On the same day that Joe Biden’s government tested the “readiness of its nuclear forces” with the launch of a Minuteman-3 intercontinental missile, Russia accused Washington of seeking to create a new NATO in Asia and of deliberately provoking China. in Taiwan.
The political ballet between the powers involved in the Cold War 2.0, which gained drama from the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin in February, took these steps of convergence this Tuesday (16).
The US tested the Minuteman-3 after a brief delay, precisely because of the crisis in Taiwan, which was triggered last week when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island that Beijing treats as a rebel province to be subjugated.
The Americans did not want to give the impression that they were escalating the crisis, as the Chinese responded to the first such high-profile visit to Taipei in 25 years with an unprecedented series of military exercises that essentially simulated the blockade and invasion of Taiwan. On Monday (15), a new visit by American parliamentarians to the island was responded to with new maneuvers, thus establishing a dangerous pattern.
The LGM-30G Minuteman-30 is the American missile based on land silos for use in the event of a nuclear confrontation. It can carry three lower-powered nuclear warheads, but the US prefers such a multiple configuration in its Trident submarine-launched models. Its range is 10 thousand km and the current arsenal is 400 units.
The test, according to the Defense Department, was intended to “show the readiness of US nuclear forces and provide reassurance about their lethality and effectiveness.”
The nuclear card has been shown with eerily natural frequency since the Ukrainian War began, with Putin suggesting using these weapons against anyone who intervened in his action and putting his strategic forces on alert. This month, ironically, the UN discusses revising the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to probably little effect.
In Moscow, at the opening of a security forum, Putin attacked US actions against China, his ally who has been fighting Cold War 2.0 with Washington since 2017. According to him, Pelosi’s visit was “a carefully prepared provocation”.
“It was not just a visit by a single irresponsible policy, but part of a purposeful and conscious American strategy to destabilize and sow chaos in the region and the world,” Putin said.
The president also stated that “the collective West is seeking to extend its system of blocs to Asia-Pacific in a manner analogous to NATO in Europe.” “For this, aggressive political-military alliances are being formed, like Aukus and others,” he added.
Aukus is the military pact between the US, Australia and the UK, which aims to equip Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines and increase pressure on the Chinese environment. Joe Biden’s government has also invested in the Quad, an alliance with Japan, India and Australia of a more political nature, but with the same end.
Putin’s speech followed the line adopted by him and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, of defending a multipolar world order in opposition to what they call Washington’s search for hegemony – which would be embodied in the sanctions regime adopted against Russia. He called the Americans “neocolonialists,” precisely the charge he has been receiving for their war of conquest in Ukraine.
This confluence of crisis has been worked on, in rhetoric, by the Chinese and Russians, but also by the West: NATO, in its new Strategic Concept published this year, has placed the two rivals at the center of its concerns.
