Rhetoric and Double Talk : Obama says US does not fear China - Action speaks louder than words, reassurance does not help to assuage excluded and irritated China's fear of reigniting Cold War

The logical thing for the US Administration and any government in dire economic straits is to cut budget, withdraw troops, turn ammunitions into economic capital, and focus on getting the economy out of the doldrums. But no, Obama has not lived up to expectations. He is desperate to prove to his political opponents and some American voters that he is hawkish and means business (in the military sense). Start a fire in your competitor's backyard and pretend that you mean no harm and act surprised that neighbours are alarmed. American Presidents have not learned from lessons in history when they have no qualms about bringing on the Cold War! 


Dictating terms and playing patron to another developing country is not new in US policy. Unfortunately, US has not been exemplary in its observance of international rules and norms, nor paying its fair dues.

Quote :

... the United States would deploy 2,500 Marines in Australia to shore up alliances in Asia, but the move prompted a sharp response in Beijing, which accused Mr. Obama of escalating military tensions in the region.

The agreement with Australia amounts to the first long-term expansion of the American military’s presence in the Pacific since the end of the Vietnam War. It comes despite budget cuts facing the Pentagon and an increasingly worried reaction from Chinese leaders, who have argued that the United States is seeking to encircleChina militarily and economically.

“It may not be quite appropriate to intensify and expand military alliances and may not be in the interest of countries within this region,” Liu Weimin, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in response to the announcement by Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia.

Some analysts in China and elsewhere say they fear the moves could backfire, rsiking a Cold War-style standoff with China.

The United States will not build new bases on the continent, but will use Australian facilities instead. Mr. Obama said that Marines will rotate through for joint training and exercises with Australians, and the American Air Force will have increased access to airfields in the nation’s Northern Territory.

Analysts say that Chinese leaders have been caught off guard by what they view as an American campaign to stir up discontent in the region. China may have miscalculated in recent years by restating longstanding territorial claims that would give it broad sway over development rights in the South China Sea, they say. But they argue that Beijing has not sought to project military power far beyond its shores, and has repeatedly proposed to resolve territorial disputes through negotiations.

The United States portrays itself as responding to a new Chinese assertiveness in the region that has alarmed core American allies. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote a recent article in Foreign Policy laying out an expansive case for American involvement in Asia, and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta characterized China’s military development as lacking transparency and criticized its assertiveness in the regional waters.

Mr. Obama reached out to China even as he announced the new troop deployment. “The notion that we fear China is mistaken; the notion that we are looking to exclude China is mistaken,” he said.

The president said that China would be welcomed into the new trade pact if Beijing was willing to meet the free-trade standards for membership. But such standards would require China to let its currency rise in value, to better protect foreign producers’ intellectual property rights and to limit or end subsidies to state-owned companies, all of which would require a major overhaul of China’s economic development strategy. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/world/asia/obama-and-gillard-expand-us-australia-military-ties.html