DISINFO: The US prepares its Marine Corps to deliver a blow against China
SUMMARY
An inevitable confrontation? The US is preparing its marines to deliver a blow against China. The US Marine Corps is experiencing one of the most radical reforms in its recent history, being remodelled to be able to act in far corners of the world in new conditions. The goal is to prepare it to confront China in its zone of interest, the South China Sea.
RESPONSE
Though the reporting on the reform of the US Marine Corps is correct, there is a deliberate distortion of the information by stating that the US is preparing to “deliver a blow to China” in a perhaps “inevitable confrontation”, implying some kind of preparation for an attack against the country. The mention of China’s “zone of interest” is also significant by taking Beijing’s claims over the territory for granted, in line with the Kremlin’s well-documented ‘sphere of influence’ policy. Actually, while China claims its sovereignty over 80 percent of the South China Sea territory, the US and other Western powers defend their right of access to key shipping and air routes in the region, regularly conducting “freedom of navigation” operations to ensure it. In 2018, France and UK also took part in one of these missions. This is part of a recurrent Kremlin-led narrative to portray the US as an aggressive and destabilising power. You can see other examples of disinformation about US plans and actions worldwide, such as its attempts to cause a massive African migration wave to Europe, its experiments on people in Georgia, its promotion of jihadist terrorism and colour revolutions, its preparations for war with Russia or its alleged responsibility in the China coronavirus outbreak.