Comments for China resets terms of engagement in Central Asia at http://www.khilafah.com , comment 1 to 1 out of 1 comments http://www.khilafah.com Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:07:57 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.khilafah.com/index.php/news-watch/central-asia/8405-china-resets-terms-of-engagement-in-central-asia#comment-3685 “China can see right in front of its eyes the horrible example of its "all-weather friend" Pakistan, which by associating with US strategy in Afghanistan has been dragged into the vortex of instability and become the target of religious extremists and militants.” A damning indictment of [Perverted] Musharraf’s legacy! Nevertheless, the following quotes from the above article are worthy of special attention: “"China is putting a lot of eggs in one basket,'' one British expert said: "An awful lot of oil and gas is coming through a small region. Looking now at trends in Xinjiang, you could ask whether a route from Central Asia is actually more secure than routes through Southeast Asia or the South China Sea." The implication was obvious: that China's Central Asian pipeline could become a sitting duck for terrorists. As Robert Ebel, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, put it, security could be impossible if the pipelines become targets as they pass through vast stretches of sparsely populated areas in Central Asia and Xinjiang. "There is no way you can protect a pipeline along its entire length. It just can't be done", Ebel, a security expert, maintained. Unrest in Xinjiang, particularly, threatens the Central Asian pipeline, he added. "I'm sure it's causing grey hairs on the people in Beijing," he said. ... sends shock waves to Washington The American experts have drawn a doomsday scenario for the Chinese pipeline. Writing in the Central Asia & Caucasus Institute Analyst of Johns Hopkins University in October last year, Stephen Blank of the US War College branded Xinjiang as a "pressure cooker" which Beijing is nowhere near controlling.” “Beijing knows that "foreign devils on the Silk Road" - militant groups with foreign backers - can harass China by blowing up long stretches of the pipelines which are impractical for Beijing to protect in Xinjiang's vast mountains and deserts. That is one solid reason why Beijing has not been taken in by the US overtures for cooperation in Afghanistan nor is enamored by Obama's standing invitation to step into South Asia as the arbiter of peace and regional security.” “The war-torn Afghan population will not side with the slumbering Karzai government nor will they welcome the US presence. On the other hand, the bigger footprint made by the enhanced US troops and its NATO allies only help fuel the insurgency and trigger more fierce resistance ... Taliban dies hard.” “Looking ahead, the coming year will see the US intensify efforts to counter China's influence in Central Asia. The alarm bells are ringing in Washington. At the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee special hearing on Central Asia on December 15, George Krol, the deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, said: "This administration does not consider Central Asia a forgotten backwater, peripheral to US interests. The region is at the fulcrum of key US security, economic, and political interests. It demands attention and respect and our most diligent efforts and the Obama administration [is committed] to this very approach." [Emphasis added.] Never before has an American official stated US intentions towards post-Soviet Central Asia in such strong words. Indeed, there is an implied warning to Beijing that the US is watching its forays into the region closely and will not let them pass without challenge.” So, on the one hand we have Iranian Gas pipeline destined for India, via strategically located Pakistan, thereby giving Pakistan control over supplies to its hostile neighbour, and when it (Pakistan) declares itself as the launch pad for the imminent Khilafah state, unifying itself with Afghanistan and Central Asian states and the Middle East, it will effectively exercise total control over oil and gas supplies so desperately needed by Russia, India, Europe, US and of course China! China, being a long time ally and friend could be easily won over again, if it engages with the Khilafah on a mutually conducive Technology Transfer and Industrialisation policy, in exchange for these hydrocarbon resources. The Khilafah could grant it ‘most favoured nation’ status in contrast to the brutal and predatory colonialist states that have wreaked so much death and destruction in not just the Muslim World, but elsewhere too. The following observation by the Chinese is indeed telling: “China's interest in comprehensive engagement with the Turkmen political economy stands in contrast with the predatory instincts of the Western companies that zero in on the mineral industry with maniacal zeal.” - H Khan Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:51:33 +0100