The top US Marine Corps general in Japan has said that the US is "setting the theater" in the Asia-Pacific region the same way it did in Ukraine after 2014.
Putting that military-speak into ordinary words: the United States is preparing to initiate a future conflict in the region in the same way it did in Ukraine following the US-backed ousting of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Claiming that Ukraine had made big achievements in its conflict with Russia thanks to the preparations that the US made for the hostilities — by "training the Ukrainians, prepositioning supplies, identification of sites from which we could operate support, sustain operations" — Lieutenant general James Bierman, commander of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force and of Marine Forces Japan, said that the US is now doing the same "in Japan, in the Philippines, in other locations".
Under the backdrop of the US' rising enmity toward China and its constant provocations over the Taiwan question, what Bierman said makes it clear that the Pentagon now harbors the intention to fan the flames of war in the region.
Nevertheless, while the US intends to make Taiwan the fuse for conflict, it will still be a mistake to believe that the US is ready to sacrifice US lives for the island. As it has done with Ukraine, it will seek to use proxies to do its dirty work. Thus its so-called war preparations involve pushing its regional allies to the forefront in its next theater of war. Although in the case of Japan, it appears to need no pushing as it has enthusiastically jumped on the US' militarized bandwagon.
Japan's eagerness to contain China is because that offers it an excuse to remilitarize. This in the eyes of its right-wing politicians is the only way it can gain status and recognition on the world stage as a normal country.
The new security strategy drawn up by the Fumio Kishida government names China "the biggest strategic challenge" and includes language that can justify military action, breaking the constraints of Japan's post-World War II Constitution. With Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visiting Washington next week, it can be anticipated that Japan will step forward to help the US "set its theater".
But the warmongering collusion between the US and Japan will not daunt China. Beijing has repeatedly warned outside forces that they court disaster by trying to exploit the Taiwan question to contain China. The People's Liberation Army has made it clear with its recent drills around the island that it will take action to resolutely smash any act that aims to split Taiwan from the motherland.
The US' allies should take an objective look at what has happened to Ukraine since the US set it up as a theater of war, and consider what might entail if they enable Washington to set a theater of war in the region with them as its proxies.