Tag: Aukus

NATO to expand Asia-Pacific presence by opening office in Japan + What can China do about it?

Ms. Cat

Last week, news emerged that NATO intends to open a liaison office in Tokyo, Japan next year. The office would be NATO’s first in the Asia-Pacific region and represents the increasing role of the organisation in preparation for a US-led war against China. Both Tokyo and NATO have confirmed the plans.

NATO to expand Asia-Pacific presence by opening office in Japan

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What can China do against NATO’s foray into Asia?

So what can China do to respond to this attempt at ‘alliance encirclement’ against it? First, it can strengthen its ties with Russia and aim to create a deeper balance of power in the Asia-Pacific. Secondly, it can revitalize old alliances and strengthen its ties with North Korea as a military partner. After all, the DPRK is still obligated by the 1961 treaty of mutual assistance to come to China’s aid in a war and can be used to contain Japan and South Korea. Thirdly, it can look to build new military partnerships with regional countries who feel similarly threatened by US expansionism; for example, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. While the rest of ASEAN are likely to stay neutral, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (excluding the US-aligned Philippines), China should work to improve its relationships with these countries in order to prevent the US from trying to ‘force’ them to choose.

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Biden’s Canada visit aimed at girding North American imperialist alliance for war with Russia and China

Ms. Cat

Joe Biden will make his first official visit to Canada as US President this Thursday and Friday. The publicly announced agenda of issues Biden is to discuss with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau underscores that North America’s twin imperialist powers are recklessly rushing towards world war, under conditions of an unprecedented global capitalist crisis that is also fueling a global working class upsurge of revolutionary dimensions.

Biden’s Canada visit aimed at girding North American imperialist alliance for war with Russia and China

Australia’s nuclear waste from AUKUS deal raises treaty violation concerns

Ms. Cat1 Comment

By: Romita Chattaraj | March 20, 2023 – 2:06pm

On March 14, 2023, Australia, the US, and UK concluded a deal that will extend nuclear powered submarines to the Australian Navy, a key part of the AUKUS security agreement between the three countries. The AUKUS deal requires the Australian government to dispose of nuclear waste containing radioactive materials produced by the submarines. While Australia has facilities to store low through intermediate-level waste, no facilities exist to store high-level waste for the decades or centuries such waste requires. This has raised concerns about violating Article 2 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) which does not permit non-nuclear states to “receive nuclear explosive devices or seek their manufacture.” However, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to the NPT and stated that the country will work in “close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).” One other violation concern has been raised regarding the Treaty of Rarotonga, also known as the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, which does not allow signatories to “acquire, possess, or have control over any nuclear explosive device” but allows reservations in Article 14. Reservations, as defined by Article 14 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, permits a state to exclude the application of certain provisions, creating a loophole for Australia’s ability to store nuclear reactors. US submarines will start visits to Australia this year with UK submarines expected by 2026. Full nuclear capability is expected by the early 2030s.

Australia’s nuclear waste from AUKUS deal raises treaty violation concerns

US & UK make the submarines, Australia stores the waste.

The Pentagon’s Balloon Floats On

Ms. Cat

It is just as well that Antony “Guardrails” Blinken has called off his long-scheduled visit to Beijing, which was due to begin Tuesday. It would have been his first since taking over at State and the first by a secretary of state in four years. But Blinken would not have got any guardrails in place or built any exit ramps, which he seems to consider his highest calling. Let us wonder, parenthetically, if our Tony wasn’t meant to be a transportation engineer.

Patrick Lawrence: The Pentagon’s Balloon Floats On

Macron rejects ‘confrontation’ as he relaunches Asia strategy

Ms. Cat

Macron rejects ‘confrontation’ as he relaunches Asia strategy

“We don’t believe in hegemony, we don’t believe in confrontation, we believe in stability,” Macron said.

…

Macron said a coordinated response was needed to tackle the overlapping crises facing the international community — from climate change to economic turmoil triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Our Indo-Pacific strategy is how to provide dynamic balance in this environment,” he said.

“How to provide precisely a sort of stability and equilibrium which could not be the hegemony of one of those, could not be the confrontation of the two major powers.”

The Indo-Pacific Strategy doesn’t sound as innocent as Macron makes it out to be:

The new US Indo-Pacific Strategy document released in February has two interesting components, one overt and one covert. The document overtly declares the US is an “Indo-Pacific power.” Covertly, its aim is to “tighten the noose around China.” Arguably, minus the military might, China’s nearly a decade-long “Belt and Road Initiative” cannot be perceived as a grand national strategy aimed at controlling Eurasia or the Asia Pacific or any region for that matter. Yet the BRI is mythologized into such a geostrategic game-changer that it has rattled the US and its allies in the Asia Pacific. The BRI, at best, is nothing more than a mere geopolitical overland and maritime “chessboard” based on trade and investment.

BRI and the ‘Indo-Pacific’ Strategy: Geopolitical vs. Geostrategic

Say What? The U.S. Is about to PUNISH Australia!

Ms. Cat1 Comment

The US has warned Australia against joining a landmark treaty banning nuclear weapons, saying the agreement could hamper defense arrangements between the US and its allies.

The US embassy in Canberra says treaty “would not allow for US extended deterrence relationships.”

Is the US threatening Australia if it does not toe the line???

US warns Australia against joining treaty banning nuclear weapons

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Say What? The U.S. Is about to PUNISH Australia! via Geopolitical Trends

Related:

‘So Irresponsible’: US Condemned for Warning Australia Against Joining Anti-Nuclear Treaty