Whilst mainstream Western media has been focused on hyping up the alleged ‘threat’ posed by a solitary Chinese balloon which was blown off course into US airspace last week, officials in Washington have been concentrating on working with key US allies in the Pacific region to escalate the military encirclement of China in preparation for a potential hot war in Asia – the consequences of which would be truly devastating for humanity.  

The furore over the balloon has sparked a diplomatic crisis leading to the cancellation of high level meetings scheduled to take place in Beijing between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang — meetings which could have been an opportunity for the US and China to explore ways of co-operating to tackle the seismic challenges facing humanity. 

Instead of embarking on a policy of international co-operation to solve shared problems such as the deepening climate crisis and the prospect of a global economic downturn in 2023, the entire US political establishment is uniting around an extremely aggressive policy aimed at stopping the rise of China.