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Myths of the warmongers
Daryl Guppy
India, Australia, Japan and the U.S. naval forces took part in the second phase of the Malabar naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, October 12, 2020. /CFP

India, Australia, Japan and the U.S. naval forces took part in the second phase of the Malabar naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, October 12, 2020. /CFP

Editor's note: Daryl Guppy is an international financial technical analysis expert. He has provided a weekly Shanghai Index analysis for media for the Chinese mainland for more than a decade. Guppy appears regularly on CNBC Asia and is known as "The Chart Man." He is a national board member of the Australia China Business Council. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

China has acted in response to a steady tempo of surveillance patrols near its borders. Surveillance patrols of this nature so near to national borders would not be tolerated by any other nation, but Western nations expect China not to protest. Instead, Western nations led by the United States construct a false narrative that paints China as a threat. Gradually these so-called threats have become elevated into a reason for inevitable conflict.

The narrative is magnified by credulous media reporting so the myths generated by warmongers become accepted as fact and therefore as justification for increased levels of confrontation with China.

They claim there are good reasons why a more powerful China has become the central concern of policymakers and strategists in Washington, but many of these reasons do not stand up to closer inspection.

One reason often cites China for aggressively intercepting foreign military aircraft in the East and South China Seas. 

These are not aircraft flying "innocent" passage. These are aircraft actively engaged in frequent surveillance missions, including the dropping of sonar tracking buoys in national and international waters. These are not benign activities.

The Western reaction should be compared to the reaction of the same countries when Chinese navel forces monitor naval exercises. The near hysterical Australian media response to Chinese naval vessels sailing in international waters near to Australia is an example of this dual standard that reinforces the warmonger myths that China's activities are a threat but the same activities undertaken by Australia are not a threat.

They claim another reason for concern is that China has "condoned" the Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine on the grounds that if China has not condemned the operation, then it must "condone" it. This convoluted reasoning does not apply to the Quad ally, India, which has also resolutely failed to condemn Russia. The Western media also ignores the fact that India and Japan continue to import Russian oil.

Proof of China's expansionist aims is claimed to come from the dispute around the China-India border. The minor melee in 2020 is presented as evidence. On a global scale it is hardly worth a mention when compared with the artillery exchanges between India and Pakistan on the line of control, or the more than 43,000 civilians killed in Afghanistan by the U.S. army since 2001.

Further proof of China's expansion aims comes from the claim that China wants to "take over" Taiwan. This proof ignores the international acknowledgement that Taiwan is part of China. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) 2758 resolution clearly stipulates that the United Nations has formally accepted, and furthermore, agrees to Taiwan's formal, global and unilateral inclusion as a part of China. Thereby, the UNGA has recognized and upheld this convention from within China's "one-China" principle and in treaty applications.

A total of 110 members of China's peacekeeping force to the Democratic Republic of the Congo departed Luzhou, Sichuan Province, September 17, 2019. /CFP

A total of 110 members of China's peacekeeping force to the Democratic Republic of the Congo departed Luzhou, Sichuan Province, September 17, 2019. /CFP

So despite the warmongers' claim of Chinese expansionist policy, China can hardly take over part of its own territory. It is the Western nations who are trying to separate Taiwan from China, although this is obscured in Western media reporting.

Perhaps even more significantly, this Western support undermines the global rules based order because this support ignores the UNGA resolution. Those who talk about the need for conflict often suggest that China does not uphold the global rules based order, but these same groups are the leaders in encouraging others to ignore the UNGA resolution with a false claim that Taiwan is independent of China.

In a further distortion of history the warmonger myths claim that Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was "taken over" by China and is proof of China's expansionist ambitions. They conveniently ignore that fact that Hong Kong territory was returned to China in accordance with well established treaty conditions. 

The warmonger narrative is very concerned with the way China is working to reshape international norms. This assertion denies China a place in the global rules based order that is commensurate with its economic might. U.S. President Joe Biden has made no secret of his objective that the U.S. alone will set the global rules based order, and any Chinese objection to this is evidence of China's expansionist tendencies.

These excuses for inevitable conflict with China are flimsy at best. However, also added to this list of reasons why the path to conflict is inevitable, is outrage that China has denigrated "democracies." Apparently the almost daily stories and political attacks that denigrate China are acceptable by the U.S.

There is a well-established clamor for conflict, justified by warmongering myths that rest on distortion, misinformation and hypocrisy. These powerful political and media sources are not opposed by equally strong voices clamoring for the peaceful resolution of differences. There is a very concerning drift towards conflict, and it is enabled by sycophantic media reporting as fact the myths created by warmongers.

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