BOMBSHELL – U.S.-CHINA WAR – IS IT REALLY SO FARAWAY OR ALREADY AT THE DOORSTEP? – THERE IS NO TIME TO LOSE, ASIAN NATIONS MUST SPEAK UP AGAINST THE HEGEMON, AMERICA – ALREADY, U.S.-LED NATO ANNOUNCES ‘OFFICE’ IN JAPAN – EVEN AS SINGAPORE THE FIRST IN ASEAN TO WARN WAR IN ASIA WILL BE ‘DISASTROUS’ & ‘IMPOVERISH THE WORLD’ – ‘THE STAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER’ – ‘THE WORLD IS DEPENDENT ON CHINA AS A MAJOR MANUFACTURER FOR SUNDRY GOODS & MANY ESSENTIALS OF OUR WAY OF LIFE’ – INDEED IF THE U.S. HEGEMON REFUSES TO BACK OFF, WAR MUST BE TAKEN TO ITS LANDS – WHY SHOULD ASIANS ALLOW THEIR COUNTRIES TO BE PAWNS DESTROYED & WRECKED BY BOMBS FROM THE U.S. & ITS ALLIES?
Protesters opposed to Taiwanese independence gather at a hotel where Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is expected to arrive in New York, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
War in Asia would ‘radically change’ the world – Singapore
“The stakes have never been higher,” Ng warned on Wednesday at the opening of the IMDEX Asia 2023 naval and maritime exhibition in Singapore. He said the “top priority for all government leaders” in the next ten years should be to ensure that conflict does not break out in Asia – the consequences of which, he cautioned, would be “disastrous for all of us.”
“Should that calamity ever befall us, whatever the cause and post-hoc justifications, the world as we know it will be radically changed and indeed impoverished,” Ng said.
Defence Minister of Singapore Ng Eng Hen speaks at the 52nd Security in Munich, Germany, 13 February 2016 © Getty Images / Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images
Ng also noted the supply chain issues that have manifested as a result of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, and which have led to disruptions to various commodities such as energy, wheat and grain. But he said any potential conflict involving the US and China – which account for more than a quarter of global trade – would create a situation that vastly surpasses current supply issues.
Some 30% of global seaborne trade passes through the South China Sea, Ng explained. That figure includes one-quarter of global oil and one-third of global container trade. Any disruption to this would have obvious negative implications, Ng also said.
“The world is dependent on China as a major manufacturer for sundry goods and many essentials of our way of life,” he explained. Ng also added that he believed that, such is China’s influence as it relates to essential goods, no “transnational global challenges” can be addressed without input from Beijing. RT.COM
NATO to open office in Japan – media
Japan and NATO are reportedly seeking to increase collaboration in cyberspace and the US-led military bloc plans to open its first liaison office in Tokyo, Nikkei Asia reported on Wednesday.
According to the outlet, which cited both Japanese and NATO officials, the planned one-person station would allow, the bloc conduct periodic consultations with regional ‘partners’ such as Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
The proposal to open a liaison office is still being negotiated, according to Nikkei, after the proposal was first raised by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during the latter’s visit to Tokyo earlier this year.
The outlet noteD that similar NATO stations are usually provided by the host nation, and that if Tokyo ends up funding a Western military foothold in Japan, it would mark a new phase in defense cooperation for the country.
Tokyo also reportedly plans to sign an Individually Tailored Partnership Program with the bloc before the NATO summit in Lithuania in July. Japan and NATO are supposedly looking to deepen collaboration in tackling cyber threats, coordinate stances on emerging and disruptive technologies, and exchange notes on fighting disinformation, Nikkei reported.
The news comes after NATO openly outlined its plans to increase cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. In its 2022 Strategic Concept, the bloc explained the need to create new alliances by emphasizing “systemic challenges” to Euro-Atlantic security posed by China and Russia, with Moscow described as the “most significant and direct threat” to NATO.
The bloc’s attempts to spread its influence into Asia has already attracted criticism from both Moscow and Beijing. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the push to create a “global NATO” and said it resembled the actions of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan in the 1930s.
China, meanwhile, has also denounced NATO’s Strategic Concept, claiming it was filled with distorted facts and tainted with a Cold War mentality that smears Beijing’s foreign policy. rt.com
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