Lindsey, I’m sad about Ukraine, but it’s time you and Mitch realized that Vladimir Putin is nowhere near the world’s greatest threat. (One might argue that Joe Biden is a much greater peril to humanity than Putin ever thought about being. Stupidity in power is incredibly dangerous.) But Xi Jinping is much more to be feared than Putin. Xi is going to be General Secretary/President of the Communist Party of China for the rest of his life. He will be dictator of that massive totalitarian country, and nobody there will dare to challenge him, whatever he wishes to do. Some mosquitos may occasionally buzz around his head (as they did Mao Zedong’s), but, trust me, Xi will easily swat them away. That’s the way that system works. He is the undoubted autocrat. He will leave power in a pine box, and that may not be for another decade or two.
That is not good news for the rest of the world. The stated goal of Marxism/socialism—and it has never been changed—is world dominance. Xi believes in that goal with all his being. On October 16, at the current 20th Party Congress of the CCP, he clearly stated that Marxism is the “fundamental guiding ideology” of China’s political leadership. And when you add to it the belief of the Han Chinese people that they are superior to everyone else anyway, then the leaders of that country are not going to stop until they have accomplished their aims. Or until they are forced to by a world that finally takes an inflexible stand against the CCP’s aggressions.
“Taking a stand” doesn’t exactly describe anything the current Executive Branch of the United States government has done so far. Nor Europe (that I know of). I lived in China for 10 years, only recently having left there. Believe me, folks, they are serious about their racial preeminence and belief in their right to dominate barbarians, by whom they mean everybody else on earth. They hate you as much as Democrats do. The Chinese have believed in their superiority for centuries, it’s not really anything new. And to the Chinese leadership, Joe Biden is nothing more than a useful idiot.
A short sidelight. When I started studying Chinese several years ago, I learned that the Chinese name for America (“mei guo”) means “beautiful country.” I was touched. Until I learned that the Chinese name for China is “zhong guo”, in effect, “center of the earth.” America is beautiful, but China is the center of the world. That is exactly what they think of their country. And they are very serious about it.
NATO was good, and needed, when it began in 1949. Eleven nations banded together in a collective security agreement to thwart the legitimate threat Stalin and the Soviet Union posed to America, Europe, and humanity. NATO has bloated to 30 countries now, and its continued efficacy might be debated. Regardless of its current usefulness, adding one more nation (Ukraine) probably isn’t going to make much difference. If 29 European countries can’t stop Vladimir Putin, then, well, they get what they deserve, if you ask me.
Putin should be watched, no doubt, but again, China is currently the major concern, especially with Xi no longer having to worry about internal competition. What is needed now is an Asian NATO; call it EATO (East Asia Treaty Organization), or some other imaginative name like that. Nobody in Asia (as in Europe post-World War II) is strong enough to take on the Chinese dragon alone, but collectively, China would have to reflect. Japan. South Korea. Taiwan. Philippines. Australia. New Zealand. Indonesia. India. Pakistan (might be hard to get these last two to agree). Vietnam doesn’t especially like China (for good reasons) and might even be willing to join. Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, and Myanmar, and others might be persuaded to kick in. And…Russia. Yeah, Russia. If China started getting even more uppity than it already is, and began looking directly north at the vast resources of a nearly-empty Siberia, well, the threat of Russia coming from the west and America moving in from the east—combined with all the other countries on the compass surrounding China, might even give an arrogant megalomaniac like Xi Jinping cause to pause. The old Soviet Union never wanted to test NATO. Not directly, at least. They never punched one of the NATO members. Xi is a thug. But he’s not stupid.
Put together an EATO. It would be nice to have Taiwan in it, but that might not be possible, and it may be too late anyway. An EATO should have been organized a long time ago, but the West is just now waking up to the threat China poses. If it IS waking up. Biden is certainly still asleep and thus American diplomacy probably will slumber for at least two more years. By then, it almost surely will be too late for the Taiwanese.
Regardless, if we think NATO helped win the Cold War against the USSR (a somewhat reasonable assumption), then an EATO could keep China in check. Nothing else at the moment is doing it.
But, yes, EATO would have to be led by the United States. And the United States would have to be led by people with a lot more intelligence, love for their country, and intestinal fortitude than Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
The world is always going to have hazards because there are evil people out there. And, as long as America is leader of the free world, we are going to have to assume some major responsibilities. Like recognizing the most supreme threats and working to build alliances to contain them. An EATO would be a good start in clamping down on the world’s most serious danger right now, Communist China.
Mark Lewis is a native Texan currently living in Thailand. His first book, Whitewater, a western novel, is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Eliva.com. His second book, River Bend, will be out soon. And check out his new blog at thailandlewis.blogspot.com.