The Taiwanese are bracing for the possibility that China will use military force to attempt to assert control over their island.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen promised on October 10 to boost Taiwan’s national security in order to counter an increasingly aggressive China. Taiwan will not allow Communist China’s efforts to seize control of the island, Tsai said. Continue reading
Protesters stage a sit-in to block construction vehicles working on the expansion of Camp Schwab, a U.S. military base, on May 31 in Nago, Okinawa, Japan. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
The latest deterioration of a fading trans-Pacific alliance
Some 70,000 protesters rallied in Okinawa, Japan, on August 11 against the planned relocation of a United States military base. Rather than see U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma moved from a heavily populated part of the island to the remote Henoko Bay, the protesters want it to be removed from the island entirely. Continue reading
While you were busy watching fireworks on the Fourth of July holiday, or were perhaps distracted by the World Cup events in Brazil, China just pulled South Korea into its sphere of influence. This is but one piece of a bigger predicted picture (See also here) by Global Geopolitics where China will be a regional power leading an Asian bloc of nations under its protectorate — with the US out of Asia.
China designated a clearing bank in Seoul for yuan transactions in South Korea on Friday, coinciding with a visit by President Xi Jinping, as Beijing promotes greater use of its currency overseas, AFP reports. Continue reading
If Ukraine is to still join the EU, expect it to after the cold winter subsides. This way, Russia can no longer blackmail the Ukranian leadership via energy supplies by shutting off the gas lines as it did a few years back — which also was a statement to Europe as it, too, was affected.
Every decent revolution produces an iconic scene. The 1989 Tiananmen protests had tank man; during Germany’s reunification it was a segment of the Berlin Wall swaying back and forth like a wiggly tooth before finally collapsing; in Baghdad in 2003, it was the slow-motion toppling of the giant statue of Saddam Hussein. On Sunday, the budding revolution in Ukraine got its iconic scene, when, amid protests of roughly 500,000 in Kiev’s Independence Square, angry marchers felled a Vladimir Lenin statue then slugged it to pieces with sledgehammers.
The protesters are upset with President Viktor Yanukovich, and specifically his November 29 decision to reject a free-trade deal with the EU. The decision was seen not only as a rejection of Europe, but an embrace of Russia. Many Ukrainians worry that Yanukovich, despite repeated denials, has struck a deal with Vladimir Putin to form a customs union with Russia.
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Whatever the outcome, events in Ukraine highlight three important geopolitical realities, each of which is also prophetically significant. Continue reading
Japan and South Korea underwent leadership changes this week, which means all four of North Asia’s major powers now have different leaders in office since this time last year. As these nations undergo leadership transitions, they’re also jockeying for position in a shifting world order, which places China in a dominant role.
Japan’s new premier is the grandson of a World War II minister who helped run Japanese-occupied Manchuria, and who later tried to abolish the pacifist clause in Japan’s constitution. China is now ruled by the son of a Communist Chinese revolutionary hero—who was a close comrade of Chairman Mao. And both Koreas are now in the hands of descendants of Cold War dictators. Continue reading
What the author here fails to understand is that China and Russia, while surely not true allies, are allied together out of convenience against America. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” goes the saying. This is also the main purpose behind founding the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It is both a soon-to-be created Asian bloc hegemony against the West and a new world war axis.
One thing the auther has right, however, is that there’s a division being sewn between the United States and Europe out of changing internal salient issues. What the future holds exactly is anyone’s guess. However what will likely happen, and sooner rather than later, is that we might see NATO being dismantled because of the false notion that there is no USSR and it’s now a peaceful democracy. All is well and there is no need for America’s protection. Couple this with European resentment towards America’s ongoing wars and political differences. As the EU sorts itself out and becomes more intergrated — a United States of Europe, if you will — we will indeed likely see a “European army” that a lot of top politicians across the continent have been calling for for quite a while now. Something has to fill the gap and this will be NATO’s replacement.
No matter whether Mitt Romney or Barack Obama is elected as the next president of the United States on November 6, he will think Pacific rather than Atlantic; Asia rather than Europe. The most convincing sign of this change is that during their foreign policy debate neither of the candidates mentioned Europe or NATO, substantial allies on which all US diplomacy relied for some seven decades. Continue reading
A senior adviser to the Chinese government has called for an economic attack on Japan’s bond market to crash the yen and drive the country into submission, reported the Telegraph on September 18.
The threat comes as Japan and China vie over ownership of the Senkaku group of islands located between the two nations.
Jin Baisong, who holds a position at a branch of China’s Commerce Ministry, noted that China has become Japan’s most important creditor. China should use its $230 billion of Japanese bonds “in the most effective manner” and ignite a budgetary debt bomb in its eastern neighbor, he said.
He also indicated that China should starve Japan of rare earth elements. China supplies around 95 percent of the world’s rare earth metals, which are used in many hi-tech applications including military machinery. “It’s clear that China can deal a heavy blow to the Japanese economy without hurting itself too much,” he said.
Jin’s threats may be directed at Tokyo, but America should take note because they could just as easily be aimed at the Red, White and Blue—and maybe they are.
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Under President Obama, America has publicized its Pacific Maritime strategy as the cornerstone of its defense policy. Under this reorientation of American power, America is working to string together the various smaller Pacific nations into an economic and military alignment against China. In this context, America has often referred to its ally Japan and its many islands as its “unsinkable aircraft carrier” in the region. Japan is America’s most important Asian ally.
If America does not strongly back Japan, it risks having its Pacific strategy revealed as an empty shell. If China can force Japan to back down, it will be a huge signal for other Southeast Asian nations to submit to China. Japan’s only other choice would be rearmament. To this point, Japan has opted for a small military in exchange for American support. If U.S. support is ever seen as unreliable, Japan will be forced to re-militarize. A rearmed Japan will be much more independent and less America-centric in its policies.
Yet America has to be very careful in its dealings with China too. America conducts 2½ times more trade with China than it does with Japan. The U.S. federal government has also borrowed a whopping $1.3 trillion from China (and Hong Kong). China also owns another half trillion or so in other U.S. dollar debt assets.
China has its fingers on the pin of a much bigger hand grenade.
And there is no doubt that China considers America’s debt as a weapon to be used too. Back in 2007, Xia Bin, a cabinet-rank minister, stated that China’s foreign reserves should be employed as a “bargaining chip” in trade talks with the U.S. That same year, as China and America hammered out a trade deal, He Fan, an official at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, went even further, warning that China could obliterate the greenback if it so desired. “China has accumulated a large sum of U.S. dollars. Such a big sum … contributes a great deal to maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency,” he said. If China’s central bank is forced to dump its U.S. currency, it “might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar,” he said. China’s state media describes China’s huge dollar holdings as a weapon. In the past, it has referred to America’s debt pile as China’s “nuclear option,” indicating Beijing could easily trigger a dollar meltdown of massive proportions if it needed to.
America faces some tough choices. Watch to see how its massive debt leads to a weakness that will alienate its allies. America is about to lose a lot more influence within the Asia Pacific. Whether China drives Japan into submission, or causes Japan to seek military independence from Washington, America risks being effectively driven back to the beaches of Darwin and Pearl Harbor.
China has got its fingers on a global economic hand grenade, and things may be about to get ugly.
Full article: China Threatens to Pull Pin on Global Economic Hand Grenade (The Trumpet)
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