{"id":61249,"date":"2016-12-09T15:46:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T22:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=61249"},"modified":"2016-12-09T15:54:11","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T22:54:11","slug":"john-pilger-the-coming-war-on-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/12\/09\/john-pilger-the-coming-war-on-china\/","title":{"rendered":"John Pilger: The Coming War on China"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: John Pilger\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

(John Pilger’s ‘The Coming War on China’ premiering on RT On-Air <\/a>at 1700 hrs Dec09th. Re-runs from Dec10 – 11th. Duration apx 90min. \u00a0)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The greatest build-up of American-led military forces since the Second World War is well under way.<\/p>\n

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. At a quarterpast eight on the morning of 6 August, 1945, she and her silhouette were burnedi nto the granite. I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, unforgettably. When I returned many years later, it was gone: taken away, disappeared\u201d, a political embarrassment.<\/p>\n

RELATED:
\nJohn Pilger on Obama, Propaganda, and ‘The Coming War on China’<\/a><\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

I have spent two years making a documentary film, The Coming War on China, in which the evidence and witnesses warn that nuclear war is no longer a shadow, but a contingency. The greatest build-up of American-led military forces since the Second World War is well under way. They are in the northern hemisphere, on the western borders of Russia, and in Asia and the Pacific,confronting China.<\/p>\n

The great danger this beckons is not news, or it is buried and distorted: a drumbeat of mainstream fake news that echoes the psychopathic fear embedded in public consciousness during much of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

Like the renewal of post-Soviet Russia, the rise of China as an economic power is declared an existential threat\u201d to the divine right of the United States to rule and dominate human affairs.<\/p>\n

To counter this, in 2011 President Obama announced a pivot to Asia\u201d, which meant that almost two-thirds of US naval forces would be transferred to Asia and the Pacific by 2020. Today, more than 400 American military bases encircle China with missiles, bombers, warships and, above all, nuclear weapons. From Australia north through the Pacific to Japan, Korea and across Eurasia to Afghanistan and India, the bases form, says one US strategist, the perfect noose.\u201d<\/p>\n

A study by the RAND Corporation \u2013 which, since Vietnam, has planned America\u2019s wars \u2013 is entitled, War with China:Thinking Through the Unthinkable. Commissioned by the US Army, the authors evoke the cold war when RAND made notorious the catch cry of its chief strategist, Herman Kahn — thinking the unthinkable\u201d.Kahn\u2019s book, On Thermonuclear War, elaborated a plan for a winnable\u201d nuclear war against the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

Today,his apocalyptic view is shared by those holding real power in the United States:the militarists and neo-conservatives in the executive, the Pentagon, the intelligence and national security\u201d establishment and Congress.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The current Secretary of Defense, Ashley Carter, a verbose provocateur, says U.S. policy is to confront those who see America\u2019s dominance and want to take that away from us\u201d.<\/p>\n

Forall the attempts to detect a departure in foreign policy, this is almost certainly the view of Donald Trump, whose abuse of China during the election campaign included that of rapist\u201d of the American economy. On 2 December, in a direct provocation of China, President-elect Trump spoke to the President of Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province of the mainland. Armed with American missiles, Taiwan is an enduring flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.<\/p>\n

The United States,\u201d wrote Amitai Etzioni, professor of international Affairs at George Washington University, is preparing for a war with China, a momentous decision that so far has failed to receive a thorough review from elected officials,namely the White House and Congress.\u201d \u00a0This war would begin with a blinding attack against Chinese anti-access facilities,including land and sea-based missile launchers \u2026 satellite and anti-satellite weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incalculable risk is that deep inland strikes could be mistakenly perceived by the Chinese as pre-emptive attempts to take out its nuclear weapons, thus cornering them into \u2018a terrible use-it-or-lose-it dilemma\u2019 [that would] lead to nuclear war.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, the Pentagon released its Law of War Manual. The United States,\u201d it says, has not accepted a treaty rule that prohibits the use of nuclear weapons perse, and thus nuclear weapons are lawful weapons for the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

In China, a strategist told me, We are not your enemy, but if you [in the West]decide we are, we must prepare without delay.\u201d China\u2019s military and arsenal are small compared to America\u2019s. However,for the first time,\u201d wrote Gregory Kulacki of the Union of Concerned Scientists, China is discussing putting its nuclear missiles on high alert so that they can be launched quickly on warning of an attack \u2026 This would be a significant and dangerous change in Chinese policy \u2026 Indeed, the nuclear weapon policies of the United States are the most prominent external factor influencing Chinese advocates for raising the alert level of China\u2019s nuclear forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Ted Postol was scientific adviser to the head of US naval operations. An authority on nuclear weapons, he told me, Everybody here wants to look like they\u2019re tough. See I got to be tough \u2026 I\u2019m not afraid of doing anything military, I\u2019m not afraid of threatening; I\u2019m a hairy-chested gorilla. And we have gotten into a state, the United States has gotten into a situation where there\u2019s a lot of sabre-rattling, and it\u2019s really being orchestrated from the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, This seems incredibly dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:
\nSilencing the United States as It Prepares for War<\/a><\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

In 2015, in considerable secrecy, the US staged its biggest single military exercise since the Cold War. This was Talisman Sabre; an armada of ships and long-range bombers rehearsed an Air-Sea Battle Concept for China\u201d \u2013 ASB — blocking sea lanes in the Straits of Malacca and cutting off China\u2019s access to oil, gas and other raw materials from the Middle East and Africa.<\/p>\n

Itis such a provocation, and the fear of a US Navy blockade, that has seen Chinafeverishly building strategic airstrips on disputed reefs and islets in theSpratly Islands in the South China Sea. Last July, the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled against China\u2019s claim of sovereignty over these islands. Although the action was brought by the Philippines, it was presented by leading American and British lawyers and could be traced to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n

In2010, Clinton flew to Manila. She demanded that America\u2019s former colony reopen the US military bases closed down in the 1990s following a popular campaign against the violence they generated, especially against Filipino women. She declared China\u2019s claim on the Spratly Islands \u2013 which lie more than 7,500 miles from the United States \u2013 a threat to US national security\u201d and to freedom of navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handed millions of dollars in arms and military equipment, the then government of President Benigno Aquino broke off bilateral talks with China and signed a secretive Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the US. This established five rotating US bases and restored a hated colonial provision that American forces and contractors were immune from Philippine law.<\/p>\n

The election of Rodrigo Duterte in April has unnerved Washington. Calling himself a socialist, he declared, In our relations with the world, the Philippines will pursue an independent foreign policy\u201d and noted that the United States had not apologized for its colonial atrocities. I will break up with America,\u201d he said, and promised to expel US troops. But the US remains in the Philippines; and joint military exercises continue.<\/p>\n

In 2014, under the rubric of information dominance\u201d \u2013 the jargon for media manipulation, or fake news, on which the Pentagon spends more than $4 billion \u2013the Obama administration launched a propaganda campaign that cast China, the world\u2019s greatest trading nation, as a threat to freedom of navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

CNN led the way, its national security reporter\u201d reporting excitedly from on board a US Navy surveillance flight over the Spratlys. The BBC persuaded frightened Filipino pilots to fly a single-engine Cessna over the disputed islands to see how the Chinese would react\u201d. None of these reporters questioned why the Chinese were building airstrips off their own coastline, or why American military forces were massing on China\u2019s doorstep.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The designated chief propagandist is Admiral Harry Harris, the US military commander in Asia and the Pacific. My responsibilities,\u201d he told the New York Times, cover Bollywood to Hollywood, from polar bears to penguins.\u201d Never was imperial domination described as pithily.<\/p>\n

Harris is one of a brace of Pentagon admirals and generals briefing selected,malleable journalists and broadcasters, with the aim of justifying a threat as specious as that with which George W. Bush and Tony Blair justified the destruction of Iraq and much of the Middle East.<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles in September, Harris declared he was ready to confront a revanchist Russia and an assertive China \u2026If we have to fight tonight, I don\u2019twant it to be a fair fight. If it\u2019s a knife fight, I want to bring a gun. If it\u2019s a gun fight, I want to bring in the artillery \u2026 and all our partners with their artillery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thesepartners\u201d include South Korea, the launch pad for the Pentagon\u2019s Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system, known as THAAD, ostensibly aimed at North Korea. \u00a0As Professor Postol points out, it targets China.<\/p>\n

In Sydney, Australia, Harris called on China to tear down its Great Wall in the South China Sea\u201d. The imagery was front page news. Australia is America\u2019s most obsequious partner\u201d; its political elite, military, intelligence agencies and the media are integrated into what is known as the alliance\u201d. Closing the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the motorcade of a visiting American governmentdignitary\u201d is not uncommon. \u00a0The war criminal Dick Cheney was afforded this honour.<\/p>\n

Although China is Australia\u2019s biggest trader, on which much of the national economy relies, confronting China\u201d is the diktat from Washington. The few political dissenters in Canberra risk McCarthyite smears in the Murdoch press. You in Australia are with us come what may,\u201d said one of the architects of the Vietnam war, McGeorge Bundy. One of the most important US bases is Pine Gap near Alice Springs.Founded by the CIA, it spies on China and all of Asia, and is a vital contributor to Washington\u2019s murderous war by drone in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

In October, Richard Marles, the defence spokesman of the main Australian opposition party, the Labor Party, demanded that operational decisions\u201d in provocative acts against China be left to military commanders in the South China Sea. In other words, a decision that could mean war with a nuclear power should not be taken by an elected leader or a parliament but by an admiral or a general.<\/p>\n

A poster for the upcoming documentary “The Coming War on China.”<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

This is the Pentagon line, a historic departure for any state calling itself a democracy. The ascendancy of the Pentagon in Washington \u2013 which Daniel Ellsberg has called a silent coup — is reflected in the record $5 trillion America has spent on aggressive wars since 9\/11, according to a study by Brown University.The million dead in Iraq and the flight of 12 million refugees from at least four countries are the consequence.<\/p>\n

The Japanese island of Okinawa has 32 military installations, from which Korea,Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Iraq have been attacked by the United States.Today, the principal target is China, with whom Okinawans have close cultural and trade ties.<\/p>\n

There are military aircraft constantly in the sky over Okinawa; they sometimes crash into homes and schools. People cannot sleep, teachers cannot teach. Wherever they go in their own country, they are fenced in and told to keep out.<\/p>\n

A popular Okinawan anti-base movement has been growing since a 12-year-old girl was gang-raped by US troops in 1995. It was one of hundreds of such crimes,many of them never prosecuted. Barely acknowledged in the wider world, the resistance has seen the election of Japan\u2019s first anti-base governor, Takeshi Onaga, and presented an unfamiliar hurdle to the Tokyo government and the ultra-nationalist prime minister Shinzo Abe\u2019s plans to repeal Japan\u2019s peace constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resistance includes Fumiko Shimabukuro, aged 87, a survivor of the Second World War when a quarter of Okinawans died in the American invasion. Fumiko and hundreds of others took refuge in beautiful Henoko Bay, which she is now fighting to save. The US wants to destroy the bay in order to extend runways for its bombers. We have a choice,\u201d she said, silence or life.\u201d As we gathered peacefully outside the US base, Camp Schwab, giant Sea Stallion helicopters hovered over us for no reason other than to intimidate.<\/p>\n

Across the East China Sea lies the Korean island of Jeju, a semi- tropical sanctuary \u00a0and World Heritage Site declared an island of world peace.\u201d On this island of world peace has been built one of the most provocative military bases in the world, less than 400 miles from Shanghai. The fishing village of Gangjeong is dominated by a South Korean naval base purpose-built for US aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and destroyers equipped with the Aegis missile system, aimed at China.<\/p>\n

A people\u2019s resistance to these war preparations has been a presence on Jeju for almost a decade. Every day, often twice a day, villagers, Catholic priests and supporters from all over the world stage a religious mass that blocks the gates of the base. In a country where political demonstrations are often banned,unlike powerful religions, the tactic has produced an inspiring spectacle.<\/p>\n

One of the leaders, Father Mun Jeong-hyeon, told me, I sing four songs every day at the base, regardless of the weather. I sing in typhoons — no exception. To build this base, they destroyed the environment, and the life of the villagers,and we should be a witness to that. They want to rule the Pacific. They want to make China isolated in the world. They want to be emperor of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

I flew from Jeju to Shanghai for the first time in more than a generation. When I was last in China, the loudest noise I remember was the tinkling of bicycle bells; Mao Zedong had recently died, and the cities seemed darkplaces, in which foreboding and expectation competed. \u00a0Within a few years, Deng Xiopeng, the man who changed China,\u201d was the paramount leader.\u201d Nothing prepared me for the astonishing changes today.<\/p>\n

China presents exquisite ironies, not least the house in Shanghai where Mao and his comrades secretly founded the Communist Party of China in 1921. Today, it stands in the heart of a very capitalist shipping district; you walk out of this communist shrine with your Little Red Book and your plastic bust of Mao into the embrace of Starbucks,Apple, Cartier, Prada.<\/p>\n

Would Mao be shocked? I doubt it.Five years before his great revolution in 1949, he sent this secret message to Washington. China must industrialise.\u201d he wrote, This can only be done by free enterprise. Chinese and American interests fit together, economically and politically. America need not fear that we will not be co-operative. We cannot risk any conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mao offered to meet Franklin Roosevelt in the White House, and his successor Harry Truman, and his successor Dwight Eisenhower. He was rebuffed, or willfully ignored. The opportunity that might have changed contemporary history, prevented wars in Asia and saved countless lives was lost because the truth of these overtures was denied in1950s Washington when the catatonic Cold War trance,\u201d wrote the critic James Naremore, held our country in its rigid grip\u201d.<\/p>\n

The fake mainstream news that once again presents China as a threat is of the same mentality.<\/p>\n

The world is inexorably shifting east;but the astonishing vision of Eurasia from China is barely understood in the West. The New Silk Road\u201d is a ribbon of trade, ports, pipelines and high-speed trains all the way to Europe. \u00a0The world\u2019s leader in rail technology, China is negotiating with 28 countries for routes on which trains will reach up to 400 kms an hour. This opening to the world has the approval of much of humanity and, along the way, is uniting China and Russia.<\/p>\n

I believe in American exceptionalism with every fibre of my being,\u201d said Barack Obama, evoking the fetishism of the1930s. This modern cult of superiority is Americanism, the world\u2019s dominant predator. Under the liberal Obama, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, nuclear warhead spending has risen higher than under any president since the end of the Cold War. A mini nuclear weapon is planned. Known as the B61 Model 12, it will mean, says General James Cartwright, former vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that going smaller [makes its use] more thinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, the Atlantic Council, a mainstream US geopolitical think tank, published a report that predicted a Hobbesian world marked by the breakdown of order, violent extremism [and] an era of perpetual war.\u201d The new enemies were a resurgent\u201d Russia and an increasingly aggressive\u201d China. Only heroic America can save us.<\/p>\n

There is a demented quality about this war mongering. It is as if the American Century\u201d — proclaimed in 1941 by the American imperialist Henry Luce, owner of Time magazine — has ended without notice and no one has had the courage to tell the emperor to take his guns and go home.<\/p>\n

John Pilger\u2019s film, The Coming War on China, is released in UK cinemas and will be broadcast ont he ITV Network on 6 December at 10:40 pm.<\/em>https:\/\/newint.org\/<\/a><\/b>\u00a0 www.johnpilger.com<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: John Pilger\u00a0 (John Pilger’s ‘The Coming War on China’ premiering on RT On-Air at 1700 hrs Dec09th. Re-runs from Dec10 – 11th. Duration apx 90min. \u00a0) The greatest build-up of American-led military forces since the Second World War is well under way. When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}