China’s 5 year plan

As the catastrophe of COVID-19 seizes the world’s attention,one would imagine that international geopolitical dramas and power grabs werefar from the minds of all nations as we globally try to contain and control thevirus.  Sadly, this simply is not thecase.

China despite being the nucleus of COVID-19 back in early2020 has managed to remain alarmingly on track for economic and military worlddomination.

An exaggeration you might think, scare-mongering perhaps,well, far from it. 

Much like the 5 year plan of Stalin’s Soviet Union whichprioritised a host of economic goals for the coming years, China has executedits ambitions with the same military precision, although with much more successthan its predecessor of the twentieth century.

China is now on course for an economic takeover whilst othernations languish with a global healthcare emergency.

Just look at the last few weeks of international activity asSino-Indian relations took a turn for the worst as did China’s relationshipwith Australia, its suppression of Hong Kong and its threats to the UK.

With so many fronts you might be fooled into thinking thatChina is out of its depth, far from it.

The new security law brought in to the semi-autonomous regionof Hong Kong has demonstrated China’s intentions to impose its governmentalpolicy on the citizens of Hong Kong. The sweeping new powers allow officers toconduct raids without warrants, dispose of pro-democracy literature, engage inclose-door trials as well as use wire-tapping and other spy tactics to monitorits citizens.

The UK’s response was to give an invitation of Britishcitizenship to many of Hong Kong’s residents after it was believed that Chinawas reneging on the 1997 agreement, compromising certain freedoms to which theywere entitled.

China has flagrantly attacked such an offer, denouncingBritish involvement as an unwanted interference.

Meanwhile, closer to home, China also turned its attentionto its 3,488km disputed land border which it shares with India.  In recent weeks, a violent confrontationbetween these two great superpowers resulted in the death of twenty Indiansoldiers.

The brutal hand to hand combat led India’s Prime MinisterModi to later visit the north Himalayan region in a display of defiance againstwhat he termed an “age of expansionism”.

This was just one battle, this time physical, in a long lineof conflicts, disputes and geopolitical flare-ups all with one mainparticipant, China.

Only weeks previously to these encounters had Australia beenon the receiving end of China’s economic wrath after making the case for aninternational independent enquiry into the origins of COVID-19.  After Australia stated its intentions, hostilitiesquickly escalated in a matter of days, amounting to economic sanctions, tradewar threats and travel warnings being issued, such was the ferocity of China’sresponse.

China made it clear, it is not taking any prisoners and isflexing its muscles on a global stage as entire nations watch on as ineffectualbystanders.

That is not to say that all nations have remainedsilent.  Only a few days ago America sentits aircrafts to conduct drills in the South China Sea as a sign of commitmentto Asian regional security.

Nevertheless, America’s power as international policeman isdwindling.  Far away in geographicalterms from the activity as well as politically, China has and will use itsability in the region to intimidate its less powerful immediate neighbours.

So, what is next?  Well, with a finger in every pie (economic) so to speak, China has interest and power all over the world.  The One Road, One Belt project evoking the bygone era of the Silk Roads was just the warm-up for a much bigger plan… world domination and it’s not that far away.

Jessica Brain