Opinion | Any attempts that heighten military tension are detrimental to regional stability
By Edward Hei Leung, LegCo Member
AUKUS, a trilateral security pact aiming at the so-called free and open Indo-Pacific, has recently announced the development of hypersonic weapons. It is, in fact, an Anglo-Saxon small bloc that serves the US in particular, even though plenty of Asian countries express concerns over the foreseeable arm race and nuclear proliferation.
Sad but true, the US has not yet learned a lesson, especially when it successfully launches an unprecedented sanction against its traditional enemy, Russia. Biden administration is somehow obsessed with the achievements of economic sanctions, even though the exchange rate of Russian ruble attains an all-time high after Kremlin demands unfriendly states to purchase Russian energy using rubles. Ironically, some even believe that Russia will gradually decline in national power, and therefore, the US should shift its strategical focus to China. Several experts, in fact, remind US government the difficulty to contain Russia and China concurrently. It seems that the Biden administration does not take their suggestion seriously; otherwise, AUKUS would not declare its development of hypersonic weapons, not to mention the incorporation of China's influence into NATO strategic concept.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian criticized the latest AUKUS cooperation. "Its real goal is to establish a NATO replica in the Asia-Pacific to serve the US hegemony and self-interests. To a region that wants development and cooperation, it is not a chess game board", Zhao added in the routine press conference. In light of the reluctance of Southeast Asian countries to have meetings with the US recently, everyone knows what the US is now doing in the Indo-Pacific region, no matter how pleasant the declared objectives sound. It does not take much to understand that the unrestrained expansion of AUKUS will ultimately bring diplomatic confrontations if not wars in the future.
Back to the crux of the problem, is the US willing to see a world without wars? By comparing 2012-2016 and 2017-2021 figures, global arms trade declined by 4.6%, but US arms exports increased by 14%, accounting for a 7% increase in its global share, according to a study from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. That is to say, the US remains the largest arms exporter at the globe, and the situation gets even worse. When Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, believes that Russia-Ukraine conflict will last for years, his words make me feel horrible.
As an old saying goes, no conflict, no profit. Lockheed Martin's stock price increased from $354 in early January to $453 in late March, whereas Raytheon's price skyrocketed by more than 20%. Needless to say, given the military-industrial complex feature, both companies have a strong influence on American politics. Aside from this, the war gives US local energy companies precious opportunity, especially in terms of the rapidly increased exports of liquefied natural gas. Surprisingly, US import of Russian oil rise. The US may earn lots of money from Ukraine war. History is a mirror. Will AUKUS, a US-led alliance, have good intentions as well?
Nowadays, the US exploits Ukraine crisis to heighten its geopolitical influence, and equip Australian troops at all fronts. At the same time, AUKUS leaders are now faced with the corresponding election this year. The timing of their latest announcement, I believe, somewhat echoes with the election period. Even though it takes time to realize the military promise in AUKUS, it is never a good choice to raise regional tension for short-term political goals. All the three countries should realize that any attempts to push for "absolute security" will trigger "absolute insecurity", and it is the time we take further steps to abandon the Cold war mindset and zero-sum game.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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