The sudden attack by Hamas on Israel ignited another war after Russia’s, shocking the world. An expert worries whether the United States can spare another hand to help defend world peace with the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war. In particular, communist China remains at high risk of waging a battle over its sovereignty claims to Taiwan.
In the early morning of Oct. 7, Hamas, a U.S.-classified terrorist organization based in Gaza, suddenly fired thousands of rockets at Israel, followed by a combined air, land, and sea attack. The Hamas terrorists attacked men, women, and children and kidnapped many Israeli soldiers and civilians as hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “state of war” in Israel, emphasizing that the military is fully committed to fighting against Hamas and the war is likely to be protracted.
The United States, the UK, the EU, Japan, India, Ukraine, and dozens of other countries have expressed their solidarity with Israel while condemning Hamas for its acts of terrorism. Meanwhile, Lebanon, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq are siding with Hamas and claiming that Israel is at fault.
Beijing’s stance is intriguing. On Oct. 8, China’s Foreign Ministry urged the relevant parties to remain calm and cease hostilities to protect civilians, saying that “the fundamental way out of the conflict lies in implementing the two-state solution and establishing an independent State of Palestine.”
Yuval Waks, a senior official at the Israeli Embassy in China, told reporters that Beijing should have lodged a “stronger condemnation” toward Hamas, saying “When people are being murdered, slaughtered in the streets, this is not the time to call for a two-state solution.”
Countries with more or less similar attitudes to that of Beijing are Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey; they have said that all parties should exercise restraint to avoid further escalation of tension and to prevent the situation from getting out of control.
In response to Hamas’s devastating terrorist attack on Israel, there is no sense in saying “keeping calm or [exercising] restraint,” said Shi Shan, a U.S.-based China political affairs expert.
“[Those countries] talking about ‘restraint’ at this moment [are] likely to be pulling the strings, implicitly supporting Hamas,” Mr. Shi told The Epoch Times on Oct. 8.
Mr. Shi believes it remains to be seen how far the current war in the Middle East will go and whether it will spread to a broader area.
‘Be Wary of the CCP’
The United States has a strategy of “winning two wars at the same time,” but its strategic center of gravity is not in the Middle East, according to Mr. Shi.From Aug. 9 to Aug. 18, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps held a large-scale military exercise that involved 25,000 troops and spanned 22 time zones in Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indo-Pacific region.
The time zones involved in the exercise signaled that the United States is preparing to fight two wars simultaneously, one against Russia in the Atlantic and the other against the CCP in the Indo-Pacific region, Mr. Shi said.
“We have to maintain the nation’s ability to project power globally,” said Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, in August.
CCP leader Xi Jinping has prioritized the “reunification of Taiwan” as a target in his third term. The CCP’s aggressive stance has raised alarm bells around the world. U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said that the United States will defend the island if the CCP invades Taiwan by force.
Mr. Shi raised concerns that “if the ongoing conflict in the Middle East develops into a second war, even if the U.S. can cope with two wars simultaneously, can it tackle a third war? It would be a fairly daunting thing.”
“I am afraid that this is a situation that Beijing is particularly willing to see, so any unusual move by the CCP is worth paying attention to,” said Mr. Shi, warning, “Be wary of the CCP.”
Adding another layer of concern, Mr. Shi believes the driving force behind the intense Hamas rocket and missile attack on Israel is Iran, the backer of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah partners with Hamas.
Further, given the Chinese communist regime’s close ties to Iran, it is likely the CCP played a role in Hamas’s sudden strike on Israel, Mr. Shi said.
A Money-Burning War
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now in its 20th month and doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon.
Voices within the U.S. Congress are calling for a reduction in aid to Ukraine. Last month, the U.S. federal government nearly shut down due to the delay in passing a congressional budget. It was not until late at night on Sept. 30 that the House of Representatives narrowly passed a short-term bill that omitted extra aid to Ukraine. Subsequently, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was removed from office by a disgruntled minority within the Republican Party over the bill.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Sept. 24 that if Congress cuts off aid to Kyiv, Ukraine will face severe economic and political repercussions in a counteroffensive this fall.
The United States and other donor countries pay the salaries of 150,000 civil servants and more than 500,000 education employees in Ukraine, as well as government expenditures such as health care and housing subsidies.
