WITHIN a spate of less than a week, the world has begun to grasp the importance of China. Only that this understanding is also framed in terms of deterring China from making any more "aggressive" moves.
What is often forgotten is that the moment the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it was President Saddam Hussein who invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
What was to come was the likes of President George H.W. Bush senior, speaking of a "New World Order", where the international community would be governed by international laws and legal principles.
As events emerged, President George Bush Jr gathered more than 40 countries to form a massive coalition to repel Iraq back to its own order, thereby liberating Kuwait through "Operation Desert Storm" in February 1991.
While the victory proved swift and decisive, the United States would soon become enamoured with its own military power. Celebrating its ability to "bomb Iraq into the Stone Age", as some commentators like Charles Krauthammer of TIME Magazine openly gloated, did not help matters one bit.
The US was meant to use its powers responsibly, especially when America was enjoying the "unipolar moment" where it alone was the top dog. Yet in the course of two days, between Jan 12 and Jan 14, 2024, two events have chastened the US to be more cautious than ever. One would hope for the good.
By working in tandem with the likes of the United Kingdom, not ignoring the role of Australia, Bahrain and Netherlands, the US unleashed a ferocious attack on Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, under the control of the Houthi rebels.
As this is being written, the US still plans to keep up its attack of the rebel faction in Yemen that has all but controlled 80 per cent of the country since 2015. France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have all urged the US and its international coalition of 10 countries not to take any aggressive action against the Houthis.
In other words, to refrain from taking any punitive measures against the Houthis. The rebels had resorted to using drones and missiles as well as commandeering commercial oil tankers that traverse from the Suez Canal to the southern tip of the narrow Red Sea as the Houthis sought to harass international oil tankers and freight.
Even the likes of Russia and China have counselled the same: Do not take on the Houthis in the Red Sea. Over the last decade, the Houthis have become extremely adept at protecting and deploying various forms of missiles to galvanise their military strength.
If anything, the Houthis have an impressive arsenal comprising rockets and missiles, even cheap drones with some costing no less than US$10,000 each, to attack Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE and even Qatar as they threatened to rain havoc on the whole of the Middle East.
As usual, the US and the UK, have not paid heed to the advice of the international community. In the words of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkiye, the attacks against the Houthis are "disproportionate" and risks turning the "Red Sea into a sea of blood".
Turning to the Taiwan Strait, the maritime area that separates mainland China and Taiwan, all the polls that projected a close race in the Taiwan election have proven wrong.
On Jan 13, 2024, Lai Ching Te, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), emerged the presidential winner. This would be the third consecutive term that the DPP has remained at the helm.
While it is both unprecedented and historical in the electoral history of Taiwan, the world has to adjust itself to a Presidential winner that comes from the most radical pro-independence faction of the DPP. President elect Lai has affirmed that he has no intention of leading Taiwan to be a breakaway republic.
For the sake of global stability, Lai, who won with 40.1 per cent of the votes among the other two contenders, had better stick to what he has pledged.
This is because the One China policy is important to the international order.
Aware of the risks that the US has wittingly or unwittingly unleashed by saying that America no longer accepts any policy of "strategic ambiguity" on at least four different occasions by none other than President Joe Biden, the US has increased the risk of an all-out conflict between China and Taiwan.
The Taiwan Strait diplomacy has been complicated by irresponsible statements by Washington. By saying things that Biden should not have said so openly, over the last few years Washington has stirred up alarm among China's policymakers and key leaders.
The main fear is that the US is implicitly supporting Taiwan to be a breakaway republic at one point or the other in future. Naturally, such a reckless action by Taiwan would be met with force, even if this is an option that is not necessarily favoured by President Xi Jinping.
With Biden highly averse to the events unfolding in the Red Sea and Gaza, as well as the risk of losing further political support, this prompted the Biden administration to release a statement on Jan 14 that it would not support the "independence of Taiwan".
While this statement by the US is much welcomed, both by China and the rest of the world, this action is inevitably counterproductive. The Biden administration should have said this right from the start when Biden defeated Donald Trump in the Presidential election of Nov 3, 2020. Such early assurance to a growing power such as China can only be to the benefit of the world.
Come what may, given all the chaos that the US and European Union have created in the world over the last 30 years, leading to sheer confusion that has simmered in the Red Sea and Taiwan Strait, it is rather ironic that China has emerged as a peaceful and stable country.
As things stand, Xi and the people of China just have to impress upon the US and other member states of the G7 that any conflict is bad for the world in 2024 or beyond.
The world's inflation has gradually crawled to a stop in November 2023. In the US, it has stabilised at 2 per cent. Meanwhile, the annualised economic growth of the US in 2024 is expected to climb down from 2 per cent to 1.2 per cent in light of the turbulence caused by Israel's unrelenting attack of Gaza.
Meanwhile, in the EU growth will drop from 0.7 per cent to 0.2 per cent in light of the quagmire between Russia and Ukraine. While that of China will drop from 5.2 per cent to 4.4 per cent according to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund due to the headwinds of the weaker property sector in China.
Come what may, China cannot be held responsible for any war in and around the region. Whether in the Red Sea or the Taiwan Strait, Chinese diplomats have handled international issues with great composure.
All these despite the dire consequences that the world faces if the simmering tensions in the Red Sea and Taiwan Strait are not carefully and strategically managed.
The writer is Senior Adviser, Bluebridge Education Group, University of Cambridge