The neo-liberal globalization jargon “economy”,
instead of state or government, is used not just to accommodate Hong Kong and
Taiwan. The word “economy” creates a false sense the summit is not a global political
event. This is despite the fact that the world’s leading economic and military
powers, the US, China, Russia and Japan, are members of APEC. Any major move by any of them, especially by the
US, influence and can change the world situation
Crisis and war clouds
overshadow APEC 2015
Several earth-shaking developments have happened
since 1996, the first time APEC Leaders’ Summit was held in the Philippines.
That was 5 years to 9/11 and start of “US War against Terror”. There were then no
US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and no US-backed wars in East Ukraine and
Yemen. There was no Islamic State (IS) yet at that time, though the al Qaeda
and Taliban were already known.
That was 19 years to the start of Russia-led “War
against Islamic State (IS)”. It was 18 years before the simmering conflict in
South China reached boiling point. It was 19 years before the US pointed at
China and Russia as the challengers to the global order it has been shaping since
the end of World War 2. That was 12 years to the 2008 outbreak of the global
crisis that persists until now.
APEC 2015 is overshadowed by crisis and war clouds.
The 7-year crisis has further worsened. Since the outbreak of the crisis, every
succeeding annual APEC Summit was tense. In the 2014 summit in China, US
President Obama held sideline meetings with heads of countries that were approved
for membership in the China-less Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Intense
finance and trade rivalry between US and China
APEC 2015 comes at the heels of the signing of the draft
agreement on TPP by 12 countries last October 5. TPP is a US scheme to remain
the dominant economy dictating the terms of global investment and trade.
President Obama confirmed this to media, “Because if we (US) don’t, China
would”.
The TPP countries are APEC members: Australia,
Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, USA and
Vietnam. TPP would be open to new members after the draft agreement is ratified
by the 12 founding members.
The TPP is worse than critics expected. It would thoroughly
liberalize and deregulate national economies for the greater freedom of movement
and profit-making of leading American and Japanese private monopolists
especially in automobile, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries. TPP would make
labor more flexible and deregulated, especially on wages and job security. It opens wider the gates for trade in
services, which is mainly the traffic of skilled labor and professionals, whereby
foreign investors can bring workers from their home bases and low-wage
countries.
The stalled negotiations for TPP were activated and
pushed by the US after 50 of 57 founding member-countries of China-initiated
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) confirmed their membership in the signing
ceremony in Beijing last June 29. Other
than China, signatories include Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Switzerland,
Netherlands, Norway, Iran, Israel, Brazil, Russia, India, South Korea,
Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and others.
The 7 other founding members- Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi
Arabia, Denmark, Poland and Kuwait, are yet to confirm membership and each
one’s amount of share in the bank. Twenty (20) more countries applied for
membership in the AIIB.
China-led AIIB is not in the purview of APEC though
it certainly would matter in the coming summit. The US and Japan are not
joining AIIB. It would surely compete with the World Bank and Asian Development
Bank that the two countries dominate.
Wars and escalating
war provocations
Millions of refugees from wars in Syria,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere poured into Europe, welcomed by
Europeans, but barred by their governments. The endless wars that US wages and
supports have displaced over 60M people worldwide, the largest number of
refugees since World War 2. Annual US
war and military spending is nearly 50% of world’s total defense and military
expenditures! But the fund of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is
not even 1% of US’s annual military and war budget!
Despite the refugee crisis, the frequency of
beatings of war drums intensified. US-Russia and US-China wars are now close to
reality. Russia-US war is hairline to reality since the former engaged directly
in bombing the IS and other terrorist groups in Syria. The world knows that the
IS, Al Nusra and al Qaeda are “allies” of and aided by the US in the already
four years “civil war” to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria. The war that has raged from 2011 has already caused
the death of more than 250,000 Syrian civilians.
The US is not serious about Russia’s proposal for a
political solution to the war in Syria. For the US, it’s ”the head of Assad or
war”. After its training of “moderate rebels” failed miserably, the US is ready
to deploy 50 soldiers from its Special Forces to assist the “Free Syrian Army”
even as it continues to arm the IS. Lately the US is considering the deployment
of F-15 jet fighter planes to Syria. F-15 is designed mainly for aerial battles
with US’s enemy’s warplanes.
In the APEC side of the world, the US, a non-party
to the dispute, has taken over and has raised the territorial row in the South
China Sea among China, Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan, to direct confrontation with China. The adamant
assertion by China of “territorial sovereignty” over reefs and shoals altered into
“islands” with structures for defense purposes and its outright disregard of
the rights of other claimants, give reasons for the US to raise its war banner with
“freedom of navigation” slogan.
The US has stepped-up its challenge to China’s
assertion. US Navy destroyer, USS Lassen deliberately sailed within the 12
nautical mile territorial limit of China-claimed Subi Reef last October 27.
This elicited sharp, “We are not afraid of war”, reaction from China. Just days
before the 2015 APEC Summit, the US, the declining but still the mightiest
nation-state on earth, jacked-up war provocations on China. Two US B-52 bombers
conducted “routine flight” over the “artificial islands” of China.
This is despite the case filed by the Philippines against
China before the International Tribunal on Law of the Seas (ITLOS). Other
claimants have done the same before, but China just ignored them. Now, in the
eve of APEC 2015, China is passing on to the Philippines the burden of undoing
the “troubles” arising from filing the case.
Japan is also adding to the rising tension. The Abe government of Japan, in contravention
of its constitution, passed militarist laws redefining Japan’s self defense
posture into “collective self-defense” and its pacifist policy into “proactive
pacifism”. This move was condemned by
China and South Korea and earned negative remarks from Australia. Only the US
and Philippine presidents praised Abe for the passage of the laws despite
strong opposition by the Japanese people.
APEC: Dysfunctional mechanism for
economic co-operation and peaceful co-existence
Twenty heads of “economies” are coming to Manila.
The leading figures are US President Obama, China’s President Xi Jin ping,
Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe, Russia’s PM Dmitry Medvedev and, South Korea’s President
Park Geun-ye.
The theme of the APEC 2015 Leaders’ Summit, “Building
inclusive economies; Building a better world”, is ironic. The China-less TPP that favors big private
monopoly capitalists is top in the agenda of the summit. The agenda includes
climate change and disaster preparedness. But the US and the other big powers
are pursuing wars and preparing for bigger wars that would certainly aggravate
the humanitarian crisis resulting from present wars.
APEC security was beefed-up starting today
following the series of shootings and bombings by alleged IS elements that left
more than 120 people dead in Paris, France. The vicinity of Philippine
International Convention Center in Pasay City has been transformed into
veritable war zone, complete with anti-aircraft weapons.
The 2015 APEC Leaders’ Summit is a monument to a
more dysfunctional multi-lateral mechanism for global progress and peace. The
Filipino people have to bear the burden of hosting the summit, which is an
arena for big power rivalry, at the cost of P10B of public funds and the
curtailment of their freedom of movement and right to protest along with
peoples of other nationalities.
Genuine international progress and peace rely on
the solidarity and struggle of the world’s peoples against the moribund,
decadent and predatory – crisis and war prone- global capitalism.
Dismantle APEC!
Advance international solidarity and
struggle against imperialism, crisis and war!
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