Meesam Javaid
France infuriated, recalled its ambassador from the US and Australia over the submarine deal between Washington and Canberra. Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, called the scrapping of Australia-France the submarine deal “backstab” by Canberra. All this came after the security pact titles “AUKUS alliance” between the US, UK, and Australia in the Asia-Pacific to counter the expanding Chinese influence. Paris, in 2016, inked an agreement with Canberra to providing 12 submarines. The trilateral security pact created a row with France when Australian tides turned in the favor of the US on providing her submarines built of the US technology.
The tug of war in the Asia-Pacific region is real and the AUKUS alliance is just another development in this regard. In retrospect, President Obama, in 2012, under his “Pivot to East Asia” policy endeavored to consolidate the ties with the countries proximate to China. In addition to this, the QUAD alliance between the US, Japan, Australia and India called for containing China’s expansion in the region which was deemed as a security threat by Beijing. It is pertinent to note here that US vessels visited the South China Sea and in response, PLA Navy made a demonstrative visit to the American coast. China has adopted a quid-pro-quid policy and has been engaged with the US over this for years now.
Chinese Foreign Office officials have labeled the AUKUS alliance as a direct threat to China and will undermine the security of the region. It is of the bygones when the US used to coerce under-developed countries in its favor and waged war against any nation under the guise of making it democratic. China’s farsightedness has halted the US from such ulterior steps by swaying a number of countries. The US considers the burgeoning influence of China as a step towards challenging its hegemony; however, China has time and again rebuked this claim.
The US is the main player of all the alliances it has erected, and the US claims that China uses unfair market tactics. Therefore, China attaining power is intimidating for the world. The US here is at fault, and still stuck in the “Cold War.” The number of alliances the US has inked is privy to none, and all are to contain China. It is the duplicity of the US that it is reckoning its own created set of rules as a threat i.e. “economic interdependence for peace.” The US has been using its power unfairly by coercing the states to do what the US wants or they will stop the International Financial Institutes to help the country in need. Not to go far back in history, this has just happened in Afghanistan.
Moreover, the concerns of Macron are apt here that it is backstabbing to manipulate an actor in nullifying a deal in favor of another actor. The US needs to come out of the dreams and realize that the world is now calling for disengagement as Covid-19 has inflicted immense damage to everyone. UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that this deal will preserve the peace of the world and will generate jobs. He moved on to classifying the UK, France relation as “rock solid.” By this Boris has just added salts into the wounds and nothing else. The loss France has incurred is not only monetary but also of trust. The reliable partners of France have maneuvered against her and it is a stain on the integrity of the permanent member of UNSC and one of the prominent players of the world.
In addition to this, despite going through hard times in the face of coronavirus; the US failed to learn any lesson at all. To politicize everything is the favorite hobby of US officials and it is evident through their investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The US needs to admit the fact that it cannot police the world now. No matter how much high-level intelligence-sharing it does through the five-eye alliance (US, UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada), every country is armed to the teeth with modern technology that can easily evade intelligence. For instance, the US admitted its tragic mistake of killing innocents in Kabul and this again makes it conspicuous that the US cannot act unilaterally.
All in all, the world here clamors for a collective approach to prioritizing human life. The non-traditional security threats like climate change, water scarcity, pandemics, and many more are seeking attention. The US must stop building castles in the air. Painting everyone with the same brush is never a pragmatic option, and this is what the US has been doing for years. This recent scrapping of deal with France is utter disloyalty towards international norms and nothing else. China has helped the world with vaccines and is calling for a bridge to corroborate the measures to subdue the effects of Covid-19. The US instead of engaging China on different fronts must uphold the UN charter and cooperate to help humanity in need.
The writer is a reader and writer, with a deep interest in International Politics.
*The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the paper.
