President Donald Trump has warned China not to supply Iran with new air defense systems. His admonition is recognition of the undeniable fact that an Axis of Autocracies seeks to overthrow the U.S.-led world order.
China planned to supply air defense systems to Iran during the recent two-week ceasefire, according to U.S. intelligence reports. On April 11, Trump said China would face “big problems” if it did.
Trump is right to issue that warning of unpleasant consequences and right also to upbraid Beijing publicly for its help to Tehran while the latter is at war with the United States.
China has propped up both Iran and Russia by buying their sanctioned oil and helping keep both dictatorships afloat. Beijing poses as a peacemaker in public, even as it fills the war chests of America’s adversaries in both conflicts.
Approximately 60% of the Russian war effort in Ukraine is “being bankrolled by China,” Britain’s Air Marshal Edward Springer told a gathering of parliamentarians in February. China has even “discreetly built supply lines going to drone factories in Russia,” he added.
China has sent more than $10 billion in dual-use technology to Russia, including navigation equipment, microchips, drone parts, engines, and specialized machinery. It has helped make Russia’s imperial war against Ukraine possible.
Beijing has similarly destabilized the Middle East by backing the Islamic Republic, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, and supplied it with advanced surveillance technology to repress the domestic population, satellite navigation systems to steer drones and missiles, and sodium perchlorate to fuel rockets.
The war machines of Moscow and Tehran are fueled by Beijing.
China seeks to supplant the U.S. and become the world’s only superpower. But it knows it needs Russia, Iran, and North Korea on its side to achieve this goal. These nations have differing interests and objectives, but they share the understanding that the U.S. stands in the way of their achieving their malign goals.
China is the preeminent power in the Axis, but its allies are essential in helping to tie down and distract the U.S.
The term “Axis” is fraught. During World War II, the Allied Powers used the term to describe their opponents, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and fascist Italy. More recently, President George W. Bush used the phrase “Axis of Evil” in his 2002 State of the Union address to describe Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.
Some have argued against using the term to describe China and this new coalition. They say Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, and Pyongyang share disparate goals and have a history of border disputes and conflict. So what? These countries share the same overarching objective and overlook their differences to work together to topple America.
DEMOCRATS ADMIT HIGHER TAXES AREN’T WORTH IT
The new Axis, with its millions of men under arms, nuclear weapons, and revisionist ambitions, presents the gravest threat the U.S. has faced since World War II, if not ever. To confront this threat, the U.S. must first broadly acknowledge that it exists. It’s like referring to the “evil empire” — it might startle the horses, or in this case, donkeys. But it is salutary to tell the truth.
The post-Cold War era, in which America was the unquestioned and sole superpower, is over. The world is again splitting into blocs. The U.S. and the free world are on one side, and the Axis of Autocracies is on the other. Victory in this contest will require being clear-eyed about our opponents and what they want, and that starts with speaking plainly about them.