IT is unfortunate after US Speaker Nancy Pelosi had issued a statement on her visit to four Asian countries that excluded Taiwan, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby would play a game in saying that it is up to Pelosi to visit Taiwan.
What happens after Pelosi has touched her feet on Taiwanese soil is precisely the scenario that Kirby has outlined which means the US knows in advance accurate details on what China is planning to do.
Instead of using this info to bring down the tension one notch lower by postponing Pelosi’s trip, or calming down the situation ala a “statesman” superpower, Kirby played his trump card by saying Pelosi has the right to visit Taiwan.
Since the world only cares that the Ukraine war needs to be stopped and no new whammy should be created, so the timing of Pelosi visit really stinks.
To use an analogy of Bill Clinton’s successful campaign slogan in the 1992 election, ‘it’s the timing, stupid!’
Instead of postponing her visit, the 82-year-old grandmother relishes the prospect of playing a Mission Impossible movie game of keeping everyone in suspense in her “escapade” from the Chinese “trap” to arrive at Taiwan unscathed.
Moreover, with the Ukraine war on its plate, the US can barely handle it with optimum efficiency. So why pick a fight with another big country, more so another nuclear-armed country?
With the US and the EU providing heavy weapons to the Ukrainians, the war should have ended earlier in Ukraine’s favour.
The fact that the war still dragged on shows the US cannot handle it with optimum efficiency and should consider bringing the two parties to the war on the negotiating table.
The world desperately needs the war to be stopped because it has caused not only the people in the combatants’ countries to suffer but also people in the whole world including the US and the EU.
Instead of eliminating one of the whammies that has caused untold suffering and misery of the global population, the US is pushing China into the warm embrace of Russia, which will just prolong the war, and create a potential new one.
Many analysts including US former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has already warned the US not to push China into an alliance with Russia because it would not only prolong the war but also it marks a lethal combination for the US – two superpowers versus one.
Perhaps it is time for the US to accept that the world now is no longer a unipolar world with the US at the apex but a multipolar world where the US, Russia and China should treat each other as first among equals.
Glenn Diesen, professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway and an editor at the Russia in Global Affairs journal sums up the deficiencies the US has exhibited being the superpower in a unipolar world.
“In recent years, the US has unilaterally withdrawn from security agreement with its main adversaries, which has set in motion an uncontrolled escalation,” he said.
“It has put the Americans on a path to war with countries such as Russia and Iran, and Washington is now also taking steps towards an accidental war with China by incrementally abandoning the One China Policy.
“Beijing is now warning of an unprecedented military response if Pelosi follows through on her planned trip to Taiwan.”
Let’s hope saner heads will prevail in the Biden administration that will accept the realities of today’s multipolar world by working hard to prevent the Pelosi saga into becoming a deadly conflagration with a global impact just like how it has been for the Ukraine war.
Ditto with China, let’s hope saner heads prevail that will not turn this into a bloody conflict. – Aug 10, 2022
Jamari Mohtar is the Editor of Let’s Talk!, an e-newsletter on current affair.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Pic credit: Reuters
