’ global power. [...] President Xi Jinping announced his ‘China Dream’ in 2014, saying that China should complete the above goals by the middle of the century.1 Given the conditions of security ambitions and economic visions merging, some argue that China might complete the security objectives, such as the unification of Taiwan, by 2035, when China becomes the largest economy in the world by doubling the size of the ec. [...] In April, the US and the Philippines agreed to use four more bases for the US military, apart from the five other bases agreed upon in 2014.12 To bolster aerial capabilities against the Chinese threat, Japan and the US 3 CAPS InFocus 18 September 2023 signed an agreement to purchase 105 F-35 joint strike fighters (63 F-35A and 43 F-35B) in 2019, and the delivery has almost b. [...] Accessed on September 5, 2023 5 Hub-and-spoke system is based on bilateral military alliances that the US signed with countries from East and Southeast Asia to maintain the US military presence in the region and also to guarantee the security of partner countries.