Chinese National Day is celebrated on October 1 every year to commemorate the founding of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949. On this very day, lots of large-scale activities are held nationwide. The seven-day holiday from October 1 to 7 is called ‘Golden Week’.
The military parade in Tiananmen Square in Beijing is followed by about 100,000 civilian performers. The nation’s newest military technology is on full display, which includes military tanks, helicopters, fighting aircraft and China’s new intercontinental ballistic missiles. The parade is usually held every ten years.
Addressing the 71st anniversary, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang said: “The year 2020, troubled by the coronavirus and the global economic recession, is extremely unusual in the history of China…However; the country has achieved major strategic results by coordinating epidemic controls with economic and social developments”.
During the 70th national anniversary parade in 2019, standing in the Tiananmen Square where communist forces won a bloody civil war by defeating the ruling Kuomintang-National Party, supported by the imperialist powers, President Xi Jinping stated: “There is no force that can shake the foundation of this great nation”.
Regarding the National Day, BBC wrote on August 25, 2019: “For a long time experts have been speaking about China’s rapid military modernisation referring to it as a rising power…Modern China has developed at an extraordinary pace…stood up, grown rich and become stronger over the past decades…America no longer enjoys military primacy in the Indo-Pacific…its capacity to uphold a favourable balance of power is increasingly uncertain”.
Recently, the UK, the USA and Australia formed a new Indo-Pacific security alliance, known as AUKUS, and the USA said that the AUKUS security pact aimed to protect and defend shared interests in the Indo-Pacific region. Defence Analysts opine that the main purpose of the AUKUS partnership is to counter China’s influence in the region.
On the whole, the Biden Administration’s foreign policy often lacks a clear strategic aspect. In contrast, China knows exactly where it wants to go and it has the strategy and the means to get there
Beijing has criticised the pact, arguing it “severely undermines regional stability and peace, intensifies the arms race and undercuts international non-proliferation efforts.”
It is mentionable that China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) or China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a hugely trade and infrastructure mega-project, link China to markets across central Asia, Europe and Africa show China’s economic power.
The European Union’s foreign affairs Chief Josep Borrell admitted that in Asia, China is “replacing the United States as the center of global power”.
During President Donald Trump’s era, a new cold war had started between China and the USA— the rift escalated when both Beijing and Washington closed each other’s consulates, resulting in deportation of diplomats and imposing of sanctions over various lawmakers and personalities. Besides, Trump particularly targeted China through trade war.
In the South China Sea, to check China’s power, the maritime military exercises led by the USA near Hawaii, with 10 countries, especially Australia, Canada, France, Japan, North Korea, New Zealand and the USA itself, were a signal to China that the US is forming an alliance against China.
President Trump had also withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty— on 19 September 2019, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper stated that Washington wanted to quickly deploy new intermediate-range missiles in Asia to counter China’s rise in the region.
Meanwhile, tensions arose between India and China, including Pakistan when on 5 August 2019,the Indian extremist government revoked Articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to the disputed territory of Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir. The Indian government bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories— Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh— to be ruled by the Centre.
Besides Pakistan, China also rejected the Indian malicious acts as “unlawful and void”, saying that India’s decision to “include” some of China’s territory into its administrative jurisdiction “challenged” Beijing’s sovereignty.
In this respect, after a number of rounds of talks, New Delhi and Beijing completed their withdrawal from the Pangong Tso Lake area on February 20, this year in accordance with the agreement, signed by their commanders. While other parts of the border remain unsettled, and encouraged by the US President Joe Biden’s anti-China approach, Indian forces are still making preparations for an all-out war with China.
It is notable that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is part of China’s OBOR or BRI is rapidly developing. The CPEC project will prove to be a gateway to prosperity for both Pakistan and China; including the landlocked Central Asian states. Under the project, China is investing as much as $62 billion in various sectors in Pakistan. Now, the volume project has been expanded.
But, terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s various provinces, particularly in Balochistan, show that secret agencies such as CIA, RAW and Mossad are destabilising Pakistan. These entities want to damage the CPEC, as Washington and New Delhi have already opposed this project.
It is worth mentioning that due to lack of respect for the neighbouring countries by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi-the leader of the extremist ruling party BJP, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, are tilting toward China. For instance, despite India’s concerns, Bangladesh has given the contract of building an airport terminal in Sylhet to a Chinese company. Similarly, Iran decided to go ahead without New Delhi in a Chabahar Port railway project.
Notably, President Xi Jinping stands up to the USA’s overt and covert tactics against Beijing, taking more assertive position towards the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and China’s claims over Taiwan.
While the Taliban’s recent victory, and the humiliating defeat of the USA in Afghanistan and its other NATO allies have given another setback, especially to the USA in terms of the cost of the prolonged war in Afghanistan in the wake of drastic implications of the US-led Global War on Terror.
China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran, which are furthering their cooperation, have urged the world to assist the Afghans, as a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is essential for the stability of the entire region. Besides supporting the collective efforts of these countries, the Taliban government has, particularly, favoured Beijing on priority basis. Thuis another factor of America’s political jealousy against China.
Moreover, rejecting the US false allegations against Beijing about covid-19, Lijian Zhao, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on 12 March 2020 that the US athletes participated in the Military World Games, held between 18-27 October 2019 in Wuhan have brought the Coronavirus epidemic to Wuhan from where it originated. In fact, it was part of Washington’s biological war against Beijing.
At present, China has controlled the coronavirus to a greater extent. The economy of the USA and Europe has been paralyzed. Now, America has become the epicentre of this novel disease, giving a major blow to its economy.
On the whole, the Biden Administration’s foreign policy often lacks a clear strategic aspect. In contrast, China knows exactly where it wants to go and it has the strategy and the means to get there.
