China criticized US President George W. Bush's war on Iraq yesterday, accusing an "arrogant" US of trying to "rule the world" and blaming the US-led invasion for sparking an increase in terrorist attacks.
In a rare commentary by former vice-premier and former longtime foreign minister Qian Qichen (
"The philosophy of the `Bush Doctrine' is in essence force," Qian said in the government-run English-language China Daily.
"It advocates the United States should rule over the whole world with overwhelming force -- military force in particular," he said.
While supporting Bush's anti-terrorism efforts, China opposed the war in Iraq and sees the US administration's policies as an example of superpower hegemonism, which Beijing frequently rails against.
"The current US predicament in Iraq serves as another example that when a country's superiority psychology inflates beyond its real capability, a lot of trouble can be caused," Qian said.
"But the troubles and disasters the United States has met do not stem from threats by others, but from its own cocksureness and arrogance," he said.
Far from winning peace for itself and the Arab world, Washington has "opened a Pandora's box," intensifying ethnic and religious conflicts, he argued.
"The Iraq war was an optional war, not a necessary one, and the pre-emptive principle should be removed from the dictionary of the US national security, former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright also said," Qian wrote.
Mounting hostile sentiments in the Muslim world toward the US have already helped al-Qaeda recruit more followers and suicide martyrs, Qian said.
"The Iraq War has also destroyed the hard-won global anti-terror coalition," he said. "Instead of dropping, the number of terrorist activities throughout the world is now on the increase."
Since Bush took power, China has gone from being labeled a "strategic competitor" to a partner in the anti-terror campaign.
Critics say Beijing has used its counterterrorism cooperation with Washington to win support for its efforts to crush Uighur Muslim separatists in its restive northwestern Xinjiang region.
But in recent days Beijing has been angered by the US refusal to repatriate about a dozen Uighurs captured during the war on terror and held in Guantanamo Bay.
Washington has said it wants to resettle them in third countries amid concerns they will be persecuted if returned to China.
Analysts have said China may prefer Bush over Senator John Kerry, as Bush is a known quantity to Chinese leaders and Kerry has vowed to highlight economic disputes including the Chinese currency, labor practices and trade.
However, Beijing is wary of US dominance in world affairs and is increasingly threatened by America's growing presence under Bush in Central Asia, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, which China sees as its sphere of influence, they said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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