US hegemony, biggest threat to international security

霸道的美国才是国际安全的最大威胁

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Wang Xinjuan
Time
2023-02-28 00:40:15

By Zhang Zhixin

张志新

On February 15, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman claimed that China is a growing challenge that has the ability to challenge the rules-based international order. Sherman's statement represents the arrogant and ignorant attitude of some American officials, who seem to believe that only by playing up the "China threat" can the US find an excuse for its militaristic and hegemonic behavior. However, the international community will never turn a deaf ear to this. As the old Chinese saying goes that "justice naturally inhabits man’s heart", the US will eventually be condemned by the international community for an unjust cause to find little support.

2月15日,美国常务副国务卿舍曼宣称,中国是一个“越来越大的挑战”,理由是中国有能力挑战“基于规则的国际秩序”。舍曼的说法,代表了美国部分官员傲慢与无知的态度,似乎只有渲染“中国威胁”才能为美国穷兵黩武的霸道行径找到借口。然而,国际社会对此不会充耳不闻、视而不见。所谓“公道自在人心”,美国失道寡助,终将遭到国际社会的谴责。

As stated in the report titled US Hegemony and Its Perils issued by the Chinese government on February 20, the US military hegemony featuring wanton use of force has led to humanitarian tragedies around the world. According to the report, the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan in the name of fighting against terrorism has devastated the country. A total of 47,000 Afghan civilians and 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers unrelated to the 9/11 attacks were killed in the US military operations, and more than 10 million people were displaced. The war in Afghanistan destroyed the foundation of economic development there and plunged the Afghan people into destitution. During the “Kabul debacle” in 2021, the US perfectly reproduced the "Saigon moment" when departing from Saigon, Vietnam in 1975, highlighting the US' consistent, irresponsible attitude on the issue related to the Afghan war.

正如2月20日中国政府发布的《美国的霸权霸道霸凌及其危害》报告所言,美国穷兵黩武的军事霸权酿成人道主义惨剧。报告称,长达20年的所谓反恐战争让阿富汗满目疮痍。共4.7万名阿富汗平民及6.6万至6.9万名与“9·11”事件无关的阿富汗军人和警察在美军行动中丧生,1000多万人流离失所。战争破坏了当地经济发展基础,让阿富汗人民一贫如洗。2021年,美国仓皇撤出喀布尔,完美再现其当年灾难性地撤离越南的“西贡时刻”,凸显美国在阿战争问题上始乱终弃、不负责任的态度。

In addition to exacerbating the humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, the US has once again played the role of self-serving destroyer of the international order in fanning the flames of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and further promoting NATO's northward expansion, constantly compressing Russia's strategic space. In fact, many well-known American experts and scholars have been warning NATO not to expand eastward without restraint since the end of the 1990s, which may trigger fierce responses from Russia. In 2022, John Miresheimer, a Professor at the University of Chicago also expressed that the US’ promotion of the eastward expansion of NATO and establishment of friendly relations with Ukraine have increased the possibility of war between nuclear powers and laid the groundwork for the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

除加剧阿富汗人道主义灾难外,在拱火乌克兰危机问题上,美国再次扮演自私自利的国际秩序破坏者角色,并进一步推动北约向北欧扩张,不断压缩俄罗斯的战略空间。实际上,自20世纪90年代末以来,许多美国知名专家学者一直在警告北约不要无节制东扩,因其可能引发俄罗斯的激烈反弹。去年,美国芝加哥大学教授米尔斯海默也表示,美国推动北约东扩和持续与乌克兰建立友好关系,增加了核大国间发生战争的可能性,并为乌克兰危机埋下伏笔。

Facts have proved that the US has been advancing three goals in Eurasia since the Russia-Ukraine conflict breakout as triggered by the US. First, the US has firmly tied Europe to the US chariot for containing and fighting against Russia, and made it a forced option for European countries to be against Russia by relying on the US; second, it has consolidated the “legitimacy" foundation for NATO's continued existence; third, it has curbed the resurgence of Russia to a certain extent.

事实证明,通过“拱火”诱发乌克兰危机一年以来,美国在欧亚大陆正在推进三重目标:一是将欧洲牢牢绑在美国的“遏俄反俄”战车上,“倚美反俄”成为欧洲国家被迫的选择;二是夯实北约继续存在的“合法性”基础;三是在一定程度上遏制俄罗斯的重新崛起。

More importantly, the US military-industrial complex, a mighty interest group, and energy interest groups have made a fortune in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Jimmy Dore, a US political commentator, pointed out in this regard that the non-stop war machine controls the US, the media funded by the military-industrial complex serve to be witch the Americans and publicize war as inspired by the American government, and the military-industrial complex has extorted hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars from Ukraine which was played for a sucker.

更重要的是,美国的军工复合体与能源利益集团在乌克兰危机中大发横财,赚得盆满钵满。美国时政评论员吉米·多尔对此指出,“不停运转的战争机器操控着美国”,美国政府“指示受军工复合体资助的媒体蛊惑美国人、宣扬战争”,军工复合体“像薅羊毛一样从乌克兰讹诈了数千亿乃至数万亿美元”。

Recently, despite the opposition of China, the US insisted on shooting down the Chinese civilian unmanned airship by resorting to force, highlighting its disregard for international rules and international morality and fully exposing its true face of hegemony. Spokespersons for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have repeatedly stated that the Chinese airship mistakenly entered the US due to force majeure is of civilian nature and is used for meteorological and other scientific research, and that China will continue to keep communications with the US to properly handle the unexpected situation caused by force majeure. However, the conservatives in the US have made a big noise against the Chinese unmanned airship’s entry into the US airspace by mistake, calling it a "spy balloon invasion" and "intending to spy on the US missile base". Under strong political pressure, the US Biden administration sent an advanced fighter jet to shoot down the airship with missiles when it had flown off the east coast of the US, which happened unexpectedly and is a ridiculous farce staged by the US side. Subsequently, the US government also hyped up that China has had a "high-altitude balloon surveillance program" targeting all countries around the world, and brazenly announced sanctions against six Chinese enterprises and institutions, highlighting the attempt of the US to play up the "Chinese spy threat" through the airship incident, as well as its hegemonic act of abusing force.

近期,美国不顾中方的反对,执意滥用武力、击落中国民用无人飞艇,凸显美方罔顾国际规则和国际道义,充分暴露其霸权嘴脸。中国外交部发言人多次说明因不可抗力误入美国的中国飞艇属民用性质,用于气象等科研,并表示中方将继续同美方保持沟通,妥善处理这次因不可抗力导致的意外情况。然而,美国国内保守派却对中国无人飞艇误入美国领空大肆鼓噪,称是“间谍气球入侵”“意在侦查美国导弹基地”。在强大政治压力之下,拜登政府竟然在飞艇已飞离美国东海岸线时派遣先进战机,使用导弹将其击落,上演一出匪夷所思的滑稽闹剧。其后,美国政府还炒作中国有一个针对世界各国的“高空气球侦查计划”,并悍然宣布制裁6家中方企业和机构,凸显美方借飞艇事件渲染“中国间谍威胁”的企图,以及滥用武力的霸权行径。

In short, as shown by the above-mentioned cases of freezing the assets belonging to the Afghan Central Bank, fanning the blames of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and shooting down the Chinese unmanned airship for no reason, it is easy to conclude that the US hegemony and hegemonic acts are the greatest contempt and destruction to the existing international order and international rules. No matter what pretext and disguise Sherman and others use to cover up and package the US, the US can never be exempted from the strong condemnation of the international community.

总而言之,从上述冻结阿富汗央行资产、“拱火”乌克兰危机,以及无故击落中国无人飞艇案例不难看出,美国的霸权主义和霸道行径才是对现存国际秩序和国际规则的最大蔑视和破坏。无论舍曼之流以何种借口和伪装掩饰、包装美国,美国都将无法逃脱国际社会的强烈谴责。

(Doctor Zhang Zhixin is  an associate researcher of the Institute of American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations)

(中国现代国际关系研究院美国研究所副研究员、博士)

Editor's note: Originally published on china.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.

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