China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that the US and China are “on the brink of a new Cold War.” The nation’s top diplomat warned of a “political virus” that has infected Washington and is pushing US politicians to attack Beijing, criticism that is mostly related to the Covid-19 pandemic, although Taiwan and Hong Kong have become major talking points lately.
Wang also criticized US politicians’ efforts to “fabricate rumors” into the origin of Covid-19 and said China is “open” to working with the international scientific community to investigate the source of the virus. The investigation, Wang said, must be fair and free of “political interference.”
President Trump, and many other US politicians, have accused Beijing of a cover-up in the early days of the outbreak and pushed the theory that the virus leaked out of a Chinese maximum-security laboratory in Wuhan.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Wang’s counterpart, has increased his anti-China rhetoric in the wake of the pandemic. Last week, Pompeo slammed China, calling the Asian country “hostile to free nations.” Earlier in May, Pompeo claimed there was “enormous evidence” the virus leaked out the lab in Wuhan, a claim he’s since backed away from.
On the brink? Is Wang Yi kidding?
China probably doesn’t realize nearly tarring and feathering Obama’s Air Force One at G20 2016 then drone-napping a USN robo-sub wasn’t cute but provocative. Extremely provocative. Probably not the best response to the U.S. pivot to Asia.
Did they really think they could win a hardball immaturity contest for keeps with the U.S.?
Geopolitics doesn’t work like that; never has. Backing down is for chumps and payback is a b*tch. The U.S. bombs wedding parties and funerals and MSF hospitals. The War Machine doesn’t care where COVID-19 came from anymore; its just a convenient weapon now.
Trump has taken the game of disrespect to new levels. If Opium Wars-like incidents are a China’s trigger, they can expect that to be pulled hard and often.
It is frustrating that China is not responding more strongly to American insults/provocations. But I think China is playing the long game. In next 10-20 years, China’s economy will well surpass that of the US…and by 2015 it will be the preeminent global power. That I understand is President Xi’s goal.
You’re correct, but that’s the driver of a madness the Chinese may not comprehend.
This could end badly for everyone if China does not realize, this is no looming Cold War redux; they are in the midst of a here-and-now Fifth Generation war.
Before, soldiers fought soldiers from centralized command chains against centralized political and military targets; civilians were mostly bykill and such casualties abhorred
5G warfare is characterized by civilians being the agents and objects of war, waged from decentralized networks.
COVID-19 is a good example of this kind of warfare.
Whatever the origins of the virus, the propaganda ops are militarized campaigns, tracing apps the new draft, every death a propaganda opportunity.
There is no central COVID-19 command, but there is a viral awareness among supporters, of the political outcomes desired.
Also, if there’s anything to Illuminati lore, this is modern war come full circle to its roots in insider cabalism.
The old money families have been around for hundreds of years playing with society. Modern China is younger than the U.S.A.. for all that China has pretension of being ancient.
China wins by maintaining its alliance with Russia and a successful completion of the BRI initiative. The West is in a state of decay. All it can do is interfereat this point to slow it done. Western civilization peaked with GWB’s “mission accomplished” moment. It can’t handle a combined Russia and China on the world stage. It has nothing left to offer the world.
True, but when dealing with Russia there were outlets for proxy war; Ukraine, Syria.
In Asia, China is confronted directly with no apparent [local] release valves for extreme tensions.
[Great powers] Not having a third country to fight it out in, is good for third nations. Not necessarily good for primary antagonists entering a fight with no natural exit strategy.
Also, the West may not necessarily be in decline; that may be a propaganda illusion drawn from the experience of the socio-political-economic elites and the upper middle classes.
What was in decline was the relative power gap between Western elites and Western citizens, and Western elites over the developing world.
While the most affluent middle and upper middle classes declined, the lower middle classes have expanded, empowered through information technology despite a decline in affluence.
The rest of the world catching up to Western elites in terms of socio-political-economic power, is not the same as the West actually ‘declining’ in real terms.
“There is no central COVID-19 command, but there is a viral awareness among supporters, of the political outcomes desired.”
There are politicians who are exploiting the spread of the virus, the lockdowns, the fear, etc, to aid in pushing their own agenda. Throughout human history, there have always been scumbags willing to exploit human misery for their own ends. There’s nothing 5th Generation about it. Unless, of course, you feel COVID was deliberately set loose to disrupt the world economy, but releasing a virus in your own country is a funny way to go about that.
Its doubtful that nationalist factions in power in either China or the U.S. would have deliberately or accidentally released COVID-19. It may be natural.
If not, there is a third imperial player; neoliberal Globalism based out of Europe. There is no true ‘globalism’; just international finance based out of Europe.
France helped China establish that BSL-4 Lab and remains a potent geopolitical shadow player. Europe had not been keeping up with the rise of China and the U.S., when the natural giants of the world economy worked together.
The globalists have independent factions within China and the U.S. more than willing to sacrifice their countries for a ‘greater good’.
The only way to fight ‘safely’ among nuclear powers, would be through 5G – civilian based – warfare.
I am afraid I agree with you. Old money families have been around for hundreds of years playing with societies. They are as old as Babylon and as evil as hell. China is young. So is Russia. Yet, mentality is old, old money lost several rounds in Russia , and have not succeeded penetrating China.
I have a feeling China understands this kind of madness. But it will not reveal its hand. Russia got quiet. Usually a sign of being ready.
Throughout Asia — I see no takers. Japan is not interested in policy of coordinated defense we recommended, Korea is not the same place any more. Thailand is sailing away, Malaysia has twenty faces, Singapore gone, forget about Indonesia and Philippines. India? Interested in Indian ocean — thank you. There is not ONE Asian country in a position to support our war trumpets. Can we go alone?
No, not even Vietnam.
Europe will be our Sancho Panza. But not because they care, but are afraid.
Is China ready for the insanity?
This is what I see.
Ominous patience.
he projects chinese troops to be celebrating along fisherman’s wharf in san francisco in 2065 after our total economic collapse and agreement to let them take over.
There’s nothing new or politically viral about this, it’s just the need for politicians in this country to have an strawman enemy to bang on about. For the Democrats, it’s Russia and their “control” over Trump. For the Republicans, it’s China, the media, and Democrats. Same sh*t, different day.
Speaking of the virus, at some point in the last 24 hours, the US death toll from COVID-19 passed 100,100, meaning that my prediction that it would cause closer to 200 than to 200,000 deaths in the US before the end of the year (versus Richard Stack’s prediction of 200,000 to 2 million) was incorrect.
While we have yet to see whether Mr. Stack is right, we have now seen that I was wrong.