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Wednesday, November 21st, 2018

Despite Apec drama, China is winning the fight for the Pacific, step by patient step

Author:     Simon Tisdall
Source:     Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Mon 19 Nov 2018 18.37 EST
 Link: Despite Apec drama, China is winning the fight for the Pacific, step by patient step
Stephan:   We are being outplayed by the Chinese all over the world, and it is a trend that is going to become more and more important as the years go by. While our geopolitical policies are mostly about using the military to destroy Islamic societies creating death and misery for millions, the Chinese have spent their money building ports and train stations, and infrastructure of all type all over the world as it pursues a long-term strategy to create a middle class in the nations that interest it, as well as the trade infrastructure to make that possible. Over time which strategy do you think will endure and prevail? Which one is fostering wellbeing? QED. When I read articles like this one they remind me that putting  Donald Trump on the world stage is like tricking out a 12-year-old boy in the gear and uniform of a professional football player and putting him on the field as quarterback.

The unusually rumbustious Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit that shuddered to an ill-tempered halt at the weekend proved one thing beyond any doubt: the US and China are intent on doing to the Indo-Pacific region in the 21st century what the US and the Soviet Union did to Europe in the last. Namely, use it as the primary battleground in a global turf war for power and influence.

The jousting superpowers – described by Peter O’Neill, Papua New Guinea’s prime minister and Apec host, as the the “two big giants” in the room – managed to turn what is supposed to be a peaceable platform for advancing multilateral cooperation into a noisy reprise of Captain America versus the Evil Empire. This is not what Bob Hawke and Paul Keating had in mind when Apec was launched in Canberra in 1989.

On this showing at least, the forum’s 21 members, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, must decide whether they want to play Cold War 2. Several have already taken sides, or are in the process of doing so, possibly without sufficient consideration. By partnering with the US in planning a major military base on Manus island in […]

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