US enlightens China and world with warnings against Taiwan aggression – Reuters

By Timur Fomenkopolitical analyst

The US has publicly warned China against using visits by US lawmakers to Taiwan “as a pretext for military action” and demanded that other countries warn Beijing against a conflict on the island.

The statements were made last week by US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. They come amid speculation that more US congressional officials will soon visit Taiwan. US lawmakers have made such trips since then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last August, which created a crisis and prompted China to respond with large-scale military exercises. Sherman’s warning also comes amid rising US-China tensions over the so-called “spy balloon” that recently flew over US territory.

According to the United States, China is an aggressor seeking to unilaterally change the status quo on Taiwan. Meanwhile, Western mainstream media are keeping tensions going as they speculate on whether Beijing will invade to achieve its stated goal of “reunification.” Throughout the past year, the Taiwan issue has been heightened by events in Ukraine, which the US has exploited to draw comparisons to push for the expansion of NATO influence in Asia. .

But who really wants war? Washington claims to support peace and stability with its constant warnings and preparations for what it calls a military contingency in the Taiwan Strait. In reality, the United States is deliberately undermining the established consensus on the one-China principle, forcing Beijing to react and subsequently branding it an aggressor. This, in turn, legitimizes Washington’s continued militarization of the region and asserts its influence over regional partners by placing them in a situation where they must choose sides.

American foreign policy selectively weaponizes the idea of ​​self-determination in order to project military power on a global scale. Using their ideology, the United States proclaims itself the champion of free countries to allow them to militarize certain regions of the globe against rival powers. For example, the United States uses the former USSR and the countries of the Soviet bloc to maintain its military dominance in Europe, and uses Israel to project itself into the Middle East. Now Washington is seeking military hegemony over a region it describes as the Indo-Pacific in a bid to contain China’s rise.

Of course, it is impossible to get countries in a given region to accept massive US militarization and destabilization if there is no political will or incentive to do so. For many decades, Asia has integrated itself, which emphasizes common peace and stability, despite the many disputes that often accompany it. This means that the United States needs an “entry point” to force its way into the region, undermine the existing regional order and turn it into a zero-sum ideological and geopolitical confrontation against China – in other words, a Cold War Model.

How does he do this? As with NATO and Russia, the United States actively seeks to foster military tension by promoting the Taiwan question and declaring China the aggressor. Thus, in recent years, the United States has begun to play down its commitment to the one-China policy it established as the foundation of its diplomatic relations with Beijing, and actively uses the island as a wedge in the containment of China. The United States views Taiwan as positioned among several key island chains and sea routes, which, if allowed to return to Beijing’s full control, will permanently shift the balance of power in the region in its favor. Thus, the United States sees multiple strategic advantages in promoting the “de facto” independence of Taiwan and using it to induce China to cause instability.

In doing so, the United States was able to reassert its geopolitical influence over Japan and the Philippines, effectively locking them into Taiwan emergency scenarios. The United States scored a major victory in recent weeks when it secured Manila’s consent to access four additional military bases, which are near Taiwan. In doing so, the United States does not present itself as a facilitator or guarantor of regional peace, but as a disruptor and, if China subsequently reacts by invading Taiwan, it would seek to try to apply the “Russian model in Beijing, aimed at isolating and breaking integration with the surrounding region and the West through massive sanctions. In doing so, even if no war occurs, the United States actively seeks to stir up a sense of crisis and opposition to a Taiwanese emergency in Asia.

In conclusion, the United States asserts that it opposes conflict, while taking advantage of it as a means of geopolitical projection. In fact, peace and security in the Taiwan Strait, manifesting in a scenario where Taiwan consensually sets aside its differences with mainland China and agrees to resolve the long-standing issue, is disastrous for US interests. This is the last thing Washington wants. Instead, the United States wants to continually provoke tensions to promote deeper militarization of China’s periphery and portray Beijing’s responses as acts of aggression. These warnings are therefore pure gas lighting.

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