Americans squeezed, sidelined by Chinese-Russian might!
The rest of the world is today unwittingly caught in a “Cold War”of sorts - an economic cum political battle that can be dubbed as the US vs China-Russia.
The animosity between the US and the combined China-Russia forces is deteriorating fast, forcing the rest of the world to review their socio-economic policies cautiously with the three world powers fiercely battling for geo-economic-political dominace.
According to a Sputnik news report carrying the headline “A Friend in Need: China Teaming Up With Russia in South China Sea”, following The Hague ruling on the South China Sea (SCS), Beijing has scored a diplomatic victory by softening up the ASEAN nations. For its part, Russia has demonstrated its solidarity with Beijing by opposing the “internationalisation” of the SCS dispute.
Although the ruling issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague on the SCS has affected Beijing’s posture in the region, Beijing has softened up its neighbours through diplomatic means.
Sputnik is an online news and radio broadcast service established by the Russian government-controlled news agency Rossiya Segodnya.
The news agency, headquartered in Moscow, has regional editorial offices in Washington, London, Beijing and Cairo, focusing on global politics and economics.
“As previously predicted, in practical terms, the verdict has not impacted (at least not yet) China’s policy in the SCS as the country considered it ‘null and void’. Judging by statements made by the Chinese leadership, the development of infrastructure (which includes that of a military nature) on the islands and reefs of the SCS will continue,” Vladimir Terehov of New Eastern Outlook wrote in his analytical report.
Terehov underscored that the outcome of the meeting held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in late July in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, “is of particular interest” in the context of The Hague ruling.
“As the result of the 49th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the ASEAN member states, a Joint Statement was adopted on ‘the maintenance of peace, security, and stability in the region’. The document is written in rather general terms in a sense that it does not mention China and the PCA verdict," he stressed, adding that the statement was received “positively” by Beijing.
This unanimous silence on The Hague SCS ruling was interpreted as Beijing’s diplomatic victory by the US and Japan.
"China scored a diplomatic victory Monday, avoiding criticism by Southeast Asia's main grouping over its territorial expansion in the South China Sea even though some of the bloc's members are victims of Beijing's actions," Japan's national daily The Mainichi reported on July 25, 2016.
The media outlet stressed that neither China nor The Hague ruling was mentioned in ASEAN’s final joint communique.
“China was able to push through its stance in ASEAN with the help of Cambodia, and to some extent Laos, both of which are close friends of Beijing. ASEAN's guiding principle is to make all statements by consensus, so a veto by Cambodia would have prevented a more stinging rebuke,” the media outlet suggested.
Commenting on the issue Victor Sumsky, Director of the ASEAN Center at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), noted that the mildly-worded communiqué clearly signals that ASEAN has refused to “commit suicide” despite Washington’s pressure.
"The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has demonstrated its wisdom. Anti-Chinese or pro-American positions would have meant suicide for the organization," Sumsky told Sputnik.
“The Association holds a central position in the regional cooperation and integration processes… If the Association as a whole, and not some of its member states, unilaterally tends to [cater to] one of the key players — the US or China, it immediately loses its neutrality and, hence, its central position,” he explained.
On the other hand, ASEAN nations do not want to jeopardise their longstanding economic ties with Beijing.
“Last year, China’s trade with ASEAN countries reached a colossal US$472 billion and the parties stand to lose out from any aggravation of the situation in the region,” Terehov stresses.
Citing China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, Terehov calls attention to the fact that "at the China-ASEAN forum, 80 per cent of the time was devoted to the economy and only a small percent to the situation in the South China Sea."
Southeast Asian nations are also interested in participating in the China-led New Silk Road initiative which is likely to bring them tangible benefits.
And last May 2016, former MCA president Ong Tee Keat founded the Malaysia-China Silk Route Business Chamber. Ong is the chamber president and membership is open to eligible Malaysians and Mainland Chinese.
For political reasons and animosity, the Barisan Nasional (BN)-controlled media has given almost zero publicity to the chamber’s activities.
The MCA-owned The Star, instead, has chosen to only highlight the bilateral, cultural and trade-related activities that the party is involved in.
The chamber’s latest activity in Malaysia was found in a Facebook posting on the official opening of "The Cultural Silk Route Quest" on July 15, 2016, with the authentication of Chinese relics at Dewan Penang 2, Tower 1, Menara PGRM (Gerakan), in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
Present at the opening were Ong, Raub MP Ariff Sabri, Gerakan Deputy Speaker Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff and Executive Director of the International Market - Guangdong Han chunxuan Art Exhibition Co Ltd Zeng Xiu Wen.
And, recently, the Malaysian media has also been regularly highlighting the investment interests of China in Malaysia, including those involving the financially controversial 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
In fact the “Cold War” has been brewing for decades and the first sign of a serious “punch” was thrown in April 2014, with those who subscribe to the "Cold War" conspiracy theory have pointed out the US’ growing concern of China's regional and economic influence in Asia and Southeast Asia.
The US is said to be discreetly “upset” that China has significantly consolidated its economic interest and influence in the region through a highly strategic presence in Myanmar’s brand new Dawei Sea Port.
Dawei is a city in southeastern Myanmar, located at Tavoy on the coast of the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean, about 610km south of Yangon and 350km west of Bangkok, Thailand.
According to MyanmarBurma.com, Dawei became connected to the rest of Myanmar by railways and roads only recently, but is now the location of a new deep-sea port and special economic zone.
The 250km square (61,775-acre) port development costs about US$58 billion (RM189 billion) featuring facilities such as a deep-sea port, a heavy industrial park, power plants, and tourism facilities.
Japan is supporting the project and Thailand is reported to have tremendous interest, as Dawei will give Thailand more direct access to international trade routes and markets in India, Europe and Africa, bypassing the Straits of Malacca.
It will also become a source of power generation for Thailand. An eight-lane highway and railway will connect Dawei and Bangkok, and a railway to China’s Kunming is also in the development plan!
Also in the design phase, the zone will incorporate the current Shwe Gas and China-Myanmar Corridor Projects, under construction to supply China with natural gas via overland pipeline across Myanmar!
An 800km railway and highway from Kyaukphyu to Muse, China, will connect China to the Bay of Bengal.
The deep-sea port is under construction on Maday Island, east of Kyaukphyu where the port will berth 300,000-ton oil tankers and become an important link for China to petroleum from the Middle East and other international markets.
Although China will receive many benefits from the development, the advantages to Myanmar in terms of economic growth, employment and improved infrastructure are significant.
Besides Dawei which is now at the tail-end of construction, Myanmar has six existing deep-sea ports along the coast and is constructing another two.
And, throw in this: The media in China has started publishing stories on a decades-old proposal to build a canal at Kra Isthmus, Thailand, thereby bypassing the Straits of Malacca, Malaysian and Singapore ports.
The canal, if realised, will save shipment costs and time as the route is shortened by 1,000km.
China’s huge state-owned LiuGong Machinery Co Ltd and XCMG, and private Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd have taken the lead to set up a preparations group for the construction of Kra Isthmus Canal.
The 100km artificial link to the Indian Ocean will benefit not only China and ASEAN, but also Japan and other countries’ world trade.
Now, doesn’t this piss off the US even more with its military presence in Singapore and the Philippines?
While Malaysia has started pushing for more trade and investments with China, Singapore has since 2010 invested S$11.5 billion (RM33 billion) to expand and upgrade its port after Shanghai edged the tiny island nation out as the world’s busiest harbour.
What is interesting is Singapore’s investment in Myanmar totalling US$1.3 billion or RM4 billion (as of 2014)!
On May 8, 2014, a Reuters article datelined Washington, reported President Barack Obama as giving the U.S. Congress official notice that he plans to pull Russia from a programme that allows duty-free imports of certain goods, known as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
On May 20, 2014, AP reported that in a symbolic blow to the US global financial hegemony, Russia and China took a small step toward undercutting the domination of the US dollar as the international reserve currency when Russia’s second biggest financial institution, VTB, signed a deal with the Bank of China to bypass the dollar and pay each other in domestic currencies.
The so-called Agreement on Cooperation was signed in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Shanghai.
The following day, a 10-year-long US$400 million massive natural gas deal was inked between Russia and China.
Demand for the dollar, which has long served as a safe and reliable reserve currency in international transactions, has allowed the US to borrow almost unlimited cash and spend well beyond its means, which some economists say has afforded the US an outsize influence on world affairs.
But the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a bloc of the world’s five major emerging economies — have long sought to diminish their dependence on the Greenback as a means of reshaping the world financial and geopolitical order. In the absence of a viable alternative, however, replacing it has proved difficult.
For its part, “China sees the dominance of the dollar in international trade transactions as a remnant of American global dominance, which they hope to overthrow in the years ahead,” said Michael Klare, a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. “This is a small step in that direction, to reduce the primacy of the dollar in international trade.”
Some have been tempted to view the deal in the context of Putin’s showdown with the West over the crisis in Ukraine. After the US and Europe imposed sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, Putin may have finally made good on promised retaliation against what he views as Western hegemony in Russia’s near abroad.
“Breaking the dominance of the US dollar in international trade between the BRICS is something that the group has been talking about for some time,” said Chris Weafer, a founding partner of Macro-Advisory, a consultancy in Moscow. “The Ukraine crisis and the threats voiced by the US administration may well provide the catalyst for that to start happening.”
To be sure, the Russia-China bank deal is mostly a symbolic step. Liza Ermolenko, an emerging markets economist at Capital Economics in London, said that the deal was still “a very small one, in the grand scale of things,” and that it wouldn’t change Russia’s reliance on the dollar “overnight.” Most of Russia’s export contracts in the oil and gas markets are still priced in dollars, she noted, and on a wider scale, replacing the dollar with the ruble is much too risky to even consider.
Likewise, even though China has agreed to the gas deal, which could see over US$450 billion of Russian natural gas flow from eastern Siberia into China over the next 30 years, Russia is not in a position to abandon its ties with Europe.
“From the commercial standpoint, Europe is the most profitable market for Gazprom,” said Mikhail Korchemkin, the founder of Eastern European Gas Analysis, who has consulted for Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas company. “Exports to China can generate a small profit, (but) only if the government makes it free of taxes and duties.”
But the bank deal is another indicator that Russia and China are in the middle of a wider rapprochement, which analysts say is premised not on ideological alignment but on a mutual desire to undercut the US in their respective spheres of influence.
Both countries are wary of Obama’s “pivot east”, a recalibration of US foreign policy away from decades of war in the Middle East and toward the fast-growing economies of the East. Cynical observers have interpreted the shift as an effort to contain China.
“This is a marriage of mutual strategic interests, not a marriage of love,” said Klare. “China wants energy and weapons from Russia, and Russia wants diplomatic backing and cash. It’s a quid pro quo.”
Now, what's wrong/happening in the world?
The rest of the world is today unwittingly caught in a “Cold War”of sorts - an economic cum political battle that can be dubbed as the US vs China-Russia.
The animosity between the US and the combined China-Russia forces is deteriorating fast, forcing the rest of the world to review their socio-economic policies cautiously with the three world powers fiercely battling for geo-economic-political dominace.
According to a Sputnik news report carrying the headline “A Friend in Need: China Teaming Up With Russia in South China Sea”, following The Hague ruling on the South China Sea (SCS), Beijing has scored a diplomatic victory by softening up the ASEAN nations. For its part, Russia has demonstrated its solidarity with Beijing by opposing the “internationalisation” of the SCS dispute.
Although the ruling issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague on the SCS has affected Beijing’s posture in the region, Beijing has softened up its neighbours through diplomatic means.
Sputnik is an online news and radio broadcast service established by the Russian government-controlled news agency Rossiya Segodnya.
The news agency, headquartered in Moscow, has regional editorial offices in Washington, London, Beijing and Cairo, focusing on global politics and economics.
“As previously predicted, in practical terms, the verdict has not impacted (at least not yet) China’s policy in the SCS as the country considered it ‘null and void’. Judging by statements made by the Chinese leadership, the development of infrastructure (which includes that of a military nature) on the islands and reefs of the SCS will continue,” Vladimir Terehov of New Eastern Outlook wrote in his analytical report.
Terehov underscored that the outcome of the meeting held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in late July in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, “is of particular interest” in the context of The Hague ruling.
“As the result of the 49th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the ASEAN member states, a Joint Statement was adopted on ‘the maintenance of peace, security, and stability in the region’. The document is written in rather general terms in a sense that it does not mention China and the PCA verdict," he stressed, adding that the statement was received “positively” by Beijing.
This unanimous silence on The Hague SCS ruling was interpreted as Beijing’s diplomatic victory by the US and Japan.
"China scored a diplomatic victory Monday, avoiding criticism by Southeast Asia's main grouping over its territorial expansion in the South China Sea even though some of the bloc's members are victims of Beijing's actions," Japan's national daily The Mainichi reported on July 25, 2016.
The media outlet stressed that neither China nor The Hague ruling was mentioned in ASEAN’s final joint communique.
“China was able to push through its stance in ASEAN with the help of Cambodia, and to some extent Laos, both of which are close friends of Beijing. ASEAN's guiding principle is to make all statements by consensus, so a veto by Cambodia would have prevented a more stinging rebuke,” the media outlet suggested.
Commenting on the issue Victor Sumsky, Director of the ASEAN Center at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), noted that the mildly-worded communiqué clearly signals that ASEAN has refused to “commit suicide” despite Washington’s pressure.
"The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has demonstrated its wisdom. Anti-Chinese or pro-American positions would have meant suicide for the organization," Sumsky told Sputnik.
“The Association holds a central position in the regional cooperation and integration processes… If the Association as a whole, and not some of its member states, unilaterally tends to [cater to] one of the key players — the US or China, it immediately loses its neutrality and, hence, its central position,” he explained.
On the other hand, ASEAN nations do not want to jeopardise their longstanding economic ties with Beijing.
“Last year, China’s trade with ASEAN countries reached a colossal US$472 billion and the parties stand to lose out from any aggravation of the situation in the region,” Terehov stresses.
Citing China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, Terehov calls attention to the fact that "at the China-ASEAN forum, 80 per cent of the time was devoted to the economy and only a small percent to the situation in the South China Sea."
Southeast Asian nations are also interested in participating in the China-led New Silk Road initiative which is likely to bring them tangible benefits.
And last May 2016, former MCA president Ong Tee Keat founded the Malaysia-China Silk Route Business Chamber. Ong is the chamber president and membership is open to eligible Malaysians and Mainland Chinese.
For political reasons and animosity, the Barisan Nasional (BN)-controlled media has given almost zero publicity to the chamber’s activities.
The MCA-owned The Star, instead, has chosen to only highlight the bilateral, cultural and trade-related activities that the party is involved in.
The chamber’s latest activity in Malaysia was found in a Facebook posting on the official opening of "The Cultural Silk Route Quest" on July 15, 2016, with the authentication of Chinese relics at Dewan Penang 2, Tower 1, Menara PGRM (Gerakan), in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
Present at the opening were Ong, Raub MP Ariff Sabri, Gerakan Deputy Speaker Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff and Executive Director of the International Market - Guangdong Han chunxuan Art Exhibition Co Ltd Zeng Xiu Wen.
And, recently, the Malaysian media has also been regularly highlighting the investment interests of China in Malaysia, including those involving the financially controversial 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
In fact the “Cold War” has been brewing for decades and the first sign of a serious “punch” was thrown in April 2014, with those who subscribe to the "Cold War" conspiracy theory have pointed out the US’ growing concern of China's regional and economic influence in Asia and Southeast Asia.
The US is said to be discreetly “upset” that China has significantly consolidated its economic interest and influence in the region through a highly strategic presence in Myanmar’s brand new Dawei Sea Port.
Dawei is a city in southeastern Myanmar, located at Tavoy on the coast of the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean, about 610km south of Yangon and 350km west of Bangkok, Thailand.According to MyanmarBurma.com, Dawei became connected to the rest of Myanmar by railways and roads only recently, but is now the location of a new deep-sea port and special economic zone.
The 250km square (61,775-acre) port development costs about US$58 billion (RM189 billion) featuring facilities such as a deep-sea port, a heavy industrial park, power plants, and tourism facilities.
Japan is supporting the project and Thailand is reported to have tremendous interest, as Dawei will give Thailand more direct access to international trade routes and markets in India, Europe and Africa, bypassing the Straits of Malacca.
It will also become a source of power generation for Thailand. An eight-lane highway and railway will connect Dawei and Bangkok, and a railway to China’s Kunming is also in the development plan!
Also in the design phase, the zone will incorporate the current Shwe Gas and China-Myanmar Corridor Projects, under construction to supply China with natural gas via overland pipeline across Myanmar!
An 800km railway and highway from Kyaukphyu to Muse, China, will connect China to the Bay of Bengal.
The deep-sea port is under construction on Maday Island, east of Kyaukphyu where the port will berth 300,000-ton oil tankers and become an important link for China to petroleum from the Middle East and other international markets.
Although China will receive many benefits from the development, the advantages to Myanmar in terms of economic growth, employment and improved infrastructure are significant.
Besides Dawei which is now at the tail-end of construction, Myanmar has six existing deep-sea ports along the coast and is constructing another two.
And, throw in this: The media in China has started publishing stories on a decades-old proposal to build a canal at Kra Isthmus, Thailand, thereby bypassing the Straits of Malacca, Malaysian and Singapore ports.
The canal, if realised, will save shipment costs and time as the route is shortened by 1,000km.
China’s huge state-owned LiuGong Machinery Co Ltd and XCMG, and private Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd have taken the lead to set up a preparations group for the construction of Kra Isthmus Canal.
The 100km artificial link to the Indian Ocean will benefit not only China and ASEAN, but also Japan and other countries’ world trade.
Now, doesn’t this piss off the US even more with its military presence in Singapore and the Philippines?
While Malaysia has started pushing for more trade and investments with China, Singapore has since 2010 invested S$11.5 billion (RM33 billion) to expand and upgrade its port after Shanghai edged the tiny island nation out as the world’s busiest harbour.
What is interesting is Singapore’s investment in Myanmar totalling US$1.3 billion or RM4 billion (as of 2014)!
On May 8, 2014, a Reuters article datelined Washington, reported President Barack Obama as giving the U.S. Congress official notice that he plans to pull Russia from a programme that allows duty-free imports of certain goods, known as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
On May 20, 2014, AP reported that in a symbolic blow to the US global financial hegemony, Russia and China took a small step toward undercutting the domination of the US dollar as the international reserve currency when Russia’s second biggest financial institution, VTB, signed a deal with the Bank of China to bypass the dollar and pay each other in domestic currencies.
The so-called Agreement on Cooperation was signed in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Shanghai.
The following day, a 10-year-long US$400 million massive natural gas deal was inked between Russia and China.
Demand for the dollar, which has long served as a safe and reliable reserve currency in international transactions, has allowed the US to borrow almost unlimited cash and spend well beyond its means, which some economists say has afforded the US an outsize influence on world affairs.
But the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a bloc of the world’s five major emerging economies — have long sought to diminish their dependence on the Greenback as a means of reshaping the world financial and geopolitical order. In the absence of a viable alternative, however, replacing it has proved difficult.
For its part, “China sees the dominance of the dollar in international trade transactions as a remnant of American global dominance, which they hope to overthrow in the years ahead,” said Michael Klare, a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. “This is a small step in that direction, to reduce the primacy of the dollar in international trade.”
Some have been tempted to view the deal in the context of Putin’s showdown with the West over the crisis in Ukraine. After the US and Europe imposed sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, Putin may have finally made good on promised retaliation against what he views as Western hegemony in Russia’s near abroad.
“Breaking the dominance of the US dollar in international trade between the BRICS is something that the group has been talking about for some time,” said Chris Weafer, a founding partner of Macro-Advisory, a consultancy in Moscow. “The Ukraine crisis and the threats voiced by the US administration may well provide the catalyst for that to start happening.”To be sure, the Russia-China bank deal is mostly a symbolic step. Liza Ermolenko, an emerging markets economist at Capital Economics in London, said that the deal was still “a very small one, in the grand scale of things,” and that it wouldn’t change Russia’s reliance on the dollar “overnight.” Most of Russia’s export contracts in the oil and gas markets are still priced in dollars, she noted, and on a wider scale, replacing the dollar with the ruble is much too risky to even consider.
Likewise, even though China has agreed to the gas deal, which could see over US$450 billion of Russian natural gas flow from eastern Siberia into China over the next 30 years, Russia is not in a position to abandon its ties with Europe.
“From the commercial standpoint, Europe is the most profitable market for Gazprom,” said Mikhail Korchemkin, the founder of Eastern European Gas Analysis, who has consulted for Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas company. “Exports to China can generate a small profit, (but) only if the government makes it free of taxes and duties.”
But the bank deal is another indicator that Russia and China are in the middle of a wider rapprochement, which analysts say is premised not on ideological alignment but on a mutual desire to undercut the US in their respective spheres of influence.
Both countries are wary of Obama’s “pivot east”, a recalibration of US foreign policy away from decades of war in the Middle East and toward the fast-growing economies of the East. Cynical observers have interpreted the shift as an effort to contain China.
“This is a marriage of mutual strategic interests, not a marriage of love,” said Klare. “China wants energy and weapons from Russia, and Russia wants diplomatic backing and cash. It’s a quid pro quo.”
Now, what's wrong/happening in the world?
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