You know we are in a Cold War when leaders say we are not

China’s warning involving Cold War confrontations in the Asia Pacific should be taken seriously by Australia. Here’s why.

You know we are in the midst of a new Cold War when leaders feel the need to take to the world stage and say we are not.

That position was all but confirmed today with Chinese leader Xi Jinping warning against a return to Cold War confrontations in the Asia Pacific.

In September US President Joe Biden in his first speech as president to the UN General Assembly felt the need to affirm the US was not seeking a new Cold War and a “world divided,” and now Xi has come out on the sidelines of the APEC forum to go a step further and warn what such an event could look like.

To misquote Shakespeare, methinks they doth protest too much.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit via video, in Beijing. Picture: AFP

When the US-led Western Bloc popularised the term ‘cold war’ in the Twentieth Century to describe its geopolitical stand off with the Soviet Union, it was based more on ideological differences and a protest against the expansionist ambitions of the Russians.

Those ambitions were largely attempted through economic and political coercion, increased acts of espionage and propaganda campaigns directed at each other’s ideologically based principles including democracy.

Sound familiar?

Well it should because it is exactly what we – and by that I mean US-aligned Western nations like Australia – are already in the midst off with China. For 18 months, Beijing has sought to weaponise trade to punish detractors, use propaganda campaigns to create divisions, bind surrogate nations in the Pacific through coercion disguised as aid loans and generally mask its own military adventurism through the region.

US President Joe Biden addresses the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 21, 2021. Picture: AFP

Throw in cyberwarfare, which didn’t exist during the US-Soviet era, and a record number of deployed spies and agents of influence and you complete what it is to be in a Cold War.

Xi is right about one observation: unlike Cold War visions of the past this one would be like no other.

For a start China is no USSR, in that it is an economic powerhouse more intertwined with the rest of the world than the then closed-door Soviets ever were.

China’s army is bigger than any other on the planet and by all reports it is more advanced in hypersonic missile technology, the sort of holy grail in military weaponry that can destroy whole cities in literally less than a blink of an eye.

It was perhaps that realisation that prompted Biden to affirm his warning of such a divided world.

But why would Xi come out with his state of conflict warning now?

For one it is a sneer at western nation attempts to shore up power through new blocs, both of which involve Australia, namely the AUKUS treaty with the UK and US and the Quad involving Australia, the US, India and Japan.

China’s power is well matched in size to these.

U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Reuters

Xi’s remark is an affirmation that the world based order is about to change, China is rejecting international law and order instruments that he perceives has limited his nation’s expansionist destiny, and Beijing is ready to now sit at the head of the table.

It ironically has been China’s embrace of globalisation and democratic-built multilateralism that has propelled the nation to where it is today.

It is perhaps no coincidence that his remark came off the back of China’s Communist Party secret plenum of its central committee, which ended with a resolution that consolidates Xi’s authority as he moves to secure a historic third term as party leader.

Decorative plates featuring images of Chinese President Xi Jinping and late communist leader Mao Zedong are displayed at a shop in Beijing on November 9, 2021. Picture: AFP

The only two previous party “historical resolutions”, in 1945 and 1981, had the effect of consolidating the authority of leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, respectively.

The party is telling the world to respect the dear leader and his divine leadership, and to do so is to respect China’s position today. It has been playing the long game and wants the world to recognise where it sits today.

So when are we in a Cold War and when are we not? Effectively when everyone says we are not then we are.