Sunday marks the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Amid the mourning for the victims, it's apparent that much of the world
in the past two decades has been impacted by the US government' vengeance wars against terrorism, though the global situation has only got more complicated and chaotic.
The West needs to brace for the Great Reset as new voices challenge the established world order
China’s
rise and America’s failings have shifted world opinion and set the scene for Asia and the rest to clash with the US and Europe over
ideologies and values
As geopolitical tensions rise, a Hong Kong used to Western voices will benefit by more deeply understanding Asian perspectives
We have entered the Age of the Great Reset. We are likely to come out at the other end with a world quite different from the one we have become used to. Let’s hope it will be a better one.
The perspectives of non-Western experiences are increasingly being articulated and heard, and new voices are challenging the dominant narratives.
History can explain the collision of ideologies and values between the East and West, and between the North and South.
The second world war was followed by a period of decolonisation in the Asia-Pacific and Africa between 1945 and the 1970s. Many new nations struggled to establish stability after long periods of imperial rule when their land, resources and labour were exploited.
Civil war broke out in China after Japan was defeated. Just as in much of Asia, Chinese people were dirt poor when the People’s Republic was created in 1949 and they remained among the poorest in the world until relatively recently.
The era of decolonisation coincided with the Cold War, a period of intense rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union. America was wary of Soviet communism and its expansion, and the USSR resented the US for its policy of containment to check its power.
The Cold War may be said to have ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The dominant narrative then was that the superiority of the American democratic-capitalist system enabled the US to “win” because it could outdo the Soviets in amassing weaponry and generating material wealth.
Asia has become a fast-growing economic region. It’s advancement has been a result of improving education of the people, integrating Asian economies into the global system through export production, and strengthening the capacity of public institutions.
African countries have been making strides too, especially since 2000, in their socio-economic advancement and governance performance.
Top Chinese diplomat tours East Africa to promote peace, ensure stability for belt and road allies
As a result of the progress being made in these parts of the world, diverse perspectives about ideologies and values, as well as how countries are conducting their international affairs, have come to the fore.
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A weekly curated round-up of social, political and economic stories from China and how they impact the world.
The US has been forcing the pace of the Age of the Great Reset. Its seemingly orderly governing system and successful market-capitalist economic and financial systems used to be seen as the model to emulate. That has changed.
The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the financial crisis of 2008 may be seen as watershed moments that started to shift world opinion.
More than 100 lavish palaces and villas of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein lie in ruins
More than 100 lavish palaces and villas of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein lie in ruins
The claimed intent of the Americans was to free Iraqis from their authoritarian leader, and Iraq supposedly had weapons of mass destruction that endangered the world. However, Iraq did not possess such weapons – the claim was later exposed as a lie – and the US actions destabilised not only Iraq but the Middle East as a whole.
The 2008 financial crisis gave rise to doubts and a distrust of Western financial practices, and exposed the weaknesses, especially of the American regulatory and supervisory systems.
Hank Paulson, former head of the US Treasury, wrote in his book that Wang Qishan – now China’s vice-president – said to him in June 2008 that perhaps the Chinese didn’t have much to learn about finance from America any more.
Fast forward to today, and how the world sees Russia and the Ukraine war provides a good example of the difference in perspectives between the East and West, the North and South.
Putin tells pupils why Russian troops are in Ukraine in a speech to open school year
Putin tells pupils why Russian troops are in Ukraine in a speech to open school year
Putin tells pupils why Russian troops are in Ukraine in a speech to open school year
Last June, when asked why Europe should stick up for India if China were to present a challenge, if New Delhi didn’t take a tough stance on Russia now, India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar provided a harsh retort: “That’s not how the world works.”
He stressed that India’s problems with China had nothing to do with Russia and Ukraine. And he told Europe to grow out of the mindset that its problems were the world’s problems, but the world’s problems were not Europe’s problems.
The West is unused to hearing such forceful, disagreeing non-Western voices. China is much criticised for what the Western media calls “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy. It is a convenient label for China’s more assertive and combative style in recent years.
How can China and US stop stumbling towards war? David Shambaugh on Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo
The pace of the reset is being framed today in simplistic terms – that democracies must fight autocracies, with the US leading the charge together with its Group of 7 allies, and that the “rule-based international order” must be maintained.
That narrative may resonate in the West and North – but not necessarily in the East and South. This can be seen with the G20 meeting scheduled for mid-November – host country Indonesia has insisted that Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, should not be excluded from the gathering.
Hong Kong used to be a spot of the West in the East before 1997 when it was a British colony. The city is used to taking note of the mainly Western voices. Hearing different and opposing voices can be uncomfortable because it forces reflection. Hong Kong will benefit by more deeply understanding Asian perspectives.
The reset also has much to do with the US seeing China as the biggest “threat” to “democracy and the international order”. It is corralling allies to fight together, and Taiwan has become a stalking horse to goad Beijing.
The reset will continue and it can be unsettling, especially for Hong Kong, if fighting should break out in the neighbourhood. The world needs better angels to cool geopolitical tensions.
Christine Loh, a former undersecretary for the environment, is an adjunct professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Christine Loh is chief development strategist and adjunct professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Institute of the Environment and Division of Environment and ustainability. She was the former undersecretary for the environment (2012-17), and a former lawmaker. She is also the former CEO of Civic Exchange, a non-profit public policy think tank. She is a lawyer by training, a commodities trader by profession, and an author of many publications.
Michelle Bachelet Photo: Courtesy of Embassy of Chile in Beijing
Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, wrapped up her six-day visit to China on Saturday. This is the first visit by a UN high commissioner for human rights in 17 years. On Saturday night, Bachelet briefed reporters about her visit online, saying, "The visit was an opportunity to hold direct discussions - with China's most senior leaders - on human rights, to listen to each other" and "poverty alleviation as well as the eradication of extreme poverty, 10 years ahead of its target date, are tremendous achievements of China."
Regarding Xinjiang-related topics that have attracted much attention from the outside world, Bachelet visited Kashi, Urumqi and other places, walked into the cotton fields, and watched an exhibition on the theme of anti-terrorism and de-radicalization. During her Xinjiang visit, she also had discussions and exchanges with people from all walks of life such as ethnic minorities, experts and scholars. At the press conference, Bachelet specifically pointed out that her talks were conducted without supervision.
This development euphemistically responds to the conspiracy theories that have been deliberately created by US and Western public opinion for quite some time. Before Bachelet's visit to China began, the US, the UK and other countries threw out "questions" based on the presumption of guilt, asserting that the high commissioner's visit was "a mistake." After Bachelet honestly and objectively told the press conference her experience and details of her stay in China, some stubborn Westerners still turned a blind eye to all this. The US State Department even takes the lead by expressing its "concerns" and its feeling of being "troubled," and it accused China of restricting and manipulating Bachelet's visit. It also put forward its previous tailor-made lies about Xinjiang region again.
It is noticed that at first, it was the US-led Western countries that had kept pushing Bachelet to visit China, and now they have made a turnabout to attack Bachelet for no reason. Their ulterior political purpose is becoming more and more explicit.In previous years, Xinjiang region was deeply affected by terrorism and religious extremism. But China has cracked down on terrorist activities in accordance with the law, safeguarded the lives and properties of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and effectively protected their human rights. After unremitting efforts, Xinjiang has become free of violent terrorism for more than five years in a row, with social security and stability, development continuing to improve, and people living and working in peace and happiness. However, some people in the US and the West stubbornly refuse to believe the reality in Xinjiang, and insist on imagining Xinjiang as a big theater with 25 million "extras," which is an insult to the intelligence of those who have seen the reality of the region.
Realities have proven time and again that the "iron curtain of human rights" created by those extremist forces trying to exploit the Xinjiang-related affairs is vulnerable. In recent years, the US-led West made up the so-called missing person list, and by invoking the rhetoric of "concentration camps" and other historical memories of the people of Western countries, they had forcibly imposed the labels of "genocide" and "forced labor" on Xinjiang. The more exaggerated their lies, the easier they will be exposed. Actually, anyone who has been to Xinjiang can see the absurdity of the US and the West in demonizing the region.
People attend a culture and tourism festival themed on Dolan and Qiuci culture in Awat County of Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, Oct. 25, 2019. The festival kicked off recently in Aksu Prefecture. (Xinhua/Sadat)
It should be said that by visiting China under the pressure of the US and Western forces, Bachelet showed her efforts to learn the truth beyond the Western public opinion poisoned by these extremist forces. As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the high commissioner for human rights' trip to China would help enhance understanding and cooperation and clarify misinformation. We also expect that Bachelet would bring her comprehensive experience of a true Xinjiang to more people in the West who are willing to know the truth.
Of course, some people who pretend to be asleep may never be waken up. While Bachelet's visit was still underway, some so-called anonymous senior diplomats told media that the visit "is a victory to China." As human rights progress is endless, how can it be said to win or lose? Such rhetoric just reveals the genuine intent of the US and the West, which is to regard the normal exchanges and interactions between the UN high commissioner for human rights and China as part of a geopolitical game. They are trying so hard to "convict" China. As to the real situation in Xinjiang region, it doesn't matter to them at all.
It's precisely because of this that they must conduct an "investigation" on China with the presumption of guilt - whoever draws the conclusion of "genocide" and "forced labor" is "reliable." Such presumption of guilt is almost insane. In their eyes, a lunatic who claims that "people will be cut off their hands and feet when they arrive in Xinjiang," and "people will be shot dead if they refuse to eat pork" may appear to be "more credible" than the UN human rights chief. It has to be said that in order to smear and attack China, some people in the US and West have already broken the bottom line of common sense in their evil narratives against Xinjiang.
China's progress itself is a mirror. This is also true in the field of human rights. Bachelet's visit to China once again sends a message to the US and Western forces who engage in the manipulation of "using Xinjiang to contain China": Dark clouds cannot cover the sun and will only make people more appreciate the blue sky behind them.
By stressing her trip is not an investigation, UN human
rights chief Michelle Bachelet ended her six-day visit in China and its
Xinjiang region with a statement on Saturday night and said her mission
had wide and open discussions with ...
A veteran of the Ukrainian national guard's Azov Battalion conducts military exercises for civilians in Kyiv, Ukraine on January 30, 2022 [File: Gleb Garanich/Reuters] `
The Azov Special Operations Detachment, also known as Azov Battalion, an infamous Ukraine-based neo-Nazi military regiment founded by white supremacists, garnered worldwide attention after its members were seen involved in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia crisis. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia's military operation in Ukraine aimed to "demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine. `
Last week, the Azov Battalion sparked outrage for an insulting and racist video shared by the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) on Twitter, which appeared to show Azov members greasing bullets with pig fat. "Azov fighters of the National Guard greased the bullets with lard against the Kadyrov orcs," said the NGU account. NGU later deleted the offensive video from its account following criticism by numerous Twitter users. ` Azov Battalion is reportedly a unit of the NGU, backed by Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs. Despite its possible official background in Ukraine, Azov Battalion is known in the West for its extreme neo-Nazi stance, and for its suspected involvement in a number of terrorist attacks and separatist incitement incidents in various countries and regions, including the riots in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2019. ` Ironically, despite being widely regarded as a threat to world security and an enemy of human civilization, Azov Battalion was found to have ties not only with the Ukraine authorities but also with the US. After looking into the public information from the US government and some investigative reports by Western journalists, the Global Times discovered that American politicians, military and intelligence officers were highly likely to have had cooperation with the Azov Battalion, in order to foster extremist forces in Eastern Europe against Russia. `
What is the US behind? ` Since Azov Battalion was founded in 2014, many American media outlets have revealed its potential connections with the US authorities. ` According to a Yahoo News article from January 2022, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been secretly training forces for Ukraine since 2015. The CIA has been overseeing a secret intensive training program in the US "for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel," the article quoted "five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative" as saying. ` The multi-week program includes training in firearms, camouflage techniques, land navigation, tactics like "cover and move," intelligence and other areas, said the former officials. In addition to the above-mentioned, the CIA also started "traveling to the front in eastern Ukraine to advise their counterparts there by 2015," Yahoo reported.
Also in 2015, the US Congress removed a ban on funding neo-Nazi groups like Azov Battalion from its year-end spending bill, said an article by The Nation magazine in January 2016. In July 2015, two Congressmen drew up an amendment to the House Defense Appropriations bill that limited "arms, training, and other assistance to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian militia, the Azov Battalion," but the amendment was removed in November following "pressure from the Pentagon," an insider told The Nation.
"Considering the fact that the US Army has been training Ukrainian armed forces and national guard troops, ... Congress and the administration have paved the way for US funding to end up in the hands of the most noxious elements circulating within Ukraine today," commented the article's author James Carden, suggesting that the US military had also engaged in the training of NGU, which may include Azov Battalion members. `
Not surprisingly, observers reportedly saw American weapons in Ukraine "flowing directly to the extremists of Azov." In December 2017, Richard Vandiver of American weapon manufacturer AirTronic told VOA that its sales of lethal weapons to Ukraine were conducted in "very close coordination" with the US Embassy, the US State Department, the Pentagon and the Ukrainian government. Weeks later, the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab confirmed in a January 2018 report that Azov Battalion was a recipient of the transfer. `
There must be some connections between Azov Battalion and the US, especially US intelligence agencies, said Li Wei, an expert on national security at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. ` "Supporting Ukraine's neo-Nazis serves the US' own interests," Li told the Global Times. "By inciting conflicts between Ukraine and Russia, the US has weakened Russia and further pushed Ukraine to NATO; it has also improved its relations with Europe, which has become more strategically dependent on the US. The US is really the biggest beneficiary of Russia-Ukraine tensions." `
In late 2021, the US was one of just two countries to vetoa United Nations (UN) draft resolution "combating the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism." The other was Ukraine. "Both countries have consistently voted against this resolution every single year since 2014," wrote an article of American magazine Jacobin in January 2022. `
With its Cold War mind-set, the US has been fanning anti-Russia flames in Eastern Europe, being very much conniving with the neo-Nazi forces there, international relations scholars criticized. ` "We've seen the US support or assist terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS)," Li said. "The US messes with the world for its own geopolitical interests." ` Evildoings around the world `
In December 2019, some Ukrainian neo-Nazis including Azov Battalion members were seen at separatist riots on the streets of Hong Kong, causing panic among local citizens, Hong Kong media reported. ` It was not the first time that Azov Battalion members were involved in terrorist or violent incidents. In March 2019, 51 people were killed at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in a mass shooting by Australian Brenton Tarrant. Tarrant, who displayed a symbol used by Azov Battalion during the attacks, claimed in his manifesto that he had traveled to Ukraine, according to an article published on the website of the Atlantic Council in February 2020. `
US media in September 2019 reported an attempted terrorist attack by an America soldier who tried to bomb a major American news network. The soldier Jarrett William Smith, arrested by the FBI, said that he "planned to travel to Ukraine to fight with violent far-right group Azov Battalion," ABC News reported that month. `
Inside Ukraine, Azov Battalion is also infamous for its evil in the eastern region. It was accused of displacing residents after looting civilian properties between November 2015 and February 2016, according to a 2016 report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. `
The report also accused Azov Battalion of raping and torturing detainees in the Donbass region during the period. It violated international law as well as the Minsk Agreements, said the report.
Washington's dangerous habit of always seeking an outside enemy needs to change, analysts say
It has been 20 years after the world was shocked to see two planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. It was a chaotic scene featuring fire and heavy smoke, the screaming and scattered crowds and people who were dumfounded by the fact that the US - a superpower - was attacked by terrorists on its ground.
This year's commemoration of September 11 is different as the US just ended the war in Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban - after being overturned by the US three months after 9/11 in 2001 - has taken over Afghanistan, again.
The past few weeks have seen the Western media making rolling reports to mourn victims of the terror attacks and some reflecting on the failures of the US domestic and diplomatic policies in the past two decades.
However, the fierce criticism and the apparent failures of the past two decades have not awakened the US political elites. They refused to learn. And soon they will be looking for a new enemy in a new region, but even bigger failures await them, observers said.
Photo:IC
Seeking truth
The US President Joe Biden, heavily criticized for his hasty and disorganized withdrawal from Afghanistan from all fronts, may attempt to use the 20th anniversary of the September 11 to shift the public attention. According to the schedule released by the White House, Biden and his wife are scheduled to visit all three 9/11 memorial sites -- ground zero in New York City, the Pentagon and the memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 was forced down -- on Saturday.
But nearly 1,800 people, including survivors of 9/11 and family members of the victims, are signing a joint letter asking Biden to not attend the memorial activities if he does not declassify documents related to the terror attacks.
Brett Eagleson was among them. His father Bruce Eagleson, who was on the 17th floor of the South Tower of the WTC, died in the collapse of the building, leaving his family unable to recover his remains even through DNA analysis. After luckily surviving when the planes hit the building, he chose to stay and assist more people to evacuate and was last seen going upstairs to retrieve a walkie-talkie to assist in communication between firefighters and the police.
Sorrow and bitterness have engulfed the better part of the last two decades of Brett's life, but it's mostly anger that stands out. The US government's investigation into the 9/11 attacks has been shrouded in secrecy with detailed reports on one of the most shocking terrorist attacks having never been disclosed.
"We have been fighting for 20 years about the information that our government has always been keeping this information from us," Brett Eagleson told the Global Times. "We have been fighting for so long; every family is tired and frustrated."
Brett Eagleson said those 20 years have changed his perception of the US government. "We have seen our government block its own citizens from truth and justice for its own selfish interests and to grow its relationship with Saudi Arabia, and as time goes on, we get further and further away from the truth."
Finally gathering up the courage to visit Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan to see the changes in the place 20 years after it was hit by two planes, Mrs Tsou, a 50-year-old Chinese-American living in New York, remained calm but after seeing the smiling Muslim girls with headscarves painted on the fence not far from the square, she sighed with emotion.
"For the past 20 years, the American people have not seen much of the US counter-terrorism measures in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the fear of and discrimination against Muslims and people of color has grown within the US," she told the Global Times.
Tsou was a software engineer who worked in the north Tower of the WTC. The vacation on September 11 two decades ago saved her life, but more than 30 of her colleagues were wounded or killed in the attack. Tsou quit her job after the 9/11 attacks and has been doing odd jobs at home since then. Rarely has she left the house or have any contact with her former colleagues.
"War is always intertwined with too much self-interest, and 20 years later, the truth about the attacks remains unanswered, and the American people have not been given the answer for 'why do they hate us,' but our government has created more conflict and hate in America and all around the world," Tsou said.
Infographic: Wu Tiantong/Global Times
War on terror
Like Tsou, a lot of Americans are wondering why the US failed and whether the money and the American lives sacrificed in the war on terror in Afghanistan were worth it. But for many outside the US, the question remains how the world and the US were changed by 9/11.
Harvard University scholar Joseph S. Nye Jr. told the Global Times that "future historians will regard September 11, 2001 as important as Pearl Harbor was on December 7,1941."
In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush advocated a humble foreign policy and warned against the temptations of nation-building, but after the shock of 9/11, he declared a "Global War on Terror" and invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq, the professor said.
"While the 9/11 attacks killed several thousand Americans, the 'endless wars' that the US launched as part of the global war on terror cost much more," he said.
According to data from the Brown University Costs of War project, over 929,000 people have died in the post-9/11 wars due to direct war violence, and several times as many due to the reverberating effects of war. 38 million people became war refugees and displaced persons. The US is also conducting counterterror activities in 85 countries and the federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over 8 trillion.
All this money and lives invested in the post 9/11 wars under the banner of countering terrorism have not stopped terrorism from spreading globally. It has only caused more confrontations between different civilizations.
The rhetoric of the war on terror generated a geopolitical binary that divided the world into the uncivilized and civilized. Islam was posited as the enemy and the symbol of "the uncivilized world." Many Muslim populations -- including innocent civilians -- were viewed as "suspect communities" targeted under the rubric of counterterrorism, Stefanie Kam, associate research fellow from the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told the Global Times via an email.
The old conventional "war on terror" approaches to terrorism - militarized counterterrorism response -- focused on short-term gains, rather than long-term gains attuned to the political realities and the social and historical forces on the ground, which was what largely defined the failure of US' approach to terrorism, Kam said.
Kam thought that the political vacuum engendered in a post-US Afghanistan has the potential to complicate the security landscape by creating breathing space for terrorist groups to consolidate in Afghanistan, and to inspire a wave of foreign fighters -- seeking militant training -- into Afghanistan. Apart from Islamic extremism, the rise of right-wing extremism is an emerging area of concern for governments in Asia.
"In particular, the Southeast Asian region has seen a recent growth in terrorist attacks by ISIS-inspired, self-radicalized individuals, and the involvement of women, youth and family networks in militancy," Kam said.
Echoing Kam, global experts have expressed concerns over the spread of terrorism over the past two decades. The fact that the number of terrorist groups in Afghanistan had grown from less than 10 to more than 20 during the US military occupation also indicates the irony of Bush's words when starting the war.
"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there," former US President George W Bush told Congress days after the attacks, on September 20, 2001. "It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."
US remains unchanged
For Adnan Akfirat, China Representative of the Patriotic Party (Turkey),it is the US that made an obscure concept of "international terrorism" to justify its occupations and military actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria and "cover up its imperialist aggression."
The US is not fighting against terrorism but using terrorist groups in different regions to play its geopolitical tactics, Akfirat noted.
"With the liberation of Afghanistan, the US had to admit that the 'Crusade' it launched since 2001 ended in disappointment and disgrace only 20 years later," Akfirat said, noting that all these failures could not wake up "the US ruling clique" who still thinks US "will subdue the peoples of the world with its terrible military power. Their class interests compel them to continue this madness."
Yasir Habib Khan, founder and president of the Institute of International Relations and Media Research in Pakistan, thought that lop-sided war on terror architected by America "is the epitome of complete failure" and it is ironic to see the war under the banner of peace and stability prompted more wars and gave rise to "white supremacy" to which Americans' lives are subjected to be more insecure and vulnerable.
In the eyes of some Chinese experts, the US debacles for the past 20 years also resulted in wrong policies and miscalculations as the US political elites failed to solve domestic problems on social polarization, rising economic disparities and other issues. Instead, the country focused on scrambling for power and playing geopolitical tactics in suppressing other countries.
The US' strength and international reputation have been damaged for the past 20 years. Putting huge resources into military actions or "rebuilding" other countries has worsened the overall crisis domestically, including deteriorating political polarization and struggles, the flooding of popularism and racism, confrontations of different classes and people's losing of recognition of national identity, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.
However, despite all these problems awaiting to be solved, the US hasn't changed its tactic of seeking enemies to ensure its global status and define its international policies. The US should have coordinated the international community to counter terrorism and extremism after 9/11, but it took unilateral military actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria for geopolitical purposes, causing ever-lasting regional chaos, experts said.
After all these years, one would think the US has learned its lesson and can now embark on a journey of solving domestic issues and shifting the focus of its policies. Unfortunately, that's not the case, the country has its eyes on a new "enemy" - China.
Khan said that 20 years after the September 11, the US should have built a broad-based global mechanism to promote counter-terrorism modalities and it should have snubbed impulsive of protectionism but unfortunately it did nothing. "It did not learn from the past. This makes the future of the world remain volatile."
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. The
attacks, which killed at least 2,996 people on that very day, convulsed
the US. "America Attacked" was the headline on the front page of a major
American newspaper. An angry US launched the war in Afghanistan within a
month and the war in Iraq a year and a half later. Before the
Afghanistan War, the American public discussed the idea of using nuclear
weapons in retaliation.
Though it is a major event, 9/11cannot change the logic of
globalization and cannot affect China's national system and the Chinese
people's dream and diligence.
Like a vulture, the AMIC has devoured the last bits of flesh from the crippled body of Afghanistan. ...
Washington started its counterterrorism campaign because its homeland was attacked. Yet the irony is that after four presidents and 20 years, the United States is still grappling with terror threats on its own soil
Read Xinhua Commentary: http://xhtxs.cn/kfN
In short, historically it was the Church that gave the moral blessing
for colonisation, slavery and genocide during the Age of Globalisation.
The tragedy is that the Doctrine of Discovery is now embodied in US
laws.
"Globalisation
is interpreted as universalisation of American or European values and
standards. But the fact remains that these standards and rules were
imposed historically by conquest, colonisation and force".
China Does Not Recognize The Rule-Based International Order imposed historically by Conquest, Colonisation and Force !
The sixth National Security Education Day falls on Thursday, with the Chinese national security agency releasing a series of cases related to the threat against China's political security. Experts on international intelligence and security said under the intensifying China-US competition, foreign hostile forces have increased efforts to target the political security of China rather than merely conducting regular espionage activities.
The law enforcement cases released by relevant national security agencies this year are different from the past, which specifically focus on the political security issue, including suspects who have colluded with foreign anti-China forces that try to subvert the state power. Some of them are related to the Hong Kong turmoil in 2019, which try to expand the Western-backed color revolution from the special administrative region to the mainland.
"When we talk about national security, people will normally think of foreign espionage activities that target China's military and economic intelligence. But now many recent cases show that the internal and external anti-China forces are colluding with each other," Li Wei, an expert on national security and anti-terrorism at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.
"This shows that the foreign hostile forces are strengthening their efforts to promote 'color revolution', to damage the political security of our country," Li said, stressing that this has become the primary national security challenge that China is facing at the moment.
Regular espionage activities targeting military and economic intelligence aim to help relevant countries in their negotiations or competition with China, "but the color revolution that directly targets our political security is trying to harm the stability and public order in our country, so it's much more serious and destructive," said a Chinese expert on international intelligence who asked for anonymity.
Technically, a color revolution is a "smarter measure" to help Western countries, especially the US, destabilize or overthrow a country, the expert said. "After the Iraq War, the US and its allies have been more reluctant to dispatch ground troops because direct military operation will cause casualties to their soldiers and other unpredictable costs. But using social media networks, NGOs, and 'diplomats' to mobilize, train, fund and organize local people against the government will cost less and is easier to create chaos."
Humanitarian disaster: the truth of US-initiated wars
"We can see many similar cases in Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Ukraine and Belarus. The main actors in those countries are local people guided by Western proxies, and Western military forces normally serve as a supporting role, and sometimes they don't even show up," he said.
Chinese analysts said the US and its allies dare not directly launch military operations against nuclear-armed major powers, like China and Russia, or their neighboring countries. So after a series of ineffective approaches like the trade war, military pressure and propaganda stigmatization, the color revolution is being used a major tactic to disrupt China's development, and it seems like is the last card that the US can play to stop China from realizing great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
More aggression
In one case among the recently released law enforcement cases that aim to promote national security education, a student surnamed Tian who studied journalism at a university in North China's Hebei Province has become a "cub reporter" in China working for a mainstream Western media. Tian established an anti-China website in 2018 and cooked up and spread a huge amount of disinformation and political rumors.
In April 2019, Tian was invited to visit a Western country, and has engaged with more than 20 hostile foreign groups and more than a dozen officials of the host country to receive direct instruction, which requires Tian to provide "evidence" that could be used to stigmatize China. Tian's acts have seriously harmed China's political security, and he was arrested in June 2019, according to information provided by state security agencies.
Li said this is a typical case of the US and Western anti-China forces infiltrating and inciting Chinese students and using them to serve the ideological warfare against China.
"Working for Western media outlets is not a problem, but if using the profession of a journalist as a cover to conduct activities to harm national security is a crime," Li said, noting that not all employees in Western media outlets are spies, but there are some Western journalists backed by Western politicians and intelligence agencies.
In cooking-up rumors about "genocide" and "forced labor" in China's Xinjiang, Western media are playing an important role, Li noted. "Just like this case, those 'journalists' are receiving funding and training in other countries, and implementing the tactic of anti-China politicians to destabilize China."
.
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at the routine press conference that in 2020, the US ambassador to Turkey met with the head of the local ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement) branch.
The ETIM, or Turkistan Islamic Party, is an extremist, terrorist and separatist organization that challenges China's sovereignty and stability in Xinjiang. The UN Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee has listed ETIM as a terrorist organization since 2002.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry played a video segment at the press conference, which showed Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator, revealing in a 2015 interview that "a lot of these people are taken out (from Xinjiang) by the Gladio operatives...they are trained, they are armed and then they are sent back."
Putting things together, one cannot help but wonder, what did the US ambassador to Turkey talk about with the head of anti-China force? What is Operation Gladio? Does the US intend to cause trouble in Xinjiang?" Zhao said.
According to the released information, in the past, some arrested former senior officials in Xinjiang said they even colluded with foreign separatist forces to conduct or tolerate terrorist attacks in the region, and use textbooks with extremist content in local schools, which brought serious damage to the national unity and political security.
Hong Kong frontline
Hong Kong is another frontline of China's national security and political security. Since the national security law for Hong Kong took effect in June 2020, foreign forces behind months-long anti-government riots in the city since June 2019 have begun to waver, given that offenders would face severe sentences — as high as life imprisonment. The law would also cut off "the invisible hands" behind the chaos caused by foreign troublemakers, experts said.
It's not surprising to many that Western forces used Hong Kong's open city status to incite color revolution through various channels, including media outlets, student unions, political parties and labor unions by funding, training, advising them or organizing illegal assemblies, protests and riots, all tactics that could be found in the 2019 turmoil.
The implementation of the national security law helped Hong Kong restore social order, plugging the loopholes in local security laws, Chris Tang Ping-keung, Commissioner of Police, told the Global Times on Wednesday, as the law has been functioning as an effective deterrence to those lawbreakers who endanger national security.
Since the implementation of the national security law for Hong Kong, 100 people have been arrested by the Hong Kong Police Force for suspected of endangering national security, Tang said.
Safeguarding national security is regarded as the top priority for the Commissioner of Police for 2021, which is also among the top four tasks for the HKPF. The police team will continue collecting and analyzing national security-related intelligence, investigating in criminal cases endangering national security and conducting intelligence-driven operations to prevent acts endangering the national security, Tang noted.
"The HKPF will also enhance cooperation with all institutions and stakeholders in safeguarding national security and earn more public trust and support," he said.
To facilitate public participation in safeguarding national security, the HKPF national security department has launched a hotline for reporting relevant non-emergency cases since November 5, 2020.
Nasty acts will backfire
Apart from targeting Xinjiang and Hong Kong which are traditional geopolitical hotspots, foreign hostile forces are also keen to use issues like LGBT, feminism and environmentalism which are easy to stir heated discussions on social media via disinformation and rumors to create problems by instigating conflicts between specific groups in China, said the anonymous expert on international intelligence.
Fortunately, this kind of practice is unable to cause a significant impact or escalate into a massive color revolution, since with the modernization and development of China, the majority of Chinese netizens are able to discuss these issues with a mature and reasonable attitude, and legal civil organizations on LGBT or environment protection will distance themselves from hostile foreign intervention, the expert said.
"Those extremists backed by Western forces have been marginalized in our society and their illegal activities online and offline will be managed and controlled effectively by relevant law-enforcement agencies," he noted.
Ironically, the US has found that some of its approaches to push color revolution worldwide could backfire, and the rise of Trumpism and intensifying Black Lives Matter movement and the Capitol Hill riot have seriously undermined its image and credibility when it tries to promote color revolutions in other countries, the expert said.
International cooperation
The Western-backed color revolution is a common threat faced by China and many countries including Russia, and countries in Central Asia, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. So defending political security now also requires international cooperation, analysts said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a press conference after his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in March that the two countries will jointly oppose color revolutions and safeguard their national sovereignty and political security.
"Fighting color revolutions is an important task for China and Russia to not just protect themselves but also safeguard regional peace and stability. The two countries could cooperate on intelligence sharing, joint operations against Western illegal NGOs that would create disinformation to hype instability and cybersecurity," Yang Jin, an expert at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times
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People attend a culture and tourism festival themed on Dolan and Qiuci culture in Awat County of Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, Oct. 25, 2019. The festival kicked off recently in Aksu Prefecture. (Xinhua/Sadat)
It should be said that by visiting China under the pressure of the US and Western forces, Bachelet showed her efforts to learn the truth beyond the Western public opinion poisoned by these extremist forces. As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the high commissioner for human rights' trip to China would help enhance understanding and cooperation and clarify misinformation. We also expect that Bachelet would bring her comprehensive experience of a true Xinjiang to more people in the West who are willing to know the truth.
Of course, some people who pretend to be asleep may never be waken up. While Bachelet's visit was still underway, some so-called anonymous senior diplomats told media that the visit "is a victory to China." As human rights progress is endless, how can it be said to win or lose? Such rhetoric just reveals the genuine intent of the US and the West, which is to regard the normal exchanges and interactions between the UN high commissioner for human rights and China as part of a geopolitical game. They are trying so hard to "convict" China. As to the real situation in Xinjiang region, it doesn't matter to them at all.
It's precisely because of this that they must conduct an "investigation" on China with the presumption of guilt - whoever draws the conclusion of "genocide" and "forced labor" is "reliable." Such presumption of guilt is almost insane. In their eyes, a lunatic who claims that "people will be cut off their hands and feet when they arrive in Xinjiang," and "people will be shot dead if they refuse to eat pork" may appear to be "more credible" than the UN human rights chief. It has to be said that in order to smear and attack China, some people in the US and West have already broken the bottom line of common sense in their evil narratives against Xinjiang.
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Vacationing children undergo military training at a base of the Azov battalion in Kiev on August 14, 2015. Photo: AFP
Photo:IC
