History Lesson: Why China Wants to Become a Military Superpower — Harry J. Kazianis

Understanding the Chinese mindset means understanding their history.

Key Point: China plans on never being humiliated ever again.

Bingo. Harry J. Kazianis nails it.

The US-initiated "trade war" and the manufactured Hong Kong separatist revolt are eerily reminiscent of the British colonization of China and the Opium War. It is blazingly obvious to all Chinese people but is lost on the West that the intention is to keep China down and make it subservient to the the West, led by the US.

China is determined not to let this happen again.

There is not only a nationalistic factor here, but also a racial component. Explosive.

Needless to say, this is creating a very dangerous situation for the world.

The National Interest

History Lesson: Why China Wants to Become a Military Superpower
Harry J. Kazianis

At the front line in the Sino-American trade war — Links

Zero Hedge
Beijing Backs Iran, "Firmly Opposes" Unilateral US Sanctions
Tyler Durden

Sputnik International
Google Suspends Huawei Access to Android Updates After Trump’s Ban – Reports

Reuters
Schumer asks government to probe rail tech from China

Sputnik International
Chinese Users Call for Boycott of Apple Phones Due to US Trade War

Eamon Barrett — China Is Running Out of U.S. Goods to Tariff, But It Has Other Trade War Weapons to Unleash

Devaluation would be the most disruptive.

Fortune
China Is Running Out of U.S. Goods to Tariff, But It Has Other Trade War Weapons to Unleash

Eamon Barrett

Moon of Alabama — Propaganda Intensifies Trade War With China

More on China.

I concur with most of the post. However, I disagreed previously with the view that the US has no China strategy and that the Trump administration is shooting from the hip. Instead, US policy is to aim between the eyes with a sniper rifle to disable the rise of China in this century. I continue to hold this view. It is part of the larger view based on the Wolfowitz Doctrine of not permitting a competitor to permanent US global hegemony, which involves neoliberal globalization based on the US dictating the rules.

Moon of Alabama
Propaganda Intensifies Trade War With China

Minxin Pei — Is Trump’s Trade War with China a Civilizational Conflict?

Recent remarks by a senior Trump administration official suggest that the United States' current approach to China is dangerously misconceived. The rise of China under a one-party dictatorship should be met with a united front in defense of the liberal order, not talk of a clash of Caucasian and non-Caucasian civilizations.…

Of course this is a civilizational conflict. Western imperialism and colonialism were racist at the core — "white-man's burden" and all that— and neoliberalism, neo-imperialism, and neocolonialism are a continuation.

Interestingly, Hitler and the Nazi leadership also conceived their bid for global domination in terms of white supremacy. In fact, the parallel is striking.

While the West/Global North vociferously deny this, the East/Global South view it is as evident.

Project Syndicate
Is Trump’s Trade War with China a Civilizational Conflict?

Minxin Pei | Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow, and the inaugural Library of Congress Chair in U.S.-China Relations

Pepe Escobar — US-China: the hardcore is yet to come

Anyone who has followed the nuts and bolts of the Chinese miracle launched by Little Helmsman Deng Xiaoping in 1978 knows that Beijing is essentially exporting the mechanism that led China’s own 800 million citizens to, in a flash, become members of a global middle class.

As much as the Trump administration may bet on “maximum pressure” to restrict or even block Chinese access to whole sectors of the US market, what really matters is BRI’s advance will be able to generate multiple, extra US markets over the next two decades.…

Asia Times
US-China: the hardcore is yet to come

Pepe Escobar

See also

Strategic Culture Foundation
Trump's Trade War Is Already Over
Tom Luongo

Transcript: NPR's Interview National Security Adviser John Bolton

Vice President Pence in a speech about China some weeks ago essentially said that the United States and the West more broadly made a bad bet. The bet was that if Western countries participated in capitalism with China, that its political system would open up, that democracy would follow. He said that bet hasn't worked out, which does seem plainly true. Do you assume that China will never open up?

No, I don't think we should assume that at all. In fact, I think a very important factor in answering that question is do we accept that they will continue to pursue mercantilist trade policies in a free trade environment and use authoritarian practices in their government to maintain control. But it's, I think the vice president was completely correct. I've heard going back years: just let the Chinese economy grow a little bit and you'll see democracy spread all through the country, that you can't have economic openness, ultimately, without having political openness. And on the basis of empirical reality, we know today that connection is far from certain.

What's your new approach then, if you can't just wait for democracy to come, what do you do instead?

Well, I think what we're gonna do, beginning in the next 90 days, as President Trump and President Xi agreed, is see if we can address some of these structural issues in China's economy. I think that would have potentially profound impact on their political structure as well. That's not what we're aiming at. But if the theory is correct, we'll see what flows from it....

NPR
Transcript: NPR's Interview National Security Adviser John Bolton

See also

Business Insider
Trump is losing the trade war with China based on his favorite report card, and it's probably going to keep getting worse

Bob Bryan

See also

Beyond humiliation.

Reuters
Chinese state media says U.S. trying to 'stifle' Huawei with arrest

See also

Reuters
Japan to ban Huawei, ZTE from government contracts: sources

China Plus — What the U.S. has really done to China over the past 25 years

These are some contributions the United States government has made to China's reform and opening up – one failed attempt at sabotage after another. And it won’t stop until the "America first" policy has become worn out, and China's reform and opening up policy has become unbreakable....

The message to the people of China. Western powers are still trying to humiliate China, now chiefly the US. This is the most powerful adversarial message short of accusing the US of threatening war.

The climate is becoming toxic.

Ecns
What the U.S. has really done to China over the past 25 years

China Plus

See also at Ecns

In his address, Pence said that, “When China suffered the insults and exploitations during her so-called ‘Century of Humiliation,’ America refused to join in, and instead advocated an “Open Door” policy, with the aim of developing freer trade with China, and preserving its sovereignty.” His words gave the impression that the United States had chosen not to join the ranks of the colonial powers and Japan in their aggressions at the time, but instead had acted to protect China’s sovereignty.

If that were true, the Chinese people would be giving the United States a big thumbs up. But the facts of history suggest otherwise. It’s not strictly true, as Mr. Pence suggested, that the U.S. “refused to join in” with the imperial powers.” If that were so, then how did the inequitable Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce between the United States of America and the Chinese Empire come about in 1844? And what about the unequal China-U.S. Treaty of Tianjin in 1858?And where did the U.S. troops, found among the Eight-nation Alliance that attacked China in 1900, come from? Perhaps we should examine more closely that Open Door policy and consider whether it really was designed to “preserve” China’s sovereignty”....

Historical truth behind U.S. Open Door policy toward China

China Plus

See also at Ecns

Note: This is a translation of a Chinese-language article first published by Xinhuanet.com. The article reflects, Zong Ze, the author's own views.

Xinhua is state media.

When it comes to Taiwan, America should reflect on its own history

Xinhua

Se also at Ecns

When President Trump spoke, the whole world laughed; when Pence spoke, Chinese netizens laughed, said a Chinese netizen. But now the jokes are over, and it's time for China to get back to the serious work of addressing the problems the country still has to solve along its path towards development. Because, regardless of Pence's barrage of criticism, China will continue to move forward, to build partnerships with countries around the world, and to play its part as a responsible member of the community of nations – and not be the butt of a joke for the world.

In Asia, laughed at someone or something is a most serious form of insult aimed at  humiliation. In some asian countries, when a person of honor was humiliated, they were to expected either to retaliate or commit suicide.

Mike Pence's speech arouses laughter on China's social media

China Plus

China Links 13 Oct 2018

Translation: The US needs to quit playing the victim when it is actually the perp.

Ecns
The five fallacies in Pence's China speech

Xinhua

See also

Reuters

U.S. draws China FX into trade dispute as IMF calls for resolution

Also

Zero Hedge

The Perfect Storm Bringing China And Russia Together

Vanand Meliksetian via Oilprice.com

Also

Reuters

U.S. security adviser Bolton vows tougher approach to China

Also

Valdai Club

Eurasia’s Great Projects: Assets and Liabilities

Also

RT

Chinese ‘aggressive industry’ threatens US military complex, ‘stable budget’ needed – Pentagon

Also

Sputnik International
China Sells $3 Billion of Dollar Bonds Amid Trade War With US

Also

The National Interest
America Needs A Better Strategy For Competing With China — Or War Is Inevitable

Sharon Burke | Senior Advisor at New America, where she directs the Phase Zero project. She served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense 1994-2000, on the staff of Policy Planning at the State Department from 2002-2005, and as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy from 2010-2014

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The National Interest
Why Must America Prepare to Fight Two Wars Simultaneously?

Michael Peck

Carl Zha — The Historic Background of China's Perception of the West

Backgrounder. Lots of pictures. And much that people in the West are unaware of regarding China and its historical relationship with the US. As with Russia, the US blew up its soft power with China.

Interestingly, the turning point for both China and Russia seems to have been the US bombing of Serbia, a traditional Russian ally, during which the US also bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and made a weak excuse for it.

At this point, both Chinese and Russians realized that spreading freedom and democracy was a sham and that the US was intent on pursuing its hegemonic interests as an empire ruled by an oligarchy.

Again, nothing new. The post shows how Woodrow Wilson betrayed China in the aftermath of WWI. And how Western imperialism had carved up China before that.

Moon of Alabama
The Historic Background of China's Perception of the West
Carl Zha, Clash of civilizations and empires podcast.

Reuters — China says will fight back 'at any cost' against U.S. trade tariffs

China warned on Friday it would fight back "at any cost" with fresh trade measures if the United States continues on its path of protectionism, hours after President Donald Trump threatened to slap an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods....

China’s Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, called the U.S. action “extremely mistaken” and unjustified, adding that the spat was a struggle between unilateralism and multilateralism. He also said no negotiations were likely in the current circumstances....

The Chinese leadership is looking at this geopolitically rather than economically, and they sending a strong message — "Don't tread on me."

Reuters
China says will fight back 'at any cost' against U.S. trade tariffs

Laying speed bumps on the New Silk Road aka OBOR

While the US troops on the borders of Russia and Iran are generally considered intimidation/provocation tactics aimed at Moscow and Tehran, the broader reality is that America intends to use its troops as speed-bumps in China's New Silk Road.

The Duran
US troops in Europe and the Middle East are there to provoke China more than Russia or Iran

Adam Garrie

See also

Counterpunch
The New Silk Road Will Go Through Syria
Pepe Escobar