ACTION ALERT: Tell your Member of Congress that China Is Not Our Enemy!
CODEPINK
After Speaker Pelosi’s ill-advised trip to Taiwan, the United States has once again escalated tensions with China. This year alone, we’ve already watched wars from Ukraine to Yemen harm millions around the world. It could not be clearer that the people and the planet cannot afford another war.
The only way to stop this war is to keep it from starting! The people of the United States don’t want to fight China: Tell your members of Congress to stand firmly and publicly in their commitment to peace!
ACTION: Contact your members of Congress.
Reject Escalation:
China Is Not Our Enemy
(August 3, 2022) — On Tuesday, the entire world watched with anticipation as the US Speaker of the House, a heartbeat away from the presidency, touched down in Taiwan with blatant disregard for longstanding US-China agreementsas well as direct warnings from the Chinese government. Even President Biden and the Pentagon advised against the trip, understanding the serious risk she posed to US-China relations.
Luckily, it’s not too late — tell your members of Congress the only way to stop war is to keep it from starting!
As China, the US, and Taiwan all undergo military preparations, it’s important to understand how we got here: the United States has been waging a hybrid war on China for years. On top of trade wars and sanctions, the United States has also surrounded the world’s most populous country with military bases throughout the Pacific, Oceania, and Central Asia. Meanwhile, China operates just one overseas military base, nowhere near the US.
Now, Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan further exacerbates tensions and brings us closer to war. While Chinese media has called the trip a “blatant provocation,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry itself also described Pelosi’s actions as “playing with fire.” China has clearly drawn its red line, and the United States has crossed it.
Where have we seen this before? After the US spent years ignoring Russia’s warnings, expanding NATO and propping up pro-Western governments in Eastern Europe, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine came as an unsurprising, yet unbearable tragedy.
Now, we find ourselves stuck pouring billions of dollars into a proxy war over military and economic dominance in Eastern Europe, while Nancy Pelosi puts us on the same track in Asia.
ACTION: We must take the path of cooperation for the people and the planet now! Contact Congress!
This war is a threat to the lives of millions in Taiwan, China, the US, and around the world. We’ve already seen how the war in Ukraine has had devastating global impacts. From fuel shortages to famine, working-class people around the world have shouldered heavy costs of the war while thousands in Ukraine continue to die in combat. On top of this, the environmental and health-related impacts of the war will play out for decades to come.
All of this is without mentioning the deadly impact warmongering abroad has on populations here at home. Since the US has ramped up anti-China rhetoric in recent years, we’ve already seen rising hate crimes against Asian people in the United States. From World War I to the War on Terror, there is no doubt that belligerence abroad emboldens White Supremacy at home.
Tell your member of Congress to publicly stand for peace!
THE LETTER
Cooperate Don’t Escalate with China!
As your constituent, I urge you to please speak out publicly in support of peace and climate cooperation with China, a nuclear-armed country of 1.4 billion people, the world’s largest exporter and holder of a trillion dollars in US debt.
On the heels of House Speaker Pelosi’s dangerously provocative trip to Taiwan, please reaffirm in a social media post or constituent email your respect for our country’s long-standing agreement, the Shanghai Communique of 1972, that acknowledges there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China.
Speaker Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, over the objections of the White House and
Pentagon, served only to stoke tensions between the US and China and followed the US playbook in Ukraine, where the US government’s support for the overthrow of a democratically elected President led, in part, to Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine.
Do not allow our government to launch a direct war or proxy war with China. Use your congressional platform to advocate for peace and adherence to US international agreements, including the 1972 Shanghai Communique and the 2021 US-China Joint Statement, signed in Shanghai by Climate Envoy John Kerry and China Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua. This joint agreement committed our countries to work together to strengthen the Paris Climate Accord and dramatically lower carbon emissions.
Let’s stop the war-baiting and start the peacemaking with China. Save the planet and the people! We can’t afford another war. Save the people and the planet!
Towards peace, the entire CODEPINK team
