Discourse Power | May 8, 2022
Change your Cold War OS and prevent NATO's black hand from expanding into Asia
Dear readers,
Thank you to everyone who has written to me and shared Discourse Power in the last week. Your words of encouragement, support, and advice are very much appreciated.
Before we begin, take a minute to read Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng's keynote speech (Chinese version | English version). The address was delivered on Friday to a virtual summit of top international think tanks.
Notable framing used by Vice Minister Le:
The US-led West and NATO have been playing a detrimental role in the conflict - for example, in their attempts to gain Discourse Power by waging “a fierce information war and battle for public opinion” and imposing innumerable sanctions on Russia (and China).
In contrast, China is “a responsible major country“ - Le lists some of China’s contributions to global peace and security, adding that “China has made vigorous efforts to advance reform of the global governance system, reject fake multilateralism, fake rules, fake human rights, and fake democracy, and defend the stability of the international order and international fairness and justice.”
“Regrettably, some people have in recent years turned a blind eye to China’s positive role” - Worse, "some countries" have attempted to lump China and Russia together "on the wrong side of history," as if China is to blame for the conflict - "this is preposterous!"
The US-led West has been “using Ukraine as ‘cannon fodder’ to wear Russia down and sacrifice Ukrainian lives to achieve their own hegemonic ambition and geostrategic goals.”
Now they are trying to form an Asia-Pacific version of NATO - “If the [Indo-Pacific Strategy and raising playing the Taiwan card] is not an eastward expansion of NATO, then what is? Such a strategy, if left unchecked, would bring horrible consequences and push the Asia-Pacific over the edge of an abyss.”
In light of the above, Le lists five priorities for "all peace-loving forces around the world," as he appeals for a "new security vision" and "active actions to operationalize Xi Jinping's Global Security Initiative."
I'll close this segment with a quote (translated from the Chinese version):
The crisis in Ukraine has revealed that global security governance, particularly in Europe, has serious flaws. The same Europe that brags about its excellence in governance is mired in this major security crisis, demonstrating that certain countries' security policies have failed, their conceptions are antiquated, and their thinking is dogmatic.
Their hand may be clutching a smartphone - true to our globalized era - but their brain's operating system is stuck in the 20th century, with their Cold War mentality. No wonder European security has "crashed".
I believe that the best way to avoid a security "crash" is to update the "operating system" and replace the Cold War mentality with President Xi Jinping's "Global Security Initiative."
Thank you for reading,
Tuvia
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“The origins of the Russia-Ukraine conflict are complex, but the international community generally believes that the US-led NATO's obsession with Cold War mentality is the root of the crisis”
Xu Bu, president of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), a think-tank administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Chen Wenbing, a special researcher at the CIIS Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Research Center, published an article in the state-backed newspaper Guangming Daily titled "The Five Deadly Sins of NATO: a Result of its Adherence to Cold War Mentality".
The “five deadly sins”, according to Xu Bu and Chen Wenbing (excerpts):
Pursuing power politics and undermining world peace - The history of the United States is indeed a history of hegemony... In 2003, without the authorization of the UN Security Council, the United States used a small bottle of washing powder as "evidence" of chemical weapons to launch a war against Iraq, which ended in failure. America’s strategic blunders in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrate that hegemony and power politics are the most destructive forces to world peace. No country, no matter how powerful, can rely on its hegemony to govern, let alone dominate, the rest of the world.
Promoting NATO's eastward expansion and inciting bloc confrontation - After the Cold War ended, NATO did not disintegrate like the Warsaw Pact but instead became a weapon for the US to pursue the formation of unipolar world order and the building of a confrontational military bloc. To maintain its hegemony, the US needs NATO as a military tool to contain Russia and retain control over Europe under the guise of "security."
Interfering in the internal affairs of other countries under the banner of ‘democracy’ - In order to conceal its yearning for hegemony, the US has repeatedly interfered in the internal affairs of other countries under the guise of "democracy" and "human rights." NATO attacked the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 78 days in 1999, killing over 8,000 civilians and displacing approximately 1 million people. Under the guise of "democratic reform," the US also dispatched soldiers to Iraq and Syria, trampling on human rights and killing innocent people, culminating in blood-soaked travesties. According to rough estimates, NATO-led wars since 2001 have claimed 900,000 lives and displaced tens of millions of people…The U.S. has also staged 'color revolutions’ around the world in order to reap profits from the ensuing chaos. Facts demonstrate that the United States is a country addicted to war... The world now recognizes that the United States banner of 'democracy' is merely a façade for regaining a dominant position.
Concocting 炮制 an "Indo-Pacific strategy" to stir up the Asia-Pacific region - an "Indo-Pacific version of NATO.
Reliving the vices of the Cold War and tearing the international community apart - The United States can no longer dominate international affairs alone as the global balance of power shifts, particularly due to the rise of the emerging powers.”
They add, invoking President Xi Jinping, that "At this time, mankind is being put to the test by governance, trust, peace, and development deficits. The raging pandemic, climate change, energy disruptions, terrorism, and cyberwarfare have all exacerbated security concerns." As a result, they recommend that the international community speed up the implementation of President Xi Jinping's Global Security Initiative (GSI), which he outlined during the Bo'ao Forum in April. (Guangming Daily)
"Black Hand! NATO extends its reach to South Korea”
Retired military scholar Dr. Teng Jianqun, now the Director of the Department of American Studies and a senior research fellow at CIIS, believes that South Korea's inclusion in the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) demonstrates that the Alliance is broadening its mandate to countries that are not in a position to join.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea said on Thursday that the country had been admitted into the CCDCOE, making it the first Asian country to do so. The CCDCOE was founded in Estonia in 2008 in response to an alleged Russian assault that crippled Estonia's critical infrastructure, media, and government websites the year prior. Korea’s NIS had submitted a letter of intent to NATO in 2019.
Dr. Teng was interviewed by China National Radio's (CNR) Military Observer to better understand the motives behind the Korean move and the challenges that the overreaching “Black Hand of NATO” may pose to Northeast Asia's cybersecurity landscape.
While the recent decision shows NATO's efforts to extend its mandate, Teng does not think it signifies the alliance has opened its doors to South Korea and other Asia-Pacific countries. However, it does, according to Teng, suggest that NATO's cyber warfare could soon reach Northeast Asia. It would have an influence on South Korea's and Northeast Asia's cybersecurity frameworks, and relevant countries should be vigilant.
Teng concludes: “If South Korea becomes the North-East Asian front for NATO’s cyberwarfare operations, the region's cybersecurity ecosystem will face significant challenges. Of course, relevant countries will have to conduct a thorough review of South Korea's cyberwarfare capabilities, whereas Korea's own cybersecurity will almost certainly suffer as a result." (CNR)
“We vanquished US imperialism when our overall national strength was a hundred times lower than it is now, and today, the Chinese people will certainly not succumb to evil; the ‘great changes unseen in a century’ are also ‘great opportunities unseen in a century,’ so when the time comes to strike - we must strike, for victory belongs to the great Chinese nation!”
Discourse Power televangelist, Party member, and celebrated Fudan University Professor, Dr. Zhang Weiwei, contends that the lessons of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aiding Korea (the Korean War, 1950-1953) may tell us a lot about the current great game between China and the United States.
This is a rerun of an episode that first aired on October 26, 2020, that was shared today on the show's social media pages. This is most likely due to Zhang's "positive energy" in juxtaposing the US failures vs. China's triumph in dealing with COVID, as China now faces the most draconian public health measures since the pandemic's inception.
"Great changes unseen in a century" is a key Xi Jinping mantra, which many Chinese intellectuals associate with the "East is rising, and the West is declining."
Excerpt: “Our firm conviction is that our comprehensive national strength, as well as our powerful national defense capabilities, have been greatly enhanced by the great spirit of Resisting US Aggression and Aiding Korea. There is no doubt that we will be able to meet the ‘great changes unseen in a century’ and respond calmly to and overcome the myriad problems that America has unleashed.“ (China Now)
Playing in the Background
A new hit from another great band from Down Under, Cosmo's Midnight (Although, I'd be calling my attorneys right now if I were the producer of Gambino's Redbone.)
Discourse Power is written by Tuvia Gering, a research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and a Krauthammer Fellow, specializing in Chinese security and foreign policy, and emergency and disaster management. Any views expressed in this newsletter, as well as any errors, are solely those of the author.
Follow Tuvia on Twitter @GeringTuvia