Avoiding war

Isn’t it true that world wars started because sides were entrenched in their views? They ignored views of The Other Side. Because the Other Side is Bad. And so … miscalculation. And so … war. 

ADDED (11 Jan): US-China in a “perilous phase of miscommunication” in which Lanxin Xiang makes the same point 

Russia invaded Ukraine in part because of NATO expansion. Some believe that’s sufficient explanation. Some believe that Putin would have invaded sometime anyway, given his revanchist views. But still NATO’s eastward expansion was a factor. Which Putin complained about endlessly; and which NATO ignored.

We need to beware of motivated reasoning. We support Ukraine so we filter information on that wish. 

Similarly here in the China orbit. I may wish China would “get over” its bitterness at the “hundred years of humiliation”. But it hasn’t. And won’t anytime soon. And it does have basis for it. The west were rabid colonialists. 

In the grand geo-political game of East v West, where China is East and US is West, I’m definitely on the side of the West. Even as I live on the borderline, on the fault line of East and West here in Hong Kong.

So I was all primed to be incensed by this article by Shaun Narine. But it makes a good case. We can dispute his case, we can debate it, mock it, counter it. What we should not do is ignore it. 

Nato’s incursion into the Indo-Pacific region is a move that will exacerbate regional conflicts and tensions. That is because Nato cannot be separated from the history of European colonialism and imperialism that shaped modern Asia – and plays a major role in Chinese nationalism today.

In 2022, Nato declared that China was a “challenge” to the alliance’s “interests, security and values”. Recently, Nato has argued that possible Chinese assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine makes China a military threat to Europe.