A perfect storm brewing
Chinese Premier Xi Jinping warns of a new Cold War in the Pacific region while fomenting it, Russia gathers 90,000 troops on the border with Ukraine. The U.S. is stepping up its reconnaissance.
“The Asia-Pacific region cannot and must not fall back into the confrontation and division of the Cold War era. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping said in a video message at the APEC meeting.
Yet this is precisely what China is provoking with its claims of ownership in the Indo-Pacific and its continued aggressive behavior toward the island of Taiwan. Chinese fighter jets constantly violate Taiwanese airspace.
At the same time, the situation on the Ukrainian border is worsening. The Pentagon reports, “According to a Ukrainian Defense Ministry report posted on its website last week, Ukraine’s intelligence service has indications of approximately 90,000 Russian troops located near the Ukrainian border. These troops, the report said, include elements of the Russian Federation’s 8th and 20th Armies, as well as parts of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Elements of the Air Force were also present, according to the report.”
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports, “We have noted increased military activity by the U.S. and its NATO allies in the Black Sea region. In particular, the intensity of naval, air and maritime reconnaissance and strategic aviation activities has increased. Four NATO reconnaissance aircraft were detected and escorted by the anti-aircraft radars of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the last 24 hours.”
Fatal development – no sign of relaxation
While the population in Europe focuses entirely on the rising number of illnesses associated with the Covid 19 virus and otherwise follows events on the Belarusian border with Poland, the threat of military confrontation is rising in other regions, too. These tensions within the many unresolved conflicts in the world are increasing. At present, there seems to be no regulating instrument to stop these developments. The impression that Europe still has the least to do with these global conflicts is wrong. Although Europe has no leading role in any of the conflicts, it is equally involved in all of them, and in some cases even divided.
Not even the Covid 19 pandemic, which affected everyone globally and equally, has led to an improved common understanding of global challenges. This is fatal. There is no relief in sight for any of the above-mentioned lines of conflict; on the contrary.
