Washington,D.C. Sailing on Collision Course With China by Finian Cunningham!
(2020-06-24 at 15:23:59 )

Washington,D.C. Sailing on Collision Course With China by Finian Cunningham!

As of this month, the United States is deploying three of its aircraft carriers simultaneously to patrol the Pacific in what is designed to be a clear threat to China. Each carrier strike group comprises destroyers, aircraft and submarines. The United States has 11 aircraft carriers in total.

Rear Admiral Stephen Koehler, director of operations at Indo-Pacific Command, is quoted as saying of the unusual deployment. "Carriers and carrier strike groups writ large are phenomenal symbols of American naval power. I really am pretty fired up that we have got three of them at the moment."

Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, admitted that the operations were provocative, albeit suggesting that the reality was somehow a propaganda coup for Beijing. She said: "The Chinese will definitely portray this as an example of United States provocations, and as evidence that the United States is a source of instability in the region."

Forget about Chinese "portrayal". It seems plainly factual that Washington,D.C. is ramping up belligerence and instability in the Pacific.

The unprecedented muscle-flexing by the United States comes at a time when political relations between Washington,D.C. and Beijing have descended into a new Cold War. President Donald Trump is whipping up his support base with renewed racist slurs against China over the coronavirus pandemic. At recent rallies in Oklahoma and Arizona, the president has referred to the "Kung Flu" and a "plague" sent from China.

Meanwhile, Donald Trumps Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told an online conference last week that the Beijing government is a "rogue actor" threatening supposed democratic Western states. Mr. Pompeo urged European allies to stand with the United States against Chinas "tyranny".

For its part, Beijing slammed Mr. Pompeo for spreading "political virus" with a "deep-seated Cold War mentality".

The anti-China hysteria in Washington,D.C. has reached fever pitch. Part of that stems from the Donald Trump administrations necessity to scapegoat China for its own disastrous mismanagement of the coronavirus disease which has seen the death toll in the United States surpass 120,000, with no sign of easing up. That is nearly a quarter of the worlds death toll, a grim tally which is likely to keep on mounting in coming weeks as Donald Trump desperately pushes for reopening of business-as-usual.

Then there is the longer, underlying trend of strategic confrontation. It was under President Barack Obama in 2011 that the United States embarked on a "Pivot to Asia", heralding the explicit focus on China as a perceived global target for American power.

The Donald Trump administration has merely followed through on that strategic agenda of confrontation with China. Which tends to demonstrate the structural nature of United States political power, whereby presidents may come and go, but imperialist policy is set on a constant course of deep state planning.

Donald Trumps fiery personality has certainly added fuel to the anti-China drive with his hobby-horse on the trade war, accusing China of "raping" American industries and all sorts of other alleged skulduggery.

That was before the coronavirus pandemic brutally exposed the frailty of United States economic power and Donald Trumps so-called "Make America Great Again" delusion. Thus, a scapegoat had to be found for the "outrage" of exposing American hubris as an empty shell. Step up China, a ready-made propaganda target for United States imperialism.

A study this week by the China-based National Institute of South China Sea Studies claims that the Donald Trump administration is deploying United States military power on an ever-increasing greater scale. During the two Obama administrations, the United States Navy carried out four "freedom of navigation" operations in the contested South China Sea. Under Donald Trump, the number of such operations has reached 22, according to the institute.

What is more disturbing, however, is the lines of communication between American and Chinese military commanders have apparently been drastically reduced since Donald Trump took office in 2017.

That means with the massive buildup of United States military force around China in the South China Sea and Strait of Taiwan there is a serious risk of some incident or perceived trespass spiraling out of control. (We have yet to see a comparable buildup of Chinese navy off California or Virginia.)

American and Chinese warships have already ran into dangerous near misses. But what makes the present situation all the more perilous is the vacuum in military-to-military communications plus the toxic tensions that the Donald Trump administration has deliberately wound up with Beijing. Trust is at rock-bottom despite Donald Trumps past chummy words for Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Washington,D.C. is not only insinuating that China is legally liable for "decimating the global economy". The Trump administration is demanding that the European Union curtail its economic relations with China. All sorts of slander is thrown at Beijing, from posing as a national security risk with its telecoms technology, to undermining European national sovereignty because China is investing in infrastructure projects across the EU.

Given that the EU is Chinas biggest trading partner, such demands by Washington,D.C. are a direct assault on Beijings vital global interests.

Sailing a United States armada towards China is not some isolated maneuver - provocative that that is. It is evidently a configuration of hostility, ranging from political to economic to military. It is classic imperialist power play by a decaying empire whose zero-sum mentality is a precursor for war.

Reprinted here from the "Strategic Culture Foundation" provides a platform for exclusive analysis, research and policy comment on Eurasian and global affairs. We are covering political, economic, social and security issues worldwide. Since 2005 our journal has published thousands of analytical briefs and commentaries with the unique perspective of independent contributors. SCF works to broaden and diversify expert discussion by focusing on hidden aspects of international politics and unconventional thinking. Benefiting from the expanding power of the Internet, we work to spread reliable information, critical thought and progressive ideas.