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US pledges to send warships through Taiwan Strait in standoff with China
Andre Damon, WSWS, Aug 4 2022

The Reagan Strike group during a photo exercise for Valiant Shield 2018

Following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, which deliberately provoked the greatest crisis in the region in a quarter century, the US has announced plans for its next provocation: sending aircraft and warships through the Taiwan Strait. The US will conduct “air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks,” White House spox Adm (Retd) John Kirby said. In June, Fortune reported that Beijing told US officials that China sees the Taiwan Strait as its territorial waters, leading to the possibility Chinese military forces could seek to block a transit by a US warship, potentially leading to a military clash. Kirby announced that the Reagan carrier strike group, which is operating in the waters outside Taiwan, will extend its deployment in the area. The US announcement came amid a military standoff over Taiwan. After Pelosi’s visit, China carried out live-fire exercises in the waters on all sides of Taiwan, forcing the cancellation of flights and the rerouting of ships. China deployed over 100 aircraft and over 10 warships in its largest-ever military drills in the Taiwan Strait. China fired at least 11 ballistic missiles, some flying directly over mainland Taiwan, and deployed drones that flew over Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands. Over 900 flights involving 18 international air routes have been adjusted, and 66 flights have been cancelled. The Global Times reported:

The military drills feature advanced weapons including long-range rocket artillery, anti-ship ballistic missiles, stealth fighter jets and an aircraft carrier group with a nuclear-powered submarine, as well as realistic tactics that simulate a real reunification-by-force operation. For the first time, they include a carrier group deterrence exercise, and at least one nuclear-powered submarine has been deployed.

Both of China’s aircraft carriers were reported to have been steaming toward Taiwan, and either one or both participated in the drills. Critically, China also fired missiles into Japan’s territorial waters, in what was interpreted as a message about its ability to strike US bases in Japan. Global Times wrote:

The PLA exercise zones set in the northeast, east and south of Taiwan island are designated not only to blockade Taiwan and hit targets on the island, but also to prevent external forces like the US from intervening from its bases in Japan and Guam via the Philippine Sea.

Japan, whose population overwhelmingly opposes militarism following its crimes in WW2 and the US mass murder of the populations of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is being swept into the US-led war drive against China. This year, officials pledged to double Japan’s defense spending, up to 2% of GDP, and politicians have proposed stationing US nuclear missiles on Japan. Even as the US made clear it would continue its efforts to goad China into military conflict, White House officials asserted that Pelosi’s visit was meaningless, which neither they nor anyone else believes. Kirby said in a statement Thursday:

I want to reiterate, as I’ve been saying all week: Nothing — nothing — has changed about our One China policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint US-PRC Communiqués, and the Six Assurances. And we say it that way every time because it’s exactly consistent. The provocateur here is Beijing. They didn’t have to react this way to what is completely normal travel by congressional members to Taiwan. The Chinese are the ones who are escalating this.

Kirby’s claims were refuted in an article published in the WaPo by Qin Gang, China’s Ambassador to the US, noting:

In the past 18 months alone, the US has made five rounds of arms sales to Taiwan. Just think: If an American state were to secede from the US and declare independence, and then some other nation provided weapons and political support for that state, would the US government or the American people allow this to happen?

Amid the ongoing military standoff, the US Senate is moving to formally abolish the One China policy, which is already a dead letter in practice. The so-called Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, sponsored by Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, would designate Taiwan a “major non-NATO ally” alongside Japan, effectively giving it diplomatic recognition and ending the One China policy. The bill would provide Taiwan $4.5b in military aid, a figure an order of magnitude greater than current expenditures. Deliberately referring to Taiwan as a country, Graham said:

Our bill is the largest expansion of the military and economic relationship between our two countries in decades. If you put this on the floor of the Senate, it would pass overwhelmingly.

The relentless efforts by the Biden administration to provoke a war with China represent an enormous danger to the population of Taiwan, China, the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world. In an effort to preserve US military and economic hegemony and suppress political opposition at home, the US is putting all of humanity in jeopardy.

German government sets course for world war as it backs Pelosi’s Taiwan visit
Johannes Stern, WSWS, Aug 5 2022

Pelosi met by Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on arrival in Taipei, Aug 2, 2022

The visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan threatens to trigger a direct military confrontation between the US and China and thus the danger of a third world war. Nevertheless, leading representatives of Germany’s federal government are defending Pelosi’s trip and are pushing for a more aggressive course against Beijing. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Michael Roth (SPD), told the Bayern media group’s newspapers that Germany, despite its close economic ties with China, should prepare for a confrontation, saying:

This visit is neither aggressive nor provocative. Otherwise, the government in Taipei would not have issued an invitation, because the Taiwanese know best what endangers their interests and security. China is currently observing very closely how determinedly we are reacting to Russian aggression against Ukraine. An escalation of the China-Taiwan conflict would affect almost all of our supply chains. It is high time that we reduce our strategic dependencies on China as quickly as possible and diversify our supply chains.

The foreign policy spokesman of the Free Democratic Party parliamentary group, Ulrich Lechte, expressed himself similarly, delcaring:

It is very welcome that Nancy Pelosi was not impressed by Beijing’s attempts at intimidation. A forced union according to Xi’s view must not be tolerated. Therefore, open support for democratic Taiwan is indispensable. In addition, one should consider whether a German high representative could also carry out a visit. A member of the German government in Taipei? Why not?

In fact, Lechte’s party colleague Nicola Beer visited Taiwan ahead of Pelosi, from Jul 19-21. As vice president of the European Parliament, Beer is a high-ranking official in the EU. Not surprisingly, she described Pelosi’s visit as “completely correct” and threatened:

I believe that the Chinese government only understands a firm stance, especially against the background of the domestic political situation.

Beer failed to explain what she meant by this. Would she propose to provide Taiwan with military support in the event of a military conflict and, as in the NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, to flood the country with weapons? Or should Germany even intervene directly in the war and go to war with China alongside Taiwan? In any case, the consequences would be catastrophic. Washington’s offensive, aimed at subjugating the former semi-colony of China and securing the supremacy of US imperialism throughout the Asia-Pacific region, is bringing the world to the brink of a third world war that could mark the end of humanity. When Pelosi arrived in Taipei, an American aircraft carrier group led by USS Ronald Reagan maneuvered off the east coast of Taiwan, equipped with fighter jets, combat helicopters and other weapon systems. More warships are on their way to the region.

China, which regards Pelosi’s visit as an attack on the “One China” policy, has reacted sharply to the US provocation. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army began maneuvers in six maritime areas around Taiwan. By Sunday, there will also be “far-reaching live fire exercises.” According to the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, 27 Chinese fighter jets entered the Taiwanese no-fly zone after Pelosi’s arrival. Some sections of the ruling class have responded uneasily to these developments. CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen stated:

China’s threatening gestures towards Nancy Pelosi’s visit are completely unacceptable. Nevertheless, now is the wrong time for Pelosi to visit Taiwan. There are currently more than enough international tensions due to the Russian war of aggression. In this situation, Pelosi’s visit has a purely symbolic meaning.

In other words, Röttgen, one of the most aggressive warmongers against Russia, fears that the imperialist powers are not yet prepared to take on Russia and China militarily at the same time. The ruling class is also aware of the enormous impact that the war policy is having on the export-dependent and energy-dependent German economy. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) recently warned that popular uprisings could emerge if Russia stops supplying gas to Germany. A collapse of economic relations with China would also have potentially revolutionary implications. Although foreign trade with China is currently growing less rapidly than with the US, the PRC was Germany’s most important trading partner for the sixth consecutive year in 2021. In spite of this, the federal government is resorting to confrontation. Berlin also sees the conflict with China, like the war in Ukraine, as an opportunity to advance its long-cherished plans for rearmament and its great power ambitions. Baerbock made no secret of this during her current trip to North America. She blustered in New York on Monday, where she attended a conference on the review of the NNPT:

We do not accept the breaching of international law and when a larger neighbour attacks its smaller neighbour in violation of international law, and of course this also applies to China.

On Tuesday, she used a keynote speech at the New School for threats against Russia and above all China, delaring:

China is a competitor and systemic rival. When the rules-based international order is questioned in Europe and beyond, this must be taken very seriously. In recent months, since Feb 24, people have learned painfully that aggressive rhetoric can quickly turn into dangerous action. China’s statements on Taiwan raise serious questions.

All this turns reality on its head. In fact, the NATO powers, especially the US and Germany, are the aggressors in world politics. They have been waging war almost continuously for 30 years, destroying entire countries, killing millions of people and turning tens of millions into refugees. Russia and China were systematically encircled with the aim of weakening and militarily subjugating these resource-rich and geostrategically important countries. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24 was a desperate and reactionary response by the capitalist Russian regime to the imperialist war offensive in Europe, which continues to escalate. At the last NATO summit at the end of June, a new NATO strategy was adopted which explicitly focuses the military alliance on a military confrontation with the nuclear-armed powers Russia and China. This is not about “peace” and “democracy,” but imperialist interests. Baerbock admitted this explicitly, saying:

It cannot be in our interest for China to create excessive economic dependency in its region. My ministry is currently developing its own China strategy, which will be published next year and takes full account of strategic considerations here in the US. One of the objectives of this strategy should be to further align transatlantic positions on the challenges posed by China.

What this means is clear. Germany should not only play a central role in the war against Russia, but also against China. Baerbock’s speech was an all-out militaristic tirade. It underlined the extent to which the former pacifists of the Greens and the wealthy middle classes they speak for have become the most aggressive representatives of German militarism. Baerbock’s declared aim is to build an aggressive European military machine under German leadership. She boasted:

We have launched a special fund of €100b with which we want to strengthen our armed forces. We have revised controls on arms exports that have been in place for decades so that Germany is now one of the strongest military and financial supporters of Ukraine. And we have expanded our contribution to NATO. Germany has taken over the leadership of the NATO battle group in Lithuania and is providing a brigade of up to 800 soldiers who can be transferred there if necessary. With our combat aircraft, we are involved in securing the airspace over the Baltic States, and in protecting Slovakia with patriot air defense systems. But we also know that this is not enough. The aim is to strengthen the European pillar of NATO. Europe matters. Europe has weight, also in terms of security policy. However, if this thesis is to be valid, we must also prove it in the long term. This means that we must make the EU more strategic, as a Union that is capable of dealing with the US on an equal footing in a leadership partnership. The Member States of the EU spend many billions every year on their militaries, but we do not get enough for our money. For example, we Europeans use more than a dozen tank models. Europe must become a stronger security actor, its defence industries must be more closely linked, and it must be able to carry out military missions to stabilise regions in its neighbourhood.

Baerbock’s German-European war fantasies are as insane and aggressive as Washington’s world power plans. In both cases, the insanity has objective causes. Behind the imperialist warmongering lies a toxic mixture of geopolitical desires and a deep internal crisis. As in the 1930s, the ruling class is reacting to the collapse of capitalism with a turn towards militarism, fascism and war. The working class must oppose this dangerous development with its own strategy of world socialist revolution.