The latest news on the China front is depressing.
The country will be tripling its nuclear warheads for 900 by 2035. The blueprint, prepared by the People's Liberation Army, has been approved by Chinese President Xi Jinping, head of the military, who has been eager to strengthen Beijing's deterrence against Washington, according to reports. To give some credit to the cooperation that has occurred on the nuclear weapons front since the 1940s, nuclear-armed nations have engaged in quality arms control since the beginning of the nuclear arms age, and the number of these weapons has decreased over the years. However, China's announcement is a step backward.
The ties between China and the United States have been strained, especially after former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, according to a Kyodo News report. There have been growing fears that Taiwan might become a military flash point in the Asia Pacific region soon as China considers the island as part of its territory. China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 due to civil war. Then there's the issue of the Chinese spy balloon shot down on American soil. A meeting between Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Chinese diplomats was cancelled due to the incident.
The idea of an orderly world seems to be slipping through our fingertips. The Renaissance was known as a time for rebirth in the world of learning in the West. Astounding progress was made in the world of natural science and the arts during this period in history. Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) was an important thinker of this era; one could call him a Renaissance humanist, or one who was interested in societal potential through the through the agency of human beings. Grotius theorized about an international society, a group of nation-states governed by mutual law and not by warfare.
As international relations theorist Hedley Bull declared in 1990: "the idea of international society which Grotius propounded was given concrete expression in the Peace of Westphalia, and Grotius may be considered the intellectual father of this first general peace settlement of modern times." The Peace of Westphalia was an awesome accomplishment. It ended the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people. It must be remembered that the Eighty Years' War, which preceded the Thirty Years' War, was also destructive.
The international order is breaking down with the already mentioned behavior of China and with Russia's Vladimir Putin proving what an international lawbreaker he is by invading a sovereign country, Ukraine. China and Russia are in the same orbit, as the two states are both in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. However, China has refused to supply Russia in its quest to take over Ukraine. Then there's the issue of authoritarianism, as it's posing a challenge to liberal democracies, or democratic republics, around the world. Authoritarian leaders, weather they represent authoritarian democracies (Russia, Turkey, India, Poland, and Hungary) or the purer authoritarian states like China, don't want liberal democracy to succeed because their own populaces might want something different. It must be added that Israel seems to be heading in the direction of authoritarian democracy.
As for the geopolitical tensions tearing the world apart, we're looking at individual states pursuing their own interest. Although Hungary, Turkey, and Poland are ruled by authoritarian leaders, they seem to be band-wagoning with the US to contain Russia in Ukraine. Therefore, authoritarian states don't form a united front like the Fascists in World War II and the Communist bloc in the Cold War. How do we move to a world defined by international law and peace? Those in democratic republics who favor democratic republics should work to keep them democratic. That one doesn't look good. Let's hope the expansive tendencies of China and Russia can be tempered.
If the two mentioned things can happen, then maybe the main powers of the world can police the world and prevent infractions of international law. There will have to be a change of consciousness. This includes in the United States where the recent wars in Libya and Iraq were a violation of international law. Let's hope a new China and a new Russia will appear at some time and authoritarian forms of government will melt away. After World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt wanted the United Nations to be the four policemen, as he thought China, Russia, the US, and the United Kingdom would police the world in cooperation by securing their respective hemispheres. The Cold War prevented this. However, we must hold onto the dream of an orderly world, a world that would be favored by the humanist Grotius.
Jason Sibert is the Lead Writer for the Peace Economy
