Is AUKUS Pact the beginning of a new Cold War? - EDITORIAL

On Wednesday, September 15, US President Joe Biden announced the US would be joining Australia and the UK in a trilateral AUKUS pact - in all but name, a military alliance to contain what the three partners see as the growing economic and military power of Asian giant China. BBC described the AUKUS alliance as probably the most significant security arrangement between the three nations since World War II

The partnership between, the US, the UK and Australia (a white-colonial outpost in the Asia-Pacific area), was announced at a joint virtual press conference between the US President Biden, British Premier Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. 

While the AUKUS alliance unmistakably targets containing China, it also reveals an explosive conflict of interests between the imperialist powers. Washington, London and Canberra prepared AUKUS over several months in total secrecy from what are ostensibly their closest allies among the European Union (EU) powers. It exposed the deep distrust among the United States, Britain and the EU countries, beset by military and economic rivalries in Asia.
Though China was not directly mentioned in the pact, in their explanations the three parties to the pact, referred repeatedly to regional security concerns which they said had "grown significantly". The British Defence Secretary claimed China was enlarging its naval and air force and was engaged in disputed areas and ‘wanted to be able to stand their ground’.

China’s global outlook changed somewhat from the ‘peaceful development’ doctrine associated with Hu Jintao, China’s President for 10 years to more aggressively assertive international policies of his successor, Xi Jinping. At the same time in the US, Donald Trump became President and of the US. 

Trump saw China’s rise as a world military and economic power as a challenge to white American supremacy. He blamed China for America’s economic woes. Charged China for the rapid spread of the Coronavirus worldwide, fumed at China’s imposition of economic sanctions on Australia, and viewed Xi’s 70-country Belt and Road Initiative as a direct threat to US global domination.  

The AUKUS pact, in this background not unexpectedly triggered fears that the world is on the verge of a new Cold War which has parallels with the earlier Cold War.
Today, the cold war between the US and China is a struggle between the world’s most powerful nations. 
This time around, it will be a combination of China and Russia vs the US, Britain and Australia. A vital difference this time around is that the countries of the European Union (EU) can no longer be expected to blindly follow the US lead in confrontations with China. 

Especially after the US’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan with no consultation with its allies and its surreptitious role in overturning the French-Australian submarine deal, the EU countries are skeptical of the US as a reliable partner. Again the countries within the EU have been striving to charter an independent course from the US in the Indo-Pacific arena and this has angered the US.

Sadly, this time around, the new cold war is being played out in our own backyard so-to-say – in the Asia region more particularly in the Indo-Pacific seas where there is a potential for conflicting interests to collide.
North Korea, Vietnam, the South China Seas, flashpoints such as Taiwan and Hong Kong have a potential to trigger military confrontation. Frighteningly this time around our giant neighbour India has abandoned its non-aligned role on the world stage and is now firmly in the pocket of the US, having joined military alliances involving the US, Japan and Australia.

There is every prospect that little Sri Lanka – given its strategic position on the trade routes - will have pressure brought on it by parties to the conflict to take a side with one or the other belligerents. Fortunately while both countries seek worldwide domination, a  silver lining in an otherwise dark scenario is that neither side wants a full military confrontation.

It is becoming clear this time around the countries of the Asia region will be drawn into an unwanted conflict which will set Asians against each other and open up this part of the world to further neo-colonial exploitation by the imperial countries.