10/27/2011

Asian anxiety

I was reading an article by Michael Auslin in the Today paper on the cut of US military budget and how it will impact the security of Asian countries. It portrayed a concern that there will be more wars in
Asia if the American military presence is reduced. The author did not question that since the end of WW2, who was responsible for all the wars in Asia? Did anyone tell him it was the Americans that started all the wars? So, if America was the fire starter, would there be more wars or lesser wars with their reduced presence? They are still fighting in the Middle East and Afghanistan and instigating the two Koreans to fight another war with their intimidating military exercises in the Korean seas. They are also trying their luck for a war between China and Taiwan.

The author took the standard western view that everyone’s interests will be threatened with the rise China and its growing military power. It rightly said that ‘Beijing is trying to shape a favourable balance of power in the region by preventing smaller nations from allying with each other or creating effective partnerships with larger powers like the US.’ What the writer conveniently ignored is the unfavourable balance of power against China in its own economic zone, that China was bullied, humiliated, and robbed of it territories by foreign powers because of its weakness in military power. What the writer did not say is that the US and the smaller countries have been encroaching into China’s territorial and economic rights in the surrounding seas. What he did not say were the numerous incidents of intimidation by the US and the smaller powers against China, including Japan, the Phillipines, Vietnam and now India.

What is so wrong about a strong China having a balance of power in its favour? What is so right about a balance of power in favour of the US?
Freedom of passage of the seas has never been compromised. The writer claimed a few incidents of China harassing other military ships but would not say how often the Chinese fishing boats were harassed and arrested by the smaller countries with the backing of the US.

Now that China is strong, it shall not continue to take bitter medicine from the US and the smaller littoral states. It is only natural and right for it to reclaim its territories that were robbed from her by gunpoint. And should these be the flashpoints for future wars, is it the fault of China or the fault of aggressors violating China’s territorial integrity and occupying Chinese land?

Should China remain docile and allow the US to dominate over her, dictate terms on her by bullying tactics, and allow the smaller countries to claim its land?

What is the source of Asian anxiety? The unfavourable balance that saw China being cowed, being bullied, with its islands being claimed by smaller countries giving way, and with China staking its rightful claims for their return? The wrongs of the last century against China would have to be righted, the excesses against China, the lands and islands taken away from her would have to be returned. Those countries that seized China’s land would have to act honourably to return what they took from China. Otherwise the tension and anxiety will be there. No country would allow their territories to be taken away from them at gunpoint.

Would Japan, Russia, India return their occupied land to China, and would the small Asean states stop their wild and baseless claims on Chinese islands and remove their own anxieties?

This is what the writer also said, ‘Not unlike Europe in the late 19th century, nations large and small are seeking to enmesh themselves in webs of protective relationships that in turn feed the insecurity of others. The result is the worsening of the risk cycle…’ Who is trying to enmesh the smaller countries in Asia with protective relationships and feeding on the insecurity of others all these years?

36 comments:

  1. Parking your car in front of your neighbour's gate, building extension into your neighbour's garden, throwing stones into your neighbour's house because a gangster is backing you...

    Now the gangster is leaving and you are anxious.

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  2. There is a simple solution; since China's neighbours are unison in allying with the US and India being the up and coming superpower in Asia, the Indian with the help of the US, should take command of Asia and Asean. This will make everyone happy and bring peace to half the World.

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  3. Fully agree with you. Asean should nominate India as their leader in the next Asean Summit Meeting.

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  4. Isn't more wars better for the USA's weapons industry? The USA should have done that long ago and concentrate on weapons production. Why bother to stop wars when selling weapons is their preoccupation? Does not make sense.

    Who is this joker? Another military expert? When they want to set an agenda they find all kinds of excuses and justifications for their actions. Sick of it.

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  5. If India leads Asia, that is the beginning of the dark ages again.

    And with the US behind them, God help us non Indians!

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  6. The American strategy is very simple. Get the Phillipines, Vietnam or India to provoke China by arresting or ramming Chinese ships, or start oil drilling in Chinese islands. This will force China's hand to drive these pests out.

    Then the Western media will start a media blitz calling China a belligent power or a bully. It will then tell the Asean countries that they need more Americans weapons to defend against China.

    China will become the bad boy and America the good samaritan and selling arms to help the Asean countries. China got a bad press and the Asean countries got to pay for more weapons and becoming enemies of China.

    And they will need America's protection more.

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  7. USA,
    please get over it ! Who needs wars when we can have ipad, iphone, icloud, ipod and forthcoming iDevices ?

    Just give us iXXXXX and shut the f#$@#k up !

    The world don't need war, all they need is more of Apple's stuff.

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  8. Why should ther be war?
    South East Asain nations should drop their claims and go for joint development.They do not need the US expensive weapons which both Vietnam and Philippines cannot afford,india is not in a position to take over the leadership.Taiwan will be united with
    whatever form it may take.
    China is too big and very powerful,going to be more powerful and no.1 in the world,whether they like it or not,ASEAN has to live with this fact and there is very little they can do!

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  9. Asean countries can remove all their anxiety by aligning with China and yes, go for joint oil exploration. No need to waste money on American weapons that would be useless against China.

    Only the Phillipines and maybe Singapore can take on China. The Phillipines just bought another patrol boat to defend against the Chinese Navy. Singapore will punch above its weight to match China's overweight.

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  10. Philippines needs US support if it wants to fight China,US is not in a position to do so,it is off.

    Singapore will not fight China,our government has pumped so much of our money into China,how can it fight China,do not forget,China send its officials to spore,not to HK,Taiwan or USA to learn.

    So nothing is going to happen,just talk,as we all know well

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  11. which is the richest country in the world?China with USD3 trillion foreign reserve.
    Which is the most popular country?China-1.3 billion.
    Which country has the highest GDP growth,China.
    ETC
    There is no way any country can touch China,in fact when I visited,the biz people told me they expect China to clash with US in near future as China would not give way.
    ASEAN has to make its choice pretty soon,as Spore leaders know well the strength of China,as illustrtated by Prof Kishore Mahbubani very clearly as he writes extensively for Chinese media,here is one non-Chinese and US expert who predicted China rise as unbeatable.

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  12. Ipad, iphone, icloud, ipod and forthcoming iDevices are mostly made in China,Foxconn or hong Hai tried to diversify to Vietnam,Turkey or even Brazil,but they could not find better workers in quantity like Chinese.

    Steve Jobs ,son of a Muslim,knew this well and he made it.

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  13. It is obvious by now that South east asia is the backyard of China,as Carribean is to USA whose control of their backyard has never been questioned.

    I do not see that any country in S E Asia has the inclination to be China's Cuba,they know very well the fate of Cuba.

    Singapore would be helpful if it can advise their good friends in ASEAN accordingly.

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  14. People of your age seem very convinced that China is getting a very raw deal from other countries, and CHina has never been a big bully and coloniser of other adjoining areas.

    So pray tell, how many of China's territories are being occupied?

    And please dun include Spratleys.

    And please remember China is still officially Communist.

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  15. Yes,in history,China has never been a big bully and coloniser of other adjoining areas,as comapred to USA and USSR.

    In fact,under Chairman Mao,China has given up much of its own territories,such as ongolia,under the influence of USSR.

    But at this time,I do not see China going back to history,it is not possible to ask china to give way anymore,as seem fr Taiwan,tibet,Xinjang,South Sea,etc

    China is as communist as Singapore is socialist,not any more,it is state capitalism,same as PAP's Singapore.

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  16. If you are interested, just google wikipedia for Chinese territories seized by Russia under the unequal treaties, the McMahon Line drawn by the British. Mongolia and China were one country when China was conquered by the Mongols and formed the Yuan Dynasty.

    Stalin broke outer Mongolia from China and kept it separated since. The Japanese too many Chinese islands and they think they can keep it for good.

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  17. Quote Professor Kishore Mahbubani
    "However, it (USA) will look all around Asia for instruments to use to either balance or destabilize China: from Japan to South Korea; from Taiwan to Tibet; from ASEAN to India. Each of these instruments provides geo-political opportunities for the West. However, the ideal geopolitical instrument will be India."

    Unfortunately the timing may be wrong,it will take a very long time for India to catch up with China.

    Can India make it,I doubt.

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  18. Professor Kishore Mahbubani(ex US embassy) predicts
    Asia will soon colonise the west

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIc6jBMbpV0

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  19. India's software will conquer the world and it will call the shot in a decade's time.

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  20. Indian warriors will win any war hands down if they fight at nite. Their enemy wont even know they are beside them and they dont even need camouflage.

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  21. Asians awake or continue to live with the curse of the WEST headed by the Evil Empire USA. Wherever white men go there goes trouble, disaster and tragedy. White men's curse has occurred in this world since October 12, 1492 when they genocided whole population of North American Native Indians.

    White men always use the dirty tactic of divide and conquer and divide and rule.

    In North America they fomented strive among the different self governing native Indian states. Once these Indian states were weakened US picked them up one by one and annexed them. To avoid future ethnic problems white men subjected these native Indians to savage carnage and genocide. And that is how the whole of North and South America came under white men's rule .

    In Asia the same game was played. To avoid fighting among themselves England, France, Russia and Holland carved up separate spheres of influence. Between 1830s and 1930s China happened to be very weak and degenerated. All the savage European countries had a free hand against China. England had a free hand in South West China and the East coast. Russia had a free hand to rob and steal in Wedstern China, Northern China and the North-East maritime province. France had full control of southern China. India was the only beneficiary from British colonial rule. At that time India consisted of several separate independent states. England conquered and united these states under one single unitary political unit for the convenience of British rule. In 1913 England illegally cut off a huge chunk of Chinese land in South West China and incorporated it into British India. England then drew an illegal boundary called the Mcmahon Line . Up to this day no Chinese government has
    ever recognised the illegal British Acquisition and subsequently Independent India refused to negotiate with China for the return to China of the stolen Chinese lands.

    While the British was robbing Chinese land in the south-west, a bigger and more treacherous robber Russia was stealing millions of square miles of Chinese land in the western and north-eastern part of China. Russia too refused to negotiate with China for the rightful return of these lands to China. In 1875 Japan too followed the imperial steps of the West and took away Liu Chiu Tao from China which it renamed Okinawa. In 1905 it took the island of Taiwan and Diao yu dao ( Japan renamed it as Senkaku ). After the Second World War under the terms of United Nations Liu Chiu Tao, Taiwan and Diao Yu Dao were to be returned to China. Other than Taiwan treacherous US stopped the return of Liu Chiu Dao and Diao Yu Dao to China.

    In the South China Sea the West has never disputed the fact that all the islands the Paracels and the Spratleys as well as all the islets and the surrounding seas as historically belong to China. But in the 1970s with the rumour that there are rich oil and gas deposits below the South China Sea the evil West hid behind the veil to encourage Vietnam, the Philippines and other littoral states to lay wishful claims on some of these islands against China.

    Is it wrong for China to reassert and call for the rightful return to China of all the lands stolen from her in the past.

    If China's neighbours continue to hold on to these stolen lands from China as fait accomplis then they are sorely mistaken, It clearly shows that the curse of the west ,the curse of white men is still very strong. The West headed by US wish to see that Asian countries will be embroiled in strive and war so that they can benefit in selling their military hardware and hold sway over all Asians.

    Southernglory

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  22. Chinese soldiers no need to see at night fighting the Indians. They can smell them miles away.

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  23. Hahahaha

    Chemical warfare at its height.

    Chinese soldiers cannot see Indian Soldiers at night responded by Chinese soldiers can smell Indian Soldiers miles away.

    That's two good ones!

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  24. No racist, please. All human being are brothers and sisters. Indians and Chinese are even closer brothers and sisters. All Asians must understand and learn from history, and unite together against any aggression. Disputes among Asians, especially India and China, are just falling into the Western trap. I am not saying all the west are bad. European countries are more civilized today. Only some hawk USA people, especially those weapon producers, are against the rise of Asia (not just China or India). On there other hand, Asia countries must accelerate their corporation and modernization. Wars will never solve anything constructively. Even the winner will suffer these days. This is 21st and not 18th century. All Asian countries should corporate with African and European countries, like China, to build common interest. Today, India has yet to learn from China to look beyond its neighbor. Why not India goes to Africa? Why India must live under USA? Does it mean the past colonial rule by a small UK is not enough? Indian needs to wake up. Depending on software industry that relies on the west is not a sound strategy.

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  25. If you have a chance to visit USA, you will find that USA is perhaps the only country that refuses to follow the norms of the world, for example, weather temperature still in deg F, petrol in gal, length measure in foot and mile (many many more) because it (at least some of their conservative republican politicians) still thinks it is the only superpower and does not need to care about other countries in this world. It is a real gangster state if you know the history (not just the story but the analysis). What do you think those WTO, World Bank, IMF, etc international organization do really? To improve the world or help the poor countries. Really? Who actually benefit from these international setup? USA even tried to manipulate UN for its objectives most if not all the time. How far is USA from Southeast Asia? Why does USA benefit to be present in SEA (militarily)? How many wars are actually stirred up by the USA? Asian should be educated with all these information.

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  26. It is well known fact that the USA will never comply with rulings if it is to their disadvantage. They will just brush aside the whole world's opinion and do as they like, eg climate change, pollution, arm twisting etc.

    On the other hand, if they want the world to do what they propose to do, it is all their own call. Do it or face sanctions from us and our poodles or we will blow you up with our big guns.

    Now, the world has changed. It is not only the US that has big guns, satellites and missiles. That is why they are so sore about China's military buildup which is a challenge to their unilateral voice of authority.

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  27. Wherever white men go, there goes trouble, disaster and tragedy. They bring curse to everywhere they go.

    We know for sure the white men in US and Europe are bankrupt. How could this happen? They have the most advance science and technology of the day.Exactly they thought they have very tight control of all manufacturing systems and complete control over the most intricate financial networks of banks and stock markets around the world. Arm with these ideas of world wide interlocking controls of manufacturing, banking and stock markets they thought they could outsource their most polluting manufacturing factories to third world developing countries where they not only can reap huge profits but also hold down these countries to their whims and fancies. But it backfired because rogues, crooks and scoundrels have entrenched themselves not only in their big business, financial industries like banking, insurance and stock markets but also in every branch of government be it civil service, political or military. The rogues, crooks and scoundrels in both the private sectors and the government departments are closely related. Their ravenous greed and extreme corruption not only is bringing down US and Europe to bankruptcy but also causing business and financial breakdown in other countries.

    US and Europe have borrowed many trillions of dollars from third world developing countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and some other oil rich Arab countries. Many Arab countries also keep thousands of billions of dollars in western banks in US and Europe. US and Europe are using the dirty strategy of raising turbulence, choas and uprising in the Arab countries in order to abscond with the trillions of dollars of Arab money deposited in US and Europe. US tries to cheat China of the trillions of dollars it owes to China by shamefully and falsely accusing China of manipulating the Yuan.

    US thinks it now has almost complete control of all middle east oil resources and commerce. So it is winding down its military in the middle east and Afghanistan and will now focus its military power in the far east to create troubles for China. In doing so US thinks it can avoid paying its debt of trillions of dollars it owes to China. Truely white men have lost their self respect and dignity. They do not know what is shame and have totally no morals or ethics. They are a curse to this worlld.

    If China's neighbours think they can ally themselves with the Evil Empire US against China they cannot be more wrong for they will be bringing curse upon themselves. They will help the American dream and strategy of making Asians fighting Asians come true. They should pull back from the Evil Empire's alliance before it is too late.

    Southernglory1
















    their ravenous greed and s

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  28. Asian countries have been plundered by the West for centuries. Hopefully they have learnt their lessons and would not fight among themselves.

    The American strategy is to create tension, suspicion and insecurity among the Asians and Africans, start wars in other people's backyard, and they benefitted from it by fanning them.


    Unfortunately the ego of
    Asians trying to outdo each other and fight with each other instead of growing together is allowing themselves to be played into the American and European hands. They will just keep stirring up the differences and mistrusts and the African and Asians will keep on being their pawns in their chess boards.

    And they will always remain the inferior races, ruled by the Americans and Europeans.

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  29. "Asian countries have been plundered by the West for centuries. Hopefully they have learnt their lessons...."

    Unfortunately not, except for China. I would say most Asian countries still love to have their posterior sodomised by the West.

    For example, years of colonisation by Spanish and Americans have not woken up the Filipinos. They are still asking for trouble by trying to sleep with the West. How naive!

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  30. Cannot blame the pinoys. Most of them are already half Spanish or half Americans, with European bloods and think they are more European than Asians.

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  31. Cannot blame the vietnamese also,
    many are married to GIs or migtated to US.

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  32. China lost 1,500,000 sq km of land to Russian in northern Manchuria.

    My apologies, the earlier number was wrong.

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  33. No sweat. Many Singaporeans' knowledge of history is just localised and fixated on the last 46 years. How sad!

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  34. One may not share or state in the same way everything that appears in the main article or the comments but it is good that we are starting to think critically and talk back in response to the world view condtioned by the Western-dominated international media.

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  35. Hi Wong Hoong Hooi, welcome to the blog.

    Our media is still feeding the readers with one sided western views of the world with the West as the dominant centre of civilisation. The West are the good guys with the right to dominate over the rest of the world.

    It is utterly disgraceful and irresponsible for Asian media to paint the world using the western world view. It is still back to the days when killing Red Indians is the right thing to do. And bowing to Sahid is the proper thing to do. So is getting a high just to see The Queen.

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