Why Is the US Laying 'Nuclear Siege' around China’s Borders?

A fierce war of words ensued between China and the U.S. following President Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama. Recently Obama has taken active measures to stage a “nuclear war” around China’s borders. According to a Feb. 24 report from China’s Xinhua News, President Obama approved the U.S.-Vietnam Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement on Feb. 24. He expressed that implementation of this pact should promote “common defense and security” and not constitute “unreasonable risk.”

America Pays a High Price To Win over Vietnam

Ever since Obama proposed his “rebalancing Asia-Pacific strategy,” U.S.-Vietnamese relations have continued to grow closer — especially in July 2013, when President Obama met with visiting Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang. This is the second Vietnamese head-of-state to visit Washington in the past 18 years of their normalizing relationship and is a sign of its recovery.

From America’s perspective, Vietnam, as a regional power in Southeast Asia, is vital to the expansion of U.S. influence. America proactively calls on Vietnam to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks and supports Vietnam’s position on the South China Sea issue, if for no other reason than to rein it in. Additionally, Vietnam is the country currently occupying the greatest number of China’s islands in the South China Sea, and it is also the most powerful. Reining in Vietnam will more effectively disrupt affairs in the South China Sea and will more effectively check China and keep the balance.

Although America has done its utmost to entice Vietnam, Vietnam has also kept close connections with China. Despite the wide range of territorial disputes between Vietnam and China, Vietnam has seldom overtly contended with China. On the contrary, Vietnam has maintained a supportive attitude toward China’s proposed collaboration.

After China’s new leaders came into office, Sino-Vietnamese in maritime, land and commercial cooperation has made substantial headway. Both sides agreed to promote large-scale development of the South China Sea together, expanding positive collaboration. They were insistent on managing differences properly through consultation and negotiation, safeguarding the South China Sea region’s peace and stability.

Facing the favorable momentum of intensified Sino-Vietnamese cooperation, Obama is very anxious. He has no other choice; America must toss Vietnam a civilian nuclear deal of even greater seductive power, paying a high price to rein the nation in. Just as Obama said, this agreement will promote “common defense and security” and will not constitute “unreasonable risk.” Might one ask, since it is a civilian nuclear deal, why it needs to have a defense function? The only explanation is that America is using the civilian nuclear deal as bait, drawing Vietnam in with substantial collaboration in the areas such as maritime security, so as to better respond to China’s rise in naval power.

The Japan-US Nuclear Fuel Debate

Through this U.S.-Vietnam Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, we can see quite clearly that America is constructing a “nuclear enclosure” around China’s periphery. Previously, the media has exposed that Japan has a huge amount of nuclear fuel. Since Japanese civilian nuclear technology is considerably developed, it is fully equipped with the relevant technology to develop nuclear weapons. Therefore, having a large amount of nuclear fuel in Japan would be a very dangerous move, especially considering how Abe’s government refused to heed the world’s multi-country initiatives and sign the joint declaration to “make nuclear weapons illegal,” as well as the grim reality of Abe’s wanton military expansion.

Regarding Japan’s retaining dangerously large amounts of nuclear fuel, the U.S. initially issued verbal requests that Japan return the fuel, but did not enforce measures to make them do so. Later, out of consideration for regional stability, America increased the strength of its negotiations. Japan finally agreed it would return the nuclear fuel to the U.S. According to the Japanese News Agency Kyodo’s Feb. 26 newspaper report, Japan will ship the plutonium nuclear material accepted during the Cold War-era for research purposes back to the United States and other nations. The final stages of preparation for this return are currently underway.

But this does not remove Japan’s nuclear threat to China. For one thing, the world won’t know whether or not Japan has really returned all of its nuclear materials to the United States; for another thing, Japan’s reluctance to return the nuclear fuel already reflects the enormous interest of some domestic political powers in obtaining nuclear military strength. Although this time Japan is promising to give its nuclear fuel back to America, this thirst for the political power of nuclear armed forces will inevitably find ways to still acquire nuclear weapons.

Finally, after Japan submits to America’s desire and returns this nuclear fuel, with thoughts of placating Japan, America will go a step further to increase collaborative efforts with Japan in the realm of conventional weaponry. The state of security in Sino-Japanese maritime territorial disputes will inevitably deteriorate with this [move].

Deepening U.S.-India Nuclear Cooperation

In 2005, America and India signed the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, and U.S.-India relations experienced a breakthrough. Since then, although India has not signed a series of nuclear nonproliferation agreements, America still strengthened its nuclear power cooperation with India. In America’s eyes, advancing India’s capability to deliver a nuclear blow is a crucial move in terms of preserving military equilibrium in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, using nuclear technology as bait to strengthen cooperation with India over nuclear force may not only draw India into service for the United States’ Asia-Pacific strategy; moreover, it may also increase control of the level of [America’s] military advancement within India, thus maintaining America’s leadership position in the Asia-Pacific region.

Overall, through the signing of the U.S.-Vietnam Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, the U.S.-Japan nuclear fuel controversy, as well as intensification of U.S.-India nuclear collaboration, we can see that the U.S. is trying to construct a “nuclear enclosure” around China’s borders. This is a huge menace to Chinese national security.