Many Asians Believe a War against China is Inevitable
Arthur Dominic Villasanta | | Jul 22, 2014 01:33 AM EDT |
There will be a war against China and it might just be around the corner.
A new survey by nonpartisan American think tank The Pew Research Center reveals a disquieting perception among a majority of Asians that China's untrammeled bullying and its claim to own practically the entire South China Sea is leading to war.
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Pew said that in all 11 Asian nations involved in the survey, "roughly half or more say they are concerned that territorial disputes between China and its neighbors will lead to a military conflict."
The survey revealed that 93 percent of Filipino respondents feel there will be war, the highest among the countries surveyed. Elsewhere in Asia, fear of a war involving China was uniformly high.
The view that war is looming is held by 85 percent of the Japanese; 84 percent of Vietnamese and 83 percent of South Koreans.
Surprisingly, 62 percent of Chinese hold the same view.
The Philippines and Vietnam are China's main antagonists in the simmering tensions over maritime boundaries. Japan is backing both nations against China.
A majority of the Filipinos, Japanese, Vietnamese and South Koreans respondents see China as their nation's top threat and the U.S. as their nation's most important ally, said the Pew survey.
Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution urging China to avoid engaging in behavior that will "destabilize the Asia-Pacific region" and to refrain from enforcing an air-defense zone it unilaterally imposed over islands in the East China Sea also claimed by Japan.
The Philippines and Vietnam have entered into a de facto military alliance to defend their interests against the Chinese.
The publication of the Pew poll comes after the U.S. increased military cooperation with its Asian allies such as the Philippines and bolstered relations with Vietnam to blunt China's increasingly aggressive moves in the Asia-Pacific.
"What we seem to be seeing is increasing polarization in Washington and in Beijing," said Alexander Neill, a Senior Fellow with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British think tank specializing in international affairs.
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