American flags in Washington. Archival photoMOSCOW, 16 Apr. The shadow of Western colonialism is once again hanging over Asia. Former Australian diplomat John Lander came to this conclusion in an article for the Chinese edition of the Global Times. Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Alliance would approve a new strategic concept to formalize the bloc's expansion of the presence in the Asia-Pacific region with the explicit goal of countering «China's growing influence and policy of coercion.» According to Lander, Stoltenberg's statement was hardly received with enthusiasm in Asian capitals, where memories of the bitter experience of Western colonial rule are still alive. With the exception of Japan and Singapore, Asian countries — along with the rest of the developing world — have refrained from sanctioning Russia and avoiding hostility towards China, the article notes. Lander recalls that China wants to work within the UN system to strengthen this organization and make it more equitable for developing countries. The United States sees this as a subversion of the «rules-based order» that was created by America and its allies for their own good, the author concludes. />Foreign Affairs: building world hegemony will turn out to be a failure for the USChinese edition of Xinhua previously reported that US attempts to defame official Beijing and exaggerate the so-called «Chinese threat» are being made in order to create space for further suppression of the country.Slander and repression used by Washington, once again showed the «despicable and sinister character» of the United States, which dominates NATO and uses any means to protect its hegemony and personal interests, sums up Xinhua.
