By Sameer Sharma – Already paralyzed by the systemic failure of neo-liberalism and maximum privatization of the key sectors, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the US recklessness in regard to the global governance, cooperation and common interests. Since decades on, America has become synonymous to imperialism, interference, hatred, brutality against humankind and injustice. However, the outbreak of pandemic Covid-19 has shown social, economic, diplomatic and developmental follies of the US that have pushing millions of people across the world into war, destruction, crime and famine if they have some dissenting voices on the US’ policy. The US-led destruction and intervention across the world’s nook and cranny has resulted in misery and death to an immeasurable degree. All the countries that have been at the receiving end of the US’ atrociously pompous homilies about democracy and freedom have suffered terribly. The examples are Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and so on. The US with its inroads in the name of so-called human rights and peace is making its presence for military might and capturing the natural resources. In Afghanistan, in the aftermath of the invasion in 2001, Americans presided over a reign of terror under the pretense of fighting terrorism while the US force took lives of hundreds of thousands in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, which indeed was a crime against humanity.
The US considers that it should not abide any of the laws in the global affairs and considers itself above the laws while the laws seem the US weapons to rule and exploit other nations, specially the small and underdeveloped ones. So the US system sucks. For instance, recently the US asked the Chinese Consulate in Houston to close. But, as soon as it asked for its closure, the American spies and officials broke into the Chinese Consulate and entered there as if they were hooligans. This was the sheer violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The Article 22 of the Vienna Convention states that “The premises of the mission shall be inviolable. The agents of the receiving State may not enter them, except with the consent of the head of the mission”. The premises of the mission, their furnishings and other property thereon and the means of transport of the mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution, according to Article 22 (3) of the Vienna Convention.
China at its core retaliated against the US move by communicating its decision to withdraw its consent for the establishment and operation of the US Consulate General in Chengdu of Sichuan. This is in response to the US’ unilateral provocation by abruptly demanding Closure of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston. In doing so, the US has breached international law and basic norms of the international relations thereby the US is solely responsible for the recent developments. All that the US is doing is to cover its weaknesses and failure and the blame for engagement in industrial espionage and issue of intellectual property is nothing more than hypocrisy of the US. By closing the Chengdu, Beijing has dismantled a strategic infrastructure of Washington DC in the Chinese mainland. And, the US will be looser ultimately.
In Nepal, the US is willing to come with a new avatar of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which is a trajectory to make its military presence in the pretext of infrastructure and power grid development. Outwardly, the Americans say that they are doling out $500 million to Nepal for the infrastructure projects but they are for obstructing Chinese railway in Nepal under the veil of assistance. The MCC in Nepal is badly negotiated with many unnecessary agreements. This has created huge controversies among political parties, intellectuals, the media and general public in Nepal. This is because the MCC is being implemented in Nepal to contain China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In MCC agreement, there are some clauses that undermine Nepal’s sovereignty and independency as a nation. Questions surround why there is a provision of parliamentary ratification for a simple grant agreement. The regulation clauses of agreement even prevail over the law of Nepal. MCC has become a divisive agreement in Nepal that created a vertical division in the Nepali society. The MCC has drawn so much of controversy that there certainly are many conspiracies. If it is ratified there will be some issues, and if not again it will be a matter of debate. There is general perception that MCC compromises our sovereignty and it prevails over our law. Even there are professors and analysts with the beliefs that US military presence is obvious if we welcome the MCC. The argument of military presence in Nepal seems more likely after the closure of US Consulate General office in Chengdu, which was looking at Tibet as well. That means the US mission assigned for Tibet is closed in China and Nepal is the only safe haven for the US to mobilize its spies and operations from Nepal.
However, the US policy in Nepal is heavily criticized. With a communist government in place, the US interests are not going to be implemented here but will draw only flaks.
Finally, all the countries and peoples should protest the wrong polices of the US without being weak-kneed so that the world will not be easily deceived. The US politicians must stop slandering China or any other countries rather the US should focus on its own fight against pandemic Covid-19, employment generation, industrial output, global peace and harmony and other burning issues including climate change. The US also must stop provocation of ideological rivalry. For this all to materialize, the US hegemony should end.