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| Strategists admit West is goading China into war | |
| 2022-07-29 | |
[JohnMenadue] US military experts say a war over Taiwan is desirable, because Asia’s growth to become world’s economic heartland has become unstoppable. Yes, we want war. But just a small one, please, followed by a quick surrender. The United States is diligently working with Australia and the UK to goad China into what they hope will be a limited war over Taiwan, according to military strategists. By continually poking at the giant developing nation, the aim is to force it to fire the first bullet — and then use that to paint China as the protagonist, the bully that the rest of the world must unite against. To prepare for this, the partners in the scheme are teaming up. Rather like the "coalition of the willing" in the Iraq War 2.0, the US is pushing for another misadventure, this time through a coalition of the coerced. Media’s role The Western media is playing a key role in this process. The media is painting China’s knee-jerk and entirely predictable responses that it "will not stand for attempts to promote Taiwan independence" as evidence of shocking new acts of "increasing aggression", while the truth is that all China-watchers know they are the same statements they have issued for decades, often in virtually the same words. The media is pushing exaggerations and misinformation about the "death of Hong Kong", the "genocide of Xinjiang", the "imminent invasion of Australia" and so on. Asia as centre of the world Why are the Western powers doing this? They certainly want to destabilise China and set the country’s development and positioning in the world back a few decades. But that’s just part of a larger goal. They feel the need to do this primarily because the Western powers have recognized that Asia will soon be the centre of global economic power. Nothing will stop that happening. This means that time is running out to ensure that Asia is dominated and controlled by America and its allies on the other side of the world, instead of by Asians themselves, working together as neighbours. Furthermore, the outgoing world leaders need the incoming powers to know their place in the "International Rules-Based Order" under the stewardship of the drafters of these rules. Western liberal democracy must retain its primacy, and Asia’s consultative democracies dismissed as "autocracies", or "authoritarian"/"totalitarian" regimes. Preparing the world The media has been preparing the world for the conflict for years. America’s hawks put huge sums of time and money into financing dissent in Asia and partnering with the Western media to create the impression that the people of Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan, want independence from mainland China — although surveys overwhelmingly show that this is the opposite of the truth. But these imaginary "cries for independence" are necessary for the next stage in the process: the pushing of China into what can only be described as a deluded and limited war over Taiwan; one aim being to attain the larger objectives of undermining both China and ASEAN. The war or "coming conflict" with China has been discussed in multiple forums and publications, not least of which is a new book by Elbridge Colby, one of the writers of the US National Defense Strategy. It argues that escalating Taiwan tensions into a conflict gives America a chance at winning, unlike a Cold War arms race. Arms race won’t work An arms race would eventually be won by China, which is on its way to being richer and stronger than America, Colby points out. And "the economic costs could be crippling, seriously stressing the US economy, the ultimate source of America’s military strength." Instead, the US can push China into a limited conflict over Taiwan, with the media painting China as the bully and the US as the white knight. Done right, the skirmish would unite the rest of the world’s countries against China and on to the American side. Partners in the media have already accomplished a lot of this work by painting Xinjiang and Hong Kong as places wrecked by China, and suggesting they are filled with Betsy-waving populations desperate for a United States model of governance. This strategy is receiving significant interest and or support from other US hawks. "China must be provoked into initiating any escalation of the conflict, so that it will always appear the aggressor," writes defence journalist Aris Roussinos, summarising the Colby strategy. People will die But won’t there be Taiwanese casualties? Yes. China "must be permitted to strike as indiscriminately as possible," in this scenario. "Colby further urges the US not to provide potential civilian targets with air defences, reasoning that collateral damage will whip up the public anger against China necessary to winning a war," Roussinos adds. In other words, deaths of Taiwan citizens (the "collateral damage" he mentions) would be a public relations coup for the US side. "Forcing China to escalate could be in our [US] interests," Roussinos points out. (One wonders if this scenario has received attention from the walking elements of "collateral damage" in Taiwan.) Trump’s defence strategist Although Colby’s book, The Strategy of Denial, has just been published, it’s clear that the thinking behind it has been circulating in US administration clusters for some years. Colby was a key writer of Donald Trump’s national defence strategy in 2018. This approach, when originally written, recommended pulling American allies like Japan and India into the US team to contain China, and to sign up Australia too, as well as Vietnam and other neighbours. Clearly we can see concerted action on all these fronts this year. Salami slicing While the Western media portrays China as the aggressor, people with a deeper understanding of international affairs can see what’s really happening over Taiwan. "The US has placed tripwires in the form of deployment of special forces, obfuscating the ’red line’," said commentator M. K. Bhadrakumar, a former Indian diplomat. The long string of US provocations are a "salami slicing" strategy, some observers say. "Salami tactics are an appealing option for expansionist actors like NATO, which pursues limited and repetitive expansions to gradually create new realities on the ground," argues Glenn Diesen, professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway. "Such tactics avoid rapid escalation and mute opposition from adversaries and allies alike, as complaints can be ridiculed and the response from opponents denounced as disproportionate." Warmongering? One could easily argue that this type of strategy could be construed as a right-wing, warmongering plan. That’s certainly true, and there are many echoes of the self-righteous militaristic strutting that led to lengthy disasters of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—the surviving victims of which are still suffering today. The frightening thing is that the present attempt to goad China into war has bi-partisan support in the world’s wealthiest, most powerful country. | |
| Posted by:Tiny Jeater6933 |
| #11 Since the Second Taiwan Strait Crises, 1958, Chuck. Shelling lasted until 1979. Even fired shells when President Eisenhower was visiting 1960, in fact vigorously while he was there. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-07-29 17:42 |
| #10 War can be unwinnable and still be something one plans for. To get around the oil issue for example: (a) China might dominate markets in things many US stores depend on so those stores would pressure the government not to get involved in a war (b) might encourage other nations to shift manufacturing into China where it is cheap and where a war would cause total destabilization of western economies (c) Might allow enough trade and promises of a massive market to get greedier companies to push for peace whatever the cost to preserve their profits (and future profits) (d) Buy a large number of US politicians. All of these things could be seen as ways to make the USA less likely to stand by Taiwan. That's not even getting into their military expansions. That and the fact that China has actively threatened both the US and Taiwan for decades using generals and others to preserve deniability. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2022-07-29 17:32 |
| #9 The opening proposition of this piece ignores the fact that Communist China has been planning on war with America for decades Really! That's extraordinary. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. If there's a war, the US steps on China's oil supply from the Middle East. War over immediately. Ever seen "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"? When Master Blaster turns the crank and cuts off the supply of meethane to Bartertown? |
| Posted by: Tiny Jeater6933 2022-07-29 16:33 |
| #8 US was crushing Chinas economy during Trump. Only a fool would desire war, you never really know how it'll end up. Ask Putin. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2022-07-29 15:47 |
| #7 Let's face it, Little Aussie would like Uncle Sam to hold his hand while crossing the street! |
| Posted by: Waldemar Gromorong9327 2022-07-29 14:34 |
| #6 expansionist actors like NATO Looks like Putin owns a bit of him, too. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2022-07-29 10:29 |
| #5 The Australian left is owned by China. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2022-07-29 10:27 |
| #4 "China will solve this problem but it will take time since we don't want to violate the privacy rights of our citizens." Texas Instruments had the patent on the integrate circuit. It took the Japanese several decades later to recognize it [long after Sony, Toshiba, et al made their money and place in the electronics market]. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-07-29 09:43 |
| #3 I broke up laughing but was the only one 👍 |
| Posted by: Dron66046 2022-07-29 09:17 |
| #2 I once attended a big conference at the Ex-Im Bank. The featured lunch speaker was from the PRC. He acknowledged that US concerns with Chinese intellectual piracy were partly valid. Then he said, "China will solve this problem but it will take time since we don't want to violate the privacy rights of our citizens." I broke up laughing but was the only one who did (several hundred in the audience) and several people looked at me in disapproval. The Chinese speaker got a standing applause when he finished his remarks. Anyway, it shows how naive people in the USA were (and probably still are) on China issues. |
| Posted by: Lord Garth 2022-07-29 08:43 |