Why are we antagonizing China, and what did we learn from the Afghanistan War?
On August 28th, I asked if the United States Government (USG) would stop after the epic failure in Afghanistan to reflect on their failures and learn from their mistakes. Still, the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC) has no intention of learning about their obvious weaknesses or taking a deep breath over China’s rise as a world leader.
The Biden administration, following on from Trump, is rapidly undermining the 40-year status quo in relation to Taiwan as part of its intensifying confrontation and military build-up against China. Biden has given the go-ahead for high-level consultations with Taiwanese officials and has declared that the US is “rock solid” in its support for Taiwan against China.
Going further:
In a flagrant breach of previous protocols, the US has sent special forces troops to Taiwan to train Taiwanese military forces—the first US military presence on the island since all American forces were withdrawn in 1979. The deployment of US military trainers on Taiwan was leaked via the Wall Street Journal last week in a move calculated to further escalate tensions with China.
Washington’s backing has only encouraged Tsai and the DPP to make their opposition to any reunification with China more overt. While China called for negotiations and peaceful reunification, it has repeatedly declared that it will respond to any formal declaration of independence by Taipei with the use of force. The fear in Beijing is that the US will integrate Taiwan, strategically located just 160 kilometres off the Chinese mainland at its closest point, into war plans against Beijing.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/11/taiw-o11.html
China is on a high-tech mission
In July, Wang Yi met State Department officials expressing that President Biden should correct the previous administration’s policies against China with the United States. I agree. Trump was a disaster in the Oval Office for the United States and our presence as world leaders. While we’ve always been a bully on the international stage, we did so with a little more finesse. As I wrote about often regarding internal issues like racism, we’d always been a racist nation but carried it out with what Ian Haney Lopez called “dog-whistling.” We used coded words which let people know we were discussing our people of color.
Our xenophobia was handled much the same way. Donald Trump at first marveled and congratulated China and Xi Jinping for his handling of Covid-19, but then changed course by calling it the “Chinese flu” and threatening to sue China for inflicting “the Chinese flu on the world.” Despite all evidence, including Biden’s Intelligence Community (IC) turning up, no evidence that the epidemic originated in Wuhan.
Several months ago, Chinese diplomats told US leaders:
Wang Yi underscored, I would like to tell the U.S. side clearly and explicitly that China’s development and revitalization, driven powerfully from within, is an irresistible trend of historical evolution. Socialism with Chinese characteristics totally fits China’s national realities and requirements, has already made and will continue to make an overwhelming success. With a close bond and a shared future with the Chinese people, the Communist Party of China is always supported by the 1.4 billion Chinese people. The great rejuvenation of Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process, which cannot be held back by any force or country. The modernization drive of all ethnic groups of China is also a great process along the progress of human civilization, which should not be held back by any force or country.
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/t1895278.shtml
The rulers of China get support from the Chinese people until they’re not. The rulers are chosen according to their testing scores, so only the smartest are chosen for the ruling class. The financial elite cannot buy their son or daughter a seat at the table. The Chinese only want the brightest leading their country, so they trust what the leaders are doing.
US government is in decline and unpopular
Meanwhile, the US citizens’ trust in our government is at record lows. As a result, the Chinese people allow their government officials to act in their best interests. So, when the leaders discuss their modernization drive, the best and brightest are leading this endeavor, backed by the entire population.
Whereas we just had an attempted coup in January by the former President and maybe two dozen Republicans holding office, with financial oligarchs providing the funding for a few “patriots” on the ground refusing to believe in a general election outcome. There is evidence that the former President even enlisted the military and Capitol Police.
Shortly after the failed coup, the newly-elected President withdrew (surrendered) troops from the $2.3 trillion twenty-year war in Afghanistan against Taliban rebels. Even though we’ve heard both political parties demand answers by setting up a commission in Washington, we still haven’t heard anything about a debriefing for the American people. Instead, these same political parties gave the same military another record of US Dollars for their 2021-22 Pentagon budget.
To be clear, the United Nations declared Afghanistan a humanitarian disaster after we occupied the country for twenty years and spent $2.3 trillion of taxpayer dollars. Yet, the Minority Speaker of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, just called a massive investment in the American people a damaging waste of money.
Even Democratic leaders like Joe Manchin, who voted for a record Pentagon budget, won’t invest in Medicare so our senior citizens can buy eyeglasses and dentures to eat their food. Do you wonder why our government trust is nearing single digits? And Joe lives on a yacht while his Appalachian district is near the poorest in the country.
US citizens are living in a delusional world
Do you see why we need to step back and undertake a massive introspective analysis? And this is just the major stuff – I could go on and on. Still, I’m just focusing on the Pentagon, which directs our military strategy against China, followed by a State Department propaganda campaign led by the media against the American people. Our collective ignorance of China is amazing, but it’s also intentional. Our media brings on ‘military strategists’ who are spokespeople for the Military-Industrial Complex. What do you suppose they are going to say to the American people – China is bad, and America is good. It’s propaganda. It’s the same propaganda sheet that Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita reads from when he attacks Chinese Institutions in Indiana and around our country.
A Chinese diplomat told us the three things China wants us to do, and they aren’t difficult to follow:
Wang Yi pointed out, to properly manage the differences between the two sides and prevent China-U.S. relations from further deteriorating or even getting out of control, China puts forth three basic demands on the United States as bottom lines that China firmly upholds. First, the United States must not challenge, slander or even attempt to subvert the path and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Chosen by history and the Chinese people, China’s path and system are matters of 1.4 billion Chinese people’s welfare and Chinese nation’s future, as well as core interests that China must firmly uphold.
Second, the United States must not attempt to obstruct or even interrupt China’s development process. Chinese people have their rights to live better lives and China has its right to achieve modernization. Modernization is not an exclusive right of the United States, but involves the basic conscience of mankind and international justice. China urges the United States to remove all unilateral sanctions, high tariffs, long-arm jurisdiction and technology blockade it has imposed on China as soon as possible.
Third, the United States must not infringe upon China’s state sovereignty, or even damage China’s territorial integrity. The issues regarding Xinjiang, Xizang and Hong Kong have never been about “human rights” or “democracy”, but about fighting against “Xinjiang independence”, “Xizang independence” and “Hong Kong independence”. No country will allow its national sovereignty and security to be compromised. As for the Taiwan question, it’s even more important. Although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have not yet been reunified, the fact that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China and Taiwan is part of China has never changed and will never change. If “Taiwan independence” forces dare to provoke, China has the right to take any necessary measure to stop it. We urge the U.S. side to honor its commitment on Taiwan question and act prudently.
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/t1895278.shtml
Instead of inviting paid mouthpieces from the Defense Industry to promote military propaganda, our media needs to educate the American people about the truth laid down by Chinese diplomats. Also, we need our media to lead the demands to discuss what we, the people, spent $2.3 trillion on in Afghanistan and why none of those dollars seemed to have left the Afghan people better off due to our investment. Name one democratic institution we built to improve the lives of the Afghan people. Any major utility projects or broadband? What other infrastructure projects did we construct? Or did we allow military contractors to rip us off for twenty years?
