The G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting convenes in Atlanta, the US on October 31, 2026. Photo: VCG

The US is seeking to consolidate its alliance network by linking multiple regional hotspots, including Taiwan island, the South China Sea and the East China Sea, in its trilateral coordination with Japan and South Korea, a move that risks intensifying bloc confrontation and undermining regional stability under the guise of "stability" maintenance, a Chinese expert said. The expert's comment came after the three countries' foreign ministers expressed their positions on regional security issues on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta, the US on Friday local time.

In a statement, the US State Department stressed the "importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits."

The claims once again reflect Washington's efforts to draw its allies into the Taiwan question and use China's internal affairs as part of its broader regional strategy, while encouraging the island's authorities to seek external support, rather than contributing to peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, Zheng Jian, a professor at the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has reiterated on multiple occasions that China has an exclusive economic zone and a continental shelf in waters east of Taiwan island. It is fully within China's sovereign rights and jurisdiction, and therefore legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach, for China to carry out activities in these waters. China has never been the party stirring up trouble and disrupting stability in these waters.

The notion of "stability" for the US is merely a relative one, which it can interpret and invoke at different stages to justify actions that serve its own interests. This time, Washington is doing so by linking multiple regional flashpoints, making it easier to mobilize its allies in support of its broader Indo-Pacific strategy, Zheng said.

The emergence of such exclusive groupings in Northeast Asia is also putting regional countries under indirect pressure to take sides, which is detrimental to peace and stability in the region, he added.

Alongside this "repeated sensationalism," the secretary and foreign ministers of the US, Japan and South Korea signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) for a Trilateral Arctic Pacific Partnership to explore maritime cooperation and economic partnership in the Pacific Arctic during their meeting on the sidelines.

The move reflects Washington's strategic concerns over its limited infrastructure and capabilities in the Arctic, as it seeks to leverage cooperation with Japan and South Korea to strengthen its position in Arctic shipping routes and related areas, Zheng said. 

Japan's growing involvement may also go beyond economic interests, reflecting its intention to compete with China and Russia in Arctic shipping and related cooperation. However, a MOC and a few working groups cannot conjure up even a single operational heavy icebreaker, highlighting the gap between Washington's strategic ambitions and its actual capabilities in the region, he noted.

Zheng added that the broader approach also reflects the Cold War mentality and containment strategy underlying US policy toward China. Japan could meanwhile use Washington's push for greater burden-sharing among allies as an opportunity to expand its military and strategic role in the region, potentially accelerating its remilitarization. Regional countries should therefore assess Washington's moves calmly rather than be swayed by its heightened rhetoric.
It's also worth noting that this time the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting failed to issue a joint communique or reach consensus on key geopolitical and economic security issues, while even the traditional "family photo" session was canceled.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu called on the G20 to shoulder its due responsibilities amid a turbulent and changing international landscape, serve as a force for safeguarding world peace and stability, help ease tensions and de-escalate regional hotspot issues, address the root causes of conflicts, and strengthen global security governance.

China's ability to help resolve issues in the Middle East has demonstrated to the international community its commitment to genuinely pursuing regional peace and