By Nusrat Mirza Chief Editor “Monthly Interaction”
Pakistan has remained a very good friend of United States of America. It has helped USA to become the only Super power of the world. Pakistan has worked as game changer making the unipolar world. But USA betrayed Pakistan and left Pakistan alone to clean the mess that USA created in Afghanistan. Pakistan has to suffer a lot; with heroine and Kalashnikov culture to give sacrifices of lives and its economy suffered. American destroyed our roads and cultures. They were arrogant and simply traders or they can be better defined as cowboys, the mercenaries that give lives for money. Pakistan’s people are otherwise who are sincere and have values those have been taught by the religion and centuries old civilization. American nation’s life is just more than two hundred years and that too still to become a nation. After 9/11, Pakistan was threatened to throw in stone stage.
That was too much for Pakistan. We did accept the command of USA but end result was that USA could not succeed in Afghanistan. The whole intelligence brotherhood of USA was of the opinion that USA could not succeed in Afghanistan because of Pakistan. Now, USA is still is on wrong side by Indo-Pacific concept and it has wrong choice of India. It does not mean that Pakistan would like to be the part of Indo-Pacific design of USA. We will never be the part of any country’s war after two experiences. The lessons learnt are that Pakistan should be independent, self-sufficient in defense, protect its sovereignty, develop its economy and remain peaceful with neighbors and regional or powers like China and Russia keeping working relations with USA. It has been observed that USA always ambitious to subdue one or the other country.
Now it is after China why it has become economic power and considers it a threat to the primacy of USA. Therefore the Indo-Pacific region is becoming the focus of growing U.S. and Chinese competition to shape the 21st century regional and global system. As per U.S. perception, Asia-Pacific strategy to reflect two new realities: India’s becoming a more substantial economic and strategic actor in the Asia-Pacific; and the rapid progress of China as an economic and military peer competitor of the U.S. The first perception of USA is wrong in a way if it considers that India could be substantial help to USA in getting China contained as per design of its mentor. The new U.S. emphasis on enhanced involvement in the Indo-Pacific reflects a failure of previous U.S. policies towards China and a new, more aggressive response to what Trump administration views as a strategic competitor.
But the U.S.-China relationship and the economic and security dynamics of the Indo-Pacific are riddled with complexities and contradictions that raise questions about both the American policies. How this drama plays out will have no small impact on a global and regional system in transition looking out to 2025. USA has record history of failure; in Vietnam, Iraq, and Syria and now in Afghanistan. But Americans are very fond of poking nose everywhere not let anyone to flourish or maintain peace in the world. USA, nevertheless, has lost the capacity to manage the world order. In Indo pacific it will fail badly. Fan Gaoyue Guest Professor at Sichuan University, Former Chief Specialist at PLA Academy of Military Science says that USA taken many steps towards Indo-Pacific design but USA doomed to fail.
He has given ten reasons for USA failure. First, Trump’s America First Strategy benefits the United States at a cost to others and is opposed by other countries. The retaliation of China against USA will cost USA more than China in steel business. Then other countries like Canada, Russia, India, Japan and European countries increased tariff in Aluminum which not benefit USA. Second, American society is deeply split, and a fierce struggle is underway between those who support and those who oppose Trump.
This means Trump will not have the support of a majority of Americans no matter what he does. Third, overall U.S. national strength has declined, and so it’s difficult to support the Indo-Pacific Strategy’s aims to offer substantive alternative plans with sufficient financial commitment to countries in the region (and thus halt the progress of China’s Belt and Road Initiative), consolidate and extend the U.S. network of partnerships while maintaining its hegemony in the region and undermine China’s relations with states along the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Fourth, Trump’s withdrawal from international agreements has severely damaged U.S. credibility. In the past three years it successively pulled out of the TPP, the Paris agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Council and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Fifth, most countries in the Indo-Pacific region whose economic development is closely linked with China will not cater to the U.S. without scruples. Sixth, India, which is striving to be a world power, will be reluctant to be a U.S. chess piece. India is the linchpin of the Indo-Pacific Strategy, just as Japan was the linchpin of Obama’s Re-balancing Strategy. In our opinion, India does not have capacity and capability to help USA. Further Russian influence in India will not let India to go in the boggy of USA. Though it has become a rider of this boggy but the result can be seen that Indian fabric has being shattered.
China and India standoff in Ladakh, Nepal India tussle whereas India and Pakistan are already at odd. Seventh, China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its concept of a human community with a shared future have been widely accepted and supported and have won China high popularity. In an address at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in March 2013, President Xi Jinping brought up the Concept of a human community with a shared future for the first time. And during his visits to Central and Southeast Asia in September and October 2013, he unveiled plans to implement the Belt and Road Initiative in cooperation with related countries. Eighth, China’s comprehensive national strength has grown, and it’s difficult for the U.S. to contain it. China’s economy continues to develop at an annual growth rate of around 6 percent, and its GDP was $13.46 trillion in 2018. Its military strength has grown considerably, and its science and technology are advancing fast.
Ninth, U.S. pressure has driven China and Russia closer. The U.S. launched a trade war, a technology war and a financial war against China. It obstructed Russian cooperation with Iran and Syria, withdrew from the INF Treaty and sanctioned Russia for Nord Stream 2. It refused to lift some of the sanctions on North Korea even though the country stopped its nuclear testing and pulled down some of its nuclear facilities. The U.S. pulled out of the JCPOA and sanctioned Iran, listed the Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization and killed high-ranking commanders in a drone attack in Iraq.
Tenth, the Indo-Pacific Strategy is doomed to fail because it goes against historical trends. In the current world the main theme is peace, development, cooperation and win-win, but the nature of the Indo-Pacific Strategy is competition, containment, confrontation and a U.S. win, which goes against the tide. Further, China and Russia have developed a regional cooperation system of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) of which all important countries of the region are the members like Pakistan, India, Russia and China while Iran is as an observer. This organization has the capacity to resolve regional issues. If this organization works properly can get settle Kashmir issue with Pakistan and India and Ladhakh China standoff, it will emerge as Super block of the World. Furthermore, it can keep USA to give up Indo-pacific design to contain China and also USA could not legitimize its permanent presence in Indian Ocean.