It’s much worse than we think. May getting close to Trump could drag us into nuclear war

Things are much worse than we think. Theresa May getting close to Donald Trump could drag us into nuclear war with China.

At present, there are more than 400 US military bases surrounding China with missiles, bombers, and nuclear weapons. Behind the scenes, there is a battle going on between the US and China for neo-colonial access to oil, gas, and other raw materials in Africa and the Middle East. Meanwhile, a provocative military exercise from the US, Australia, and Japan is largely responsible for China building airstrips on disputed islands in the South China Sea.

And the Trump Administration is not helping to calm these tensions. Quite the opposite, in fact. While toning down US hostility to Russia, the President has been consistently adversarial towards China.

Steve Bannon

Far-right media outlet Breitbart News didn’t exist ten years ago. But now, its former Executive Chair Steve Bannon is one of the most powerful men in the White House. And in March 2016, he said:

We’re going to war in the South China Sea in five to 10 years… There’s no doubt about that.

Not only is Bannon Trump’s Chief Strategist, but Trump has also formally included him in the “principals committee” of the National Security Council (NSC). The appointment of Bannon is highly controversial, because the NSC is supposed to remain at arms length from the President to avoid over-politicisation. The NSC is part of the Executive Office of the President. And it’s the most senior body on national security and foreign policy issues.

These are Bannon’s comments from a February 2016 radio show:

You have an expansionist Islam and you have an expansionist China. Right? They are motivated. They’re arrogant. They’re on the march. And they think the Judeo-Christian West is on the retreat

In the context of ongoing tensions between the US and China, this type of thinking in the White House is worrying. To say the least.

The Trump Administration is already setting the stage

The Senate officially confirmed Trump’s pick Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State on 1 February. Tillerson has also spoken out on China. He says, for example, that China must be barred from artificial islands it has built on disputed waters in the South China Sea:

We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed.

New White House spokesman Sean Spicer echoed Tillerson’s comments in a press conference. Spicer said the US would prevent China taking over territory in international waters.

Experts are warning such moves would lead to war. Ashley Townshend, a fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States studies centre, said:

Blocking China’s access, presumably with US warships, would precipitate a crisis, a military clash

China feels the heat

China has explicitly said that the new Trump Administration increases risk of nuclear war. The People’s Liberation Army, the armed forces of China’s ruling party, wrote in a commentary:

‘A war within the president’s term’ or ‘war breaking out tonight’ are not just slogans, they are becoming a practical reality

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying also condemned Tillerman and Spicer’s comments.

Where does May stand?

Central to May’s so-called Brexit ‘plan’ is a trade deal with both China and the US. But how will she reconcile the increasingly hostile relationship between these two huge markets? And most importantly, where will the UK stand in a potential war with China? If the partnership between Tony Blair and George W Bush is anything to go by, we could be heavily involved in a war that would dwarf the invasion of Iraq.

We cannot let the political and media class drag us into such a catastrophe.

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Featured image via Twitter