A fool’s errand: US attempting to sow discord in Asia- Pacific region
US high- level officials, ranging from politicians to military chiefs, kick start a new brainwashing tour in the Asia- Pacific region.
During his trip to Indonesia on Sunday, Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the Chinese military has become “significantly and noticeably more aggressive,” because the number of interceptions by Chinese aircraft in the Pacific region with the US and its allies have increased.
Also on Sunday, Western media outlets hyped that US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy planned to visit the Solomon Islands in August, with the aim to push back China’s influence.
Milley’s visit to Indonesia is the first by a top US general since 2008. The timing seems delicately arranged given the fact that Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s China tour started on Monday. Sherman and Kennedy’s upcoming visit to the Solomon Islands is filled with utilitarian mentality. For decades, Pacific islands have not received high- level diplomatic attention from Washington, but right after China signed a deal with the Solomon Islands, Americans started visiting the island country one after the other.
Be it Milley or Sherman and Kennedy’s visit, they all share a single goal – that of demonizing China and if possible, turning regional countries against China. When US officials travel across the Asia- Pacific region, telling people how dangerous China is, while acting as an innocent party, Washington is treating regional countries as fools. Widodo’s China visit right after Milley’s remarks could be a coincidence. But to some extent it shows that Indonesia is not buying the US’ rhetoric, or taking the US’ side.
While cozying up to ASEAN members, lately the US has also been putting more effort on the Pacific islands. The two US officials are demanding regional countries not to accept China’s assistance in local development, even when they have no ability to do it by themselves and when the US can offer zero help, Shen Yi, a professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times.
It is the US that seeks to dominate the Pacific region and even the world. In other words, the US is playing the role which Japan had once played during the WWII.
China is helping the Solomon Islands and other regional countries with their development, including infrastructure construction and China would be willing to see the US participate in it. “If the US takes the islands as its own sphere of influence, it has more reasons to invest there,” noted Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator.
Seeing it has less and less to compete with China, the US is getting desperate, and the most convenient tool it has left is to hype the “China threat.”
The US wishes to see as much tension as possible in the Asia-Pacific region, but it has one principle when stirring up trouble – the villain must be China, not the US. What other option does the US have when China is not aggressive? Demonizing China, advertising the idea across the region, attempting to turn China’s neighbors against it.
People can see that when China brings practical cooperation, all the US talks about is containing China. When China exports infrastructure commodities, the US exports weapons and wars. For quite some time, Western domination has meant poverty and stifled foreign policy for other countries.
The facts clearly show who is being aggressive and dangerous. The more the US attacks China, the more weakness and lack of confidence the world smells from the US.