We, the people of the world, can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible. And it is a scientific fact that we do not have to live this way.

—Bob Avakian

Two recent pieces in the mainstream American press drive home the above quote from the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian:

• An article in the New York Times described U.S. Army training in jungle terrain in Hawaii to prepare for what the Pentagon calls the “Great Power War” with China. As the Times put it, such a war would be “exponentially more dangerous” than any other war fought by the U.S. military. And, “It would put the world’s two strongest militaries—both of them nuclear superpowers—in direct conflict, possibly drawing in other nuclear adversaries, including North Korea and Russia.” Such a war could start over Taiwan, an island off mainland China that is claimed by the Chinese government and that the U.S. has vowed to defend with its military. According to the Times, China’s leadership “has ordered the Chinese military to be ready to invade [Taiwan] by 2027.” (“New Vehicles, Face Paint and a 1,200-Foot Fall: The U.S. Army Prepares for War With China,” October 29)
• A piece in the Washington Post highlighted how China has spent $50 billion in recent years to build up its military on Hainan, an island on China’s southern coast, and in the nearby South China Sea. According to the Post, citing military analysts, the U.S. is deeply worried that this buildup by China threatens to “neutralize what has long been considered a U.S. military advantage in a possible head-to-head conflict [with China].” (“China built a $50 billion military stronghold in the South China Sea,” October 31)

Let’s make this clear right off the bat: These are two opposing global exploiters and oppressors—capitalist-imperialists—contending with each other to dominate key parts of the world. They are doing this at the risk of getting into an all-out war—including with nuclear weapons—that could possibly bring about the end of humanity, or at minimum the deaths of tens or hundreds of millions and immense suffering for those who aren’t instantly killed, as well as ecological catastrophe for life on the whole planet. For people within the U.S.—by far the most brutal and blood-soaked empire in history—there is a responsibility to first and foremost oppose “our” imperialists and act in the interests of humanity.

Taiwan and Other Flashpoints

A key flashpoint in the increasingly dangerous U.S.-China contention is Taiwan, an island off the coast of mainland China. China’s capitalist rulers claim Taiwan, now governed independently of China, as part of their sovereign territory and have made clear their intention to “reunify” the island as part of China’s moves to project economic, political and military power in the Asia-Pacific region.¹ Most countries worldwide recognize Taiwan as part of China, including the U.S. since 1979. 

But during his presidency, Biden has openly departed from the decades-long position of presidents before him by declaring repeatedly that the U.S. would send American troops to Taiwan if China moved to seize the island by force. Such a move would bring American forces face-to-face against the Chinese military. And Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, when she was the Speaker of the House, made an official visit to Taiwan—the highest American official in 25 years to do so. She made the visit knowing full well it would be seen by Chinese leaders as a deliberate challenge and warning. The U.S. has also sent Green Berets to train Taiwanese troops and billions of dollars in weapons, including advanced weapons like F-16 fighter jets.

The latest clash over Taiwan took place in mid-October when China held a large-scale war exercise, with over 125 warplanes and an aircraft carrier, to simulate surrounding the island and blockading its ports. In response, U.S. and Canadian warships sailed through the strait between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland in a provocative show of force. Around the same time, further south in the Philippines, thousands of American and Filipino troops carried out large-scale joint military exercises. 

The U.S. has been stepping up its own military presence in Asia and the Pacific and strengthening ties with the Philippines and other countries in the region in an effort to surround and contain the rival Chinese imperialists. A New York Times piece in April pointed to some of those moves: “The United States is sending the most advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles to Japan and has established a new kind of Marine Corps regiment on Okinawa that is designed to fight from small islands and destroy ships at sea. The Pentagon has gained access to multiple airfields and naval bases in the Philippines, lessening the need for aircraft carriers that could be targeted by China’s long-range missiles and submarines in time of war. The Australian government hosts U.S. Marines in the north of the country, and one of three sites in the east will soon be the new home for advanced American-made attack submarines. The United States also has a new security agreement with Papua New Guinea.”

China, for its part, “has vastly expanded its reach in the Pacific, building artificial islands for military outposts in the South China Sea and seeking to expand bases in the Indian and Pacific oceans—including a naval facility in Cambodia…” (Washington Post, March 29). China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its own territorial waters—a claim loudly opposed by the U.S. and its allies. As part of this, Chinese naval ships have been repeatedly ramming Philippine coast guard and fishing vessels in open seas—a potential spark for U.S. forces directly clashing with Chinese forces, given U.S.’s “mutual defense” agreements with the Philippines.

A World Without Nuclear Weapons and War Is Possible

Right now, there are intense, unprecedented divisions among the rulers of the U.S., between the Trump/Republi-fascists and the Democrats—including over what the U.S. should do in relation to challenges to its domination of the Middle East and elsewhere internationally. But on the question of China as the top enemy for U.S. imperialism globally, the Republi-fascists and Democrats are very much in agreement: as the New York Times piece mentioned at the beginning of this article put it: “…no matter who wins in November, the United States will continue to prepare for war with China.” (At the same time, there seem to be sharp differences over how to go after China, which feeds into the extremely bitter splits among the rulers; see, for example, New York Times opinion writer Ross Douthat’s conversation with two former Trump/Pence regime “defense” and “security” officials, who feel China has been “winning” during the Biden-Harris years because the U.S. is too focused and spending too many resources on other areas such as the Middle East and Ukraine.)

To emphasize again, such a war between nuclear-powered imperialists—in an all-out fight over which is the dominant power in the world—holds the real possibility of bringing an end to humanity. What’s driving this criminal insanity? It’s the needs and dynamics of the system of capitalism-imperialism—a system that functions, and can only function, by viciously exploiting and murderously oppressing masses of people, here and throughout the world… and by beating out imperialist rivals and regional challengers, through wars of mass murder and destruction if necessary, including the use of nuclear bombs and missiles.² 

There Is One Real—and Realistic—Alternative: REVOLUTION!

No one should want to live in a world like this—and the reality is that we don’t have to! Get into why and how this is so through the social media messages @BobAvakianOfficial from revolutionary leader Bob Avakian. Here’s what he says in REVOLUTION #42, “Imperialism—and Imperialist War: What is, and is not, its fundamental motivation, nature and role, how it can be finally ended”:

In order to no longer live this way, it is necessary to carry out a thoroughgoing revolution, to overthrow the system of capitalism-imperialism, and bring into being a radically different and much better system. A sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for that radically different and much better system is contained in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have authored. In this Constitution, the following is made very clear:

The New Socialist Republic in North America will not develop, and will not use, nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. It will wage a determined and many-sided struggle to rid the world of all such weapons—and it will do this as part of the larger, overall struggle to defeat and dismantle all imperialist and reactionary states and forces and to advance toward the achievement of communism, throughout the world, which will finally make it possible for the desires and dreams of countless human beings throughout history, and the fundamental interests of humanity, for a world without war, to at long last be realized.

This is not just a dream or simply a lofty aspiration. As I have spoken to throughout these messages (and in a concentrated way in numbers One through Eleven), this is a rare time when the revolution to overthrow this system—yes, right in this powerful capitalist-imperialist country—is not only urgently necessary but is possible, and this revolution would make possible a crucial leap toward an emancipating future in which humanity can truly thrive, without the terrible suffering to which the masses of humanity are now subjected, and without the continual threat of nuclear annihilation.