Washington is warning its partners about the ‘danger’ of Beijing’s alleged surveillance ships to forge agreement for more sanctions
Via Timur Fomenkoa political analyst
Following an outbreak of paranoia triggered by the so-called ‘Chinese spy balloon’, the US has now reported Notice to diplomats of 40 countries about the hypothetical threat.
Washington apparently sent information about the incident to American missions around the world and presented to foreign diplomats with information gathered in Beijing to prove that it was indeed a spy plane. not a weather-monitoring balloon as China claims.
Besides the domestic political motives that caused Washington to rage over the Chinese balloon (covered here), we now see the US deliberately weaponizing the narrative to attack China on a global scale, in order to instill greater fear, suspicion, and paranoia among Beijing around the world. The incident itself may be nothing more than a heated affair, but Washington is willing to urge its allies and “partners” to align more closely with American goals and preferences.
The American foreign policy machine is the master of a process known as ‘manufacturing consent’, the term famously coined by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman. The United States employs a range of affiliated expert groups and handpicked experts, as well as exclusive access to information and the press, to craft the perfect story to promote their goals and interests. Simply put, the topics, areas of interest, and perspectives the US government focuses on will be funded (usually from government agencies), press access, and airtime. frequent. Those it doesn’t care about are simply ignored.
As a good example of how this works: Earlier this week, the Washington Post ran a story Citing unnamed US officials, it was confirmed that the Chinese hot air balloons were indeed used by Beijing’s military for surveillance and as part of a broader aerial surveillance effort. This is not only an official report directly to the media, but also does not present evidence or facts, nor any possible agenda behind the story highlighted or reviewed. thoroughly, as well as without any ‘alternative’ views offered. These are, of course, beyond the scope of a simple news story – and we received nothing but this news story, taken from US officials, who told the media that anonymous event but most likely at the direction of their superiors. This is how the US government shapes the story and creates consent through the media.
So what is the agenda behind the US raising the international ‘spy shadow’ alarm? Turning it into a domestic scandal is one thing to trade on some political points as to who is the toughest on China, but to make it so public internationally, there must be a bigger goal behind it. after it. By declaring that hot air balloons are being used for military and espionage purposes, and thus constitute a “national security threat”, the United States is clearly seeking an opportunity to impose measures. New sanctions on Chinese companies.
U.S. sanctions against China have become the subject of blacklisting a company, receiving US export technology or from US investment, by claiming that the company that is owned or operated on behalf of the Chinese military, even if it is not. This is a key part of Washington’s growing tech war against Beijing. These assumptions are made based on insinuations and ‘sin by association’ logic, rather than clear evidence. As a result, the US may be preparing to blacklist companies involved in the construction of hot air balloons, deeming them a military threat.
In addition, it should be noted that the US is also trying to promote the G7 China’s collective punishment because “support” Russia’s attack in Ukraine, will also involve blacklisting Chinese companies. Since this requires consensus, Washington is looking to get more partners on its side, and creating a political capital for public paranoia against China is one way to do that. History shows that if the United States cannot get its allies to adhere to a certain foreign policy course of action, the U.S. response is to deliberately escalate tensions until they do. We have seen this many times in our approach to China and Russia.
With this, the conclusion is that the United States is creating outrage against China’s hot air balloons in order to manipulate international discourse to gain support for its foreign policy goals. This is not just a domestic policy controversy, and not a matter of national security at all; The United States is actively aiming to amplify the threat of hot air balloons in order to motivate its allies to follow through with anti-China goals. Also, from the circumstantial evidence it is clear that the Biden administration is also considering new sanctions against China, and what better chance of doing so than a super dramatic incident like that. This? The United States has always exaggerated threats to shape its agenda, at home and abroad.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author only and do not necessarily represent RT.
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