By Chen Yang
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal titled The Pentagon Is Prepared for China on August 24 that the US is reinforcing its defense capability comprehensively in response to military threats from the CPC, and he urged all countries to examine - and consider curtailing - their relationship with the PLA. That Washington is playing with fire in the highly sensitive military field, which is the bottom line in bilateral relations, amid its growing tension with Beijing fully unveiled certain American politicians’ intentional attempt to sabotage China-US relations in dire lack of responsibility and total disregard of world peace and stability.
Esper expressed in July the hope to visit China within the year to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas of common interests and put in place a mechanism of crisis communication. What makes him change face so quickly and rattle about “confronting China” after only one month? His change of attitude in a way reflects how the current political atmosphere in the US has poisoned the China-US relations. The Trump administration’s priority to his reelection is overlapped with the China hawks’ eagerness to keep clamping down on Huawei out of selfishness. Against such a background, the spiral of silence becomes increasingly conspicuous, and certain American politicians are trying hard to enhance personal presence and draw attention amid the anti-China farce staged by various forces together.
However, Esper and his like had better do their homework before hyping up the “China threat theory”.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago, China has never initiated a war or infringed upon an inch of foreign land. As a country with the most complicated border issues in the world, China has thoroughly resolved the land border issues with 12 of its 14 land neighbors through peaceful negotiation, making important contributions to regional and world peace, stability and development.
Since 1990, the Chinese military has participated in more than 20 UN peacekeeping operations and sent over 40,000 military personnel, making China the largest contributor of peacekeeping troops among the five permanent members of the Security Council.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the PLA sent military anti-epidemic experts to four countries, including Laos and Cambodia, transported with the Air Force planes carrying anti-virus supplies to the defense authorities and militaries of over 20 countries, including Pakistan, Russia and Thailand, and held video conferences to share epidemic prevention and control experience with the defense authorities and militaries of more than 10 countries, including Russia and South Africa.
The facts fully prove that the PLA has always been a force of justice and peace and China has stayed committed to its national defense policy that’s defensive in nature.
It would be wise for Esper and his like to take a serious look inside before gushing over the “China threat theory”. Which country has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, is most intent on nuclear blackmailing and tearing up international nuclear treaties? Which country has been topping the world in military expenditure for decades in a row and took up 38% of the world’s total military budget in 2019? Which country has deployed the highest number of military bases all over the world, exceeding 800 at peak? Which country has most frequently waged or engaged in external wars in contemporary and modern history? Which country has overthrown or tried to overthrow more than 50 foreign regimes in the past decades?
According to an international poll conducted by the US-based Pew Research Center in February 2019, 45% of the respondents considered the US the biggest threat to the world, and half or more respondents in 10 countries, including Germany, Japan and the ROK, deemed the American forces and influence as a major threat to their countries. Recently some American media and scholars publicly stated that it is exactly the US, not others, that poses the biggest geopolitical threat to itself.
It’s as clear as day whoever is calling black white and confusing the public. The current status of China-US relations due to the irresponsible political manipulation of certain American politicians has cast the hard work of countless people in the past 40-plus years down the drain. No matter how serious the divergences, how intense the game between Beijing and Washington regarding the future development of bilateral ties, military confrontation should in no way become an option, and military “non-conflict, non-confrontation” should always be upheld as the insurmountable bottom line. Both China and the US are major military and nuclear powers, and military conflict and confrontation between them will impose an unbearable catastrophe on both countries and the world at large. When politicians like Esper are instigating division and confrontation, they should ask themselves if the Pentagon is really prepared to play with fire on the military front.
Disclaimer: This article is originally published on haiwainet.cn, which is the website of Overseas Edition of the People's Daily. The article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
