But those hawks Rumsfeld and Armitage went along
for the ride and while in Canberra discussing the Echelon
spy system and containment policies, the US delegation voiced its
desire for a loyal and gung-ho Australia to pledge the blood of
Australian troops in the event of a conflict in the region. Basically:
if the US has to fight the Chinese in the South China Sea or in
the Taiwan Strait, Australians better be there to catch a few bullets.
The demand for loyalty came in the context of a
four-nation
alliance including Japan, S. Korea, Australia and the US with
the sole purpose stated or unstated
of
building a wall around China.
When Australian officials tentatively endorsed the
idea, Beijing reacted with predictable rhetoric and bluster. Australia,
for its part, is proceeding with caution. There is cause to worry
as China expands economic relations with Papua
New Guinea and opens negotiations with the Irian Jaya independence
movement. China is definitely challenging Australia's
role in the region, but for Australia to jump into an alliance which
threatens China might not be as productive as a facilitating role
between the US and China.
The specter of Chinese expansionism is used to legitimize
military alliances, spy plane fiascoes, arms sales, spy technology
transfers and even agricultural subsidies. A Cold War is already
beginning and specters such as these can quickly turn words and
sanctions into gunshots and sorties. So, how dangerous is this Chinese
expansionism which demands that Australian as well as American blood
be put at political disposal?
TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
Most Chinese scoff at
the idea of an expanding Middle
Kingdom. There are enough problems and threats inside of the
country that the Chinese government must collar and control
there
is no benefit whatsoever in a militaristic China. Of course, Taiwan
is not considered a country, and neither is Tibet.
And the Spratly Islands are
also Chinese territory, according to Beijing. Therefore the presence
of warships and troops in the area and the disputes with Vietnam
and the Philippines are actually a grand misunderstanding: this
is an internal affair between China and the barnacles attached to
the rocks that bestride a major oil route from the Middle East to
Japan and South Korea.…
Historically, tribute reached the Chinese Emperor
from all eight directions: Mongolia, East
Turkestan, Burma,
Vietnam, Korea … for these were all under Chinese sway at one time
or another. China has fought a war with Vietnam and with India over
borders and even exchanged fire with the Russians in the north,
but these territorial disputes are mere pebbles of concern in comparison
with the "Taiwan Question." China
will most likely not risk its international reputation and regional
standing by outright invading and occupying part of a sovereign
nation, but 1.3 billion people are ready to die for Taiwan.
Taiwan can be considered a matter of territorial
integrity, but Chinese influence in the Spratly Islands's,
the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean refuse to be categorized
in such a manner and must serve a different sort of need.
FOR THE LOVE OF OIL
The
race for Central Asia's
oil is on and the big powers are making
alliances, financing guerillas and making investments in efforts
to take the pot. In the Balkans, the West is busy setting up proxy
states to provide for safe transit while China and Russia play friendly
older brother to old enemies in the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization.
China has found a new buddy in Pakistan, a country
in need of ring magnets and other goodies in its ongoing conflict
with India. Pakistan faces heavy sanctions due to the 1998 testing
of a nuclear weapon
these
sanctions have placed Pakistan in the familiar Third World position
of having to default on debts and invite
the IMF to dismantle everything in the name of reform. China
has slowly replaced the US as Pakistan's
most important ally by investing in railroad projects and the Gwadar
port project, and by providing loans and grants to help Pakistan
stave off its debt crisis.
With Sino-US relations on the rocks and a new US-India
alliance taking form, Pakistan and China have found it convenient
to expand relations past ammunition manufacture and military technology
transfers.
The Gwadar Port and railway projects are significant
in that the port will be able to serve the Middle East as well East
Asian and African countries while the railways will link Central
Asian oil with the Indian Ocean.
"Gwadar Port will serve as the hub for transshipment
and oil shipments to the entire Central Asian region, offering the
shortest and most economical route," said Javed Ashraf, Pakistan's Minister of Communication.
China is also working with Burma to create a rail-link
from Yunnan to the
coast
a
completed railway would provide the Chinese navy with an Indian
Ocean port as well as a stronger presence in South East Asia. The
US is vexed by the region's
inability to control the flow of heroin and has provided support
for government troops in Thailand and Cambodia to combat the drug
dealers. The region will be most likely become another forum for
the Sino-US Cold War....
A Chinese port on either side of India and a fortified
island across a major oil route to Japan would really encroach on
American Pacific expansionism, wouldn't
it?
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