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Syria
Becomes World War Powderkeg As China Joins Russian Alliance With
Assad
With
China’s presence in Syria — and on the side of Russian and Syrian
forces, no less — the last remaining global superpower has injected
itself in the most hotly-contested military conflict on the planet.
By
James Holbrooks
Soldiers
with the People’s Liberation Army at Shenyang training base in
China, March 24, 2007. DoD photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, U.S.
Air Force. (Released)
19
August, 2016
According
to state-run Chinese news outlet Xinhua,
the Chinese military — citing remarks made by a high-ranking
military official during a rare trip to Damascus —
is seeking closer
ties with war-torn Syria, offering to supply humanitarian aid and
even train Syrian military personnel.
On
Tuesday, the Director of the Office for Military Cooperation of
China’s Central Military Commission, Guan Youfei, flew to Damascus
to have discussions with Syrian Defense Minister Fahad Jassim
al-Freij,Xinhua says. Director Guan, speaking
with Xinhua, noted historical ties between the two
countries and highlighted the positive role China has played in
seeking a resolution to the fighting in Syria.
Reuters points
out that Xinhua,
paraphrasing Guan’s words, states: “China’s
and Syria’s militaries have a traditionally friendly relationship,
and China’s military is willing to keep strengthening exchanges and
cooperation.”
China
depends on the Middle East for oil imports, but in the past has
tended to leave diplomacy to member nations of the U.N. Security
Council — chiefly, the U.S., Britain, France, and Russia. However,
China has inserted itself more deeply of late.
“But
China has been trying to get more involved, including sending envoys
to help push for a diplomatic resolution to the violence there and
hosting Syrian government and opposition figures.”
The
news comes as Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airpower,
have established a siege around
Aleppo, the last remaining enemy stronghold. Syrian and Russian
forces have established humanitarian corridors for
which civilians and even rebel fighters can escape — and maintains
daily ceasefiresfor
them to do this. Given these developments, it appears the last stand
of the rebels may be imminent.
“All
evidence points to the fact that the Syrian government is attempting
to give the rebels within Aleppo a chance to surrender without
further bloodshed. The rebels, however, appear steadfast. It was
recently reported that 7,000 fighters are headed toward Aleppo from
the southwest.”
Interestingly
— and, to be sure, concerningly — Xinhua noted
that while Director Guan was in Damascus on Tuesday, he met with a
Russian general; though the agency provided no further comment on the
matter.
In
April, China sent a
special envoy to Syria in order to work toward a peaceful resolution
to the conflict. The man sent to participate in the talks had
previously “praised
Russia’s military role in the war, and said the international
community should work harder together to defeat terrorism in the
region,” according to Reuters.
The
prospect of Chinese involvement in Syria could prove troublesome to
that very “international community.” While, thus
far, China hasn’t demonstrated a desire to involve itself in the
fighting directly, its presence will almost certainly
escalate tensions between itself and the United States.
Remember,
the U.S. and China are on the verge of all-out naval warfare in
the South China Sea, with neither side willing to give an inch.
Recall also that U.S.-led NATO is in Eastern Europe, along
the border with
Russia, conducting what many have called provocations in an attempt
to elicit a response from the Russian military.
Now,
with China’s presence in Syria — and on the side of Russian and
Syrian forces, no less — the last remaining global superpower has
injected itself in the most hotly-contested military conflict on the
planet.
“Which
means that at this moment, every major world superpower is officially
involved in the Syrian war, which has on various occasions been aptly
called a powderkeg for what may be the next global military conflict
— to be sure, all required players are now officially involved.”
This
article (Syria
Becomes World War Powderkeg as China Joins Russian Alliance With
Assad)
is free and open source. You have permission to republish this
article under a Creative
Commons license
with attribution to James
Holbrooksand UndergroundReporter.org.
More notable than the intensity of the warnings has been how Russian government ministries have joined in the alarms in recent weeks. Since September, Russia has conducted a nationwide civil defense drill, purportedly involving 40 million people, preparing them for catastrophes -- among them nuclear fallout. Russia’s military announced who would run the country in the event of war and ran an exercise simulating that in the south. The governor of St. Petersburg clarified what bread rations people could expect should Russia come under attack (300 grams for 20 days).
ReplyDeleteEven more bluntly, Russia announced this week it was moving nuclear-capable ballistic missiles into its Northern European enclave, Kaliningrad, putting them within striking distance of Western capitals.
Such moves have further raised the temperature with the West, already exceptionally high since the U.S. publicly accused Moscow of trying to interfere in its presidential elections and efforts by the two countries to reach a cease-fire deal terrorists in Syria, collapsed amid mutual recrimination and the renewal of ferocious airstrikes by Russian jets on the besieged city of Aleppo. The last time Russian television appeared so belligerent and nuclear conflict was so hotly discussed on it, was in 2014 as the Ukraine crisis erupted; but this fresh crisis builds on that tension and multiplies it, given the accusations that Moscow is targeting the U.S. now directly, and with both countries embroiled in a proxy war in Syria.