NATO 2.0: Trump sets sights on anti-China Indo-Pacific Military Alliance

The US government has announced that is planning to forge a new military alliance with countries in the Indo-Pacific area, initially starting with Japan, India and Australia. 

After months of anti-Chinese offensives, it is clear that such an alliance is yet another attempt by the USA to inflict hegemonic force against the PRC. 

On Tuesday 13th October, Wang Yi, China’s state Councillor and Foreign Minister issued a severe warning against the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy at a news conference in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, saying that the development of this alliance “in itself is a huge, hidden security risk, and if it keeps advancing, it will not only be a retrogression in history, but also mark a dangerous start. I believe all parties will be fully sober and vigilant about this.” 

This attempt to forge a ‘NATO in the East’ could potentially reign in more US-complicit states from the continents of Asia and Oceania and become an even greater threat to states such as China and North Korea. 

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hosted a meeting with delegates from Japan, India and Australia. Speaking to Japan’s Kyodo News Agency, Pompeo said that the US government aims to “build out a set of relationships all throughout Asia” as a means of geopolitically surrounding China.

On Tuesday’s speech in Kuala Lumpur, Wang also added that “the strategy is based on an outdated Cold War mentality, seeks confrontation among blocs and geopolitical game-playing and works to beef up US dominance and architecture of hegemony.”

Alongside this, Trump’s administration has been spreading a flurry of lies about Huawei’s 5g installations overseas, the reeducations happening in Xinjiang and most laughably about the so-called threat of Tik Tok.

Plans to engage other regional states have already commenced and from the 14th-16th October, US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and counterparts from the Indian government will be having meetings with the Bangladeshi government over the Indo-Pacific Strategy. 

Bangladesh recently received several landmark infrastructure projects from China and has also received an internationalist medical team that assisted with the COVID-19 situation in Bangladesh. China also carried out human trials of an anti-COVID-19 vaccine in Bangladesh.

Cold War-level tensions remain high at this current moment in time and attacks from US diplomats and the State Department against China’s suppression of the pro-US imperialism protests in Hong Kong are just one example of how the US is meddling in China’s affairs. 

On Monday 11th, it was also reported that the US had agreed to supply Taiwan with advanced weaponry, including a truck-based rocket launcher. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian remarked that the sales will “seriously interfere in China’s internal affairs and seriously damage China’s sovereignty and security interests”.

The alliance will mark a dangerous turning point in relations between not only China and the US, but also with China’s neighbouring States in the region. 

Tomasz Nowak

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on email
Share on whatsapp
Share on print