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[Global Times reporter Zhao Jueyun] The United States is continuing to strengthen its surveillance and "deterrence" against China through cooperation with its allies. According to a Reuters report on the 5th, in order to strengthen its ability to "confront China", the US Navy recently issued a tender for the construction of infrastructure in the "Indo-Pacific region", and Australia's overseas territory of the Cocos Islands (also known as the "Keeling Islands") in the Indian Ocean has become one of the possible options. Chen Hong, an expert on Australian issues, told the Global Times on the 5th that this plan proves that Australia is becoming a tool and weapon for the United States to promote the "Indo-Pacific Strategy", but this will only increase Canberra's own security risks, "without any benefit but a hundred harms".

According to Reuters, the U.S. Navy issued a tender for infrastructure construction at various bases in the Indo-Pacific region in June this year. The Cocos Islands, along with the Philippines, East Timor and Papua New Guinea, were included in the U.S. list of expected construction projects for the "Pacific Deterrence Initiative", which aims to strengthen the U.S. force posture and infrastructure to counter China.

Information released on the official website of the Cocos Islands shows that the archipelago consists of 27 islands, of which only West Island and Home Island are inhabited, with a total population of about 600. Reuters said that the Cocos Islands are located about 3,000 kilometers southwest of the western Australian city of Perth. The Australian military said it is the key to maritime surveillance operations in the Indian Ocean, and "China is increasing its submarine activities in the Indian Ocean."

Although the Cocos Islands are small in size, they have a special strategic position in the eyes of the United States and Australia. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) previously quoted Troy Lee Brown, a defense analyst at the University of Western Australia, as saying that the Cocos Islands are close to the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait and the Lombok Strait, which can easily monitor all kinds of ships, especially Chinese submarines. Reuters analyzed that the Cocos Islands are closer to the Strait of Malacca than the US military's integrated military base on Diego Garcia Island, which is the throat of China's oil transportation.

Australian media also quoted Darshana Barua, director of security and geopolitics at the Australia India Institute, as saying at a US congressional hearing last year that the Cocos Islands is a key geographical location for the United States to put pressure on China to "prevent conflict in the Taiwan Strait."

Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, said in an interview with the Global Times on the 5th that the United States has increased its military deployment in Australia in recent times. For example, the US Marine Corps and various military aircraft are stationed in Darwin, Australia's "northern gateway". Washington hopes to use this to build Australia into a frontier against China. Now this behavior has extended to the Cocos Islands, which has only a few hundred people. Chen Hong believes that Australia should realize that being used by the United States to serve the "Indo-Pacific strategy" will only intensify geopolitical confrontation and be detrimental to its own security.