A new world order?

As China is getting increasingly stronger, both economically and militarily, they are getting more assertive. Pick any rogue regime or conflict in the world today and there is likely some Chinese involvement. In the conflict in Ukraine, China has openly sided with Russia and in the recent Hamas attack in Israel, China’s state media supports Hamas and declare a free Palestine must be a priority. Su Lin, a prominent Chinese influencer claimed after the attack that “Hamas is still too gentle. Israel is a Jewish version of Nazi and militarism. Such posts would be instantly removed if they contradicted the thinking of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. 

Hamas brought some very advanced weaponry to Israel from Gaza, such as thermobaric rocket-propelled grenades. These weapons were manufactured in Iran or North Korea, but the underlying state-of-the-art technology like came from China. Iran’s Islamist regime has been calling for the destruction of Israel for decades, and there is little doubt that Iran helped Hamas execute the attack. China is also supporting Iran along with the military junta in Myanmar and seems determined to support any rogue state on the planet, in particular if they are anti-American. Are they looking for a new Cold War or are they merely showing their power more openly and aggressively? 

China seems to be behind several conflict. Prior to the conflict in Ukraine, Putin visited China to seek support. Half a dozen agreements were signed and the two entered into a quasi-military alliance. In the months leading up to the recent Hamas attack, top Palestinian and Iranian leaders made pilgrimages to Beijing to consult with Chinese leaders. Even Syria’s notorious Bashar Assad joined the parade, signing a strategic partnership agreement with China in September. There are also increased aggressions from North Korea, Pakistan and Serbia towards their neighbors, all linked to support from China. It is a compact in which China, with its deep pockets and technology sophistication, is the driving force. 

While Iran and Russia are jockeying for dominance in their backyards, China has truly global ambitions and is using other in this quest. The attack on Israel, by a group intent upon its destruction, is clearly a proxy war by China on one of America’s closest allies. For just as Hamas and Hezbollah are extensions of Iran, so Iran itself is in many ways a proxy for China. So even when Hamas are trained in Iran, China is their source for weaponry. China is following the same playbook in the Middle East that it has done elsewhere in promising support to the aggressor behind the scenes. Then when the attack happens, loudly call for a negotiated settlement. At the same time, an independent Palestine seems reasonable, and it also seems reasonable that Ukraine is kept out of NATO. 

China seems to want the U.S. to get more involved in the conflict and the Middle East to keep them busy there as they once were in Iraq. China has long been in a new sort of Cold War with the United States. It was Deng Xiaoping who, watching the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, observed to the Chinese Communist Party and was determined to hold on to power domestically and expand power globally at all costs. 

The U.S. has spent time and energy on trying to bribe China to becoming a responsible member of the U.S.-led world order. Wall Street financed China’s rise and the U.S. let China into the World Trade Organization and Fortune 500 companies transferred their cutting-edge technology to Beijing or had it stolen. As a result, cheap “Made In China” products flooded America. By enabling China to rise, the U.S. has created a new dangerous world order. The attacks from China take many different forms, from seeding viruses and spreading opioids like fentanyl, to using rogue regimes and terrorist groups as proxies abroad. 

China calculates that its chances of one day achieving its ultimate goal, the retaking of Taiwan, will only increase. Xi Jinping’s idol, the late chairman Mao, once remarked: “Great chaos is needed to achieve great order in the world.”. The new great order that China dreams of will eventually begin with that Taiwan conquest, but it will not end until a new global world order under Chinese hegemony is created or until the Chinese Communist Party is defeated. China can definitely not be trusted.