[Music] there's a small volcanic island off the southern coast of Japan called magashima nobody lives here but here's footage from January 2023 of construction workers arriving to this island their task is to build a couple of runways on the island and some storage facilities for ammunition the Japanese government has been paying local fishermen to stay away from this island that's because they're turning it into a military base the island is being built by Japan but one of its main purposes has to do with the United States American fighter jets and aircraft carriers have had to do their drills and practices down here on this island but now they're able to station at this island moving them much closer to this ocean and to one country in particular magashima is just one of many islands that are being loaded up with military hardware most of it coming from the United States it's part of this chain of militarized islands an effort of defense or aggression depending on how you look at it it's a line that centers on Taiwan and it's what one official was referring to when they said that 2023 is likely to stand as the most transformative year in U.S force posture in this region in a generation this line is a symbol of the rising tensions between Global superpowers and I want to show you why this is happening now and what it means for the future of this conflict this is unlike anything the U.S Navy has done since World War II pensions are rising in one of the most hotly contested regions on the planet the South China Sea immediately [Music] hey I'm gonna pause the story really quick to tell you about uh today's sponsor who's co-pilot which is a product that I actually use almost every day of my life copilot is a platform where you get paired up with a fitness coach you meet with that Fitness coach it's a real person it's not like an AI and that Fitness coach talks to you about your fitness goals and then they design a custom fitness plan for you using their app every day 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like when I work out I know that there's somebody who's going to check in with me and ask how the workout went co-pilot found that their clients are nine times more likely to stick to their goals when they have a real person coach who is designing a workout for them which is like not surprising to me of course they are accountability and consistency is the hardest thing with Fitness as we all know and copilot solves that by pairing you up with a real person I've been doing this now for like eight months and it's been really really cool I've changed my workout a bunch I've like met with my coach and like reshaped my entire workout based on new goals and I just think it's a fantastic platform so thank thank you co-pilot for sponsoring the video there's a link in my description it is go.myco-pilot.com Johnny Harris clicking that link helps support this channel but it also gives you 14 days of free copilot access to your own personal fitness coach you can test it out and see if it helps you with accountability and fitness which is something we all need to feel good in our bodies so thank you copilot for sponsoring today's video Let's dive back into this important story here we go okay so this document from the U.S Department of Defense this document is called the national defense strategy of the United States of America which also includes the nuclear posture review and missile defense review it's basically a report that they release every four years that gives us an understanding of what the US military is up to what they care about but this year's is more detailed than normal the document focuses a lot on China if China threatens our sovereignty concerns directly with China the dod says that China quote remains our most consequential strategic competitor for coming decades why because the Pentagon says China is bullying its neighbors to quote reshape the region and the International System to fit its authoritarian preferences now remember that the United States who spends loads on its military has set the rules for our Global Order how we trade what political systems we favor who participates in the system and now we see a country that wants to Dethrone them to create a new system based on other values and other rules and what scares the US military is that China is rapidly modernizing and expanding their military China's middle military is growing incredibly fast like they deploy the equivalent of an entire new British Navy every four years every four years like new new British Navy like new Royal Navy every four years yeah they're just growing very quickly this report is concerned about China's growing strength and Military footprint [Music] how China is coercing its neighbors disregarding ocean boundaries testing missiles bullying fishing vessels in other countries Waters building islands and military bases on those islands and flying over other countries airspace and especially in Taiwan the island that China claims as their own and where the globe gets nearly all of their Advanced microchips which is a topic I made an entire video about the point is Taiwan is an incredibly important Island for the United States all of this together makes China quote the only country that has the intent and power to actually challenge the us-led global order and rewrite Global rules and Norms something the U.S has gotten really comfortable doing over the last 70 years so this is why the U.S considers China the most
consequential strategic competitor for coming decades and they've created a plan to respond and in their words we cannot delay they give themselves this 10-year window to implement some major changes and this is what it looks like okay first things first the US military is already very very present in Asia we've got about 8 000 troops in Guam we've got over 100 bases in Japan with about 21 000 American troops on the mainland and another 24 000 station down here on the Japanese island of Okinawa go up to South Korea and you'll find 22 000 U.S troops and then you've got the U.S Navy who operates out of this port in Singapore this has been the status quo in Asia for decades and it has been the way that the US has ensured security for its allies and it's kind of mostly worked to help secure American interests and deter conflict the US has maintained strong alliances in this region and frankly the Pentagon has kind of been distracted with other things two Wars that happened in the Middle East over the past 20 years my fellow citizens my fellow citizens but as those conflicts wind down and as China militarizes the Department of Defense says that this status quo all of these troops in Asia it's not enough they talk about this new kind of deterrent integrated deterrence the only kind of military posture that will actually keep China at Bay and this is what it looks like the smallest part of the strategy has to do with American bases they're going to reopen a base in Guam and move some troops there but the majority of this strategy has to do with American Allies in Asia allies that are in lockstep with the US's goal to deter and contain China depending on calls partnering with its allies the center of gravity for this strategy so let's start with Japan one of the US's closest allies in the region Japan is a country that is deeply concerned about a more powerful China with its massive Navy and its Ambitions to control Taiwan and it's very easy to forget that Japan isn't just this it's actually all of this it extends way down here because of all these islands these islands curve nicely all the way down until they hit Taiwan all of these are Japanese Islands I mean if you look at Japan's national defense strategy translated into English you will see something it looks strikingly similar to what the Pentagon released they're both really freaked out about China and they both are ready to act in lockstep to deter a more aggressive China in the region so it starts up here with that island that we talked about at the beginning magashima this new military base and airstrip to be used by both Japanese and U.S militaries further south is amami Island where Japan has recently added long-range missiles and anti-ship missiles potentially they're going to add cruise missiles these are missiles that they're buying from the United States these are missiles that are definitely in range of the Taiwan Strait next to the chain is Okinawa where the US has a huge presence of tens of thousands of troops already Japan also has military bases here and is adding even more long-range missiles and electronic warfare units for military installations meant to disrupt and deny communication signals on these two islands down here they're adding even more long-range missiles which could potentially be used to attack Chinese naval ships aircraft and Japan is placing nearly 600 troops on ishigaki as well and finally you've got this last militarized island in the chain yonaguni it's the closest island to Taiwan and here Japan is adding more of those electronic warfare units which are used to jam communication signals or to listen in on their Communications you know they're right next to China Japan is also positioning more troops here so this is the first part of our chain and when paired with training that Japan and U.S troops are doing to simulate Island and amphibious Warfare it sends a really strong signal to China that Japan is ready to respond if needed this line also serves as like a physical barrier that any Chinese ship or submarine would have to pass through in order to access the Pacific Ocean it's a line that Japan can easily control and monitor and it also builds a wall of missiles any calculus that China is making on whether or not to invade Taiwan or to do anything in the region we'll have to now factor in this wall of missiles ready to roll overall this increased military presence on this chain of islands gives Japan and by extension the United States the ability to monitor Communications and troop movements of China preparing them to act quickly it also gives them the ability to pre-position troops and supplies throughout the region which is a major logistical Advantage but all of this comes with a massive price tag so Japan which is formerly a pacifist Nation without like a huge military is actually planning to double their defense spending they're spending way more on buying weapons than they ever have before and 97 of those weapons are coming from the United [Music] the island change strategy continues down here with the Philippines close to Taiwan and close to the South China Sea the U.S knows that it needs to bolster
its presence here but it's not as straightforward as it is in Japan the Philippines was a U.S Colony for decades it's a very sensitive history and even after Filipino Independence the U.S maintained a military presence in the Philippines until like the 90s and then they eventually kicked out the U.S as many saw it as just an enduring Legacy of U.S colonialism but a more
aggressive China has become a major threat to the Philippines now listen I'm not going to go into like a full South China Sea thing here but just know that China claims all of this as their Maritime boundary it's literally a line with nine dashes that some Chinese official in 1948 Drew by hand on a map this line blasts through the boundaries that the rest of the world recognizes as the Filipino territorial Waters so there's a conflict in the ocean and now on a daily basis Filipino fishing vessels are harassed by Chinese military vessels who threaten them if they don't leave their Waters in 2022 China put a temporary stop to All fishing in the South China Sea denying the Philippines of ability to fish in the west Philippine Sea which is rightfully their Waters but it's crazier than that the Chinese Navy is like full-blown just bullying the Philippines they like show up with lasers to harass and blind Filipino ships I mean let's remember the Philippines is a much smaller Nation than China and doesn't really have a Navy even close to what China has so now they're in this impossible decision they have to choose between giving up their sovereignty and fishing rights to their aggressive neighbor China or partnering with their former colonizer who also wants to repel China and in this case they chose the latter China has pushed too hard it's pushed the Philippines in the South China Sea what they call the West Philippine Sea well the Philippines is planning to boost this military presence in the dispute at South China Sea it started in 2014 when they allowed the U.S back in for the first time in 22 years the U.S presence will technically be in bases that are owned by the Philippines but the US can have troops build barracks and other military installations and can have pre-positioned supplies there as well it's basically like the US has bases there but it's like it's actually the Philippines and as part of all of this that we've been talking about in late 2022 they expanded their agreement giving the U.S military access to four more bases bringing the total number of bases on the Philippines up to nine and look where they selected to put them here in the north of the country strategically close to Taiwan and helping fill their Gap in their island chain that they're creating this now allows us to have a military presence really close to Taiwan the U.S trains very closely with their Filipino counterparts making them ready to respond very quickly to an invasion in Taiwan while also repelling Chinese bullying of Filipino fishing activity okay so now that island chain is filling out giving the U.S and its Regional Partners a solid blockade to the Pacific and it continues all the way down around the South China Sea because of the U.S
presence in Singapore this is a very united front but it doesn't stop here the last part of the strategy is potentially the most significant and it has to do with Australia a country that is also alarmed by China's rise in the region so there's this military pact between the U.S the UK and Australia it's called August what it means is that these three countries will work together to create a unified submarine force that will Patrol the Pacific first what it means is that the U.S is giving giving nuclear submarine technology its most powerful and advanced weapon freely to Australia here here are the designs to our most powerful weapons take them foreign country and then the US and UK will base submarines out of this port here in Australia it's called Perth Australian Sailors will ride alongside U.S and UK sailors during submarine deployments they will learn together they will work together they will share classified intelligence what this means is that there will be a significantly larger number of submarines patrolling these Waters and remember these are nuclear-powered submarines which we made a whole video on as well these things can be underwater for months they can go on these long patrols over to Taiwan and the South China Sea they can close up these key choke points plugging holes in their growing line against China and crucially we can be pretty damn certain that a lot of these submarines will be carrying nuclear weapons adding yet another layer of deterring power to an already really powerful line of defense and if this wasn't enough Australia is also building a permanent Hangar for U.S
B-52 bombers up here in the Tyndall Air Base in Northern Australia these U.S bombers carry Conventional Weapons but they also carry nukes so now U.S bombers carrying nuclear weapons will have a permanent home in Australia there's going to be a lot more military hardware in the Pacific because of this Hardware that carries the most powerful and dangerous weapons we have this is a very aggressive signal to China that the West is ready so now if you look at the whole thing this whole chain you see how robust this presence is this is what that military official meant by transformative the military name for this is the first island chain and it is at the heart of the US and its allies strategy to counter and contain China and it's easy to see that this island chain while protecting a lot of different interests for a lot of different countries really centers on Taiwan a major purpose for all of this militarization the missiles the subs the air bases the troops is to prepare for conflict in Taiwan and this is where we get to the Paradox of deterrence you prepare to fight so that you don't have to fight all of this preparation might be just what is needed for China to decide that it would be too costly to invade Taiwan but the other side of that Paradox is that all of this looks an awful lot like overt escalation in a conflict if you're China this chain of islands is clearly your enemy trying to box you in to monitor your every move a superpower from the other side of the world flooding your region with more military hardware to stop your influence it would be impossible for this plan to not contribute to a rising of tensions between the two superpowers all this as the U.S prepares for a potential conflict with China how close are we to all-out conflict between the world's two largest superpowers foreign Chinese president Xi Jinping has already called this a policy of encirclement and suppression and let's be honest he's right whether you like it or not this is containment old school Cold War style containment it's hard not to see it when you look at this map and the Chinese foreign minister said that it would literally be impossible for China to not fight back to take a move that retaliates against this move which means that if the US and its allies aren't careful with all of this it may send a signal to China that now is the time to invade Taiwan before all of this plan can fully be implemented in that sense this strategy could provoke the very conflict that it is trying to deter foreign thanks for watching today's video thanks again to co-pilot for sponsoring the video link in my description if you want to get started 14 days for free um I wanted to tell you about a couple things number one this is a poster and it's it's why all maps are wrong and it's a beautiful poster on really nice thick paper with dozens and dozens of map projections if you're a map nerd like me this kind of stuff is really fun we have Luts and presets that we use to color our videos and photos that we developed with a professional colorist and if you are interested in joining our community on patreon it is called The Newsroom we publish an extra video there every month where we show you behind the scenes of how we do what we do here in the studio we're gonna have Johnny sit there this is Kyle oh my God even though you didn't print out any Maps um I also published my scripts there and a lot of stuff but it's really just a way for you to support what we're trying to do here at independent journalism on YouTube thank you for being here thank you for watching let me know your thoughts on this video and uh I look forward to a lively debate in the comments have a good day foreign
2023-07-12