China And The Council On Foreign Relations: America’s Genesis Of The Big Lie

Fort Russ – by Dennis Etler

According to a special report of the Council on Foreign Relations, US administrations, from Clinton to Obama have misread China’s strategic intentions on several fronts; and made optimistic statements about US-China relations.

The CFR is the preeminent US foreign policy think tank, so what they publish can be taken as the consensus opinion of the American political elite, be they Democrat or Republican, conservative or progressive.

What the “special report” does is outline the BIG LIE about China. Every assertion in the following paragraph is a lie, that has been reinforced time and time again by the corporate media and servile US politicians.

“While these presidents were making such optimistic statements over a nearly twenty-year period, China implemented a grand strategy under Xi Jinping; used geoeconomic tools to coerce its neighbors and others, including most recently though the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); violated international commercial practices, including by committing massive theft of U.S. intellectual property; manipulated its currency for trade benefits; threatened Taiwan; build up its military forces to push the United States beyond Japan and the Philippines; constructed and militarized artificial islands in the South China Sea, in violation of the international law. . . and patiently and incrementally built its power and influence with the strategic goal of challenging the United States as the primary power in Asia.”

This attempt to portray China as a serial aggressor politically, economically and militarily is hogwash.

The BRI is a geoeconomic tool to coerce China’s neighbors and others? Tell that to the attendees at the recent BRI Conference in Beijing.

China has violated international commercial practices? It is the US that illegally applies embargoes, sanctions and tariffs on whatever country it wants to intimidate or overthrow, not China.

China commits massive theft of U.S. intellectual property. This charge has been thoroughly debunked several times over. The US considers Chinese students in the US returning home as spies, collaboration between US and Chinese scientists as stealing US intellectual property, not contributing to joint research to be equally shared, and legal technology transfers, which all companies engage in, as IP theft.

Manipulated its currency for trade benefits? Even the Trump administration abandoned this canard as it has been shown to be false. Anyway, it is the US that engages in monetary policies that influence the value of the US dollar far more than does China. What the hell is quantitative easing if not currency manipulation?

Threatened Taiwan? How can a nation threaten an integral part of itself? It is the US that has infringed on China’s sovereignty not vice versa.

Built up its military forces to push the United States beyond Japan and the Philippines? China has the sovereign right to defend itself against foreign aggression. Has China ever invaded another country far from its shores like the US. In the 19th and early 20th century European powers carved up China into spheres of influence. Japan invaded and occupied China killing tens of millions, the US waged war on China’s borders in Korea and Vietnam with the expressed purpose of “containing” China. Who is a military treat to whom?

Constructed and militarized artificial islands in the South China Sea? Really? This from a superpower which has over 700 military bases on every inhabited continent and armada’s sailing the seven sea?

In violation of the international law? A law that the US does not acknowledge and one which lacks jurisdiction over the dispute in question?