According to #MaajidNawaz, the #1 issue for people in UK, surpassing even Brexit, is China's oppression of Uighars. We are familiar with his whitewashing of Israel's oppression/ethnic cleansing of Palestinians: why are Muslims in China deserving of support, but not Palestinians?
His support/funding by the neocon/pro-Israel right (within which he ingratiates himself) explains this position, as a strengthening China has become a threat to US hegemony, both military and economic, over the world. This unipolar dominance must remain unchallenged.
Task facing US to become sole political arbiter in Eurasia, prevent emergence of any rival threatening material/diplomatic interests. Eurasia, with resources, & economic activity is “grand chessboard” on which US supremacy will be challenged in years to come- Zbigniew Brzerzinski
Preventing rise of a rival power in Eurasia means all manner of covert/overt subversion & attack. As in US interventions in Iran, Iraq, invasion of Afghanistan & contra war in Syria, US keen to pick off weak links in chain of countries stretching through Central & South Asia.
It is this region- Kazakhstan to Palestine, through India & Western China that forms a triangle shaped wedge splitting Russia’s southern & China’s western geopolitical expansion. This vast area is where US empire has for decades waged war against countries that don’t fall in line
What has changed in recent years & particularly under leadership of Xi Jinping is China’s desire to break through this encirclement by US empire. It has become clear that China’s collapse is not coming anytime soon. This is the era of the Belt & Road Initiative.
BRI is most significant geoeconomic effort in history, a multi-decade $4-$8 trillion plan impacting 70% of humanity with goal to steadily erode US power in hemisphere. This will shift the world’s center of gravity from the Atlantic to the Pacific
The more that countries are able to stand on their own two feet economically and have access to their neighbors and China as a trading partner, the less power the US has to impose its political will on countries through economic coercion.
Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) an alternative to World Bank/IMF centered on Beijing. Besides Russia, AIIB even includes many EU countries, Canada and otherwise staunch US allies like India, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Another key element of the BRI in Central Asia has been the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC. CPEC is a cornerstone project of the BRI. The peeling away of Pakistan from US is a major geopolitical victory for China.
US anxiety over China’s rise as world power, particularly as a communist power, takes us back to Brzezinski. Not only is China a rival power in Euraisa (which “must be prevented”), it is a rapidly rising power with system impervious to economic crisis or political subversion.
It is a system that is now expanding its reach through one of the most ambitious geopolitical projects in human history. How does the US empire respond to this? It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact start of the current war on China...
"There are three fronts to a long-run effort to contain China (realizing that the USSR “contains” China on the north and northwest): (a) the Japan-Korea front; (b) the India–Pakistan front; and (c) the Southeast Asia front." Robert McNamara, US Defense Secretary 1965
US strategy against China can be categorized as having 3 central pillars forming basis of hybrid war
Containment: US actively building alliances (India, Japan, Australia, SK) while intervening militarily/politically in neighboring countries to pressure China’s geopolitical flanks
Balkanization: Through overt and likely covert subversion, the US has sought to support separatist movements in China
Economic Sabotage: Through restricting Chinese investment in US, targeting of firms & trade war, efforts underway to arrest meteoric rise of China’s economy.
One constant has been the trend towards a nearly unanimous anti-China sentiment across Western media. Becoming an anti-China reporter (sometimes referred to as “China watchers”) is now a major career path in US journalism.
CIA Hacking Against China. March 2020 – Chinese security firm Qihoo 360 uncovered massive CIA hacking operation against China since at least 2008, identified CIA attacks against aviation, petroleum, & internet companies & scientific research institutions & government agencies.
It is evident that public opinion in the West is being prepared for a potential new 'Cold War' with China, as it stands in the way of unchallenged US hegemony. This is the light in which we must see Nawaz's championing of the Uyghur cause, while ignoring that of the Palestinians.
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