Deluded Britain Rows in Behind United States Gunboat Diplomacy on China by Finian Cunningham!
(2020-07-15 at 16:49:14 )

Deluded Britain Rows in Behind United States Gunboat Diplomacy on China by Finian Cunningham!

The United States of Americas trusty British lieutenant has weighed in to stoke tensions in the South China Sea with reports that Britain is to deploy its two new aircraft carriers to the Pacific region. The carrier strike groups which include frigates, destroyers and nuclear-powered submarines, are to join with United States and Japanese warships to conduct naval drills.

Beijing has already warned London that any deployment of forces in the contested sea will be viewed as a "hostile act". Britain appears to be pushing ahead regardless, according to a report this week in the London Times, which cites plans by military chiefs to send the aircraft carriers to the region starting early next year.

HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are the largest aircraft carriers ever built by Britain. Both have been designed to integrate with United States forces, specifically to carry F-35 fighter jets and Apache helicopters.

Given the recent buildup of United States of American warships and warplanes in the Pacific conducting provocative "freedom of navigation operations" in the South China Sea, Beijing can only but view the reported British moves as further deliberate ratcheting up of war tensions.

Earlier this month, two United States aircraft carrier strike groups conducted joint maneuvers in the South China Sea, reportedly the first time such drills have been carried out since 2014 and only the second time since 2001.

The timing of Washington,D.C. and Londons convergence could not be more incendiary. Washington,D.C. and London have been blaming China over the global coronavirus pandemic on top of a long-running trade dispute with the Donald Trump administration. The Anglo-American duo have also been winding up tensions with Beijing over Taiwan and Hong Kong undermining Chinas sovereignty claims. The Americans have also piled pressure on Britain to scrap plans for Chinese telecom giant Huawei to take part in mobile phone modernization.

This week the United States State Department raised the stakes even higher over South China Sea territorial disputes by declaring that Beijings claims to waters and islands to be "completely illegal".

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated the United States would not "allow China to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire".

This designation by the State Department of alleged Chinese "illegality" marks a serious escalation. Up to now Washington,D.C. has refrained from using that incriminating term, preferring to characterize Chinas territorial claims as "destabilizing". Pundits in Washington,D.C. are quoted as saying approvingly that the new formulation gives the United States a "legal" basis upon which to confront Beijing over South China Sea disputes.

John Bolton, the hawkish former national security advisor to Donald Trump, has commented: "It is time to move beyond freedom of navigation exercises to oppose Chinas coercive behavior in the region."

That implies Washington,D.C. will seek to polarize tensions even further between China and other Asian neighbors which the United States claims to be allied with. Ultimately, the United States is finessing a casus belli.

China condemned the State Departments latest intervention as "distorting" relations between Beijing and neighboring countries belonging to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). China said it is Washington,D.C. that is fueling tensions in the region.

A Global Times noted noted: "Peace and stability in the South China Sea concerns ASEANs fundamental interests. But the United States, driven by its own interests, is shaping this regional situation in the opposite way."

Reports that London is planning to send its new flagship aircraft carriers to the region to join with American, Japanese and possibly Australian naval forces can only be perceived as an attempt by a Washington,D.C.-led "coalition of the willing" to intimidate Beijing.

In a 21st century version of gunboat diplomacy, Washington,D.C. is gambling that Beijing will buckle under pressure to cede to demands over trade and other strategic interests. Americas waning capitalist power can no longer compete economically, therefore it is reverting to brute military force along with a coterie of press-ganged vassals, including Britain.

There is, however, a discernible lack of credibility in this "coalition of shilling" for Uncle Sam.

News that Britain is sending HMS Queen Elizabeth, a $4-billion aircraft carrier, followed by HMS Prince of Wales at a later date, to "rule the waves" more than 10,000 kilometers from London does not just sound corny, it sounds obscene given the public health disaster facing Britain over its gross mishandling of the coronavirus disease.

Chief medical experts are warning that Britain may see 120,000 more deaths later this year - on top of the 43,000 already - due to clapped-out health services.

British elites have really lost the plot.

Britannia no longer can afford the pretense of ruling the seas, never mind serving as cannon fodder for Uncle Sam in a reckless imperialist showdown.

China is reckoned to have a formidable arsenal of anti-ship missiles known as "carrier killers".

So, let doughty Britain row in behind Uncle Sams pirates, and the British will soon find they may as well be sailing in giant sieves. Billions of dollars sent to a watery grave in an instant while millions of Britons fight for their lives in underfunded hospital corridors.

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.