Ajit Randeniya

Less than a month after the spectacular failure of the US and UK orchestrated attempt to destabilise Iran and implement regime change, the gullible public in the West are being bombarded at this moment with similar news of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”protestsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in Western China.

The propaganda being dished out by the Western media arm of the conspiracy has a familiar ring to it: casualty numbers are precise as if they were predetermined; the police is committing unspeakable brutality towards ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”peacefulƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ protesters; and there are inspiring stories of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”courageousƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ resistance against the State law enforcement authorities, with iconic film footage and photographs!

This latest plot conforms to an emerging pattern of a rejuvenated Western strategy of destabilising countries they see as competitors to the US economic and political hegemony of the world, primarily by orchestrating communal unrest. The attempts to achieve this aim are being deployed through the secret services, operating in connivance with Diaspora groups. In order to attract local community sympathy and support, such Diaspora ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”governments in exileƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ are portrayed as victims of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Human Rights abusesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in their home countries.

The events in China this week are typical of this sinister strategy, with all the usual ingredients: a region with simmering ethnic and religious unrest in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”a country of interestƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and an active minority Diaspora in the West backed by significant financial resources. All the secret services need to do to inflame the situation is to facilitate the activities of a few hundred provocateurs through Western embassy staff; The media oligopoly will look after the rest by giving international exposure to the group as the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”righteousƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ being persecuted by the state machinery! The script of the story emanating from Xinjiang, the capital of ChinaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Autonomous Northwestern region of Uyghur conforms to this model, to the letter.

This exploitation of an ethnic minority as the primary tool of destabilisation in particular, conforms to a pattern Sri Lanka and numerous other countries undermined by the US in the past are familiar with. The Uyghur region of China that shares common borders with poor, vulnerable Central and South Asian countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh has long been targeted by the neocons in and around the US administrations as the potential epicenter of political and economic destabilisation, the means of achieving their atrocious objective of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”containmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of China.

The aim of these conspirators was to exploit the ethnic issue in the province between the Han Chinese and theTurkic minority to ferment trouble inside China, through the Uyghur minority communities in the bordering Central Asian countries. It is a bonus that the region is also rich in oil, gas and coal!

This attempt to exploit the Turkic ethnic issue in China is all the more deplorable due to ChinaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s honourable record towards its ethnic minorities, especially during the Cultural Revolution: Chairman Mao Zedong refined the idea of ChinaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s founding father Sun Yat-sen that all people in China belong to the “great family of Chinese” further: he aligned it with his doctrine aimed at constructing a shared, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”socialist laborƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ identity for all working people, unified by their enmity against capitalists, land owners, serf owners and other exploiters, regardless of their ethnicity. The idea of ethnicity that replaced the idea of class also made the Han and non-Han people equal economically and politically, prompting the working poor of China’s ethnic minority groups to extend their support to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The majority Han was aggrieved however, due to the apparent ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”reverse discriminationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ meted out to them in the form of decreased population proportion that resulted of the exemption of ethnic minorities from the one-child policy for example, and the privileges granted to ethnic minorities for employment and education opportunities caused. In essence, the Chinese ended up inheriting a problem not unlike that of Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s, with some Uyghurs resorting to separatist violence, and emigrating to the West.

The Uyghurs in the US were organised under a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”World Uyghur CongressƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ (WUC), their government in exile, led by the 62 year old Rebiya Kadeer, a millionaire businesswoman who fled China in 2005, after serving a goal term for endangering national security, following arrest on her way to meet a visiting delegation from the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”US Congressional Research ServiceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢!

The Chinese government immediately traced the origins of the current violence as “a pre-empted, organised violent crime instigated and directed from abroad and carried out by outlaws in the countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, and blamed the WUC for orchestrating the events via the internet. Predictably, and according to the script, the WUC told Voice of America that the police had opened fire on protesters!

The timing of the events is related to the meeting of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”the Group of EightƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ (G8) meeting being held in the Italian town of L’Aquila, and more particularly to ChinaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s planned push at the meeting, together with Russia, for the need to develop a new global financial system based on several ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”strongƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ regional currencies rather than the US dollar that has lost all credibility.

Obviously, the US, UK end the EU considered this challenge to the supremacy their currencies needs warding off, and decided on a campaign of destabilisation to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”reverse the pressureƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The signs as to who is behind the events, like in the Iranian case, were unmistakable: German Chancellor Angela Merkel in particular, volunteered to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-speak to Chinese President Hu JintaoƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ at the meeting about the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-worsening violenceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in Xinjiang. US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said: “We call on all sides for calm and restraint.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also chipped in, urging the Chinese government to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-respect their people’s right to protestƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. This part of the conspiracy failed however, due to the Chinese PresidentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s decision to cancel his plan to attend the G8 meeting and to return home after his state visit to Italy.

The crux of the matter here is ChinaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s call for the replacement of the US dollar with stable currencies as the major reserve currencies, and for a new mechanism to maintain tighter vigil on countries issuing reserve currencies: as a country that currently holds more than $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, more than 70 percent in US dollar assets, China has the perfect right as well as reasons to demand such a change because under the current framework the US dollar problem is made ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-a Chinese problemƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, giving US another lever to destabilise China.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The WestƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s response so far has been to convert the Chinese concern to its own advantage by demanding the complete elimination of capital controls, the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Holy GrailƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ of Western search for world domination by controlling the exchange rate volatility that an open capital account generates. Add to this self-serving demand the purely ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”politicalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ demands of legal and Human Rights ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”reformsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢.

As in all matters, China is pursuing a path of slow, cautious policy toward strengthening of the yuan (renminbi) as an alternative to Western currencies and the Yen, all beset with complex problems. With time, China is likely to ease-up on is current policy of preventing the build up of sizeable amounts of the currency by speculators beyond its borders, allowing them to control the exchange rate.

The recently announced goal to turn Shanghai into an international financial center by 2020 however, suggests that China aims to make the yuan fully convertible by then. There are other developments: this year alone, China has signed 650 billion yuan ($95 billion) of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”currency swapƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s with nations from Argentina to Belarus; just this week, China started allowing companies to use the yuan to settle cross-border trade; also this week, banks in China and Hong Kong began wiring yuan directly to settle payments for imports and exports. Such developments are all steps toward establishing the yuan as a global currency ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ and, eventually, an international alternative to the dollar. China’s stable economic performance and its management of the current turmoil and the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis have proved that China is a worthy contender for global economic leadership: its sheer economic size would propel the yuan to reserve currency status.

The day that the renminbi becomes fully convertible will signal a day of reckoning for the US, marking the real, final shift in global economic leadership to China: the direst practical consequence the US is dreading is that it will no longer be able to run up huge budget deficits and debt without economic penalties of the sort they are handing to the poor at the moment.

This is the reason why the US and its EU cohorts will be looking for new ways of curbing ChinaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s progress; but history has shown that some things are inevitable.