Bitter Global Times Editorial Denounces U.S. as ‘Strategic Rogue’ Trying To Contain China

Aug. 18, 2021 (EIRNS)—A lead editorial “China-U.S. Cooperation in Afghanistan Depends on U.S.' China Policy” the semi-official Global Times yesterday concurred with Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China should help stabilize the situation in Afghanistan and limit American losses, but not if the United States continues its hostile drive to contain China and sabotage its development.

The way “the Biden administration carried out this plan [to withdraw from Afghanistan] is a total disaster that has tragically ruined the U.S.’s image and reputation.... This is bitterly disappointing. It makes people believe that today’s world is facing a fundamental misfortune: The strongest country in the world is good at destruction, but not interested in reconstruction,” write the editors.

The editorial continues:

“The U.S. is exhausted in Afghanistan.... Washington does need other major powers, such as China and Russia, to help it ‘clean up’ the mess in Afghanistan it left behind, and make its leaving less ugly.... In his conversation with Blinken, Wang Yi opposed the U.S. move that it engages in deliberate all-around suppression of China to harm China’s interests but asks China to cooperate with it. It is very necessary at this moment to directly point out that the U.S. is a strategic rogue.

“China will be keen to restore order in Afghanistan and promote reconstruction of this war-torn country, but it has no obligation to help the U.S. get out of a strategic dilemma that entirely belongs to Washington. When the U.S. is maliciously carrying out strategic coercion and containment against China, there is no need for China to win U.S. favor by rendering good for evil.”

A separate article in Global Times warned: “But Chinese analysts said although the U.S. shares some common interests with China and Russia at the moment to ensure stability in Afghanistan, in the long term, when Washington completes its evacuation, some U.S. decision-makers might want to see the country return to chaos so that it could use the mess to trouble both China and Russia.... [Said Zhou Yongbiao director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at Lanzhou University] ‘However, some decision-makers in Washington consider that when the U.S. finishes its evacuation, the situation in Afghanistan would have far less direct impact on the U.S. even if the chaos reemerges, and China, Russia and regional countries will be in trouble. This will serve U.S. strategy to contain these two biggest strategic competitors.’ ”