Concerns voiced over NATO expansion in Pacific

Prominent commentators have voiced public concern over an uncertain global outlook during a webinar titled An Asian Pacific NATO: Fanning the Flames of War, as the US-led drumming of conflict in western Pacific could eventually threaten the survival of mankind.

The speakers were Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University, New York; Alison Broinowski, president, Australians for War Powers Reform; Chung-in Moon, distinguished university professor, Yonsei University in South Korea and Gao Zhikai, vice-president of the Center for China and Globalization, Beijing.

The extension of NATO into the Pacific has become an important issue for the US-led West, Moon said.

"The Europeans see a threat in Asia but it is not the reality," he said, adding he does not see the rationale for having a NATO in Asia.

"I believe very few countries in the region would like to see the expansion of NATO here," Moon said. "The NATO countries cannot come up with a logical reason for such an expansion except for propping up US primacy in the region."

Sachs, from Columbia University, said he believes the world has gone "mad". He called out the Anglo-Saxon world for special mention.

"There is something profoundly disheartening about the politics of our countries right now with British imperial thinking taken over by the United States.

"We (US) are run by generals and the security establishment. The public is privy to nothing and the lies that are told about foreign policy are spread by a mainstream media that I can barely listen to or read anymore."

Meanwhile, Washington has a vocal "cheerleader" in Britain, Sachs said. "How Australia and New Zealand fell for this idiocy is a deep question.

"People should know better. But I'm afraid it's the Five Eyes (a security alliance of Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and New Zealand) and security establishment that tell the politicians 'this is how we have to do it'."

Sachs maintained the central objective of the US in the 21st century is "global primacy".

"None of this is done on an ad hoc basis," he said. "It is planned …they have an agenda."

Broinowski, a former diplomat, said we are living in a world "paralyzed by fear".

"Ever since Sept 11, 2001, the so-called war on terror has changed the lives of most people for the worst," she said, noting that tens of thousands have been killed by terrorists or militarists fighting against the perceived terrorists. Meanwhile, "fearing violence, millions have fled their homes as refugees".

"In Australia, the fear of terrorism made many of us fear Muslims and our neighbors … something we had not seen for decades," Broinowski said.

He pointed at the way the former conservative government headed by Scott Morrison made China a new "threat".

"Australians have been talked into hating Russia and fearing China … neither of which poses a threat to Australia."

Speaking from Vienna, Gao Zhikai, vice-president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, said the AUKUS(Australia, the UK, the US) trilateral security pact is in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

"This will deprive the Australian people of living in a nuclear-free bubble," he said.

karlwilson@chinadailyapac.com