THE decision of President-elect Donald Trump to appoint prominent China hawks Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz as Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, respectively, clearly indicates his muscular foreign policy approach toward America’s geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba. Additionally, the appointment of Mike Huckabee reflects his blind love for Israel, suggesting a potentially more divided Middle East. Consequently, the Asia-Pacific, South China Sea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Iran and Cuba would be in the line of fire under Trump’s presidency.
In their latest meeting, the leaders of the Quad—Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—have effectively committed to prolonging Cold War-era dynamics and bloc mentalities. Their stance appears to emphasize political posturing and anti-China security arrangements aimed at containing China in the Asia-Pacific and South China Sea, with hopes of advancing their interests in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The joint readout after their recently concluded talks, termed deepening of maritime cooperation in the Asia Pacific, including the launch of joint coastguard operations next year as indispensable to improve interoperability and advance maritime safety.
The US President Biden welcomed his counterparts to Wilmington, Delaware, for the group’s annual summit, the US president’s last before the end of his term. The Biden’s labelling the Quad a permanent entity has some serious socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic spillover repercussions for the regional countries and especially China for its peaceful persuasions. Thus the US Administration desires to use the platform of the Quad to curb China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific. In the latest meeting, interestingly the leaders did not mention China in their opening remarks. But they intentionally presented themselves as the leaders of democracies and defenders of international norms in the Asia-Pacific. Comedy of errors continued as all the leaders showed their intents to support a rules-based international order, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of all disputes.
Conversely, the collective wisdom, political manoeuvrings, anti-China socio-economic integration, military joint drills, geo-strategies and increasing military partnerships, arms supplies to Taiwan, interfering in the domestic affairs of China eg Xinjiang, Xizang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, strongly negate their skyrocketing claims of neutrality, free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific the so-called their shared priority and shared commitment. Additionally India, the so-called champion of free will and civil liberties, has been notoriously silencing dissident voices in the occupied Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur and targeting of more than 38 indigenously promoted liberation movements along with its international murderous outreach against dissidents internationally, including in the US and Canada all vividly reflecting Indian colossal violations of the principles of sovereignty.
On the other hand, the diminishing Biden Administration has faced regional as well international criticism over its perpetual unconditional military, financial, political and diplomatic support for Israel despite the US ally’s well-documented abuses across the Middle East decoding and exposing their inhumane activities and deeds against the struggling humanity, eroding basic human rights and forceful marginalization of many states, societies and systems around the globe. It seems that the Biden Administration has largely focused on the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza in its foreign policy file, however, senior US leaders also have mainly focused on their top foreign policy priority is the deepening rivalry with China.
Despite ongoing bilateral high-level meetings, strategic dialogues and political consultations between the US and China the ties between Beijing and Washington have soured over numerous points of tension in recent years, including trade war, technologies sanction the status of Taiwan, claims to the South China Sea and allegations of spying and cyber-attacks detracting the pace of mutual peace and trust between these countries. In summary, the US military alliances, economic accords, formation of strategic allies and rise to AUKUS, is one-point agenda i.e. containment of China. The US also has warned China against providing so-called military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine which the Foreign Ministry of China and its political leadership strongly rejected. Thus elements of insanity and wisdom are confronting on many fronts mainly in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, Gaza, Taiwan, South China Sea, Xinjiang etc.
Moreover, the US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell calling the competition with China “the most significant challenge” in US history has also been strongly criticized by Beijing. The constant and continued urging of China to US to discard its Cold War and zero-sum mentality, stop win-lose equation, stop spreading the ‘China threat’ narrative, stop misinterpreting China’s strategic intentions shows the Chinese diplomatic wisdom and peaceful conflict resolution and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian also endorsed it in its briefing.
The mushroom growth of the US military bases, joint drills, deployment of ballistic missiles, presence of nuclear submarines, arms supplies to regional countries, especially Philippines, Taiwan and formation of security blocs all exposing its ill intentions in Asia Pacific polluting the waters of South China Sea and many more around the globe. China does not have any hidden agenda of so-called growing maritime assertiveness because it has been defensive in nature protecting its own legitimate rights in the region. The Japanese former Prime Minister Kishida Fumio desiring to further strengthen the Quad because of so-called increasing security threats to achieve the international order and law based is a diplomatic lie twisting emerging geopolitical and geostrategic hard facts pardoning historical inhumane lapses in Asia Pacific.
—The writer is President, Pak-China Corridor of Knowledge, Executive Director, CSAIS, regional expert: China, CPEC & BRI.
(mehmoodulhassankhan@yahoo.com)
