--- Title: Biden steps on the gas... towards war Date: 27/03/2021 Category: Global News Tags: imperialism war URL: https://marxismo.school/communia/en/biden-steps-on-the-gas-towards-war --- ### In this article ## Biden wants to encircle China and Russia ![Biden yesterday at European video summit, pushing for common front - of war - against China.](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/assets/biden-ue.jpg) Biden yesterday at EU summit [Biden took part in the virtual EU summit yesterday](https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/eu-says-after-biden-meeting-lets-safeguard-global-security-together/). His message: to push for a [common front against China and Russia](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3126837/nato-aims-build-partnerships-japan-south-korea-australia-and-new-zealand) and [reorganize NATO in order to project it into the Indian and Pacific Oceans](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3125572/nato-chief-urges-us-eu-mend-alliance-stop-china-bullying) in [alliance with the QUAD](https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3122933/what-quad-and-how-will-it-impact-us-china-relations-under-biden) (India, Japan, Australia and the US). The US president is clear, in an almost obscene way, about the objectives of this encirclement by military alliances: to [prevent China from becoming the richest country in the world](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/672_306142.html?fl), i.e. to win the imperialist competition between the two powers. The [new sanctions on China over the crackdown on the Uighurs](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210323/p2g/00m/0in/010000c), seconded by the EU and Britain, are part of the same game as [we already saw during the Alaska talks](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/684_305767. html): to put China in a situation where any attempt at conciliation would be mistaken for submission... opening the door to new conflicts and weakening its ability to discipline its own allies. But it is also a situation in which standing up or responding, however half-heartedly, would lead to the undermining of its own imperialist interests. Thus, the imposition of [sanctions by China in retaliation against the EU](http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-03/22/c_139827818.htm) and [Britain](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210326/p2g/00m/0in/056000c) only means clearing the way for the most loyal US allies within the EU to [attempt at preventing the implementation of the investment agreement](https://www. scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3126833/eu-china-deal-rocks-sanctions-shake-support-european) that Merkel and Beijing diplomacy had laboriously managed to push through. The [inevitable Chinese rapprochement with Russia](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3126655/china-russia-agree-work-together-against-illegitimate) further hits Germany through the back door, [further limiting its ability to resist US pressure against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline](https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/pass-the-buck-to-moscow-a-possible-solution-to-the-nord-stream-2-conundrum-a-8a883391-9e89-499f-8c5b-2acdc6351d1f). China, seeing the noose closing fast on its exit to markets, is applying itself for the moment to [try to speed up the implementation of RCEP](https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3126918/china-pushing-early-implementation-rcep-trade-deal-january), the Indo-Pacific free trade agreement, before it is too late and the U.S. strategy stifles that [8.1% growth China is expecting this year](https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3127065/china-gdp-nation-lead-east-asian-pacific-economic-recovery). Meanwhile, it is trying to delay or at least moderate NATO's redeployment by sending its [defense minister on a month-long tour of the EU](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3127035/chinas-defence-minister-europe-mission-us-tries-rally-nato). ## With a ring not only of alliances but of wars and hotspots But for Biden this is not just about _containing_ eventual Chinese expansionism. Biden's strategy toward China is focusing on whipping up contradictions and conflicts between the giant and its Pacific neighbors to turn China's borders into a ring of _hotspots_. In Taiwan, [the US depicts an imminent invasion from the mainland](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3126702/chinas-ability-invade-taiwan-much-closer-most-think-us-indo) and pushes for a [massive rearmament of the island state](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3126925/taiwan-boosts-its-defences-long-range-missile-goes-mass), also pressuring [Japan to get involved in the island's defense](https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3126796/us-puts-heat-china-japan-under-pressure-side-taiwan). All while [intensifying the technological blockade of Beijing](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3126269/taiwan-hits-back-mainland-firms-fishing-its-chip-makers) - which stifles its electronics industry - with the Taiwanese government applying itself to cracking down on the _engineer drain_ to mainland China. In South Korea, the US has agreed to [_sacrifice_ part of the bill that Trump intended to charge Seoul for maintaining its troops](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210311/p2g/00m/0in/116000c) - and which the Korean bourgeoisie sustains and pays as a _lesser evil_ - in order to drag the country into a more belligerent position vis-à-vis China. For the time being, Biden seems to have imposed on the Korean president the abandonment of the slogan of total de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula. [Eventual de-nuclearization of the North would no longer mean de-nuclearization of the South](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/120_305480.html). Biden wants a South Korea [integrated into the QUAD](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/120_305448.html?fl) with US-controlled nuclear weapons aimed at China. Seoul for its part is [trying to wriggle out](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/205_305952.html?fl) of any framing overly threatening to China, where its big industrial groups have massive investments and key suppliers. And it also fears that the increased tension could end up [translating into Beijing giving North Korea a free hand](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/103_305939.html?fl) to destabilize the peninsula. Pretty much the same scenario in the Philippines. [The U.S. is pushing Manila](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210323/p2g/00m/0in/100000c) to [mobilize its navy in the South China Sea](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210325/p2g/00m/0in/113000c) in highly militarized and disputed areas, while [helping to sell Indian missiles](https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3126230/missiles-vaccines-and-china-bring-philippines-and-india-closer) to Duterte's government. And of course... [Burma](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3125630/china-tells-state-firms-myanmar-evacuate-non-essential-staff). ## But the U.S. has a weak spot: the Middle East The Biden strategy is quite clear: stifle Chinese technological development by pushing beyond Trump's blockade and keep Chinese capital locked in its narrowest area of influence based on a string of conflicts and threats in the Indian, Pacific and its southern border. There is no separation between military and commercial matters, it is [imperialism](https://dictionary.marxismo.school/Imperialism/) by the book, frank and open by all the parties involved. But the Biden strategy has a weakness: its budget. [The military alone is asking him for an extra $27 billion to keep up the pressure](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3123808/china-us-tension-american-commander-seeks-us27-billion-hold). That's why Asian analysts say the _turn toward China_ begun by Obama and Trump [can only develop in the direction Biden intends if the U.S. gets _out of the Middle East_](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinon/2021/03/197_306039.html?fl). And that would only start with a stable agreement with Iran like the one signed by Obama and an exit from Afghanistan like the one attempted by Trump.... taking for granted that the Syrian war will not be reignited. Hence the [message from Beijing earlier yesterday inviting Biden to resume negotiations with Iran](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3127101/china-urges-us-seek-iran-nuclear-talks-after-new-developments). It's not an offer, it's a warning. [Iran is in the midst of an arms buildup](http://pantheon.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/03/iran-vows-boost-missiles-despite-pressure) as it secures - and begins to make economically profitable - its positions in Syria and Lebanon. An agreement on real grounds is difficult. And it would be relatively easy for Russia and China to sabotage it. On the other hand, Iran's main _containing partners_, the alliance of _the Abraham pacts_ (Emirates, Israel) and Saudi Arabia, who saw it very clearly with Trump, are not quite sure of a clear perspective with Biden. And they are in a hurry. They feel the [Iranian threat ever more violently](https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/03/iran-threat-israel-general-rhetoric-escalate.html) as [the crisis and the _Green Deal_ wreck their traditionally comfortable state budgets](https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/03/surviving-covid-saudi-gulf-states-economic-response.html). They also want a military-nuclear buildup... and are [contacting Russia about it](https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/03/russian-foreign-ministers-visit-aimed-challenging-us-influence-gulf), which between its role as an OPEC ally and its weight in Syria is beginning to regain global imperialist stature. ## And inflames the war on Europe's borders ![Turkish Troops in Idlib](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/assets/tropas-turquia-idlib-800x526.jpg) Turkish Troops in Idlib That's why, among other things, Syria is increasingly a temptation for Biden. [If he lets Al-Assad consolidate again, Russia and Iran will gain an outlet to the Mediterranean](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210323/p2g/00m/0in/084000c) and more leverage in both Europe and the Middle East. Hence [Erdogan's latest move](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-03-15/erdogan-the-west-should-help-turkey-end-syria-s-civil-war): to offer Berlin, Brussels, Paris and Washington _maximum gain at minimum cost_. Put another way: Turkey [offers to keep the Syrian war open](https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/03/erdogan-makes-urgent-appeal-west-grim-10-year-mark-syrias-war) in exchange for economic and political support... and for [the US and France to forget once and for all about their alliance with the Turkish YPG-PKK](https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/03/turkey-reinforces-military-posts-around-ain-issa-amid-clashes-kurdish-forces). Just yesterday, at the virtual summit with the EU, Biden was asking European leaders to let him lead the relationship with Erdogan. But the truth is that the [talks between Washington and Ankara are not moving forward](https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/03/blinkens-first-meeting-turkish-counterpart-yields-little). Nor is it easy no matter how much Turkey tries at the same time to pave the way with Egypt and France. ## Imperialism cannot be self-contained ![Mozambique's President Nyusi with Putin in the Kremlin](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/assets/Nyusi-y-Putin-Mozambique.jpg) Mozambique's President Nyusi with Putin in the Kremlin While [war and brutality](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/24/eritrean-troops-killed-over-100-civilians-in-tigray-rights-group) continue to unfold in Ethiopia, the [Sahel](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/22/gunmen-on-motorbikes-raid-niger-villages-kill-scores), Somalia, [Mozambique](https://www.aljazeera. com/news/2021/3/24/mozambique-armed-groups-attack-town-near-gas-projects)... with a brutal and growing violence reflecting the stubbornness of the powers feeding them and the rising desperation and division of the bourgeoisies of ever more [semicolonial countries](https://dictionary.marxismo.school/Semicolonial%20countries/). The tangle of contradictory interests keeps getting twisted and _calling_ all aspiring _global powers_ to get even more involved: from [Emirates](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/23/sudans-cabinet-backs-uae-mediation-in-disputes-with-ethiopia) to Russia... and of course the United States and China. The idea spread by European and US propagandists that Biden's strategy against China would be a game of containment, and thus would a restrained one, with no real danger of escalation into a generalized conflict, is patently false. Today, in order to develop its game, the US has to choose between stepping on the accelerator of military spending and direct intervention or supporting and stirring up conflicts throughout Asia, the Mediterranean and Africa. It will probably opt for the latter. Even in South America and the Caribbean, inter-imperialist tensions are on the rise. In the medium term, from 2027 onward, [even Chinese strategists](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/two-sessions-2021) are counting on the forces driving the generalization of war to spiral out of control and produce a quantum leap No, there is no _self-contained_ capitalism or imperialism. It is only contained by [confronting it](https://dictionary.marxismo.school/Revolutionary%20defeatism/) and defeating it.