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New Cold War

Wise People Know Winning A War Is No Better Than Losing One

September 18, 2020 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , ,
US President Donald Trump and his ‘war council’ – led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – have amplified their aggression against China. What began as a trade dispute in the 1990s has now escalated into the United States making an existential challenge against China. The threat against China is made not for irrational reasons, but for perfectly rational ones, which are laid out below in our Red Alert no. 9 (also available as a separate download from our website). These have to do with the emergence of China as a major economic and technological power.

Cutting Through Western Imperialist Propaganda About China, Plus A Tribute To Kevin Zeese

September 14, 2020 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
As US empire wanes and China's economy and global reach grow, the United States has entered a Cold War with China that includes economic warfare, military antagonism, and a misinformation campaign. Western imperialist media promote myths designed to build public opposition to China and support for this US aggression. This leaves even those on the left confused. Rarely do we hear from Chinese people who would provide clarity about their country. To fill that gap, the new Qiao Collective, composed of Chinese analysts and scholars, was created this year. We speak with collective member Elias Tchen. This is the last interview recorded before Kevin's sudden death on September 6. Ralph Nader joins Margaret in the first half of the show to remember the life and work of Kevin Zeese.

China: US Is ‘Destroyer Of World Peace’

September 13, 2020 Kyle Balluck, The Hill. , , ,
A spokesman for China’s defense ministry said on Sunday that the U.S. is the “destroyer of world peace” while criticizing a Pentagon report on Beijing’s military goals. The Associated Press reported that Col. Wu Qian called the Department of Defense report released earlier this month a “wanton distortion” of his nation’s intentions. “Many years of evidence shows that it is the U.S. that is the fomenter of regional unrest, the violator of the international order and the destroyer of world peace,” he said, noting U.S. actions in Iraq, Syria, Libya and other countries, according to the news service.

Sept. 26: No New Cold War International Forum

September 12, 2020 NoColdWar.org. , ,
For our second international webinar, we’re bringing together peace activists from China, the US, Britain, South Africa, India, Morocco, Bolivia and Belgium to discuss how to oppose the US-led New Cold War. The event will take place on Zoom, on Saturday 26 September, 2pm UK / 9pm China / 9am US Eastern / 6am US Pacific. To get a ticket to the Zoom event, register on Eventbrite. Registered users will receive a link within 24 hours of the event starting. The event will also be streamed to Youtube and Facebook.

TikTok Diplomacy: A Digital Containment Doctrine

August 8, 2020 Qiao Collective. , , ,
With TikTok, Donald Trump is adding State Department coercion to his “art of the deal” toolkit. After months of feigned concern that the viral TikTok app represents a “trojan horse” for the Communist Party of China to access U.S. consumer data, the Trump Administration issued the Chinese company an ultimatum: sell the app to a U.S. buyer, or be shut down.  Microsoft has stepped forward as a potential buyer of TikTok, a clone of the Chinese video app Douyin tailored for a Western audience.

‘Playing the China Card’ (Differently)

August 3, 2020 Harry Targ, Heartland Radical. , , ,
In a speech on Thursday, July 23 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the Nixon opening to China was a mistake. “We must admit a hard truth that should guide us in the years and decades to come: that if we want to have a free 21st century and not the Chinese century of which Xi Jinping dreams, the old paradigm of blind engagement with China simply won’t get it done. We must not continue it and we must not return to it.” (Edward Wong, Steven Lee Myers, “Officials Push U.S.-China Relations Toward Point of No Return,” The New York Times, July 25, 2020). If it is true that the Nixon/Kissinger foreign policy toward China did in fact facilitate the weakening of socialism as a world force, why is the Secretary of State now calling “playing the China card” a mistake? The answer to this question, or more broadly why is United States foreign policy returning to a policy hostile to China, perhaps creating a “New Cold War,” has several parts.

US Conflict With China Policy Will Isolate The US, Not China

August 3, 2020 By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, CODEPINK. , , ,
Tensions between the United States and China are rising as the U.S. election nears, with tit-for-tat consulate closures, new U.S. sanctions and no less than three U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups prowling the seas around China. But it is the United States that has initiated each new escalation in U.S.-China relations. China’s responses have been careful and proportionate, with Chinese officials such as Foreign Minister Wang Yi publicly asking the U.S. to step back from its brinkmanship to find common ground for diplomacy.   Most of the U.S. complaints about China are long-standing, from the treatment of the Uighur minority and disputes over islands and maritime borders in the South China Sea to accusations of unfair trade practices and support for protests in Hong Kong. But the answer to the “Why now?” question seems obvious: the approaching U.S. election.   Danny Russel, who was Obama’s top East Asia expert in the National Security Council and then at the State Department, told the BBC that the new tensions with China are partly an effort to divert attention from Trump’s bungled response to the Covid-19 pandemic and his tanking poll numbers.

The Heart Of The Matter In The South China Sea

August 2, 2020 Pepe Escobar, The Alt World. , , ,
When the USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz carrier strike groups recently engaged in “operations” in the South China Sea, it failed to escape cynics that the US Pacific Fleet was doing its best to turn the infantile Thucydides trap theory into a self-fulfilling prophecy. The pro forma official spin, via Rear Admiral Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz, is that the ops were conducted to “reinforce our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, a rules-based international order, and to our allies and partners.” Nobody pays attention to these clichés, because the real message was delivered by a CIA operative posing as diplomat, Secretary of State Mike “We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal” Pompeo. 

No To The New Cold War With China

August 1, 2020 Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
China’s Ambassador to the United States posed a very simple question:   "Is the United States ready or willing to live with another country with a very different culture, a very different political and economic system ... in peace?”   The answer to this question must be that despite the intentions of the U.S. rulers, the people must opt for peace.  For the Black liberation and anti-imperialist movement in the U.S., we are clear: War is a class issue and we say not one drop of blood from the Black working class and poor to defend the capitalist oligarchy. 

US – China Conflict Puts Allies In Crossfire

July 28, 2020 By Finian Cunningham, RT. , , ,
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is calling for “an alliance of democracies” to confront China. It amounts to a new Cold War in which nations are being forced to side either with Washington or Beijing. It’s a classic tyrannical power-play by Washington. Such polarized demarcation of the planet as designated by Washington is impossible in a global economy which is highly integrated, from consumer and financial markets to supply chains. A news report this week once again underscores how even the American military is reliant on China for supplies of rare earth metals used in its weapon systems. Indeed, the entire US economy is dependent on China which is America’s biggest trade partner. In 2019, the US ran a trade deficit of $345 billion with China despite three years of ‘Making America Great Again’ policy under President Donald Trump. The deficit with China accounts for about half of the US’ total trade imbalance with the rest of the world.

Consequences Of ‘New’ US- South China Escalation Unclear

July 28, 2020 By Mark Valencia, Asia Times. , , ,
Predicting US policy and actions in the South China Sea in the last stages of a dying administration is a crapshoot. Indeed, some think this may only be an election-year ploy to unite the country against the “China threat.” While the language will last beyond a change in US administrations, its implementation will vary with these changes. Most affected countries, including China, will probably wait for the next US administration to change their approach – if they decide to do so. All Southeast Asian countries, including China’s main protagonist, Vietnam, have been relatively muted in their responses to Pompeo’s statement. This indicates that none want to get drawn further into the tightening US-China tensions – at least right now. Moreover, they are not sure the US will have their backs – in the short and long run – if they side with it. Vietnam in particular has to be very careful. If China comes to think the US is pulling Vietnam’s strings, the consequences could get ugly.

With Cold War Language, Pompeo Defines Plan For ‘Totalitarian’ China

July 27, 2020  Katie Bo Williams, Defense One. , , ,
In a major foreign policy speech on U.S.-China relations, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cast ratcheted-up tensions with Beijing in Cold War terms, announcing that Washington would seek to change Beijing’s behavior and stopping just short of calling for regime change.  He described Beijing — and Chinese President Xi Jinping — as a generational threat to “free democracies around the world,” a totalitarian and hegemonic regime that must not be treated like a normal nation. Riffing on President Ronald Reagan’s famous “trust but verify” dictum about the Soviet Union, he said that when it comes to Beijing, the U.S. must “distrust and verify.”  “Changing the CCP’s behavior cannot be the mission of the Chinese people alone. Free nations have to work to defend freedom,” Pompeo said.

Anti-China Hysteria Drives Record 2021 US Defense Spending

July 26, 2020 the Qiao Collective. , , ,
Anti-China hysteria has emerged as the central ‘threat’ designed to justify endless U.S. military spending and adventurism in the Asia-Pacific. The 2021 Department of Defense spending bill has become contested terrain for a progressive wing of Democrats seeking to curtail endless military spending and a Republican-led bipartisan coalition focused on increasing spending to “stay competitive” with ostensible threats from Russia and China. On July 21, the House passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with an increase in stipulated defense spending from 2020’s $658 billion to a $740 billion package for 2021. The Senate followed on July 23.

South China Sea Provocations And Meeting China Halfway

July 26, 2020 Dr. Joseph Gerson, IPS News. , , ,
In the words of (ret.) Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Secretary of Defense Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff, the Trump Administration has been dangerously “poking China in the eye.” After sending aircraft carriers and destroyers to the precincts of the Taiwan Strait, last week the Pentagon dispatched two aircraft carrier strike groups – including escort cruisers and destroyers, 120 warplanes and 12,000 troops — to South China Sea waters claimed by China. China responded by deploying fighter jets to its near-by base on Woody Island and reminding the world of its anti-aircraft carrier missile capabilities.
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