FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
International Communist Workers Party
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FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM! |
International Communist Workers Party | |
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Nov. 12—The New York Times trumpeted this week’s China-US climate deal as a “major” accomplishment of Obama’s Asia trip. The article said that Presidents Xi and Obama reached two agreements designed to avert military confrontations in Asia. They agreed also to drop tariffs on information-technology products worth a possible $1 trillion in trade.
The appearance was of lasting friendship: handshakes, amicable deals, embraces, and toasts. The essence is different.
The article admitted this but downplayed it: “For all the talk of collaboration… they are fierce rivals for global economic primacy. ... A conference of Pacific Rim economies held in Beijing… showcased China’s growing dominance of Asia, but also the determination of the United States… to reclaim its historical role as a Pacific power.”
The Times conceals the fact that the US and China are locked in a deadly struggle for world domination. This is sharpest in Asia Pacific. It will inevitably lead to war, world war, no matter how many agreements the imperialists sign.
That’s the nature of the capitalist-imperialist beast. Only a communist revolution can put an end to such a monstrous inhumane system.
US Bosses Can’t Compete Economically With China
The US backs the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This free-trade pact includes 12 Pacific Rim countries. It excludes China and Russia. It is a centerpiece of the US bosses’ efforts to increase their economic investment in Asia. They hope to regain their clout in the world’s most dynamic economic region.
China backs the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) which Xi proposed at the Asia Pacific Economic Community (APEC) conference. APEC agreed on a two-year study to establish the FTAAP which would eliminate trade barriers across their 21 countries.
Xi emphasized the growing power of China and his vision for building the Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road. He pledged $40 billion to build the infrastructure for these.
He also promised $1.25 trillion in total outbound investment over the next decade, and $50 billion for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Bloomberg confesses that this bank “will make the World Bank and Asian Development Bank look like archaic vestiges of a bygone geopolitical age.”
No “Soft Power” without Economic Power
Obama initiated his “pivot to Asia” in 2011. Its central objective was to rebalance US interests from the Middle East and Europe to Asia Pacific. Since then the US has begun to build closer economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Pacific Rim countries.
However, the US lacks China’s economic power. Its achievements have primarily been regional military alliances, especially with countries which have territorial disputes with China. Currently, more than 250,000 U.S. troops and 200 ships are based in the Pacific. By 2020, 60% of its warships will be there. The pivot’s avowed objective is to contain a rising China. The unspoken truth is that it’s to prepare to confront China militarily.
Chinese imperialists not asleep
China’s recent energy mega-deals with Russia and other pipelines built over land from Myanmar and Central Asia to China’s interior are to bypass the US-controlled Pacific and Indian Ocean sea lanes, especially the Strait of Malacca.
The Silk Road projects are to move the bulk of Chinese trade away from those sea lanes. An added advantage is being able to use bullet trains to mobilize whole armies over long distances quickly.
Chinese imperialists build nationalism in preparation for war.
While Xi’s government prepared to host Obama, Xi praised a young blogger best known for his anti-American vitriol. “This rising anti-western sentiment, bordering on xenophobia, has emanated from the highest levels of the Communist Party,” reported the Times.
Chinese bosses hope this nationalism will distract Chinese workers from class struggle. They need to win them to fight for their empire.
Less than 50 years ago, masses of urban and rural Chinese workers, soldiers and youth mobilized to fight for communism. Their fatal errors allowed the red bourgeoisie of the Chinese “Communist” Party to defeat that heroic movement and become the imperialists they are today.
We have learned from their victories and their mistakes. Today the International Communist Workers’ Party fights directly for communism. We need to win Chinese workers to join ICWP and renew this struggle at a higher level.
November 9 – Thousands of Arab Israelis protested Saturday against the Israeli police murder of a 22-year-old Arab Israeli man in Kfar Kana. The man had assaulted a police car but retreated before the cops started shooting. Protests escalated Sunday (a working day in Israel) with a general strike and demonstrations outside universities and other government buildings. About 20% of Israeli citizens are Arabs. They experience increasingly intense legal and extra-legal racism. Some protesters called for turning this political strike into an “intifada” (uprising). Such an uprising is growing more and more likely. Israeli fascism is tightening its grip and masses are rejecting official “leaders” in Israel/Palestine. When political strikes and uprisings begin to raise communist banners, the masses will be on the road to the only lasting solution there and everywhere.