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The recent murder of eight people — including six Asian women — in Atlanta is part of an alarming rise in racial hatred against people of Asian descent. While the United States is the centre of this phenomenon, violent anti-Asian racism is also resurging in Canada, Britain, Australia and elsewhere. 

On the same day as the Atlanta murders, the results of a new Gallup poll were released, showing that US public opinion towards China has sharply deteriorated in the past year, with nearly half the population viewing China as their ‘greatest enemy’. These two trends are not coincidental. The rise in anti-Asian racism is inextricably linked with the New Cold War currently being waged by the US government and its allies, primarily against China.

In recent years, Washington, with bipartisan support, has initiated a New Cold War with increasingly aggressive statements and actions towards China. A particularly disturbing aspect has been the promotion of racist labels such as ‘Chinese virus’ and ‘Kung flu’, along with conspiracy theories of a Chinese ‘cover-up’, which have sought to blame China for the Covid-19 pandemic and generated animosity towards Asian peoples worldwide. These overtly racist narratives have been able to take root in the wider, hostile environment generated by the New Cold War. 

On a daily basis, media coverage incessantly warns of the ‘threat’ posed by China, reminiscent of the racist ‘yellow peril’ and McCarthyist ‘red scare’ narratives of the previous century. As with the Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism of the ‘War on Terror’, and the anti-Black racism of the ‘War on Drugs’, the rise in anti-Asian racism is intimately bound up with the fear-mongering narratives promoted to justify a New Cold War. 

It is wholly insufficient to criticize the overt bigotry promoted by Trump and his ilk, but continue promoting hostile confrontation with China, which inevitably lays the groundwork for such hatred to flourish. The fight against anti-Asian racism requires fighting against the New Cold War.

We support China and the US basing their relations on cooperation and dialogue, centring on the common issues which face humanity, including climate change, global health, racism, and economic development. We call on all those who stand for peace to demand that the US and its allies end their New Cold War against China.

Early indications from the Biden administration are that it proposes to continue the New Cold War on China, including through attempts to expand NATO’s sphere of operation into the Pacific. No Cold War is pleased to be hosting a line-up of peace campaigners and academic to explore the issues of the ‘Quad’ and associated attempts to construct an anti-China regional alliance; US military bases; the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system; the South China Sea; and the prospects for a peaceful Pacific.

The event will take place on Saturday 10 April 2021 at 9am (US Eastern), 2pm (Britain), 6am (US Pacific), 9pm (China).

You can register free on Eventbrite.

SPEAKERS

• Ann Wright – CODEPINK / Veterans for Peace
• Wang Danning – Research fellow, Charhar Institute (China)
• Rob Kajiwara – President, Peace for Okinawa Coalition
• Ajamu Baraka – Black Alliance for Peace / Coalition Against US Foreign Military Bases
• Kate Hudson – General Secretary, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
• Vijay Prashad – Director, Tricontinental Institute
• Julie Tang – Retired judge / Co-founder, Pivot to Peace
• Lisa Natividad – University of Guam / I Hagan Famalao’an Guahan
• KJ Noh – Veterans for Peace / expert on Asia-Pacific geopolitics
• Kawena Kapahua – Hawaiian activist
• Jenny Clegg – Academic / author of ‘China’s Global Strategy: Toward a Multipolar World’
• Derek Ford – ANSWER Coalition / Assistant professor, DePauw University

Our friends at the International Manifesto Group are organising a webinar on the issue of Europe in the New Cold War, on Sunday 14 March, 2pm GMT / 3pm CET / 9am EST / 6am PST / 10pm China.

You can register at Eventbrite.

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How is the new cold war being played out in Europe? Tensions are rising in Europe between US-oriented forces and those that are turning toward the East. This panel will analyze these tensions, the forces and interests involved, and the evolution of this situation given the Covid crisis and the arrival of a new US administration.

Speakers

Bruno Drweski, historian and political scientist, co-director of the Polish section of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), Sorbonne University, Paris, France. He is a member of the directory board of the French anti-war and anti-imperialist organisation ARAC.

Attila Melegh, sociologist, economist and historian. He is associate professor at Corvinus University, Budapest, and a senior researcher at the Demographic Research Institute. His research focuses on global social change and international migration. He has taught in the United States, Russia, Georgia and Hungary. Author of several books including On the East/West Slope, Globalization, Nationalism, Racism and Discourses on Central and Eastern Europe published at CEU Press. He is the founding director of Karl Polányi Research Center at Corvinus University and editor of Eszmélet.

Rade Drobac, Deputy President of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, former Serbian ambassador to Hungary.

Rainer Rupp, economist, former intelligence agent with the Foreign Intelligence Service of East Germany (HVA), for which he succeeded in penetrating NATO headquarters in Brussels in 1977, where he made a career in the political affairs division. In 1993 “Topaz” (his nom-de-guerre) was uncovered and arrested, and in 2001 he was released from prison. Already from his prison cell he started writing regular commentaries for socialist newspapers on politico-military and geo-economic developments.

Francesco Maringió, journalist, President of the Italy-China Association for the promotion of Belt and Road Initiative.

Moderated by Danielle Follett

This call will take place over Zoom and will also be broadcast in real time over Facebook Live. Register on Eventbrite to join on Zoom.

Join on Facebook Live at: facebook.com/geopoliticaleconomyresearchgroup

The International Manifesto Group began discussing the evolving political and geopolitical economy of the world order and its national and regional components at the beginning of the pandemic. It has members from around the world, from north America to Japan. You can watch past IMG events here.

While the event is free, we appreciate donations to the Geopolitical Economy Research Group. A suggested donation of $5 would be appreciated as it is a non-profit. Once you have registered, please donate here.

Ofcom’s decision to remove the broadcasting license of CGTN – China’s English language TV channel – is an act of censorship which is not in the interests of Britain and its people. It is well known, and publicly acknowledged, that CGTN is a Chinese state broadcaster and viewers can therefore take this into account in judging its services and broadcasts. As a state television broadcaster, CGTN’s status is similar to that of the BBC, France Télévisions, NHK (Japan), and others.

Ofcom’s justification for taking CGTN off air is that any holder of a broadcasting licence in Britain must not be controlled by political bodies. However, this law is only selectively applied. Numerous private and state channels have clear political agendas or control – the BBC itself, for example, which had its staff vetted by MI5 has not had its broadcasting licence revoked.

This attack on free speech also takes place in the context of the threat of a new cold war against China. At such a moment, it is crucial to build mutual understanding between peoples and also to accurately comprehend the positions of the chief actors in the global situation. Denying a voice to China’s CGTN hampers this.

Britain’s claim to be a free society is undermined by Ofcom’s decision to shut down CGTN. We call upon the British authorities to reverse this decision and to reinstate CGTN’s broadcasting licence.

• John Pilger, prize winning journalist
• Oliver Stone, three time Oscar winning director, producer and screenwriter
• Tariq Ali, writer, filmmaker and New Left Review Editorial Board
• Kerry-Anne Mendoza, Editor of The Canary  
• Ben Chacko, Editor of the Morning Star
• Vijay Prashad, Chief Correspondent of Globetrotter
• Ken Loach, award-winning filmmaker
• Jonathan Cook, award-winning author and journalist
• Lowkey, Musician and activist
• Anna Chen, Writer, poet and broadcaster
• Asa Winstanley, journalist
• Alan Macleod, Senior Staff Writer at MintPress News
• John McEvoy, journalist
• Mohamed Elmaazi journalist
• Pablo Navarrete, journalist and documentary filmmaker
• Dr Helen Yaffe, academic, historian and author
• Professor David Miller
• Fiona Edwards, No Cold War campaign

A coalition of peace groups across Canada is organising this webinar, which takes place on Monday 1 March at 7pm (EST). For more information, email canada@worldbeyondwar.org

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Hearings in the extradition trial of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei, are scheduled to resume March 1. Her arrest was a colossal blunder by the Trudeau Government, motivated by Trump’s political, economic, and security ambitions to create a new cold war with China. Our panelists will discuss the alarming rise of Sinophobia and anti-Chinese rhetoric in Canada and the likelihood that Huawei will be illegally banned from participation in Canada’s 5G network. Will anything change under Biden?

Join our webinar on March 1, 2021 at 7 pm EST.
Speakers include:

• Radhika Desai – Professor at the Department of Political Studies, and Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Group, University of Manitoba. She is also serving a third term as President of the Society for Socialist Studies.
• William Ging Wee Dere – Documentary filmmaker and author of “Being Chinese in Canada, The Struggle for Identity, Redress and Belonging” winner of the 2020 Blue Metropolis/Conseil des arts de Montréal Diversity Prize. Anti-imperialist organizer and a leading activist in the movement for redress of the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act.
• Justin Podur – Author of several books including America’s Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo, Siegebreakers, and Haiti’s New Dictatorship. He writes for the Independent Media Institute’s Globetrotter project and runs a podcast called the Anti-Empire Project. He is an Associate Professor at York University’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change.
• John Ross – Senior Fellow, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University, Beijing; economic advisor to former Mayor Ken Livingstone of London, UK.

This event will include simultaneous translation in French and Cantonese. More information coming shortly.

This event is being organized by the Cross-Canada Campaign to FREE MENG WANZHOU.

Statement issued by the No Cold War organising committee on 5 February 2021.

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The removal of CGTN’s broadcast licence by Ofcom is a reprehensible act which runs against the interests of the British people. It is well known, and publicly acknowledged, that CGTN is a Chinese state broadcaster and viewers can therefore take this into account in judging its services and broadcasts. As a state television broadcaster, CGTN’s status is similar to that of the BBC, France Télévisions, NHK (Japan), KBS (Korea) and others.

The formal reasons given by Britain for removing CGTN’s licence are evidently specious. Ofcom states that holders of a broadcasting licence in Britain must not be controlled by political bodies. However, this rule is selectively applied. For example, the BBC, which routinely broadcasts criticism of China, is clearly controlled by a political body – the British state. Indeed, so tightly is the BBC controlled by the British state that since its earliest days its staff were directly vetted by MI5.

There are numerous examples of channels with clear political agendas – for example CNN has continuously broadcast programmes favouring the US Democratic Party and carried on political campaigns against both former President Trump and China. One may have different views on this content, but CNN is not prevented from broadcasting in Britain. The reality is that broadcasters with policies favourable or acceptable to the British government are allowed to broadcast, while those which are critical of it are not.

Ofcom’s action is not merely a clear violation of free speech, but it is directly dangerous. The world faces the threat of a New Cold War. Such a Cold War stands in the way of the global cooperation that is urgently needed to tackle the common problems faced by humanity: the pandemic, climate change, poverty and peace. At such a moment, it is crucial to build understanding between peoples and to accurately understand the positions of the chief actors in the global situation. Denying a voice to China’s CGTN cuts across all these goals.

The British authorities should therefore immediately reverse this decision to revoke CGTN’s broadcasting licence.

NB. The “No Cold War” platform in coordination with the Simón Bolívar Institute , ALBA Movimientos and the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research held a conference to address the emergence of a “new Cold War” imposed by the United States on China. The following article covering the event, with a specific focus on Ambassador Li Baorong’s contributions, was originally published in Argmedios.

Por Julián Inzaugarat

El surgimiento de una “nueva Guerra Fría” impuesta por Estados Unidos a China y las formas de guerra híbrida utilizadas como parte de ese nuevo escenario estratégico, los cambios en la economía y sistema mundial, la lucha ideológica contra el unilateralismo y la apuesta por el multilateralismo, así como las nuevas perspectivas chinas desde el ángulo de la ‘Comunidad del Destino de la Humanidad (CDH) fueron parte de los temas a tratar del seminario “Una nueva Guerra Fría contra China va en contra de los intereses de la humanidad’’.  

La charla contó con las destacadas ponencias del economista brasileño y dirigente del Movimiento Sin Tierra de Brasil, João Pedro Stédile; el excandidato presidencial por el Partido de los Trabajadores (PT) de Brasil, Fernando Haddad; Alicia Castro, sindicalista y ex embajadora de Argentina; Ricardo Menéndez, vicepresidente Sectorial de Planificación de Venezuela; Li Baorong, embajador de China en Venezuela;  y el profesor e investigador cubano del Centro de Investigaciones de Política Internacional, Eduardo Regalado Florido, así como con las intervenciones de la plataforma ‘‘No Cold War’’ y del director del Instituto Tricontinental de Investigación Social, Vijay Prashad.

Con intención de ser un aporte para reflexionar sobre la nueva guerra fría impuesta desde Washington contra China, con un enfoque especial en las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y China en América Latina y el Caribe, los participantes expusieron sobre la reacción de Estados Unidos al surgimiento de China en el escenario mundial con varias etapas de beligerancia: incluida una guerra comercial, la creación de alianzas militares hostiles (Quad) que rodean a China y la promoción de la guerra de información, alrededor del coronavirus. 

Con la vista en América Latina, la reflexión orbitó la posición de EE.UU. al oponerse a la entrada del comercio chino, especialmente en los sectores de tecnología e infraestructura; esto ahora está establecido en el proyecto América Crece para combatir la Iniciativa China de la Franja y la Ruta. 

João Pedro Stédile comenzó compartiendo algunas reflexiones realizadas por los movimientos populares de Latinoamérica. El dirigente del MST sostuvo que ya comenzó la decadencia económica del imperio de Estados Unidos y expuso la crisis de producción del modelo capitalista. “La economía de Estados Unidos está bajando, ya no es la locomotora de la economía mundial” sostuvo. 

El vicepresidente sectorial y ministro de Planificación, Ricardo Menéndez apuntó que “no es la guerra contra un país, es una guerra contra la soberanía y la autodeterminación, contra el concepto de lo público, y contra el poder popular”. Asimismo, precisó “que el mundo atraviesa un intento de secuestro del multilateralismo” y de la geopolítica de paz, a través de la imposición de sanciones y bloqueos que no han hecho más que develar la esencia del modelo neoliberal.

Por su parte, la profesora e investigadora peruana del Departamento de Ciencia Política de la Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro (UFRJ), Mónica Bruckman, señaló que “no existen dos polos en este conflicto”, sino más bien una estrategia –ofensiva- ideológica muy bien coordinada de Estados Unidos contra China.

Our friend @MonicaBruckmann at the @ISB_VE, @NoColdWar, @tricon_es, ALBA event on the US hybrid war on China. Monica speaks about the shifts in the world economy and the world system, from unipolarity to multipolarity, an ideological struggle against unilateralism. pic.twitter.com/GZx6pgxhA9

— Vijay Prashad (@vijayprashad) January 30, 2021

Durante su ponencia habló además de los cambios en la economía y el sistema mundial a raíz de la pandemia de la COVID-19, la fragilidad de las economías en Europa y Estados Unidos, así como los desafíos de Latinoamérica en su lucha por la integración nacional y regional a través de la multipolaridad.

Por su parte, la militante política y sindical Alicia Castro, expuso dos modelos opuestos de relacionamiento internacional, el de EE. UU. a través del sometimiento, el intervencionismo, el endeudamiento, y la usura financiera; y el de China a través de la cooperación, la transferencia tecnológica y el respeto por la soberanía de las naciones.

De igual forma hizo un recuento de las agresiones del Gobierno estadounidense –y de sus aliados- en la región, y compartió su visión sobre la situación geopolítica de América Latina en la coyuntura actual instando a la construcción de un mundo multipolar de naciones iguales y soberanas con derecho a la felicidad.

El embajador de la República Popular China en Venezuela, Li Baorong, expuso los peligros de una confrontación y las posibles consecuencias que pudieran tener contra la humanidad.

“El camino correcto es defender y practicar el multilateralismo y promover la construcción de la Comunidad de Destino Humano”, agregó el diplomático, al tiempo que aclaró que China seguirá con su política coherente y clara con Estados Unidos, evitando la confrontación y respetando el derecho internacional.

“Debemos insistir en la apertura y la inclusión en lugar del aislamiento y la exclusión. Tenemos que respetar las reglas internacionales, en lugar de la hegemonía y el egoísmo. Tenemos que optar por las consultas y colaboraciones en lugar de los conflictos y las confortaciones. La humanidad tiene un destino compartido”, concluyó el embajador chino.