Three days before the recent Xi-Obama Summit, US neocons launched yet another initiative to undermine US-China relations. In a “China threat” themed report, circulated in Washington and on the Internet, neocons called for aggressive actions to contain China.
The report was written by an ad hoc advocacy committee called the Asia-Pacific Strategy Working Group. Members of this group belong to such neoconservative think tanks as the American Enterprise Institute and the Foreign Policy Initiative on whose websites the report is posted. AEI’s resident China specialist, Dan Blumenthal, heads up the group.
The report, pointing to China’s military modernization, states that China threatens what they call “American military dominance in East Asia.”
The report emphasizes the US Asia “pivot” or “rebalancing” strategy. Intensified security cooperation with East Asian countries, especially in the military field, is called for. While Japan is a key player, the report emphasizes using India as a counterweight to China.
The report advocates the highly controversial “Air Sea Battle” strategy for hard power military containment of China. As if such provocative policy is not enough, Neocons advocate extensive ballistic missile defense systems aimed against China not to mention more undersea warfare systems.
On the diplomatic containment front, the report advocates bringing Europeans into a US led hegemonic agenda in the Pacific.
The report calls for the US to continue and reinforce its “hub and spokes” diplomacy with the US as the dominant “hub” linking to Asian allies who are the “spokes”.
Such provocative, aggressive, and destabilizing policies as those advocated by the Neocons must be rejected as contrary to US national interests.
There is a window for laying a sound basis to US-China relations over the next decade. Unless a constructive relationship is set into place during this time, long term relations could be unstable and could deteriorate into serious confrontation.
The only sustainable basis for US-China relations involves mutual respect, mutual benefit, and peaceful cooperation.
Copyright © 2013, The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted provided full credit is given and a live link provided.
