the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Aug 21, 2023
U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland on the weekend of August 18th. The “special occasion” was to push both leaders into what public relations spokesmen call a “new security” arrangement with the U.S.
Biden, representing U.S. capitalism, is pushing to get these two Asian nations to publicly align against China.
The U.S. capitalist class has clearly decided to escalate its trade war against China. Victor Cha, prior advisor to George W. Bush, put it aptly in a New York Times interview when he stated, "This consolidation … is happening now because the external environment is just so uncertain and unstable."
So, what made it that way? Biden has been working to build a military web around China. He recently signed a three way agreement with Australia and Great Britain, has ramped up U.S. military troops in the Philippines and has established a grid of Indo-Pacific nations publicly allied to the U.S.
Today, China is the largest trade partner for both Japan and South Korea. Prolonging the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine has been useful to Biden in bullying and bludgeoning nations away from China. Bush advisor Cha finishes his statement by saying, "There is nothing like an actual real war, even though it’s in another part of the world, to completely change the way or affect the way leaders think about their own security."
It is the U.S. instigating war. U.S. officials make much of the recent Chinese/Russian joint military exercises in the Sea of Japan. But these maneuvers followed, rather than preceded, U.S. trilateral missile drills with Japan and South Korea.
U.S. state spokesmen were quick to deny the proposed agreement’s similarities to NATO agreements. Clearly, given the history of U.S. imperialism in Asia, any goal to align militarily is filled with pitfalls.
In passing, spokesmen comment on the hesitancies of the leaders of both Asian nations to sign nuclear pacts. Small wonder, considering that the U.S. was the first and only nation to drop nuclear bombs on Japan! Or to tear Korea apart in a ferocious war that killed millions and permanently divided the country, isolating and impoverishing North Korea, dividing families still today.
This new “commitment to consult” is nothing but a cloak thrown over a drawn U.S. dagger.
The U.S. will continue to reward or punish economically or militarily based on its own agenda and will pursue cold or open war at its convenience. The purpose of this summit is to clear the way for the U.S. to dominate China.