On China's Threat to World Peace

As China relentlessly rises in importance in world trade and starts flexing her muscles in the spheres of economics (jointly called for the abolition of the American dollar as the world currency of reserve), diplomacy (expansion of influence in Africa, Latin America, Iran, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar), and military (building up armed forces, asserting herself and starting challenging Japan in East Asia and the U.S. in Southeast Asia, especially in the East Sea--the so-called South China Sea) while blithely and brazenly suppressing human rights and civil liberties at home and encouraging its proxy and satellite state, Vietnam, to do the same, many people (including yours truly) wonder if the emergence of China as a world power constitutes a threat to world peace--not unlike the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930's and the rise of Japan throughout the first three decades of the 20th century after the defeat of Russia in the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.

The following observations of mine are impressionistic and simplistic due to the contraints of time and my indolent nature. The observations are the result of a preoccupation of analysis and synthesis of news reports and an exercise in transmitting thoughts via written symbols.

With the defeat of Spain in 1898, the United States emerged as a world power and an empire in her own right. She went on acquiring territories ceded by Spain. Her stature was enhanced and solidified with the victories in WW I and WW II. The 20th century was called the American century. American influence on world affairs was far and wide. She has military bases in all corners of the world, including in some countries that used to make up the Soviet Union. However, as all empires go, the American empire may prove to be the shortest-lived in the annals of human history.

Just as the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956 marked the decline of Britain as a key player on world stage, the first cracks in the American Empire appeared in 1968 during the height of the so-called Vietnam War. The siege of Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive weakened the resolve of the American public and they started clamoring in earnest for the withdrawal of the American forces. Nixon was elected on the promise to bring American troops home and to bring "Peace with Honor" to the region. Nixon sent Kissinger to China for secret talks. Vietnamization of the war was introduced. It was nothing but an euphemism for the withdrawal of the American troops and the disengagement of America from the war. When peace finally came in 1975, it didn't come with honor for America's erstwhile ally, Republic of Vietnam. Loss of prestige and loss of respect for America (starting with the use of napalm and defoliant Agent Orange, war crimes commiited against civilians) appeared in world stage when it was clear that America didn't honor her commitment to her ally.

At home, after the Vietnam War, long bouts of self-doubt set in and more fissures appeared. Illicit drug use, unresolved racial tensions, break down in public education system, break down in infrastructures, alliance of insurance companies, pharmacuticals, and health professionals at the expense of the American public. Meanwhile, money was spent in fighting imperial wars all over the world: Nicagarua, El Salvador, Lebanon, Somalia, and now Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the misguided war against Islam, euphemistically called "war against terrorism", a war instigated and plodded on and encouraged by Zionists, Christian zealots and bigots, and the Chinese, a war that America cannot win, a war that will bleed America dry and exhausted and too poor to fight against her true enemy, the Chinese.Ironically enough, it was America headed by its myopic, profit- now oriented CEOs that was largely responsible for the rapid rise of China and the concomitant decline of America. It has been said farmers are the most patriotic class because their livelihood depends on the very land upon which they live. The merchants, on the other hand, have been noted for their lack of allegiance to fixed boundaries. Merchants go where the money is and they favor free trade. The opening of China to the outside world for free trade has benefiited China more than the United States. American manufacturers shipped factories to or established factories in China to take advantage of low labor cost. While some American companies increased their revenues due to their presence in the vast Chinese market, the manufacturing jobs in America took a big hit while CEOs enjoyed obscene salaries. The middle class in America is shrinking and suffering.

Militarily, the United States is still a formidable force, but we wonder how long she has the money to do R and D so she can maitain her edge while her economy is in shambles: her manufacturing base is eroding; she has problems competing in the industry she pioneered-- automobile; her financial system needs a complete overhaul to prevent a repeat of the crisis that brought her almost on her knees; she has become a nation of debtors, borrowing money from overseas, especially China to maintain her standard of living.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a talk among cognoscenti about a world with the United States being the sole superpower. Such exalted view of the U.S. proved to be pre-mature when the subsequent decades revealed that the U.S. was not a vigorous nation, but a country on a decline, economically, morally, and culturally. Obama was elected to arrest the decline and perhaps to reverse the fortunes, but he is running into resistance from intransigent and uncaring interests.

Power, like air, dislikes vacuum. While the U.S. dallies about the world, wasting money, resoucrs, and goodwill in imperial wars, and dithers on domestic reforms, China is using the surplus money gained in exports to build up her infrastructure, to invest in education and R&D, and to modernize her armed forces. The technology transfer resulting from the joint ventures she has with technologically countries is making her stronger and more confident with each passing day. The China today is the China of boundless energy, optimism, and confidence, a far cry from the United States of America. China brazenly adopted the absurd "cow's tongue" doctrine, claiming that her territory extends southward from the Hainan Island like the tongue of a cow. Chinese cows, based on a diet of grandeur and naked ambition, must have long tongues indeed since China claims most of the East Sea, leaving Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia narrow stretches of waters near their coastlines. China recently confronted an American vessel, claiming it violated China's newly claimed maritime waters. China is also building its first aircraft carrier.

Alarmed by China's belligerence, all countries in Southeast Asia and Australia have inreased their defense expenditures. Since Vietnam is very likely the first target of Chinese expansionism, the U.S., India, and Australia have recently sent their most modern destroyers on "friendly visits" to the ports of Vietnam as a veiled warning to China. These three countries are also helping Vietnam modernize its navy and train its personnel.The East Sea, in the eyes of the alert and the informed, is the hot spot right now, After the Shanghai Exposition in 2010, war can erupt at any time, very likely between China and Vietnam, because of the intransigence and belligerence of China. The big question for the Vietnamese worldwide is whether the U.S, along with India, and Australia have the will to stop Vietnam from becoming a province or the euphemistically- sounding "Autonomous Region of Vietnam" of China.

China is a threat to world peace. She has encouraged another satellite state of hers, North Korea to do saber-rattling with nuclear weapons and missiles tests in order to distract the U.S.Domestically, she has brutally persecuted the Falung religious sect, shot down unarmed student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, violently suppressed the dissidents in Tibet and Xinjiang, the two regions she brazenly took by force in 1949.All these acts of brutality and barbarity were committed without arousing worlwide protests and condemnations. The world continues merrily trading with her, attracted by her vast domestic market and inexpensive consumer products. This gives them a feeling of entitlement that their time has come and the 21st century belongs to them.

They will go on taking islands, mountains, lands, and maritime waters belonging to other peoples and races until they meet real resistance.

Wissai
Nov. 7, 2009.