By Satyaki Chakraborty
The United States of America is steadily losing its diplomatic battle in the Middle East against China as more and more warring nations in the region are looking to China for acting as the facilitator for establishing peace in the region. After the big success of brokering a peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, China has shown interest in helping the two warring states Israel and Palestine to hold peace talks again.
China’s foreign minister told his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts that his country is ready to help facilitate the first peace talks between the two sides in more than a decade. In separate phone calls to the concerned ministers on April 17, the Chinese minister expressed concern over increasing tensions between Israel and Palestine in the recent months and why it was incumbent for the two parties to seek a solution through dialogue which China can help.
Last month, Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a deal brokered by China to restore diplomatic ties that were cut off in 2016. This increases the chances of a new peace process in the war in Yemen, which was a proxy conflict between the two nations. The Chinese success in restoring ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia has come as a big diplomatic defeat for the US President Joe Biden as Saudi Arabia always has been a steady supporter of the US and the US has always taken a position supporting Saudi Arabia government against Iran and other west Asian nations.
Significantly, the Chinese foreign minister stressed in his talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen that Saudi Arabia and Iran have set a good example of overcoming differences through dialogue, the statement said. He told Cohen that Beijing encourages Israel and the Palestinians to show political courage and take steps to resume peace talks. The Chinese minister gave enough hint that China would only act as a third country helping negotiations as a facilitator.
Interestingly, the Israeli foreign minister expressed his country’s commitment to reducing tensions, but said the problem appeared to be difficult to resolve in the short term, but they both discussed the importance of maintaining quiet at the Temple Mount, particularly in the final days of the Ramdan. The Chinese minister also told the Palestine foreign minister Riyad al Malki that China was willing to play an active role in the resumption of the peace talks and the Palestine side should also ensure peace in the tension prone zone.
China’s consistent forays in the west Asian region through diplomacy also coincides with China’s success in the Latin America where more and more countries are showing eagerness to improve ties with China coming out of the influence of the American administration. The latest example is Colombia which has recognized Communist China by snapping all ties with Taiwan which the earlier Colombia administrations recognized. The decision of the Colombia government headed by the left wing president Castro has given a big jolt to the US diplomacy in Latin America.
It is recalled the United States proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine 200 years ago and ever since has arranged Latin American and Caribbean affairs to its advantage. Nevertheless, struggles for national and regional independence did continue, and the poor and marginalized classes did resist. Eventually there would be indigenous movements, labour mobilizations, and progressive and socialist-inclined governments. Cuba’s revolutionary government, for instance, has endured for 63 years.
The U.S. political hold may have weakened, but U.S. control over the region’s economies remains strong; after World War II it extended worldwide. Now, cracks are showing up. In particular, the U.S. dollar’s role as the world economy’s dominant currency may have run its course.
In 1944, 44 Allied nations determined that the value of their various currencies would correlate with the value of the U.S. dollar instead of the value of gold. The nations since then have relied on the U.S. dollar for their reserve currencies, for foreign trade and in banking transactions. But now, many Latin American countries are trading in the Chinese currency yuan as against dollar thereby giving a hiccup to the US administration. The latest was the Latin America’s largest populated country Brazil which last week decided to use yuan instead of a US dollar as a currency of exchange. Brazil’s example can be followed by some other countries soon having excellent trade relations with China..
That way while the United States has been trying to encircle China in geo strategic terms and the US trade war against China is on, in reality, the US is losing its trusted allies to the diplomatic moves of the Chinese government and this now covers both Latin America and the Middle East. The latest Chinese move to broker peace talks between Israel and Palestine, if fructifies, will be another feather in the cap of China to the detriment of the US hegemony. (IPA Service)
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