U.S. wants "loyal vassals" not "allies"

BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Washington's attempt to coerce its submissive allies at the just-ended Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Japan again testifies that the United States, the world's most self-serving country, never truly treats them as friends.

Fanning the flames of the Ukraine crisis to drag European allies into its quagmire and pressuring G7 allies to take tougher positions on China, the United States has always been pursuing the "America First" doctrine regardless of its allies' interests.

The United States has long leveraged the alliance system to keep its global hegemony. The U.S. administration, as German MP Sevim Dagdelen observed, "don't actually want allies, just loyal vassals."

SELF-CENTERED ALLIANCE SYSTEM

After World War II, the United States began to forge its alliance system marked by the founding of NATO in 1949. With the establishment of its bilateral alliances with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, a self-centered network of worldwide alliances led by the United States has been gradually formed.

Founded in response to the so-called "security threat" from the Soviet Union, the U.S.-led alliance system, which was supposed to dissolve with the end of the Cold War, continued to be strengthened since then.

Washington has long been employing its alliance system to peddle the so-called "democracy versus autocracy" rhetoric in an attempt to stir up camp confrontation and hostilities.

NATO's eastward expansion is a case in point. Manipulated by the United States, NATO has undertaken several rounds of expansion, squeezing Russia's strategic living space by the day.

Now Washington is happy to see the Ukraine crisis drag on, or even escalate as the crisis enables it, on the one hand, to bleed Russia, and on the other hand, to fleece its allies.

Jose Luiz Fiori, a Brazilian expert in international political economy, remarked that the United States unscrupulously touted "Russophobia" as if the West cannot unite together without demonizing external enemies.

The same ploy is used to contain China, first by defining China as a strategic competitor and hyping up the so-called "China threat," and then by ganging up against China in the Asia-Pacific region.

Among its latest moves are attempts to bring Japan and South Korea into its trilateral fold, forge the quadrilateral security dialogue to build an Asian NATO, and reinforce the AUKUS trilateral security agreement.

"American global supremacy is woven by an elaborate system of alliances and coalitions that literally span the globe," Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former U.S. national security adviser and strategist wrote in his book.

Under the guise of multilateralism, the Biden administration actually followed the "America First" doctrine. Its self-centered alliance system is, in essence, to contain and suppress China, tame and manipulate allies, and sustain and expand hegemony.

AMERICA BENEFITS MOST

"We will unapologetically pursue our industrial strategy at home, but we are unambiguously committed to not leaving our friends behind," said U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in an address at the Brookings Institution in April, trying to mollify its allies.

Focusing on renewing American economic leadership, his speech was unabashedly vocal about America coming first and American interests taking precedence over its allies'.

Brad Glosserman, deputy director of and visiting professor at the Center for Rule-Making Strategies at Tama University, said that while Sullivan's rhetoric may sound "music to the ears of those partners," legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, in fact, benefited U.S. companies more than friendly competitors.

Take the energy field. Due to tough sanctions on Russia, oil and gas deliveries to Europe have been drastically reduced. After the Nord Stream blasts, Europe had no choice but to import expensive energy from America.

Therefore, more and more LNG carriers are "logically" departing from the United States for Europe. And in the end, it's Europe that suffered a big loss, while the United States made a fortune.

On issues concerning who bombed the Nord Stream pipeline, some Western officials are not so eager to find out who on earth should be held responsible for the blasts, according to The Washington Post.

A senior European diplomat said leaders saw little benefit from digging too deeply and finding an uncomfortable answer and was quoted as saying "Don't talk about Nord Stream ... It's better not to know."

"America comes first" is also reflected in the U.S. military presence worldwide.

According to a study conducted by David Vine, professor at the Department of Anthropology at American University, as of 2021, there are approximately 750 U.S. military base sites abroad in 80 foreign countries and colonies, nearly three times as many bases abroad as its embassies, consulates, and missions worldwide.

More U.S. military bases were set and more troops were sent in, ostensibly to provide security for its allies, but actually to strengthen control over them. Meanwhile, most of the treaties signed by the United States and its allies, such as the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan, contain exemption clauses.

On top of that, the U.S. military not only enjoys extraterritoriality but also can give up the fulfillment of treaty obligations under certain circumstances.

When asked about foreign interference during a parliamentary hearing earlier this month, former French PM Francois Fillon said, "Yes, I encountered it, most of the time, it came from a friendly and allied country called the United States."

PAWNS NO MORE

Refusing to be pawns in Washington's geopolitical strife, Japanese demonstrators gathered together to protest the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, holding placards of "U.S. out of Asia Pacific." Australian scholars signed an open letter voicing concerns over Australia's participation in the AUKUS.

Former Australian FM Bob Carr said Canberra needed a United States with a "creative role" in the region, not one "obsessed with its primacy and with its dominance."

A wave of reconciliation, represented by Syria's return to the Arab League, is sweeping across the Middle East, as the Arab countries realize that U.S. interference in the name of allies has only plunged the region into instability and chaos.

"We continue to believe that we will not normalize our relations with the Assad regime, and we don't support our allies and partners doing so either," said U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel, once again exposing that what the United States really wants are vassals, not allies.

The hegemonic practices and zero-sum game mentality of the United States have created confrontation and division on regional and international issues, seriously damaging the development interests of its allies.

The Biden administration is "indifferent to the concerns of its Arab allies, making unilateral decisions on matters of regional importance without consulting them," said in a report published by Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, titled "The Middle East: From a decade of conflict to an age of reconciliation."

"Strategic autonomy" became a buzzword around Europe, with experts and political insiders realizing that the United States has never wanted to see a united and autonomous Europe.

Echoing French President Emmanuel Macron's push for "strategic autonomy" away from the United States, European Council president Charles Michel remarked "if this alliance with the United States would suppose that we blindly, systematically follow the position of the United States on all issues, no."