THE nations have just one choice – either fight climate change together or fight each other. If we fight both wars, we will be destroyed by climate change, if we are not destroyed by our geopolitical wars.
Nations also have internal wars generated by unresolved divisions. Any wars other than a fight against climate change will mean humanity is lost. If you are not convinced that the effort to slow climate change involves a wholehearted all-of-humanity participation, wait until the deluge sweeps you to sea or the searing heat dries up your bones.
The nations devoted US$2.4 trillion (RM10.2 trillion) or 2.3% of the world’s gross domestic product (US$105 trillion) to military spending last year. A disturbing 65% of this total was spent by the US and its 55 military allies around the world, including nations sharing borders with Russia or China. What do you expect Russia and China to do except to similarly arm themselves?
Several nations are now budgeting for heightened nuclear weaponry expenditure, and the buildup could begin in 2026.
A senior American defence official said two months ago: “If the president were to decide that we need to increase the size of the deployed force, we want to be in a position to execute relatively quickly.”
The justification is that Russia is threatening to use nuclear weapons if the West finds the Ukraine war a good excuse to destroy Russian forces. Another justification is that China is building more nuclear weapons to reduce the huge disparity between its own and America’s stockpiles.
Last year, South Korea openly declared interest in building nuclear weapons, and 70% of the populace agreed that their nation should do so.
In Japan, a former prime minister has urged his country to think seriously and urgently about nuclear weapons so that Japan can have an independent attacking power.
What about space, the next frontier? Admiral Christopher Grady, vice-chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff, said in February: “Space has emerged as our most essential warfighting domain.” Military forces around the world have begun talking about “the third space age” or the age of so-called space guardians that are weapons of mass terror stationed above your head.
World-renowned economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs, in a December 2023 piece in the independent news outlet Common Dreams, opined that the US$1.5 trillion in military outlays for 2024 is “the scam that keeps on giving to the military-industrial complex”.
He detailed: “The key foreign policy makers run the operations of 800 US overseas military bases, hundreds of billions of dollars of military contracts and the war operations where the equipment is deployed. The more wars, of course, the more business.
“With military bases in 80 countries around the world, and CIA operations in many more, the US plays a large, though mostly covert role, in determining who rules in those countries, and thereby on policies that shape lucrative deals.”
Are you optimistic that climate change will be slowed? You could be out of touch. That subject is heading for the bottom of the world agenda as well as every nation’s agenda. The arena for the next war on the drawing board is the South China Sea right up to the shores of Taiwan.
Rather than push for a confrontation with China over Taiwan, the US is looking for a bait in Southeast Asia just as it found Ukraine a willing partner to bait Russia into war. Some Malaysians still believe that the US is a “divinely appointed guardian of world peace” despite clear evidence that it is an accomplice in Israel’s war of terror against the entire population of Gaza.
In the words of Sachs: “The US supplies in real-time the munitions Israel uses for mass murder, even as US authorities pay lip service to Gazan civilian lives.”
America wants the Philippines to become part of its offensive island chain of encirclement against China. But the Philippine Daily Inquirer warned in 2022: “US strategists want to trap China into a military confrontation in an arena where the US is still superior. The American chess pieces of 800 overseas military bases, gunboat diplomacy in the air, land and sea, and military technology are more than 20 years ahead of China.”
The Daily Inquirer advised the Philippine government: “Let us focus on resolving the climate emergency and social inequities, and prevent future pandemics.”
The Manila Times last May pointed out that the South China Sea dispute is about conflicting sovereignty claims. The claim that China is intruding into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and therefore trampling over its sovereignty is a “colossal lie” that has been “masterfully disseminated by the US to demonise China”.
Last July, the South China Morning Post exposed the reason why Australia is buying nuclear submarines. These submarines are not for defence but to work alongside the US and Japan in an integrated system. The submarines are intended to operate in the South China Sea for a reasonable period without docking or refuelling.
Each time China and the Philippines accuse each other of ramming vessels in disputed waters in the South China Sea, the US immediately issues a gleeful statement condemning China and strongly encouraging the Philippines to keep the confrontation going. If it were truly a guardian of world peace, America would play a mediator role to broker a peace deal. Instead, America shows itself to be an agent provocateur.
The Philippines should fall back on its spiritual depth to resolve the conflict while endeavouring to understand the fears that drive China to stand aggressively firm on its territorial claims.
“Become what you believe,” said Jesus (Matthew 9:29). If Manila believes in peace, it should be like Jesus and make the first conciliatory move. “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight” (Matthew 5:9). When the enemy accosts you, “do not lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him” (Matthew 5:25).
“If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practise the servant life. No more tit-for-tat. Live generously” (Matthew 5:42). “Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.” (Luke 6:27). “If you have anything against someone, forgive” (Mark 11:26).
If Manila follows the way of Jesus, a solution will come shining like a Christmas star. The solution is obvious when you consider the background of the South China Sea tensions.
Ever since the Korean War (1950-1953), America has treated China as an enemy except during the friendly years of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. China entered the war only because American troops had pushed to the border with China.
China’s fear of America was heightened when General MacArthur later sought to invade China, and he was eager to drop atomic bombs on Chinese forces battling American troops in the Korean War. Fortunately, he failed to get presidential approval for both plans.
The US territory of Guam extends 6,650km from California and is just 3,000km from China, less than half the distance of Guam from the US mainland. Bristling with military installations and missiles, it is a forward operating base for US forces in the Asia-Pacific region.
The distance of China’s furthest maritime territorial claim in the South China Sea is 1,800km from Hainan Island – much less than a third of the distance from California to Guam. While the contested Sabina Shoal is 140km from the Philippine province of Palawan, it is also just 350km to 400km from Hainan Island.
Stretching out from Guam is a wide arch of US military bases and military alliances, all aimed at China. Even as the Gaza War continues to rage, plans are proceeding to expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) European military alliance into Asia. New Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, is keen to lock the US, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea into an Asian Nato.
Already there is the Quad alliance involving Australia, India, Japan and the US, and Aukus involving Australia, Britain and the US.
It is obvious that security concerns are the primary driving force behind China’s maritime sovereignty claims, but America holds the trump card. One more piece in the puzzle is the suppression by pro-American geopolitical analysts of the fact that 14 nations other than China and Asean countries are involved in rival territorial claims around the world. Playing up China’s sea claims is intended to show that it is the biggest threat to world peace.
The ball is at Manila’s feet, as America’s military ally in Southeast Asia, to forcefully persuade America to stop being a warmonger. Only then will the door to peace be opened.
The writer champions interfaith harmony.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
